Russia Ukraine war Russian

2022 - 5 - 18

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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 84 (Aljazeera.com)

Seven civilians have been killed by Russian attacks in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian regional governor said. Eight people were killed and 12 ...

- The UK is considering using Russian assets to fund rebuilding in Ukraine, UK Foreign Minister Liz Truss said. Russia’s defence ministry said more than 950 fighters at Azovstal have surrendered since Monday. - Russia’s foreign ministry announced its withdrawal from the Council of the Baltic Sea States “in response to hostile actions” that have turned it “into an instrument of anti-Russian politics”, the state-owned TASS news agency reported. - Russia has a “significant resourcing problem” and lacks a united command, which continues to hamper Russia’s operations”, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence said. - Eight people were killed and 12 others wounded in a Russian air attack on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, the regional emergency service said. - The fate of Ukrainian fighters evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupolremains uncertainafter some were transported to the Russian-controlled town of Olenivka near Donetsk, and some were taken to a prison colony.

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'The whole world is against us': Russian military analyst gives ... (CNBC)

Dissenting voices in Russia are rare, but one well-known military analyst gave a damning assessment of the invasion this week.

In fact, Russia's invasion has only served to strengthen the alliance, with Finland and Sweden now looking to join the organization. But its response to NATO's forthcoming expansion to include Finland and Sweden has been muted. Ukraine's allies in the West continue to supply arms to Kyiv and Russia's invasion has seen the Western military alliance NATO tighten its security measures. But one well-known military analyst and veteran has stood out this week after he appeared on state TV and gave a damning assessment of the Ukraine invasion, or what Russia calls its "special military operation." - But one well-known military analyst and veteran has stood out this week after he appeared on state TV and gave a damning assessment of the invasion, or what Russia calls a "special military operation." In a country where independent media and commentary has all but disappeared from public view, it's rare to hear dissenting voices on the many state-controlled TV networks in Russia — particularly now with the country at war with Ukraine.

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Russia Ukraine War News Live Updates: Moscow says 1000 ... (The Indian Express)

Russia Ukraine War News Today, Russia Ukraine Strike News Updates, World War 3, Russia Victory Day.

This comes after a Russian lawmaker taking part in peace talks with Kyiv said Tuesday that Russia should consider the death penalty for what he called nationalist fighters from Ukraine’s Azov regiment. The Russian Defense Ministry said that nearly 1,000 Ukrainian troops holed up in their last stronghold in Mariupol have handed themselves over. Meanwhile, concerns grew for their welfare as Russian news agencies said that the parliament will take up a resolution Wednesday to prevent the exchange of Azov Regiment fighters.

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Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Soldier pleads guilty in first war ... (NBC News)

A Russian soldier pleaded guilty on Wednesday in the first war crimes trial since the conflict in Ukraine began.

And here I am very grateful for the support of the state of Israel,” she said in part. “In attempting to overcome Ukrainian resistance, Russia has made significant use of auxiliary personnel,” the U.K. said in a daily intelligence update. Zelenska said she is spearheading a national program for psychological assistance, according to the statement. Russia’s Supreme Court will consider recognizing the regiment as a "terrorist organization," according to a statement from its justice ministry. The symbol has also been used to rouse patriotic pride and support in Russia for what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation.” Finland had become such a byword for neutrality that the “Finlandization” of Ukraine was discussed as a compromise solution that Russia might accept to stave off war. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that in the last 24 hours nearly 700 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered, including 29 who were injured. “The global energy system is broken and bringing us ever closer to climate catastrophe. However, some countries in the 27-nation bloc have shied away from giving the value of their Ukraine aid, particularly for arms supplies. He has a right to appeal, it added. The news will renew focus on mounting allegations of atrocities committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces. He could get up to life in prison.

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Ukraine war: Russian soldier on trial for war crimes admits killing ... (Sky News)

Ukrainian state prosecutors say Vadim Shishimarin shot a 62-year-old civilian in the head to prevent him from reporting Russian forces' presence in a ...

And we kept on going." The man died a few metres from his home. "I shot one (round) at him.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russian soldier accused of war crimes pleads ... (The Guardian)

Vadim Shishimarin, 21, admits killing unarmed civilian in first war crimes trial of conflict; Russia says 959 combatants have surrendered from the Azovstal ...

A Russian tank commander has pleaded guilty to shooting dead a civilian on a bicycle, in Ukraine’s first trial for war crimes committed during the Russian invasion. The US tech giant’s Russian subsidiary has declared its intention to file for bankruptcy, Reuters reports. The US tech giant’s Russian subsidiary has declared its intention to file for bankruptcy after months of pressure from authorities. He then used an AK-47 to shoot the unarmed man, just a few dozen metres from his home. They have the support of several teams of international investigators and forensic experts, but face a mammoth task. The EU has already provided €4.1bn to Ukraine since Russia invaded on 24 February, including military aid. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the €9bn support package would “help Ukraine win the war, overcome the consequences of Russian forces’ aggression and accelerate the movement towards EU membership”. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Sweden should not expect to approve its Nato application without returning “terrorists”. Ankara has accused Sweden and Finland of harbouring people it says are linked to groups it considers terrorists. Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has said that there was no movement in peace talks with Ukraine, and claimed that Kyiv was showing a “complete unwillingness” to continue them. Sweden and Finland have formally submitted their applications to join the Nato military alliance. The ministry had initially forecast a budget surplus of 1% of GDP, or 1.3tn roubles for 2022. Prosecutors said Shishimarin was ordered by another serviceman to kill the civilian to prevent him from reporting on the Russians’ presence.

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959 Ukrainian Soldiers Surrendered At Azovstal Plant This Week ... (NDTV)

Russia's defence ministry said Wednesday that 959 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered this week at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.

"In total since May 16, 959 militants surrendered, including 80 wounded." Kyiv is hoping to exchange the surrendered Ukrainian fighters, but Russia has yet to confirm whether they will be part of a prisoner swap. "Over the past 24 hours, 694 militants surrendered, including 29 wounded," the ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict.

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Ukraine war: Russia's much-vaunted 'Terminator' war vehicles are ... (Daily Mail)

Video shows the much-vaunted 'Terminator' armoured vehicles, which are designed to support infantry units fighting in urban areas, in the Donbas region in ...

Denys Prokopenko, commander of the garrison, revealed that the order to surrender came from military top brass - though did not say why it was give. 'I was ordered to shoot,' said Shyshimarin, wearing a blue and grey hooded sweatshirt. Pictured: A Ukrainian serviceman walks next to a destroyed Russian main battle tank T-90M Proryv, in Staryi Saltiv in the Kharkiv region on May 9 And we kept on going.' In another blow to Putin's forces, a Russian soldier has pleaded guilty to charges of war crimes after he became the first to go on trial in Ukraine. The weapon is being used by the United Kingdom's RAF, a well as the air forces of Germany and Saudi Arabia. Qatar is also set to use the weapon in the future. But the officer was among Russian troops to perish on May 11 in a failed advance across the Donets River at Bilohorivka, west of the city of Lysychansk, in the Donbas region, after Ukrainian troops successfully ambushed them. Russia is thought to field around 1,000 of all T-90 variants, compared to around 5,000 T-72s - the tank the T-90 is based on and which has done the bulk of the fighting in Ukraine. The T-90 is supposed to be one of the best tanks in the world, and has upgraded armour and missile protection systems compared to the T-72 which make it harder to destroy - at least in theory. In an effort to bolster Russia's arsenal, a platoon of Terminator military vehicles were deployed and used for the first time in battle in the Donbas. The deployment of the BMPT Terminator comes as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has taken a heavy toll on Putin's main army tanks - the T-90M tank - after Ukrainian troops continue to obliterate them with rockets. The deployment of the BMPT Terminator comes as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has taken a heavy toll on Putin's main army tanks - the T-90M tank - after Ukrainian troops continue to obliterate them with rockets.

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Image courtesy of "Associated Press"

Interrogation, uncertainty for surrendering Mariupol troops (Associated Press)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Nearly 1000 last-ditch Ukrainian fighters who had held out inside Mariupol's pulverized steel plant have surrendered, Russia said ...

Mariupol was a target of the Russians from the outset. Also, Russia’s top prosecutor asked the country’s Supreme Court to designate Ukraine’s Azov Regiment — among the troops that made up the Azovstal garrison — as a terrorist organization. Its full capture would give Russia an unbroken land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014. It was unclear how many fighters remained inside the plant’s labyrinth of tunnels and bunkers, where 2,000 were believed to be holed up at one point. Some were taken by the Russians to a former penal colony in territory controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty’s deputy director for the region, cited lawless executions allegedly carried out by Russian forces in Ukraine and said the Azovstal defenders “must not meet the same fate.”

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Russia suffers series of military, economic, diplomatic defeats (Aljazeera.com)

Russia is losing troop strength at a high rate and is cutting gas sales to Europe, which helps Moscow finance its war.

“A ban on transactions and payments to entities under sanctions has been implemented,” Gazprom said in a statement. The document sets out “retaliatory special economic measures in connection with the unfriendly actions of some foreign states and international organisations”. The pipeline crosses the region of Luhansk, almost all of which separatists control. “There was a point when they might have come to an agreement, but now the Russians have committed so many atrocities it’s very difficult. “It’s just that Russia doesn’t have the courage to admit it yet … Therefore, our task is to fight until we achieve our goals in this war. Russian offensives have bogged down every time they hit a built-up area throughout this war,” the institute said. Of the 550 Russian troops sent into action, 485 were reportedly wounded or killed, and 80 pieces of equipment were destroyed. The head of Ukraine’s main intelligence directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, says Russia has begun a covert mobilisation, which includes reservists. “The case in point is the revival of tough bloc discipline and an unconditional submission of the ‘allies’ to Washington’s diktat,” Lavrov said. Ukraine said it shut the pipeline entering its territory at Sokhranovka after Russian-backed separatists siphoned off gas. That information came from Ukrainian sources. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War agreed: “Russian forces may be abandoning efforts at a wide encirclement of Ukrainian troops along the Izyum-Slovyansk-Debaltseve line in favor of shallower encirclements of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.”

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Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (May 18) (NPR)

As Wednesday draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day: A 21-year-old Russian soldier pleaded guilty to killing a ...

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Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 85 of the invasion (The Guardian)

Zelenskiy says Russian use of laser weapons shows invasion has failed; World Bank agrees $30bn global food aid plan.

Russian forces occupying parts of north-eastern Ukraine early in the war subjected civilians to summary executions, torture, and other grave abuses that are apparent war crimes, Human Rights Watch said. Russia has expelled a total of 85 diplomatic staff from France, Spain and Italy in response to similar moves by those countries, its foreign ministry said. The United States will work with Finland and Sweden in the event of the ‘threat of aggression’while the two countries’ Nato membership is being considered, president Joe Biden said. The European Commission has proposed an extra €9bn (£7.6bn) in EU loans to Ukraine to keep the country running as well as a €210bn plan for Europe to end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027. A Russian tank commander has pleaded guilty to shooting dead a civilian on a bicycle, in Ukraine’s first trial for war crimes committed during the Russian invasion. Sweden and Finland have formally submitted their applications to join the Nato military alliance.

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May 18, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news (CNN)

The evacuation mission at the Azovstol steel plant in Mariupol continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. It follows the end of Ukrainian ...

Speaking to a Russian state TV channel on Wednesday, Khodarenok said, "When people talk about Ukraine acquiring the ability to counterattack, well it's a big exaggeration. He also said Ukraine could arm one million people, and that Russia needs to consider that in its operational and strategic calculations. Retired Russian colonel Mikhail Khodarenok said any talk about Ukraine being able to counterattack is a "big exaggeration," just a day after he criticized Russia's military operations in Ukraine saying the situation for Russia could "get worse."

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Ukraine war: Russia moving the 'Terminator' around city ahead of ... (Sky News)

Justin Crump, a veteran British army tank commander, said Russia was "quite proud" of the vehicle, which is used to support other tanks and "suppress" enemy ...

"They haven't committed them yet to the fight. So it's a tank with a turret designed to suppress enemy infantry. It's designed to do the work of infantry in support of tanks.

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Image courtesy of "The Washington Post"

Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Russian soldier pleads guilty in ... (The Washington Post)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has voiced continued resistance at the potential addition of Sweden and Finland to NATO.

Whether China is willing to help Russia withstand sanctions has been an open question for Western policymakers. Energy prices have also soared both in Europe and the United States — despite President Biden’s move to release an enormous amount of the nation’s oil reserves — in an added strain on consumers facing the highest rates of inflation in four decades. These head winds are putting additional pressure on the United States and Europe to ensure their sanctions on Russia do not further tip the world into a new economic crisis. Human rights and legal experts have described Ukraine’s move to try soldiers in custody for alleged war crimes amid a raging conflict as uncommon, The Washington Post has reported. He is charged with violating “the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder,” for which he could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty, Ukraine’s prosecutor general has said. “The bullet holes in my fence remind me of all that I’ve lost,” he said, according to Siolkowsky. Crowds had gathered to flee farther west in the evacuation when a missile strike tore through the station, killing at least 50 people and injuring dozens. The commission also on Wednesday said it would propose additional assistance for Ukraine of up to 9 billion euros (about $9.5 billion), adding to the short-term relief provided as the war continues and with an eye on reconstruction. It also aims to speed up permitting procedures for renewables and includes a joint platform for the purchase of gas, liquefied natural gas and hydrogen. It also put a damper on a historic moment for two countries that held fast to military nonalignment until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended their thinking about security. And I told them that our goal on an overwhelming bipartisan basis would be to get that done as rapidly as possible,” he said. Ukraine wants fighters taken to Russian-held territory to be released in exchange for Russian prisoners in Ukraine, but some key Russian officials are signaling they won’t support such an exchange.

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Live updates: Russia's war in Ukraine (CNN)

A NATO military official with knowledge of the intelligence said the military alliance is seeing momentum in the war is shifting significantly in favor of ...

Despite artillery and missile attacks by Russian forces on a wide front over the past 24 hours, there are no signs they have taken new territory. Current crimes have a long history ... Crimean Tatars are no longer put in freight cars and taken out by force, but [the Russians] create conditions for us to leave our historical homeland." The woman questioned the Russian soldier as to why he came to Ukraine, asking rhetorically: "Did you come to defend us? The trial has been moved to a larger Kyiv court. "Now under the slogans of denazification and demilitarization, the occupiers launched a so-called special operation, and in fact the genocide of the Ukrainian people." The need for these priority measures is dictated solely by concern for people," he said. And this needs to be taken care of. "The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia. And the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq, I mean of Ukraine," Bush said. "Yes I acknowledge my fault. But he had wanted to come to the event in Simferopol, to "get together in a crowd with our flags, pray together and commemorate this tragedy, because it moves the soul." On Wednesday, the US flag was raised over the United States Embassy in Kyiv to mark the official resumption of US Embassy operations in the Ukrainian capital. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the future of the regions in Ukraine occupied by Russia will depend on the "will" of the people living there.

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Ukraine war triggers global food crisis that could last years, says UN (The Irish Times)

UN chief in talks on restoring Ukraine grain exports as tens of millions threatened.

“The discussions, as far as I know, went well and positive,” Mr Nebenzia told reporters on Wednesday, but he signalled that Ukrainian access to international markets was a separate issue. Mr Blinken said Russia must be compelled to create corridors so that food and other vital supplies can safely leave Ukraine by land or sea. Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies.

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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 85 (Aljazeera.com)

Ukraine's fighters blew up an armoured train carrying Russian troops, Ukraine's territorial defence force said, but an adviser to Zelenskyy later said the ...

- Russia said it will start using a new generation of powerful lasers in Ukraine to destroy drones. Some European Union officials are advocating seizing about $300bn in Russian central bank foreign currency assets frozen by sanctions to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction. - The World Bank said it will make $30bn available to help stem the food security crisis triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine. - Russiaexpelled 85 diplomats and stafffrom the embassies of France, Italy and Spain in retaliation for the expulsion of Russian diplomats. - Russian authorities said they plan to destroy Azovstal after capturing it and turn Mariupol into a “resort city”, the Institute for the Study of War reported. - Four people were killed in shelling by Russian forces in Severodonetsk, the governor of the Luhansk region said.

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Ukraine-Russia War: Latest News (The New York Times)

As more than 1700 Ukrainian fighters have surrendered in Mariupol, a visit to the region by a high-ranking Russian official suggested Moscow may be laying ...

Nearly 1,000 fighters surrendered at the Azovstal steel complex this week after a protracted period of fighting in the southern port city of Mariupol, and some Russian officials have been calling for them to be treated as war criminals. “I hope they’re doing their best,” Khrystyna Zhuk, a resident of Lviv who works in marketing, said of the government. That group’s far-right origins have allowed President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to argue that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is an attempt to rid the country of Nazis. “Failure to open the ports will be a declaration of war on global food security, resulting in famine, destabilization of nations as well as mass migration by necessity,” Beasley said. Russia’s “planning was not something that was well connected to the realities” on the ground, he said. The Mariupol city council said in its own Telegram post that the idea showed that Russia wanted to erase any reminder of Ukraine’s “heroic” stand at the Azovstal complex. “The wounds are the same for civilians and soldiers because rockets do not choose where to fall.” At the start of the conflict, the central bank doubled interest rates to 19 percent to stabilize the currency, and recently was able to lower rates to 14 percent. “If we’re talking about Rubicons to cross, I think the biggest one is the secondary sanctions piece,” said Richard Nephew, a scholar at Columbia University who was a senior official on sanctions in the Obama and Biden administrations. The toughest sanction imposed by the United States and European Union on Russia so far has blocked the Russian central bank’s access to foreign currency reserves in global accounts. Its foreign ministers discussed a potential embargo in Brussels on Monday. The Group of 7 industrialized nations, which includes Britain, Japan and Canada, agreed this month to gradually phase out Russian oil imports and their finance ministers are meeting in Bonn, Germany, this week to discuss details. As President Vladimir V. Putin wages war in Ukraine, the United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia that have battered its economy.

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U.S. reopens Kyiv embassy; Turkey rejects swift NATO approval for ... (CNBC)

Meanwhile, Ukraine says the Russian army has lost 27,900 soldiers since its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to NBC News. A Russian soldier also ...

"And it is because the profile that Sweden and Finland are going to take inside NATO is going to be a Nordic profile." Of those, it said 51 needed inpatient treatment and were placed in the hospital of Novoazovsk of the Donetsk People's Republic, a pro-Russian region of the Donbas. NATO requires a consensus among all its current 30 members for the countries to be able to join. But we continue to have those discussions there are a lot of options but those are the objectives." The former prime minister noted that three Nordic states — Iceland, Norway and Denmark — have been members of the alliance since 1949. They said Shishimarin was ordered by another serviceman to kill the civilian to prevent him reporting on the Russians' presence and fired several shots through the open window of the car with an assault rifle at the civilian's head. All of us share the objective of diminishing the revenues that Russia will have to buy goods and services that will help their economy and enable them to wage war. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian tank commander held in Ukraine, is charged with murdering a 62-year-old civilian in the northeast Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on Feb. 28. And we understood that there would be consequences that we would not be able to shield ourselves entirely from economic consequences, but the principles that all of us have adopted." "So, the European Union has made clear that they intend to end oil imports by the end of this year. As we contemplate energy sanctions and other sanctions, this is always the core of the conversations that we've had." Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO on Wednesday in another step toward the Western military alliance's expansion.

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Image courtesy of "The Washington Post"

Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Biden hosts Finland, Sweden ... (The Washington Post)

The war crimes trial of Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin, 21, who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian, is set to resume.

Many had set up temporary headquarters in Lviv, about 350 miles west of Kyiv and within a short drive to the Polish border. But this time, he declared that any talk of Ukraine being able to counterattack is a “big exaggeration.” Commanders have typically used battalion tactical troops, which number several hundred soldiers, to maneuver around the battlefield. Photos showed many of the evacuated fighters appearing to be wounded or lying on stretchers, and Moscow and Kyiv said they were receiving medical aid. Those who emerged from the underground network of the plant have been taken to territory under Russian control, and while Kyiv is seeking a prisoner swap to return them, their fate remains uncertain. Days later, Khodaryonok appeared to walk back his bleak assessment in another appearance, asserting that Ukraine was in for “an unpleasant surprise.” Between eight and 10 Russian generals have been killed in the conflict, a death rate not seen since World War II, according to U.S. intelligence estimates. Similarly, Vice Adm. Igor Osipov was “likely” to have been removed after the sinking of the Moskva, Russia’s Black Sea flagship, in April, the report said. In 2020, Ukraine was the world’s fourth- and fifth-largest exporter of corn and wheat, respectively, by value, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, a data website. The U.N. chief said Russian food and fertilizers also must have unrestricted access to world markets. Moscow and Kyiv have given different accounts of how many fighters evacuated their last holdout in the city, and their fate was uncertain after they were taken to territory in Russian hands. A government attorney said the sergeant was part of a group of five soldiers who had fled a nearby battle in a stolen car.

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Russia-Ukraine live news: More Azovstal troops surrender – Moscow (Aljazeera.com)

Kremlin says wounded soldiers were being treated in hospitals in Donetsk as fears grow for those sent to prison camps.

And it will definitely help us in the struggle for our common freedom,” he said in his late-night address. He said the majority of the missiles hit civilian infrastructure and brought no strategic military benefit. The Stars and Stripes fly again over Embassy Kyiv. I can announce that we have officially resumed Embassy operations in Ukraine’s capital. But Yury Borisov, the deputy prime minister in charge of military development, told a conference in Moscow that one prototype called Peresvet was already being widely deployed and it could blind satellites up to 1,500km (932 miles) above Earth. It did not elaborate on the extent of the damage. “The only option for reconciliation is Russia’s capitulation, the withdrawal of troops and talks on compensation. “The ICRC must have immediate access to all POWs in all places where they are held,” it said in a statement. This would leave Russian officials a fast-narrowing window to avoid its first external debt default since the 1917 Russian revolution. “There are no shortcuts on the way to the EU,” Scholz said, adding that an exception for Ukraine would be unfair to the Western Balkan countries also seeking membership. “Rebuilding destroyed infrastructure and revitalising the Ukrainian economy will cost billions,” Sholtz told legislators before a meeting of EU leaders. Ukraine’s figures of Russia’s losses are significantly higher than Moscow’s. On March 25, Russia said 1,351 of its soldiers had been killed in combat and has given no more information since. On Wednesday, Russia said it was expelling a total of 85 embassy staff members from France, Spain and Italy.

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Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Biden to host leaders of Finland ... (NBC News)

President Joe Biden is set to host the leaders of Finland and Sweden at the White House after the two countries officially submitted their bids to join ...

"The operation continued Wednesday and was still ongoing Thursday," it added. It did not say where that is, but buses have carried hundreds of fighters to Russian-controlled territory. Turkey’s approval is crucial because the military alliance makes its decisions by consensus. Paul’s stall tactics miffed many colleagues who had warned that Ukraine is dangerously close to running out of weapons, food and other supplies. Read the full story here. Russia's military is likely beset by a "culture of cover-ups and scapegoating" that is hampering its war in Ukraine, the U.K. defense ministry said Thursday. Read the full story here. Read the full story here. Speaking to a group of Turkish youth, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the two countries — and especially Sweden — of being “a focus of terror, home to terror.” The video of their conversation was released Thursday. Read full coverage of the war here. While the motion is nonbinding, its adoption is an important step to the sanctions being introduced and sends a clear signal that the European community will no longer tolerate a tacit support for President Vladimir Putin’s regime that has characterized much of the continent’s approach to the Kremlin for decades. - The head of the U.N. World Food Program has warned that failing to reopen Ukraine's ports would amount to "a declaration of war on global food security."

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Live updates: Russia's war in Ukraine (CNN International)

A Russian soldier accused of killing an unarmed man in Ukraine pleaded guilty to war crimes at a trial in Kyiv — the first such trial since the invasion began — ...

Such public criticism of the military operation in Ukraine is very rare. Mariupol evacuations: Russia's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that a total of 959 Ukrainian soldiers, including 80 wounded, had laid down their arms and surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol since May 16. He also said Ukraine could arm 1 million people, and that Russia needs to consider that in its operational and strategic calculations. In response to criticism from some subscribers, Kotenok retorted: "If you want fairy tales, then you have come to the wrong place. In such a case you should go to officialdom." Speaking to a Russian state TV channel on Wednesday, Khodarenok said, "When people talk about Ukraine acquiring the ability to counterattack, well it's a big exaggeration. Blinken also said it is “false” that the sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and its allies have deepened the food crisis. NATO doesn't expect significant gains for either side on the battlefield in Ukraine in the coming weeks. It is the first war crimes trial held since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Their bids to join the alliance mark a dramatic evolution in European security and geopolitics. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian armed forces say they have recaptured another settlement in the Kharkiv region, as troops continue their counterattacks in the area. Biden’s stops in two staunch US allies — South Korea and Japan — are meant to bolster partnerships at a moment of global instability.

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Russia says it's sent 900 Ukrainian soldiers to prison camp; Moscow ... (CNBC)

Russia says it has sent 900 Ukrainian soldiers to a former prison colony in a Russia-controlled part of Donetsk.

The ICRC must be allowed to interview prisoners of war without witnesses, and the duration and frequency of these visits should not be unduly restricted. There were expectations that they could be exchanged for Russian soldiers in Ukrainian control but that's uncertain. The information was not able to be verified. The information is unverified, however. From fighter jets to surveillance aircraft, the NATO alliance has placed up to 30 aircraft on patrol over the skies of its eastern flank. It's unknown what will happen to the fighters. Happy Vyshyvanka Day, Ukraine!," Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel today, while sporting his own embroidered shirt. The complex was seen as the last stronghold of Ukraine's forces in the southern port city — one that Russia has aimed to control from the start of its invasion on Feb. 24 and which is seen as a strategic objective for Moscow as it aims to create a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. "It is quite clear to me that this war is unlikely to end by the fall," Arestovich said on Ukrainian TV, according to NBC News. It comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks to extend martial law for another 90 days. "I wish you health. The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it continues to register prisoners of war from the Azovstal steelworks plant in Mariupol, and has registered hundreds already this week.

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Image courtesy of "Republic World"

Russia-Ukraine war LIVE: Germany's health minister pledges to help ... (Republic World)

The brutal Russia-Ukraine war has entered day 85. In a massive move, Sweden and Finland moved ahead with their applications for NATO membership leading ...

Un Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war in Ukraine and its immediate effects on energy price increases is yet another wake-up call to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. Their bids to join the alliance represent a significant shift in European security and geopolitics. Speaking to students at the presidential library in Ankara on Thursday, the Turkish President stated that "NATO is a security organization and his government cannot accept the presence of terrorist organizations in it." Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated in a speech to the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, on May 19 that "Russia must not win this war." According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, registration of Ukrainian prisoners of war, including wounded fighters, began on Tuesday as part of an agreement between Russia and Ukraine. According to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the European Union must make preparations for rebuilding Ukraine after the war by establishing a solidarity fund to help cover the billions of euros in reconstruction costs. Russian troops have conducted yet another airstrike on Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast shelling a five-story building, a private house and an office building, Pavlo Kyrylenko , head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration said in a Telegram update. A Russian soldier on trial for war crimes in Ukraine apologised to the woman whose husband he killed during the ongoing war. "The Russian people express firm support for the Operation which will continue to go as planned," the delegation said. Russia reaffirmed that nuclear war must never be fought and any military conflict between nuclear powers be avoided as declared by P5. The former accused the West of flaring the Ukraine conflict by supplying weaponry to Ukraine to kill Russian forces. And it's not just in the area of Popasna or Bilohorivka. They are already trying to cut the route near Bakhmut in order to make it impossible to evacuate people and thwart humanitarian deliveries," said the head of the region. UK Prime minister Boris Johnson pledged the British solidarity with the Ukrainian people "particularly for the brave defenders of Mariupol."

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Image courtesy of "The Wall Street Journal"

Russia-Ukraine War: Latest News and Live Updates (The Wall Street Journal)

Ukraine: A Russian soldier facing prosecution, and the wife of the man he shot, testified in the first war-crimes trial since the Russian invasion. Ukraine's ...

“If we want to be in America First, then we have to be America First, everywhere, right? Our country is a leader on the world scale, and we can’t pretend that bad things aren’t happening in other parts of the globe, especially when it is impacting my Iowans, when they’re struggling to get fertilizer when fuel costs are going up. “We don’t operate in a vacuum. I mean we could build the border wall twice over and seal it with this amount of money,” he said. “I worry about that. “We seem to just throw gobs of money out there and then all of a sudden it’s gone and we’re gonna turn around in August, September, and they’re gonna want more money,” he said.

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Image courtesy of "The Washington Post"

Pro-war Russians are increasingly critical of the Ukraine conflict (The Washington Post)

RIGA, Latvia — Battlefield setbacks in Ukraine are prompting mounting criticisms of the Russian military among Russians who support the war but are ...

The weapons: Ukraine is making use of weapons such as Javelin antitank missiles and Switchblade “kamikaze” drones, provided by the United States and other allies. Whether the criticisms are reaching Putin and his inner circle is in question. And greater leeway to speak out is given to pro-war Russians who have demonstrated unquestionably patriotic credentials, said a Russian journalist who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he opposes the war and fears the consequences of being publicly quoted. The fight: A slowly regenerating Russian army is making incremental gains in eastern Ukraine against valiant but underequipped Ukrainian forces. A failed attempt by Russian forces last week to cross the Siversky Donets river that stands in the way of their westward advance drew ridicule. “In short, the military now demands all-out war, including mobilization.” Tatarsky, the former Donbas fighter, called for the “military genius” who ordered the operation to be publicly named and held accountable. The Russians then attempted at least one other identical maneuver at the exact same point, only for that force to be destroyed, too, the ISW said. The Russian critics are asking the same question. Russia has also steadily been sending reinforcements, including regular contract forces alongside reservists, conscripts and mercenaries, for a current total of around 167,000, according to a Ukrainian estimate on Tuesday. Others bluntly question whether Russia can win the war without radical adjustments to its tactics or the mass mobilization of Russian reservists. Thousands of Russians have been detained or harassed because they oppose President Vladimir Putin’s decision to go to war.

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