Russia has taken control of Azovstal steel plant
This just in: Russia just announced that they have taken control of the Azovstal steel plant. More details to come.
US vice president Kamala Harris had a phone call with France president Emmanuel Macron about how to support Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, among other issues.
Here is a readout of the phone call from the vice president’s office:
Vice President Kamala Harris today spoke with President Emmanuel Macron of France. The Vice President reiterated her strong support for the close alliance between the United States and France, and congratulated the President on his recent re-election.
Vice President Harris and President Macron discussed their determination to continue to support the people of Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion, as well as the global food and security challenges exacerbated by the conflict.
In the aftermath of the horrific mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, they discussed the importance of combatting the epidemic of hate, violence, and racism in both countries and around the world.
Pjotr Sauer
Russia has taken control of the Azovstal steel plant, the country’s defence ministry said on Friday evening.
“Underground structures of Azovstal where militants were hiding are now under full control of Russian armed forces,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that in total 2,439 Ukrainian fighters have surrendered.
Pro-Kremlin telegram channels also released a video with Sergei Volynsky, the commander of the 36th Marine Brigade unit, in which he said that his unit has surrounded. The unit was one of the main forces defending the steelworks.
If confirmed, the full abandonment of the bunkers and tunnels of the bombed-out plant would signify the end of the destructive siege that has been going on for two months.
Russia earlier said that over 900 Ukrainian troops who were at Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant have been sent to a prison colony on Russian-controlled territory.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the combatants would be treated in line with international norms for PoWs, though several senior Russian politicians demanded this week they be put on trial and one even called for their execution.
A Bosnia Serb nationalist leader has said that Bosnia cannot join EU sanctions against Russia in order to stay neutrality, reports Reuters.
Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik told European Council President Charles Michel on Friday that Bosnia needs to maintain neutrality and not join EU sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Michel visited Bosnia as part of his short tour of the Western Balkan countries aimed at reaffirming the bloc’s support for their EU integration plans and to invite them to join a new EU geopolitical community in light of the ongoing political and economic challenges.
While embracing the EU’s renewed commitment to supporting Bosnia’s path to joining the bloc, Dodik, who is a Serb member of the country’s three-man inter-ethnic presidency, used the opportunity to outline the stance of Bosnian Serbs towards the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.
“I think it is of utmost importance for Bosnia to remain neutral,” Dodik said at a joint news conference with Michel and presidency Bosniak chairman Sefik Dzaferovic. “In conditions in which we exist, it would be a problem for us to impose any kind of sanctions and join the EU or global sanctions.”
Dodik was speaking on behalf of the Bosnian Serbs, who have been nurturing close ties with Russia based on their common Orthodox Christian religion, as has Serbia which also refused to impose sanctions on Russia.
“Besides showing solidarity with the European Union in this regard, I think that we could have grave economic consequences that would be multiplied compared to EU countries which have collective security mechanisms,” Dodik said.
Bosnia’s tripartite presidency has not adopted a common stance on the war in Ukraine but its Bosniak and Croat members have strongly condemned the Russian invasion and supported all EU decisions.’
Twenty-seven years after the end of a war that claimed about 100,000 lives, the three nationalist ethnic elites are keeping the Balkan country politically divided and prone to endemic corruption while its citizens are leaving en masse.
Russia has taken control of Azovstal steel plant
This just in: Russia just announced that they have taken control of the Azovstal steel plant. More details to come.
Russia has not used laser weaponry in Ukraine, said the US Pentagon today, reports Reuters.
After Russia claimed that it was fielding laser technology that could strike enemy drones, Pentagon officials quickly disputed the claim, saying that Russia has not used such technology before.
“We don’t have any indication of the use of lasers, at least weaponized lasers, in Ukraine. Nothing to confirm on that,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby during a news briefing.
A semi-naked demonstrator protesting sexual violence in Ukraine was escorted off the red carpet at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, reports Reuters.
While on the red carpet, the unidentified women tore off her gown, revealing the Ukrainian flag colours and the words “STOP RAPING US” written on her abdomen. Red handprints were also painted on her buttocks.
Security officials quickly wrapped a jacket around the woman and removed her from the red carpet.
A US consular officer visited detained basketball player Brittney Griner in Russia yesterday, reports Reuters.
State department spokesperson Ned Price commented on the visit today, saying:
The consular officer found her continuing to do as well as could be expected under these exceedingly challenging circumstances.
Following the visit, the US has insisted that Russia give the US regular access to Griner and other detainees.
Here’s more on intense fighting in near the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk from the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont:
Intense fighting has been reported around the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk as Russian forces appear to be stepping up an offensive to encircle its Ukrainian defenders.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk – known collectively as the Donbas – were being turned into “hell” and warned that what he called the “final stage of the war” would be the bloodiest.
“In Donbas, the occupiers are trying to increase pressure. There’s hell, and that’s not an exaggeration,” Zelenskiy said. “The brutal and absolutely pointless bombing of Severodonetsk … 12 dead and dozens wounded in just one day. The bombing and shelling of other cities, the air and missile strikes of the Russian army – all this is not just hostilities during the war.”
According to multiple sources, Russian troops were pushing west of the Russian-occupied town of Popasna and also attempting to gain ground to the north of Severodonetsk, advancing more than 10km in at least one region with residents fleeing under shellfire.
The focus of the main Russian advance appeared to be the town of Soledar amid speculation that their initial aim was to cut one of the main supply routes to thousands of Ukrainian defenders, who are outnumbered by Russian forces.
Read the full article here.
Summary
It is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- Intense fighting has been reported around the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk as Russian forces appear to be stepping up an offensive to encircle its Ukrainian defenders. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk – known collectively as the Donbas – were being turned into “hell” and warned that what he called the “final stage of the war” would be the bloodiest.
- Russian troops fired on a school in Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region, killing three adults, according to a Ukrainian official. More than 200 people, including children, were sheltering at the school when the attack took place this morning, the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, Serhiy Haidai, said.
- A Ukrainian fighter who shared a series of powerful photographs while defending the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol appears to have been taken captive by Russian forces. Dmytro Kozatskyi posted a link to a Google drive containing images he had taken of inside the plant, writing: “Well, that’s all. Thank you from the shelter, Azovstal is the place of my death and my life.”
- Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said he will speak to Finland tomorrow regarding its bid to join Nato and maintained his opposition to Finland and Sweden’s membership bids. Erdoğan told reporters he had discussed the issue with the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and that he would also be speaking to Britain tomorrow.
- Senior Russian officials have proposed a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers, in another sign the country is facing a shortage of infantry to continue its offensive in Ukraine. Currently, Russians aged 18-40 and foreigners aged 18-30 can enter into a first contract with the army.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, as I hand the blog over to my colleague, Gloria Oladipo, in New York. I will be back on Monday. Thank you.
Russia may scrap age limits for soldiers to bolster Ukraine invasion force
Pjotr Sauer
Senior Russian officials have proposed a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers, in another sign the country is facing a shortage of infantry to continue its offensive in Ukraine.
Two members of the ruling United Russia party who introduced the law said the move would enable the military to utilise the skills of older professionals.
“For the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed. Experience shows that they become such by the age of 40-45,” it said.
Currently, Russians aged 18-40 and foreigners aged 18-30 can enter into a first contract with the army.
The lawmakers added that the proposed legislation would also make it easier to recruit civilian medics, engineers and operations and communications specialists.
Military experts say Russia is facing unsustainable troop and equipment losses in Ukraine after a series of military setbacks that have forced Moscow to reduce its war aims.
Russia initially put about 80% of its main ground combat forces – 150,000 men – into the war in February, according to western officials. In the 82 days since, it has “suffered losses of one third of the ground combat force it committed,” British military intelligence claimed last week.
The Russian military has also faced issues of low morale among its troops, as reports have emerged that hundreds of troops are unwilling to fight in what Russia calls its “special military operation”.
“Russia lacks sufficient ground units with contract soldiers for a sustainable rotation. The troops are getting exhausted – they won’t be able to keep this up for a long period,” said Rob Lee, a military analyst.
The US has accused Russia of holding the world’s food supply hostage during the Ukraine crisis, amid growing fears of famine in developing countries.
Speaking at a UN security council meeting, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, demanded Russia lift its blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and enable the flow of food and fertiliser around the world.
At least seven people, including a child, have been injured in a Russian missile attack on the town of Lozova in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, according to reports.
The missile had targeted “the newly-renovated House of Culture” in Lozova, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a statement on social media.
A video of the attack shared by Zelenskiy showed thick smoke enveloping a large building near residential complexes and passing cars.
Zelenskiy said:
The occupiers have identified culture, education and humanity as their enemies. And they do not spare missiles or bombs.
A statement by the chief of the local emergency medical centre, Viktor Zabashta, said at least seven people, including an 11-year-old child, were injured in the missile attack.
From Ukraine’s culture and information policy minister, Oleksandr Tkachenko:
‼️‼️Today in the middle of the working day, during the session of the city council in Lozova in Kharkiv region, a russian missile hit the recently restored a House of culture. 7 people were injured, the youngest is 11 years old… pic.twitter.com/84I5AXc7I4
— Tkachenko Oleksandr (@otkachenkoua) May 20, 2022
Pjotr Sauer
A trip to the mall in Russia is a different experience today than it was just a few short months ago.
“When I had my first child, there was all this choice. Mothercare, Zara, you name it,” said Evgenia Marsheva, a 33-year-old architect. But when she went shopping in Moscow this month for her newborn, many of those large retail brands had been shuttered.
“Now, I can only find very cheap or extremely expensive Russian products. I was brought up with tales of the limited choices that my parents had during the Soviet Union. I never thought that would come back.”
Three months into the war, Russia has become the most sanctioned country in the world, and almost 1,000 foreign brands – the majority of them voluntarily – have curtailed their operations there, according to records kept by the Yale School of Management. The exodus of companies continued this week with McDonald’s officially announcing it would leave Russia after three decades.
Helped by surging prices for oil and gas exports, the Kremlin has so far been able to continue financing its war efforts, with the country spending as much as $300m (£240m) a day on defence last month, double that of the prewar period, according to finance ministry data. Meanwhile, capital controls that Russia imposed to shield its financial sector in late February have made the rouble the world’s best-performing currency.
Yet, for many in Moscow and other Russian cities, the country’s growing political and economic isolation is having a direct impact on their livelihoods.
“Since the conflict started, every step in the production line is a struggle,” said Vladimir Kukushkin, a director of a printing company in Ekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city.
France’s foreign ministry said it launched its first medical evacuation flight from Poland for wounded Ukrainians and child cancer patients.
The flight today evacuated seven Ukrainians wounded in the war, as well as three Ukrainian children with cancer and their carers, the ministry said in a statement.
The patients will be treated at the expense of France in hospitals across the country, it said.
Gazprom confirms it will halt gas supplies to Finland
Russian gas giant Gazprom’s exporting arm, Gazprom Export, has confirmed it will suspend gas sales for Finnish state-owned gas wholesaler, Gasum, starting from Saturday.
Gazprom Export said the move was because the Finnish company had not paid it for gas delivered in April under new Russian rules requiring settlement in roubles, Reuters reports.
It added that it would defend its interests in arbitration proceedings initiated by the Finnish company.
Aerial footage appears to show a bridge in eastern Ukraine’s embattled region of Luhansk being blown up.
The video, released by Ukraine’s National Guard on Wednesday, is said to show a joint special operation between Ukraine’s security forces fighting to slow the advance of Russian troops in Luhansk.
The Guardian has independently verified the location, which shows the Borova River Bridge, connecting Severodonetsk and Lysychansk to the city of Rubizhne.