Ukrainian soldiers begin evacuation from Mariupol steel plant
- Ukraine’s deputy defence minister says efforts continue to rescue the remaining troops inside Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant after more than 260 soldiers evacuated.
- The US Senate has voted to advance $40bn more aid for Ukraine, setting the stage for a vote on the bill possibly later this week.
- A series of explosions have rocked the western city of Lviv with the regional governor saying Russia has again hit a military base near the border with Poland, last targeted in mid-March.
- Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force claims 20 civilians were killed in Russian shelling in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintains Turkey “cannot say ‘yes’” to NATO bids by Finland and Sweden.
Here are all the latest updates:
Russians abduct local men in occupied town of Enerhodar: Interfax
Russians in the occupied town of Enerhodar, in the Zaporizhzhia region, have kidnapped several local men, taking them away in an “unknown direction” with hands tied, the Interfax news agency reports citing the press service of the Zaporizhzhia administration.
The regional press service said the Russian military came to the men’s apartments and kept the other residents at gunpoint while tying the men’s hands and taking them away, according to Interfax.
The press service also said that the Russian military were planning on staging a referendum to lay the groundwork for Enerhodar to join the Russian Federation.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify these reports.
Japan says it ‘respects’ Sweden’s NATO decision
Japan respects Sweden’s “serious decision” to apply for NATO membership, Japan’s chief government spokesperson has said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an issue affecting not only Europe but also the Indo-Pacific region, Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a regular news conference on Tuesday.
Former FSB officer says Russia ‘failed’ in Donetsk
A Russian army veteran and former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer has said that Moscow’s operation to defeat the Ukrainian army in the Donetsk region has failed.
“I must state with regret that the operation to defeat the enemy’s Donetsk grouping, widely publicised in late April-early May, HAS FAILED,” Igor Girkin, also known under the alias Igor Strelkov, wrote on Telegram.
Strelkov said that after more than two weeks of “fierce fighting” not a single large settlement was “liberated”, except the town of Rubizhne, but the battle for this had started before Russia announced its new Donbas offensive.
“But it is already clear that Donbas will not be fully liberated before the beginning of summer,” he said, adding that Ukraine’s army will probably “not even be thrown back from the suburbs of Donetsk”.
Red Cross head accuses Europe of ‘double standard’ on Ukrainian refugees
The quick acceptance of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s aggression puts a spotlight on Europe’s “double standard” for refugees, standing against its non-welcome for people fleeing violence in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, the head of the world’s largest humanitarian network has said.
Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said his organisation hoped the Ukrainian refugee crisis would have been a “turning point” in Europe’s migration policies. “But unfortunately, this was not the case.”
In contrast to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Moldova and Slovakia readily accepting refugees from Ukraine, Rocca said migrants, refugees and asylum seekers trying to get to Europe are still dying, facing abuse and struggling to access essential services.
More than 48,000 refugees and migrants have died or disappeared since 2014 while travelling at sea, and the deadliest route is that taken by refugees and migrants across the central Mediterranean to Europe, with at least 19,000 such deaths, he said.
Putin backs off hardline on Sweden, Finland NATO bids
Vladimir Putin has appeared to climb down from Russia’s objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, saying Moscow had no issues with them entering the US-led military alliance.
“I want to inform you, dear colleagues, that Russia has no problem with those states, it hasn’t. So, in this regard, expansion by the addition of those countries poses no direct threat for us,” Putin said during a meeting with leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“But the expansion of military infrastructure into this territory would certainly provoke our response. What that [response] will be – we will see what threats are created for us,” he added.
Missiles likely didn’t hit Lviv city due to air defences: Officials
Air defences likely prevented missiles from hitting the city of Lviv on Tuesday morning, according to two officials.
Makysym Kozytskyy, the region’s governor, posted a message on the Telegram channel saying: “according to preliminary information, air defences worked”.
Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, said on Facebook that there was no confirmed information about the missiles hitting the city. “Let’s thank those who protect our sky for this!,” Sadovyi said.
An Associated Press team in the city witnessed the glare of bright explosions which lit up the night sky to the west of the city shortly after midnight local time. AP said that witnesses counted at least eight explosions accompanied by distant booms. An earlier report by the Reuters news agency said witnesses counted approximately 10 blasts.
Thank you to air defense for the work!
A military infrastructure facility in the Yavoriv district, almost on the border with Poland, was shelled again. More information will follow in the morning. Do not ignore any air alarms.https://t.co/fPLBWAOEyj#Lviv #Ukraine #UkraineWar
— Максим Козицький (@M_Kozytskyy) May 16, 2022
Lviv governor says attacks again hit military base on Poland’s border
Russia has again hit a major military facility in the Lviv region, near the border with Poland, Lviv’s regional governor has said.
“A military infrastructure facility in the Yavoriv district, almost on the border with Poland, was shelled again,” Maksym Kozytskyy wrote on his social media channels adding that more information would follow in the morning.
Kozytskyy’s posts came after reports of powerful blasts in the city of Lviv.
In mid-March, Russia drew warnings from NATO after it struck the Yavoriv district military base close to the alliance’s border, killing at least 35 people and injuring 134 more.
Al Jazeera was not able to independently verify the governor’s claims on Tuesday.
US Senate votes to advance $40bn Ukraine aid bill
The US Senate has voted to advance $40BN more of aid for Ukraine, setting the stage for a vote on the bill possibly later this week.
The tally was 81 to 11 on the first of a potential three procedural votes paving the way for the final Senate passage of the funding. All 11 “no” votes were from Republicans.
The House of Representatives approved the aid on May 10 but it stalled in the Senate after Republican Senator Rand Paul refused to allow a quick vote. Biden’s fellow Democrats narrowly control both the House and Senate, but Senate rules require unanimous consent to move quickly to a final vote on most legislation.
Ukraine’s monthly deficit at $5bn: Zelenskyy
Ukraine faces a monthly budget deficit of about $5bn per month, Zelenskyy has said.
Zelenskyy mentioned this in his nighttime address in the context of his talks with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva “on how to speed up the provision of financial assistance to Ukraine, given the state budget deficit during the war, which is about $ 5 billion a month”.
Explosions heard in Lviv: Report
A series of explosions struck the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Reuters has reported, citing a witness.
There was no word on casualties following the explosions. Some reports said about eight to 10 blasts occurred in quick succession.
Ukraine hopes to ‘save the lives’ of Mariupol troops: Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he hoped the lives of service members in the besieged Azovstal steel plant will be saved.
“We hope that we will be able to save the lives of our guys,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “There are severely wounded ones among them. They’re receiving care. Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive.”
Azovstal combat mission fulfilled, says Ukraine’s military
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces has said that the troops defending the Azovstal steel plant have fulfilled their combat mission.
“The supreme military command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel,” the General Staff said in a statement on its Facebook account. “Efforts to rescue defenders who remain on the territory of Azovstal continue.”
Ukraine says more than 260 soldiers evacuated from Mariupol plant
More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers have been evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar has said.
“53 heavily wounded [soldiers] were evacuated from Azovstal to the medical [facility] near Novoazovsk for medical aid,” Malyar said in a statement.
Another 211 were taken out through a humanitarian corridor, she added.
Evacuated Mariupol service members arrive in Ukraine’s Novoazovsk: Report
Ukraine’s service members evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol have arrived in Novoazovsk, Reuters has reported, citing a witness.
Some of the evacuees were carried out of the buses on stretchers, the witness said. Novoazovsk is now under the control of Russia-backed separatists who have held parts of eastern Ukraine since 2014.
US backs UN push to get Ukraine grain back to global market
The United States supports efforts by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to get Ukrainian grain back into the international marketplace amid the war, the US ambassador to the United Nations has said.
“He has spoken to us about his plans and his discussions with the Ukrainians and the Russians on this issue,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters without giving further details.
Ukraine’s grain exports could be routed through Poland: Minister
The Polish agriculture minister has said that Ukraine’s grain exports could be routed through Poland as long as Russia’s war prevents them from departing Black Sea ports.
Henryk Kowalczyk, the agriculture minister and a deputy prime minister, spoke in Warsaw alongside US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, as well as Ukraine’s agriculture secretary and the European Union’s commissioner for agriculture, who is Polish.
Ukraine, a major producer of grain, had previously warned that Russia is provoking a global food crisis by blocking the country’s Black Sea ports.
Russian attack targets training centre in western Ukraine: US official
A senior US defence official has said that Russian long-range attacks near the western city of Lviv appeared to target a Ukrainian military training centre in Yavoriv, less than 25km (15 miles) from the border with Poland.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US military assessment at this point is that there were as many as a half-dozen missiles fired and that a few small buildings were damaged.
There are no reports of casualties yet, the official said, adding that the missiles were fired from the Black Sea and likely came from a Russian submarine.
Ukraine says 20 civilians killed in Russian shelling
Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force has said 20 civilians, including a child, were killed in Russian shelling in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The military task force said in a statement on its Facebook page that 25 communities in the regions were fired at, with 42 residential buildings and a school among the locations hit.
Buses carrying Ukrainian fighters leave Mariupol: Report
The Reuters news agency has reported that about a dozen buses apparently carrying Ukrainian fighters left the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
It was not possible to determine how many people were on board, the agency said. Reuters later published photos of the buses.
Approximately 600 fighters have been estimated to be inside the vast Soviet-era plant, including dozens of wounded.
Turkey will not say ‘yes’ to NATO bids of Sweden, Finland: Erdogan
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ratcheted up his objection to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
Erdogan accused the countries of failing to take a clear stance against Kurdish fighters and of imposing military sanctions on Turkey.
“Neither country has an open, clear stance against terrorist organisations,” Erdogan said at a joint news conference with the visiting Algerian president. “We cannot say ‘yes’ to those who impose sanctions on Turkey, on joining NATO which is a security organisation.”
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Read all the updates from Monday, May 16 here.
