The Washington Post

2022-05-21 09:43:31 Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- Severodonetsk, the easternmost city under Ukraine’s control, is set to be the war’s next major battlefield, with local officials reporting intense Russian shelling in recent days.

- Some 100 miles to Severodonetsk’s west, a cultural center in the Kharkiv region was struck by a missile. Seven people were injured in the attack, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned as “absolutely evil.”

- Russia on Friday claimed full control of the Azovstal steel plant in the Black Sea port city of Mariupol, and said more than 1,900 Ukrainian fighters from the facility have surrendered — though that figure drastically exceeds other estimates.

- Finland’s gas transmission network operator said early Saturday that Russia had stopped shipping natural gas. The move is not expected to disrupt the Nordic state’s energy network, as Finland is able to make up the shortfall from elsewhere.

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2022-05-21 08:33:16 Here's the latest on key battlegrounds in Ukraine:

Severodonetsk: Officials in this key city, the easternmost under Ukrainian control, are bracing for a major drawn-out battle as experts anticipate Russia seeking to take control of the city.

Kharkiv region: At least seven people were wounded during a Russian missile strike on a cultural center in Lozova, in the northeast Kharkiv region, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, referring to the violence as “absolute evil.”

Donetsk region: Aiming to encircle Ukrainian forces to capture the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Russian forces have moved toward Slovyansk. Invaders have tried to erect a pontoon bridge over the Severskyi Donets River and conducted artillery strikes, according to a Institute for the Study of War report.

Mariupol: The last of the holdout fighters at the Azovstal steel plant have surrendered, the Russian Defense Ministry said, marking the end of the resistance against Russia’s takeover of the southeastern port city.

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2022-05-20 23:15:11 Here is the latest from Ukraine.

- World financial leaders in the Group of Seven nations agreed to provide Ukraine with about $20 billion in short-term economic support to stabilize its economy amid the ongoing invasion.

- The U.S. Senate approved President Biden’s $40 billion package of fresh military, humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine. Biden is set to sign the package into law during a trip to East Asia that starts in South Korea on Friday.

- Remaining Ukrainian fighters at the Azovstal steel plant were ordered to lay down their arms and cease the defense of their last stronghold in Mariupol, Denis Prokopenko, a commander of the far-right Azov Regiment, said in a video Friday.

- The war crimes trial of Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin in Ukraine, the first of its kind in the conflict, has adjourned. The court will hand down a sentence next week.

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2022-05-20 22:15:13 Analysis: Turkey’s awkward role in the Russia-Ukraine war

For weeks, Finland and Sweden telegraphed their decision to abandon decades of quasi-neutrality and join the NATO military alliance. The two Nordic countries had long maintained robust defense ties with the alliance, but the shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine compelled them to finally close the distance.

Sweden and Finland’s accession into NATO would mark a historic shift: With the countries officially onboard, NATO’s borders with Russia will double in size overnight. The Baltic Sea, a zone of tacit contest with Russia, could effectively become a NATO-patrolled lake.

And it will only underscore how much the conflict has become a geopolitical blunder for Russian President Vladimir Putin: Far from checking NATO’s eastward expansion, his invasion has only deepened Russian isolation, raised the stakes along the country’s western frontier and placed immense pressure on an already ailing economy.

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2022-05-20 21:15:14 Pope Francis’s refusal to condemn Putin spurs debate in Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY — In the nearly three months since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis has spoken repeatedly about the suffering of Ukrainians. He’s called the war “cruel and senseless” and kissed the Ukrainian flag. Last week, he met with Ukrainian women who said their husbands were defending the besieged Mariupol steel plant.

But the pope’s messaging about the war, even to some supporters, has also been head-scratching.

He has conspicuously avoided condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as the aggressor. He has criticized the West’s sanctions and defense spending. And in an interview published this month by an Italian newspaper, Francis appeared to echo a Kremlin talking point, describing the “barking of NATO at Russia’s door” as one of the triggers for Putin’s wrath.

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2022-05-20 20:25:55 Four maps explain how Sweden and Finland could alter NATO’s security

This week Finland and Sweden, traditionally neutral nations, announced their bids to join NATO, a move that analysts say will transform Europe’s security landscape for years to come — and further strain relations with Russia, which opposes the alliance’s eastern expansion.

The addition of the countries could offer the alliance expanded land, sea and air capabilities. Sweden has a strong navy, which would strengthen NATO’s defenses in the Baltic Sea, and builds its own fighter jets, which it exports to countries around the globe. Finland’s well-funded military maintains mandatory conscription for men.

The countries also offer key geographic advantages, which would enhance NATO’s defenses.

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2022-05-20 18:25:52 Final Mariupol defenders signal end to campaign at Azovstal

A leader of the far-right Azov Regiment says an order has been issued to cease in the group’s last-ditch defense of Mariupol, which has been gutted by the Russian military, and that the effort will now focus on saving lives and removing the dead.

“The senior military leadership has issued an order on saving the life and health of the garrison’s servicemen and termination of the defense of the city,” said the commander of the regiment, Denys Prokopenko, in a video posted to Telegram.

He argued that the main priorities of his fighters had been the treatment of “civilians, the wounded and the killed,” and suggested that most of those conditions had been met, with civilians and the heavily injured evacuated and then “exchanged and delivered to territory controlled by Ukraine.”

It is not clear if all the fighters remaining at the Azovstal plant will now leave and lay down their arms.

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2022-05-20 16:18:07 Former German chancellor resigns from Russian energy giant

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder on Friday resigned from his board position with Russian state energy giant Rosneft, amid growing calls in Europe to sanction him unless he gives up his paycheck from Russia.

Rosneft said that both Schröder and fellow German board member Matthias Warnig had informed the company that it was “impossible” for them to continue in their roles. The company said they had been “invaluable” in implementing large scale infrastructure projects in Russia and Germany.

Pressure has been mounting on Schröder, who took up his $600,000-a-year position at Rosneft in 2017, over his continued business ties to Moscow. He is also chairman of the shareholders’ committee of Nord Stream, the company that built the now shelved controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. That was a position he took up just three weeks after leaving office in 2005.

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2022-05-20 10:05:29 Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- Ukrainian troops in the country’s east are fighting on in the face of intense Russian bombardment, under conditions in the Donbas region that President Volodymyr Zelensky described as “hell.”

- The Pentagon said Thursday it had observed active fighting in between the cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv, but that there were no major changes on the battlefield.

- The Senate approved President Biden’s $40 billion aid package, which contains fresh military, humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine. Biden is set to sign the package during his trip to East Asia.

- A deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, a military unit that helped defend Mariupol and has far-right ties, said Thursday in a Telegram video that he was still inside the Azovstal steel plant. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was tracking hundreds of prisoners of war from the facility who are now in Russian custody after a negotiated surrender this week.

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2022-05-20 08:45:31 Here's the latest on key battlegrounds in Ukraine.

Severodonetsk: Officials in this key city, the easternmost under Ukrainian control, are bracing for a major drawn-out battle. On Thursday, a regional governor reported that Russian airstrikes had killed at least 12 people and injured another 40.

Donetsk region: The regional governor on Thursday said Russian attacks had killed five civilians in four villages across Donetsk. Another six were injured, he said.

Kharkiv: Russian forces had sought to encircle this northeastern city but they have been forced to retreat in recent weeks. Ukraine’s military command on Thursday reported that another 260 Russian troops left the Kharkiv area and redeployed to Donetsk.

Kherson region: Russia’s deputy prime minister, Marat Khusnullin, toured this occupied southern region this week, Russian state media reported. The Kremlin’s troops seized control of much of the area early in the invasion, and Russia has signaled it may consider annexing it.

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