Max Hunder

KYIV/MARIUPOL, Ukraine (Reuters – Moscow announced that almost 700 Ukrainian fighters have surrendered in Russian-held Mariupol to help it secure a crucial win in the south. The United States was the first Western country to reopen an embassy in Kyiv.

Although Ukraine has asked its Mariupol garrison to disband, the final outcome of Europe’s bloodiest conflict in decades is still unknown.

The Azovstal steelworks is still home to top Ukrainian commanders, after they had lost their battle at the Azovstal, a port city, facility. This was confirmed by Denis Pushilin of pro-Russian separatists, who was quoted Wednesday by DNA, a local news agency.

Ukrainian officials declined to speak publicly about the fate of fighters.

A news conference was told by Oleksandr Mokouzaynik, a military spokesperson. This process could be endangered if the public is informed.”

Ukraine said Tuesday that it surrendered more than 250 of its fighters, however they did not specify how many others were there.

Russia announced Wednesday that 694 additional fighters surrendered to it, making the total 959. According to the defense ministry, videos were posted by it showing wounded fighters from Ukraine being admitted after they surrendered at Azovstal.

According to Mariupol Mayor Vadym Borichenko, Volodymyr Zelenskiy (President of Ukraine), the Red Cross, and the United Nations participated in the talks. However, he did not give any details.

Mariupol, the largest city Russia has captured thus far, allows Russian President Vladimir Putin a rare victory during the February 24th invasion.

After pulling out of Kyiv, Moscow has shifted its focus to the south-east. On Wednesday, however, it announced that the United States had resumed operation at their embassy.

U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken said that “the Ukrainian people…have stood up for their homeland against Russia’s unspeakable invasion”

A few diplomats may return to the mission initially, but consular operations are not expected to resume immediately. This was stated by Daniel Langenkamp (ambassy spokesperson).

Canada, Britain, and other countries have all recently resumed their embassy operations.

The resistance of the Ukrainian people continues to be demonstrated in Russian-occupied territories. According to Ukraine, its fighters used an explosive device to blow up an armored train with Russian troops in the south city of Melitopol.

Reuters couldn’t independently verify these details. The Russian Ministry of Defence didn’t immediately reply to our request for comment.

Moscow asserts that it is involved in a special military operation to denazify its neighbor and demilitarize him. This is a pretext to invasion, Kyiv and the West call it.

NATO APPLICATION

On Wednesday, Sweden and Finland applied to NATO membership. This was in response to the invasion of Ukraine and the exact kind of expansion Putin mentioned as the reason for his attack on Ukraine.

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During the Cold War, both Sweden and Finland were militarily neutral.

Russia threatened to retaliate against these plans but Putin stated Monday that NATO membership will not be an issue for Russia unless it sends more troops and weapons.

However, Russia may cut gas supply to Finland this week according to Gasum, the state-owned energy company.

According to the European Commission, a plan of 210 billion euros ($220 billion), was announced by Europe for ending its dependence on Russian oil and gas.

Google (NASDAQ 🙂 was the latest major Western company to leave Russia. The statement said its local division had filed for bankruptcy. They were forced to cease operations when their bank accounts were seize.

DONBAS TAKES OVER

Russian forces carried out their main offensive and tried to capture additional territory in eastern Donbas, which Moscow has claimed on behalf of separatists.

Moscow has taken control of Mariupol (the main port of Donbas), and has a swathe of land across Ukraine’s east, south, and east.

According to the governor of Luhansk, a region of the Donbass, there have been several attacks.

Severodonetsk was the main target of today’s shelling. There are also villages near Severodonetsk. Serhity Gaidai, a Telegram user wrote that the Russians still want to build the “road to life” in the central Luhansk region connecting Lysychansk with Bakhmut.

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