Besieged Azov steel mill: Ukraine wants to extract more fighters

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy wants to ensure that the remaining fighters are also taken out of the Azov steelworks. Fighting continues in the east of the country, and other regions are also reporting Russian airstrikes.

After the evacuation of around 260 Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov steelworks in Mariupol, the location of the city’s remaining defenders in the industrial complex remains unclear.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his video address that the Ukrainian government was working to get the remaining fighters out. The mission is overseen by the Ukrainian military and secret service agents, and “the most influential international mediators” are also involved.

Meanwhile, fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, and Russian airstrikes are also taking place in other regions. Russia is determined to tie the occupied Cherson region in southern Ukraine to itself. The region around the port city will have a “worthy place in our Russian family,” said Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Marat Chusnullin during a visit to Cherson on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian government, on the other hand, is convinced that “russification” of the Cherson region will fail.

According to the authorities, seven civilians were killed on Tuesday in the Donetsk region, which was fought over by Russian and Ukrainian troops. Six others were injured, Ukrainian military governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told the Telegram news service. He accused Russian troops of killing the people.

Allegedly senior Russian officers killed

In Melitopol, Ukrainian guerrilla fighters are said to have killed several high-ranking Russian officers – the Russian occupiers tried to keep this a secret, the regional administration of the southern Ukrainian city said on Telegram. The Russian troops apparently tightened controls on private cars in order to track down the fighters.

Details about the alleged actions of the guerrilla fighters were initially not given, and the report could not be independently confirmed.

According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, Russian forces are digging in in the south and east of his country. “Russia is preparing for a long-term military operation,” he told EU defense ministers and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Accordingly, the Russian troops are currently strengthening their positions in the areas they occupy in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions in order to “switch to defensive mode if necessary”.

Zelenskyj: “Russian attacks fizzle out”

Zelenskyy recently listed rocket attacks and bombardments in the Lviv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Luhansk regions. The Russian military wants to compensate for the failures in the east and south. In areas that the Russian forces wanted to attack, they could not show any success, he said in his video address.

So they tried “their rockets and other activities, but also without effect”. At the same time, Ukrainian air defense and anti-sabotage measures are becoming stronger.

Telephone call with Scholz and Macron

Selenskyj also phoned Chancellor Olaf Scholz again. The phone call was “quite productive,” said Selenskyj. Among other things, military support for Ukraine was discussed. He informed Scholz about the current military situation and its possible future development.

Zelenskyi also spoke again with French President Emmanuel Macron. Among other things, it was about the next round of European sanctions against Russia and Ukraine’s plans for rapid accession to the European Union, according to Zelenskyj.

According to the Élysée Palace, Macron promised that arms deliveries from France would continue and intensify. He also confirmed that Ukraine’s accession to the EU should be discussed in June.

Meanwhile, the United States has launched a conflict observatory. The new Conflict Observatory is intended to ensure “that crimes committed by Russia’s troops are documented and that those responsible are held accountable,” said a spokesman for the US State Department.

Among other things, the program will collect, analyze and publish information and evidence of “atrocities, human rights violations and damage to civilian infrastructure”. Reports would be posted on the ConflictObservatory.org website in the future.