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More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers, including some seriously wounded, were evacuated on Monday from a steel plant in the destroyed city of Mariupol and transferred to areas under Russian control, reported the armed forces of Ukraine.
Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said 53 seriously wounded soldiers had been taken to a hospital in Novoazovsk, east of Mariupol. In addition, another 211 fighters were evacuated to Olenivka through a humanitarian corridor. An exchange will be negotiated so that they can return home, he assured.
Look: Putin pronounces on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO and issues a warning
Malyar said missions are underway to rescue the remaining soldiers from the plant, the last pocket of resistance in Mariupolin the south of the country.
“Thanks to the defenders of MariupolUkraine gained vital time”he claimed. “And they did all their duty. But it is impossible to unlock Azovstal by military means”.
The defenders of the steel plant were evacuated at a time when Moscow suffered a new diplomatic setback in its war with Ukraine, after Sweden decided to act like Finland and apply to join the NATO. In addition, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated his soldiers after reports that they forced Russian troops to withdraw near the border.
Hours earlier on Monday, the Ministry of Defense of Russia had announced an agreement for the wounded to leave the compound and receive treatment in a city controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
As night fell on Monday, several buses drove away from the steel complex accompanied by Russian military vehicles.
It was not immediately clear whether the wounded would be considered prisoners of war.
Russian forces attacked targets in the industrial region of the donbasin the east of Ukraine. The death toll, already in the thousands, continues to rise as the war enters its 12th week.
The eastern city of Sievierdonetsk was the target of intense attacks in which at least 10 people were killed, said Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region. In the Donetsk region, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko posted on Facebook that nine civilians were killed in the area by artillery strikes.
But Ukrainian troops have also made gains by forcing Russian forces back from around the northeastern city of Kharkiv in recent days. Zelensky thanked his soldiers who, according to reports, advanced to the border with Russia in the Kharkiv region, in a symbolic triumph.
One video showed Ukrainian soldiers carrying a pole similar to the border markers of Ukraine, with the colors blue and yellow. He was then placed on the ground while a dozen elements posed next to him, one of them with several holsters on his shoulder.
“I am very grateful to you, on behalf of all Ukrainians, personally and my family,” said Zelensky in a video message. “I am very grateful to all the fighters like you.”
The Ukrainian border service said the video came from the border “in the Kharkiv region”, but did not go into details for security reasons. At the moment it was not possible to verify the exact location.
Ukrainian border guards also said they prevented a Russian attempt to send sabotage and reconnaissance troops into the Sumy region, some 146 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of Kharkiv.
Russia has been beset by setbacks during the war, most notably its failure to capture the capital kyiv. Much of the fighting has been concentrated in the donbaswhere both sides fight town by town.
howitzers USA and other nations have helped Kyiv to defend or gain ground against the Russians, a senior US defense official reported. USA. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity so he could comment on the US military assessment, said Ukraine has forced Russian forces to withdraw to a 1 to 4 kilometer (0.5 to 2.5 kilometer) strip. miles) from the Russian border, but could not confirm that it was as far as the border.
According to the official, long-distance Russian strikes also appeared to be aimed at a Ukrainian military training camp in Yavoriv, near the Polish border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Meanwhile, the international response against the Russian invasion accelerated his march.
Sweden reported that it will apply to enter the NATOafter neighboring Finland made a similar decision in a historic shift in position for the two nations, which for generations were non-aligned.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said her country would be in a “vulnerable position” during the application period, and urged citizens to prepare.
“Russia has said that it will retaliate if we enter the NATO”, stressed. “We cannot rule out Sweden being exposed to, for example, disinformation and attempts to intimidate and divide us.”
But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a member of the NATO, intensified his opposition to their entry. He accused both countries of not taking a “clear” position against Kurdish militants and other groups Ankara considers terrorists, and of imposing military sanctions on Turkey.
He said Swedish and Finnish officials due to arrive in Turkey next week shouldn’t bother coming if they try to convince Ankara to drop its objection.
“How can we trust them?Erdogan asked at a joint press conference with visiting Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
For the Nordic neighbors to join, it is necessary that the 30 current members of NATO accept it by consensus.
Source: Elcomercio
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