WORLD NEWS May 19: Azov Battalion has not yet surrendered, Russia must continue air strikes

A Ukrainian gunman entrenched at the Azovsta steel plant every day on May 18 under the control of pro-Russian forces – Photo: REUTERS

* Russia’s RIA news agency quoted the Defense Ministry as saying 771 Ukrainian fighters of Azov battalion surrendered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total surrendered from May 16 to now to 1,730. Among the new soldiers were 80 wounded soldiers.

However, Denis Pushilin, a pro-Russian separatist leader, said that the leaders and loyal soldiers of the Azov battalion were still in the Azovstal underground bunker of the city of Mariupol.

According to Pushilin, there are about 1,000 gunmen still entrenched in the fortified underground tunnels, although wounded civilians and soldiers have been brought out continuously in recent days.

General Christophe Gomart, a former director of French military intelligence, also told LCI radio on May 19 that he had information that several hundred Ukrainian fighters had not yet surrendered.

* On May 19, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio announced This country will increase financial support to Ukraine by 300 million USD, bringing the total to 600 million USD. Speaking to the press, Kishida said that the Ukrainian side had asked for short-term assistance in the context of the country’s financial situation worsening due to the war and that Japan needed to respond to this request “as a member state”. member of the Group of 7 and a member of the national community”.

Earlier, in April, Mr. Kishida announced an increase in the yen loan to Ukraine to 300 million USD.

US President Joe Biden – Photo: REUTERS

* May 18, The Ministry of Defense of Finland announced that this country and Sweden will buy handguns and anti-tank weapons togetheras the two Nordic neighbors have officially applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

According to VNA, Helsinki and Stockholm will strengthen defense procurement cooperation through Finland’s participation in an agreement to purchase anti-tank weapons from weapons manufacturer Saab Dynamics – a subsidiary of Saab’s defense industry group. Switzerland. The agreement paves the way for purchases of missiles, rifles, ammunition and other related equipment.

* On May 18, KCNA news agency said North Korea has recorded an additional 262,270 people with fever symptoms and 1 death in the context of the first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak. KCNA did not specify how many people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

* President Biden believes Sweden and Finland’s attempt to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will succeed, despite objections from Turkeyaccording to Reuters news agency.

“I think we’ll be fine,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question about how he persuaded Turkey to stop opposing Sweden and Finland joining the union.

Meanwhile, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Reuters that top US security officials “unanimously” supported Finland and Sweden’s efforts to join NATO, seeing them as powerful military partners.

The US flag is raised at the US Embassy in Kiev on May 18 – Photo: REUTERS

* The US Embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kiev reopened on May 18 after three months of closure due to Russia’s “special military operation”.

“We are officially reopening operations,” spokesman Daniel Langenkamp of the US Embassy in Ukraine told Reuters shortly before the US flag was raised above the embassy. Mr. Langenkamp said a small number of diplomats would return to the original to join the mission.

* On May 18, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said Germany seems to have reached the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak with the Omicron variant. However, the RKI warned that infection pressure remains very high with more than 1.5 million COVID-19 cases reported within a week.

According to Radio DW, the sub-variant BA.2 of Omicron is dominant in Germany. In the last week, the number of new cases associated with this variant has increased from 73% to 81%.

* The life story of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – from comedian to wartime leader – has been made into a book, in the latest biography of TidalWave Comics Publishing House: Political power: Volodymyr Zelensky.

The 22-page book is slated for release on May 20 and is presented in the form of a visual novel, Reuters news agency reports.

The cover of the graphic biography of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – Photo: REUTERS

* According to Al JazeeraThe Ministry of Interior of Tajikistan confirmed that clashes between the country’s security forces and “terrorists” left 9 people dead and 24 others injured in the volatile region bordering China and Afghanistan. .

On May 18, the agency said members of “organized crime groups” armed with firearms and petrol bombs attacked security forces in the Gorno-Badakhshan area in eastern Tajikistan, where it has been a long time. is still a hotbed of tension.

* According to the newspaper Times of Israelthe Israel Space Agency (ISA) announced that it has submitted to the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology of this country a plan worth about 180 million USD to invest in the field of space technology for civil purposes.

This is part of a master plan to support civil space technology businesses and fund startups in the field. The announcement on the ISA website said the new plan set out a vision “to strengthen Israel’s position and independence as one of the world’s leading nations in the field of space technology”.