Ukraine War on the 87th Day: Transitioning After Mariupol

Nearly three months after hostilities broke out, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the last troops had left the Azovstal steel plant. The front in Mariupol was officially closed, allowing Russia to focus on the hostilities in the Donbass.

Russian armored vehicles guide the bus carrying Ukrainian soldiers out of Azovstal reuters

War situation

In Mariupol, the Russian Ministry of Defense recorded 2,439 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered at the Azovstal plant in the past few days, including 531 of the last contingent. Ukraine did not comment on this figure.

Confirming in the video clip, commander Denys Prokopenko of the Azov Regiment said that civilians and seriously injured soldiers had been evacuated from the factory, while not mentioning the fate of the remaining soldiers.

After declaring victory over all of Mariupol, Russian forces turned their campaign around, seeking to control what remained of eastern Ukraine.

In Severodonetsk, President Zelensky described Russia’s repeated bombing of the city as “brutal and completely senseless”. Along with its sister city Lysychansk, Severodonetsk is part of Ukraine’s anti-Russian resistance territory in Lugansk.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have destroyed a large consignment of American and European weapons en route to the Donbass. Accordingly, the Russian warship fired Kalibr cruise missiles and destroyed the target at Malin train station, west of Kyiv in the Zhytomyr region. Ukraine did not comment on this information.

The Russian missile also hit a Culture center in Kharkiv, wounding 7 people. The Institute for the Study of War (based in Washington DC) said that Russian forces appear to be taking action around Kharkiv and along the southern axis, in preparation for counterattacks by Ukraine.

In addition, the Pentagon said there is no indication that Russia has ever used laser weapons in Ukraine. A few days ago, Moscow said that it had brought a new generation of laser weapons to deal with the drones of Ukrainian forces.

President Joe Biden on the list of prohibited entry to Russia reuters

Russia bans entry of US president

On May 21, Russia released a complete list of Americans banned from entering the country. Among the 963 names on the list, can include President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns.

The list was announced by Moscow an hour after President Biden signed into law nearly 40 billion USD in aid to Ukraine. The aid package, which will be delivered to Ukraine within five months, includes about $6 billion for US-made armored vehicles and air defense systems.

Meanwhile, President Zelensky said that the war in Ukraine can only be ended through diplomacy. Currently, efforts to negotiate between Kyiv and Moscow are still stalled and there is no resolution.

The leader of Ukraine also received the Prime Minister Portugal António Costa in Kyiv on May 21. Portugal said it will provide 250 million euros in aid to Ukraine.

(left) Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa arrives in Kyiv Reuters

Economic developments

Russian energy group Gazprom has stopped exporting gas to neighboring Finland, after the country refused to pay in rubles at the opponent’s request.

However, Reuters cited three sources familiar with the matter, revealing that Italy and Germany have informed their companies to open ruble accounts parallel to euro accounts at Gazprombank to continue buying Russian gas.

After consulting the European Commission, the two countries updated information to the enterprise domestic. Accordingly, the party importing gas from Russia will not violate the embargo of the European Union (EU) as long as it maintains payment in a currency other than rubles.

The sources do not mention the mechanism of converting euros to rubles and vice versa at the time of payment, only knowing that the money order does not include rubles.

On the same day, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who opposes Sweden and Finland joining NATO, had a phone call with the leaders of the two countries to discuss concerns that Ankara has not yet agreed to allow the two countries to join NATO. join the block.