MOSCOW — The Kremlin says the Ukrainian soldiers at a giant steel mill in the port of Mariupol are surrendering.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that 959 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered since Monday.
Ukrainian authorities say they ordered the fighters to save their lives and said the mission to tie up Russian forces by defending the Azovstal plant is complete.
But they have have avoided describing the action of the ones who left the plant as a surrender.
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Asked about the conflicting Russian and Ukrainian narratives, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “There can be just one interpretation: the troops holed up at Azovstal are laying down their weapons and surrendering.”
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Ukraine hopes to swap steel mill fighters for Russian POWs
— Will Turkey upend NATO expansion? US officials seek clarity
— NATO chief hails ‘historic moment’ as Finland, Sweden apply
— In Ukraine, limbs lost and lives devastated in an instant
— Europe’s push to cut Russian gas faces a race against winter
— Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
BERLIN — The United States has mobilized about three times as much support for Ukraine as the European Union, according to figures compiled by a German think tank.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy said Wednesday that a new aid package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives takes American military, financial and humanitarian support for Ukraine to almost 43 billion euros (over $45 billion) between Jan. 24 and May 10.
The institute found that aid from the EU amounted to just under 16 billion euros ($16.8 billion) during the same period. However, some countries in the 27-nation bloc have shied away from giving the value of their Ukraine aid, particularly for arms supplies.
Compared to their gross domestic products, Estonia, Latvia and Poland provided the most support, ahead of the United States, according to the think tank’s calculations.
BERLIN — Austria’s government says it has no intention of following Sweden and Finland into NATO.
Austria joined the European Union at the same time as the two Nordic nations in 1995. The Swedish and Finnish applications to join NATO will likely leave Austria as one of very few EU countries that aren’t also a member of the trans-Atlantic military alliance.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio on Wednesday that “we decided on neutrality in 1955 and is still the case that a very, very large majority of the population views this positively.”
He said that hasn’t prevented Austria from backing EU sanctions against Russia and giving Ukraine non-lethal support.
Schallenberg said he “takes note” of the Swedish and Finnish decision to make a “massive change” to their security policy — “but the situation looks a bit different here: we will, like Ireland and Malta — there are three states in all in the (European) Union — continue to remain neutral.”
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The Danish Defense Intelligence Service on Wednesday heightened the threat level for cyber activism against Denmark because of the recent pro-Russian cyber activist attacks on Western European NATO countries.
Denmark’s Center for Cyber Security which is under the Scandinavian country’s foreign intelligence service, raised the threat level from low to medium – the third level on a five-step scale.
The national IT security authority said that in the initial phase after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cyber-activist attacks mainly targeted Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
However, “in recent weeks, cyber activists have also hit targets in Western European NATO countries.” It added that cyber-activist attacks have affected in recent weeks targeted “countries in the immediate vicinity of Ukraine. Pro-Russian activist groups have attacked companies and authorities in, for example, the Czech Republic, Poland and Estonia.”
KYIV, Ukraine — The Russian military says that almost 1,000 Ukrainian troops left Mariupol’s last stronghold this week. Ukraine has not confirmed.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that 694 Ukrainian soldiers at the Azovstal steel plant handed themselves over to Russian troops the past 24 hours, bringing the total of Ukrainian troops who have conceded since Monday to 959.
Konashenkov’s claim couldn’t be independently verified.
Ukrainian authorities have avoided mentioning any numbers for the troops who left the plant.
LONDON — British military authorities say Russia relied heavily on auxiliary forces, including Chechen fighters, to overcome Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol, underscoring the manpower and command problems that are hampering Russian operations.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense, in a briefing posted Wednesday morning, says “staunch” Ukrainian resistance delayed Russia’s ability to take full control of the strategic port city and inflicted “costly personnel losses” on Russian forces.
The ministry says the Kremlin has made significant use of auxiliary personnel, including thousands of Chechen fighters concentrated around Mariupol and in the Luhansk region.
These forces include individual volunteers and National Guard units that are usually dedicated to securing the rule of Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Chechen Republic.
“The combat deployment of such disparate personnel demonstrates Russia’s significant resourcing problems in Ukraine and is likely contributing to a disunited command which continues to hamper Russia’s operations,” the ministry said.
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Finland and Sweden have applied to join the world’s biggest military alliance, a move driven by security concerns over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“I warmly welcome the requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO. You are our closest partners,” Stoltenberg told reporters Wednesday after a receiving their application letters from the two Nordic countries’ ambassadors.
The application must now be weighed by the 30 member countries.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed reservations about Finland and Sweden joining.
If his objections are overcome, and accession talks go as well as expected, the two could become members within a few months. The process usually takes eight to 12 months, but NATO wants to move quickly given the threat from Russia hanging over the Nordic countries’ heads.
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman said the Russian military was holding more than 3,000 civilians from Mariupol at another former penal colony near Olenivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Seven buses carrying an unknown number of Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from the Mariupol steel plant were seen arriving Tuesday at former penal colony No. 120 near Olenivka.
Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova said on Telegram earlier Tuesday that the civilians were being held at former penal colony No. 52, also near Olenivka.
She said most civilians are held for a month, but those considered “particularly unreliable,” including former soldiers and police, are held for two months.
Denisova said those held include about 30 volunteers who delivered humanitarian supplies to Mariupol while it was under Russian siege.
MELITOPOL, Ukraine — Ukrainian guerrilla fighters reportedly have killed several high-ranking Russian officers in the southern city of Melitopol, the regional administration said on Telegram.
Russian forces have occupied the city since early in the war.
According to the regional administration, the occupiers are trying to conceal the situation but Russian troops were more actively checking private cars in the city Tuesday, most likely looking for the guerrillas.
No details of the killings were given and the report could not immediately be confirmed.
Throughout the war, the Ukrainians have claimed to have killed many Russian generals and other officers. A few of the deaths have been confirmed by the Russians.
KYIV, Ukraine — The fall of Mariupol appears at hand as Ukraine is moving to abandon a sprawling steel plant where its soldiers had held out under relentless bombardment for months, which would make it the biggest city to fall into Russian hands.
Much of the steel plant has been reduced to rubble.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is working to get its remaining troops safely out of the Azovstal steel plant.
In his nightly video address to the nation, Zelenskyy said the evacuation mission was being supervised by Ukraine’s military and intelligence officers and “the most influential international mediators are involved.”
However, hundreds of Ukrainian fighters have left the Azovstal steel plant and turned themselves over to Russian hands.
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