Ukraine War: Azovstal in Mariupol - exchange of 38 fighters planned

Created: 05/13/2022, 04:50

By: Nadja Austel, Marvin Ziegele, Tanja Koch

Soldiers from Mariupol are to be exchanged.

The war in south-east Ukraine continues unabated.

The news ticker.

• Eastern Ukraine under heavy fire:

  Russia

  is concentrating on areas in the south-east in the Ukraine war.

• Azov regiment asks Elon Musk for help

  : Amid the Ukraine conflict, soldiers from Mariupol turn to the Tesla boss.

• Attacks on the capital:

  Kiev's

  mayor

  Vitali Klitschko

  expects further attacks.

• This news ticker on the

  Ukraine war

  is continuously updated.

+++ 9:18 p.m .:

An anti-aircraft gunner from the 81st Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Force shot down a Russian Mi-24 helicopter.

This was announced by the press service of the Ukrainian air raid troops, according to the news portal Ukrajinska Pravda.

The gunman, operating in the Luhansk region, spotted a group of four Russian helicopters and shot down the leader of the second pair with a Stinger missile.

+++ 19:09:

Apparently, the exchange of 38 seriously injured fighters from the Mariupol steelworks against Russian prisoners is being considered.

Ukraine says it is in talks with Russia.

The talks are "very difficult," said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Initially, only 38 soldiers are to be exchanged for captured Russians.

Various media had previously spoken of 500 to 600 Ukrainians who could be taken out of the steelworks.

Vereshchuk denies these figures and adds: "We are working step by step."

+++ 18:25:

A new video published by The Kyiv Independent on Twitter shows the renewed bombing of the Azovstal steel plant.

The steel mill forms the last Ukrainian stronghold in besieged Mariupol.

According to the government, more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, including hundreds of wounded, are still there.

Ukraine War: Evacuation halted in Luhansk

+++ 16.40:

Ukraine stops the evacuation of civilians from the Sievierodonetsk region, Luhansk region.

The reason is constant attacks by the Russian army.

The city's mayor, Oleksandr Striuk, said authorities would resume evacuation once the shelling stopped.

According to the official, there are still up to 15,000 residents in Sievierodonetsk.

Ukraine War: Russian tanks shell educational facility

+++ 3:00 p.m .:

Russian forces shelled educational institutions in Nowhorod-Siverskij, Chernihiv region.

This is reported by the Ukrainian Task Force North.

The attack killed three people, injured twelve and damaged several buildings.

Ukraine war: Russia's tanks become "moving coffins"

+++ 1:11 p.m .:

A video from Chinese media is said to show a Russian tank exploding near Mariupol.

The turret of the Russian tank is said to have been catapulted more than 50 meters into the air.

The type of weapon used is unknown, but according to the British Daily Mail it must be assumed that Ukraine used the known weaknesses of Russian tanks in the attack.

These would turn the vehicles into “coffins on wheels”.

Russia expert Sam Bendett told CNN.

Russian tanks destroyed in the Ukraine war.

Their design gives the Ukrainians a point of attack.

© Genya Savilov/afp

Ukraine War: Massive shelling from Russia

+++ 12.47 p.m .:

According to the US news channel CNN, there should have been intensive shelling by Russia in the Luhansk region.

CNN quotes the head of the military administration of the Luhansk region as saying: “The enemy has completely destroyed the captured settlements in Luhansk.

The shelling intensified along the entire Luhansk front.”

He also stressed that Russia would not change its tactics in the east.

"They destroy cities and only then move on to scorched earth." The "scorched earth" tactic describes a strategy in which one party to the conflict destroys everything that can benefit the enemy.

This includes roads, factories, food, even towns and villages in some cases.

Ukraine War: Russia resumes shelling of South

+++ 11.02 a.m

.: In the south of Ukraine, the Ukrainian military reports further shelling by Russian forces, but no change in the front position, reports the US news channel CNN.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region continues.

The General Staff of Ukraine reported that Russia has strengthened units in the border area.

Authorities in Dnipro said there had been shelling throughout the night and one civilian had been killed.

In the last 24 hours, eleven people have been injured by Russian shelling in Mykolaiv Oblast, reports the news portal Kiyv Independent.

There are currently 157 people reported injured in hospitals by Russian attacks.

Ukraine war: Russia has to accept more and more losses

+++ 10.25 a.m .:

Russia is said to have lost 26,650 soldiers since the beginning of the war against Ukraine, reports the Kiyv Independent news portal.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces also said that Russia is said to have lost 1,195 tanks, 2,873 armored personnel carriers, 2,019 vehicles and fuel tanks, 534 artillery systems, 191 multiple missile systems, 87 anti-aircraft systems, 161 helicopters, 199 aircraft, 398 UAVs and 13 boats.

Ukraine war: Azov regiment asks Elon Musk for help – “If not you, then who?”

+++ 9.42 a.m .:

 A Ukrainian military commander in the besieged port city of Mariupol has made a desperate appeal to the richest man in the world, Elon Musk.

The commander of the 36th Naval Brigade Serhiy Volyna wrote on Twitter on Wednesday to the new owner of the short message service: "Help us get from Azov steel to a mediator country.

If not you, then who?”

Volyna, whose unit has been holding out for weeks at Azov Stahl's industrial plants besieged by Russian troops, said he set up a Twitter account specifically to reach Musk.

"They say you come from another planet to teach people to believe in the impossible," he wrote to Musk.

"Our planets are next to each other as I live where it is almost impossible to survive." He called on "every human being on planet earth" to help Musk heed his appeal.

According to the Ukrainian government, more than a thousand soldiers remain in the Soviet-era steel mill's extensive underground facilities.

They are the last defenders in the strategically important port city of Mariupol, which is now completely under Russian control except for the industrial area.

Hundreds of civilians have been evacuated from the facilities in recent weeks.

War in Ukraine: Klitschko fears attacks on Kyiv – use of cluster munitions documented

First report from Thursday, May 12, 8:42 a.m.:

Kiev – Despite the fact that Russian troops have withdrawn from the area around Kiev, Mayor Vitali Klitschko fears a new attack on the Ukrainian capital “at any time”.

In an interview with the US broadcaster CNN, Klitschko did not even rule out the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

Kyiv remains the main target of the Russian military.

"And as long as there is war in Ukraine, we cannot give a Ukrainian any guarantees," said the former world boxing champion.

"Right now, safety is our top priority," he said.

Although the country is being defended by “our warriors”, the risk remains.

"And without our partners, without the US and the European states, we cannot survive."

Ukraine War: Fighting between Cherson and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine

In the region between Cherson and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian troops have been engaged in bitter fighting.

The defenders gave the Russian attackers "no opportunity to advance," as the Ukrainian military leadership explained.

In the course of the fighting, at least 23 Russian soldiers were killed and two tanks and an ammunition depot were destroyed, the Unian agency quoted from the statement.

The information could not be independently verified.

Ukraine war: Human Rights Watch reports cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine

According to Human Rights Watch, the Russian armed forces have used internationally banned cluster munitions in Ukraine.

Hundreds of civilians were killed and schools, residential buildings and hospitals damaged

According to local media reports, nine people who were queuing in front of an ATM died on March 13 as a result of cluster munitions in Mykolaiv.

How many missions there were in total is difficult to say.

The organization assumes hundreds.

According to reports, Ukraine has also used cluster munitions at least once – specifically in an occupied village near Kharkiv.

Strictly speaking, only the 110 contracting states are bound by the international treaty, which has banned the use, stockpiling, trade and production of cluster munitions since 2010, but not Russia and Ukraine.

(tk with afp/dpa)