Video summary of the war Ukraine - Russia: May 16 19:14
(CNN) --
Ukrainian forces have completed their "combat mission" in the besieged city of Mariupol, according to a statement from the country's military.
Commanders of units stationed at the city's huge Azovstal steel plant have been ordered to "save the lives of their personnel," according to the statement from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Hundreds of people were evacuated Monday from the steel plant, the last redoubt in a city that had become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance under incessant Russian bombardment.
Last minute of Russia's war in Ukraine: "If there is a hell in the world, it is in Azovstal"
Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar described the evacuation operation in a separate video, noting that some Ukrainian forces remain in Azovstal.
"Fifty-three seriously injured people were evacuated from Azovstal to a medical center in Novoazovsk for medical treatment," it said.
"Another 211 people were brought to Olenivka through the humanitarian corridor."
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An "exchange procedure" will see the evacuees eventually brought home, Malyar also said.
"Ukraine needs living Ukrainian heroes," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement on the evacuation on Monday, thanking the Ukrainian military and negotiators, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations.
"The 82nd day of our defense is coming to an end. A difficult day. But this day, like all others, is aimed precisely at saving our country and our people," Zelensky said.
The Russian Defense Ministry had earlier said that a ceasefire had been established to allow the passage of the wounded Ukrainian servicemen, according to the state news agency RIA Novosti.
Ukrainian soldiers sing inside the Mariupol steelworks 1:01
Russian Missile Attacks Ukraine's Railway Infrastructure
Russian missiles targeted western Ukraine overnight, damaging rail infrastructure near the Polish border, according to the head of the Lviv regional military administration.
Maksym Kozytskyi said the location hit was near the town of Yavoriv, which is also home to a large military base.
He said there were no reports of casualties.
Air defense systems shot down three missiles, it added.
The city's mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, said that no place in the city of Lviv had been hit.
On Twitter, Sadovyi said there had been two missile salvos in the region overnight.
Air defenses had worked well, Sadovyi said, adding that it was not clear whether the city itself had been targeted.
A series of explosions were heard in central Lviv at around 00:45 local time (5:45 pm ET), shortly after air raid sirens sounded in the city.
A member of the CNN team in the city saw air defenses being turned on to the northwest, in the direction of Yavoriv, some 40 kilometers away.
Yavoriv has been attacked at least three times since the start of the war.
In the first attack, on the city's military base on March 13, more than 30 people were killed.
In recent weeks, Russian missiles have also targeted locations in Lviv, including an aircraft parts factory, a fuel depot and several electrical substations.
Kharkiv official says Ukrainian forces are advancing in northeast
Ukrainian soldiers are advancing north and northeast of Kharkiv, according to the head of the northeastern city's regional military administration, as a weeks-long counterattack picks up speed.
Oleh Syniehubov told Ukrainian television on Tuesday that fighting was raging northeast of Ukraine's second-largest city, toward the city of Vovchansk, along the Russia-Ukraine border.
The city has become a resupply route for Russian forces as they try to maintain their offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions further south.
Disruption of that supply line could compromise the Russians' ability to bolster their offensive toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Russia's withdrawal from Kharkiv, another key Ukrainian city, reveals new evidence of atrocities
"Active hostilities are taking place in the northern settlements of the region," Syniehubov said.
"The enemy is focused on holding positions. Our troops have to repel them (in) every inch of our territory."
Syniebuhov added that Ukrainian advances had helped reduce—but not eliminate—Russian artillery attacks on Kharkiv.
There has been "relative silence for the last two weeks," Syniebuhov said.
"However, the enemy sometimes attacks with artillery strikes."
This Monday there were attacks in the Saltivka and Shevchenkivskyi districts, near Kharkiv, Syniebuhov added.
"Two people were killed and nine were injured in the last 24 hours," he said.
Syniebuhov said Russian shelling was continuing in other parts of the Kharkiv region.
Sweden signs NATO application
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde signs Sweden's application for NATO membership at the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm on May 17. (Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency/AP)
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde signed an application Tuesday morning stating that the country wants to join NATO.
The move marks a formal step by Stockholm toward joining the US-led military alliance — ending decades of military neutrality — as Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggers a dramatic evolution in European security and geopolitics.
"It feels very big, very serious, and it seems that we have come to a conclusion that is best for Sweden," Linde said.
"We don't know how long it will take, but we estimate it could take up to a year. Now, this week, this application will be submitted, along with Finland, in a day or so, and then it will be processed by NATO."
A bit of context
: Sweden's prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, said Monday that the country should join NATO along with neighboring Finland to "guarantee the security of the Swedes."
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the entry of the two Nordic countries into NATO will not create a threat to Russia, but military expansion on the territory "will certainly provoke our response."
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