Video summary of the war Ukraine - Russia: May 17 13:03
(CNN) --
Human Rights Watch claims to have documented a long list of alleged crimes against civilians in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions of northern Ukraine.
An HRW team that visited the area in April and May said they had "investigated 22 apparent summary executions, nine other unlawful killings, six possible enforced disappearances and seven cases of torture," according to a report released Wednesday.
The alleged crimes are believed to have been carried out in February and March by Russian troops while they controlled much of the area.
ANALYSIS |
The fall of Mariupol could hide evidence of war crimes and boost Russia's offensive
HRW said it had interviewed 65 people between April 10 and May 10, including families of victims and people who said they were detained and tortured by Russian troops.
The group said it has collected physical evidence further implicating Russian troops in "numerous violations of the laws of war that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."
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Among the testimonies collected by HRW is that of Anastasia Andriivna, 66, from the Kyiv region, who said she found the body of her adult son in a barn after apparently being executed.
"He was lying in a fetal position, with his hands tucked under his head and his jacket over his shoulders," Andriivna told HRW.
The organization also reported testimonies from villagers who said they were among 350 people held for 28 days in a cramped, squalid cellar in Yahidne, near Chernihiv.
Other villagers were killed by Russian troops, according to HRW.
HRW's director for Europe and Central Asia, Giorgi Gogia, called the alleged Russian atrocities "abhorrent, illegal and cruel".
These abuses against the civilian population are clear war crimes that must be promptly and impartially investigated and properly prosecuted," Gogia said.
Finland and Sweden formalize their intentions to join NATO
Finland's ambassador to NATO, Klaus Korhonen, left;
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, center, and Sweden's Ambassador to NATO Axel Wernhoff, right, attend a ceremony to mark Sweden and Finland's NATO application in Brussels, Belgium, May 18.
(Photo: Johanna Geron/Reuters)
Finland and Sweden have submitted their applications to join NATO, the secretary general of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Wednesday.
"The requests you have submitted today are a historic step. The allies will now consider the next steps on their way to NATO," Stoltenberg said after receiving the requests from the Finnish and Swedish ambassadors at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
"The security interests of all allies must be taken into account and we are determined to work on all issues and reach quick conclusions."
Stoltenberg made the remarks alongside Klaus Korhonen, Finland's ambassador to NATO, and Axel Wernhoff, Sweden's ambassador to NATO.
Russia says nearly 1,000 Ukrainians have surrendered at Azovstal steel plant
The Russian Defense Ministry says nearly 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol since Monday.
Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that a total of 959 Ukrainian soldiers, including 80 wounded, had laid down their arms and surrendered since May 16.
He reaffirmed that 51 wounded were sent to the Novoazovsk hospital, which is located in the self-declared region of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
Konashenkov said that in the last day alone, 694 Ukrainian "militants" had surrendered in Azovstal.
The symbolic defense of Mariupol comes to an end: why is it a key battle in the war in Ukraine?
The DPR gave similar figures, saying that a total of 962 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered since May 16.
CNN cannot confirm the Russian count.
The Ukrainian side has not provided updated information on the number of soldiers who have left Azovstal or on the status of negotiations for their exchange for Russian prisoners.
Most of the Azovstal soldiers appear to have been taken to Olenivka, a town close to the front lines but in DPR-controlled territory.
Some background
: The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Tuesday that the negotiation process on the evacuation of the last soldiers from the Azovstal steel plant continues with Russia.
It comes after the end of the Ukrainian forces' "combat mission" at the compound, which for weeks was the last major holdout in a city otherwise occupied by Russian troops.
Ukraine said it hopes to carry out an exchange of Russian prisoners of war for seriously wounded soldiers.
War in Ukraine is 'a wake-up call' to fix global energy system, says UN chief
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has announced a plan to accelerate the world's shift to renewable energy, saying the Ukraine war was a wake-up call for the world to ditch fossil fuels.
Speaking at the launch of the World Meteorological Organization's 2021 state of the global climate report, Guterres described the findings as "a dire litany of humanity's failure to tackle climate disruption."
"The global energy system is broken, bringing us ever closer to climate catastrophe. Fossil fuels are a dead end, both from an environmental and economic point of view," he said, according to prepared remarks.
"The war in Ukraine and its immediate effects on energy prices is another wake-up call. The only sustainable future is renewable energy. We must end fossil fuel pollution and accelerate the transition to renewable energy, before we incinerate our only home," he said, adding that "time is running out."
In his plan, Guterres proposed
1. That renewable energy technologies, such as battery storage, be treated as "essential and open access global public goods."
He called for a global coalition on battery storage to accelerate innovation and deployment, driven by governments and bringing together tech companies, manufacturers and financiers.
2. Secure, expand and diversify the supply of components and critical raw materials for renewable energy technologies.
3. Governments must create frameworks and reform bureaucracies to level the playing field for renewable energy.
4. Governments must move subsidies away from fossil fuels to protect the poor and the most vulnerable people and communities.
5. Private and public investments in renewable energy must triple to at least $4 trillion a year.
A former Russian colonel criticizes the invasion of Ukraine on state television
In a rare public criticism of Russia's conduct of military operations in Ukraine, a former high-ranking Russian officer has warned on state television that the situation will get worse.
"Let's not take 'information tranquilizers', because sometimes information is spread about some moral or psychological breakdown of the Ukrainian armed forces, as if they are close to a morale crisis or a fracture," retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok said in the This Monday's edition of the program 60 minutes of Rossiya One. "None of this comes close to reality."
Despite the rejection of the host of the program, Khodarenok said that Ukraine could arm a million people.
"Considering that European aid will come into force in full and that a million armed Ukrainian soldiers may join the fight, we have to see this reality of the near future, and we have to consider it in our operational and strategic calculations. The situation for us it will get frankly worse," he said.
The former Russian colonel who criticizes the war in Ukraine in Russian media 1:31
Khodarenok, a regular commentator in the Russian media, also commented on Russia's broader isolation.
"Let's look at this situation as a whole from our overall vantage point," he said.
"Let's not launch missiles in the direction of Finland: this seems ridiculous. The biggest problem with our military and political situation is that we are in total geopolitical isolation. And the whole world is against us, even if we don't want to admit it."
Khodarenok warned before the invasion began that waging war in Ukraine would be more difficult than many anticipated.
In a February article, he said that "the degree of hatred (which, as is known, is the most effective fuel for the armed struggle) in the neighboring republic towards Moscow is frankly underestimated. No one will receive the Russian army with bread, salt and flowers in Ukraine".
Experts' claims that Russian forces will defeat Ukraine in a short time "do not have any serious foundation," he had said.
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