Ukraine War: High-ranking officers still hold out in Azov steelworks

Created: 05/18/2022, 15:23

By: Helena Gries, Kim Hornickel, Tobias Utz, Lukas Zigo, Daniel Dillmann, Nail Akkoyun, Andreas Apetz

Fierce fighting is raging in eastern Ukraine.

Russia continues rocket and artillery fire.

The news ticker.

• Russia shells border regions:

  mortars in use

• 3000 civilians in penal colony

  : Russia is said to have detained residents of Mariupol

• All the latest news and developments on the

  Ukraine war

  in our news ticker.

+++ 3:00 p.m .:

Even if many soldiers from the Mariupol steelworks have “surrendered”, as the Kremlin put it, high-ranking Ukrainian commanders are said to still be in the steelworks.

They have not yet surrendered, local media quoted pro-Russian separatist leader Denis Puschilin as saying on Wednesday.

The DAN news agency quoted Puschilin as saying that among the hundreds of fighters who surrendered there were no top-level commanders.

"They haven't left (the facility) yet," he said.

+++ 12.45 p.m .:

The battle for the Azov steelworks, which lasted almost three months, seems to be over.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian army captured almost 1,000 soldiers who were holed up there.

They all surrendered voluntarily.

The wounded were immediately taken to hospitals.

It is not yet clear what will become of the other prisoners of war.

A photo released by the Russian military is said to show the arrest of Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol.

© Imago Images

War in Ukraine: Russia fires rockets at residential areas

+++ 11.00 a.m .:

Apparently a Russian rocket hit a residential area in the western Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.

This is reported by the news portal Kyiv Independent, citing the state emergency service of Ukraine.

Photographs published by the news portal on Twitter show the extent of the damage.

According to the emergency service, one person was injured in the rocket attack and numerous houses were destroyed.

+++ 10:00 a.m .:

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 959 Ukrainian soldiers from the steel plant in Mariupol allegedly surrendered.

700 of them are now in captivity.

Numerous soldiers were also injured, it was said on Wednesday morning.

The information cannot be independently verified.

Ukraine War: Russian ammunition depots destroyed

+++ 9:00 a.m .:

Ukraine reports the destruction of two Russian ammunition depots in the Cherson region.

According to the high command in the south, the artillery shelling from Russia is continuing.

+++ 7.40 a.m .:

Since the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recorded a total of 7814 civilian victims.

These include 3752 dead and 4062 injured.

Most of the recorded civilian casualties were caused by the use of long-range explosive weapons, including heavy artillery fire and multiple-missile systems, as well as missile and air strikes.

According to the OHCHR, among the 3,752 dead as a result of the Ukraine war are 1,406 men, 927 women, 86 girls and 96 boys, as well as 68 children and 1,169 adults whose sex is still unknown.

The total of 4,062 injured includes 675 men, 472 women, 96 girls and 104 boys, as well as 165 children and 2,550 adults whose gender is not yet known.

As the OHCHR further reports, it can be assumed that the actual number of victims is significantly higher.

War in Ukraine: Russia shells border regions with mortars and air force

+++ 06.35 a.m .:

Russia continues its shelling on the border of Ukraine.

Border guards reported several cases of Russian weapons use on the Russian-Ukrainian border in Sumy Oblast and Chernihiv Region.

Two dozen mortar mines exploded in that area.

In addition, there is said to have been heavy fire from Russian tanks with large-caliber machine guns.

Several houses in the district of Shostka in the Sumy region are said to have been destroyed.

This is reported by the Ukrainian online newspaper Pravda, citing the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

As a result, on May 17, Ukrainian border guards spotted Russian planes and drones flying near the border.

The Ukrainian newspaper continues to report an attack on Ukrainian territory from the Russian village of Lokot.

The day before, Russian troops had tried to enter the Sumy region from this village.

However, they reportedly encountered resistance from border guards and subsequently withdrew.

Ukraine war: Russia with new rocket attacks – Zelenskyj gives details of Mariupol evacuation

Update from Wednesday, May 18, 2

a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has announced that Russia's recent rocket attacks are merely attempts to make up for previous military failures in the Ukraine war.

This is reported by the Kyiv Independent news portal, citing statements by Zelenskyy.

In addition, the Ukrainian President said that the evacuation of the wounded soldiers from the steel plant in the port city of Mariupol is ongoing.

This has not yet ended and is being overseen by “the most influential international mediators”.

The statements cannot be independently verified.

+++ 10:20 p.m .:

The Russian attacks on the eastern regions of Ukraine continue.

According to Donetsk Region Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Russian shelling killed seven civilians and wounded six others.

War in Ukraine: Authorities report shelling on Russian territory

+++ 9.30 p.m .:

Russian authorities reported shelling from Ukrainian territory in two regions on Tuesday (May 17, 2022).

One person in a village in the Belgorod region was slightly injured, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, according to the state news agency TASS.

A border post was also shot at in the Kursk area.

According to the first findings, no one was injured, said the Governor of Kursk, Roman Starowoit.

The border post has been fired at for the fourth time since the beginning of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

Ukraine War: Reporter team finds wrecked Russian tanks near Siverkiy Donets river

+++ 8:20 p.m .:

A CNN team found the remains of Russian armored vehicles near the eastern city of Bilohorivka on Tuesday (May 17, 2022).

There the Russian military had suffered one of the greatest defeats of the war.

According to Ukrainian sources, "at least 73 units of equipment," including T-72 tanks and a number of armored personnel carriers, were destroyed last week when a Russian brigade attempted to cross the Siverky Donets River.

The area was littered with wrecked Russian tanks, separated from their turrets.

"They had three possible places to cross," said a senior officer, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.

“They tried the first one, they failed, they were crushed there.

The second place exactly the same, they were shattered.”

Ukraine war: Rocket hits in Bakhmut - number of victims still uncertain

+++ 6.15 p.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region was hit by Russian rockets on Tuesday.

According to the Donetsk regional police, the impacts destroyed a five-story building.

As CNN reports, one person was killed and a 9-year-old child was seriously injured.

War in Ukraine: Another bus convoy leaves Azovstal steel plant

+++ 4.30 p.m .:

According to Russian state media, another column of buses has left the besieged Azovstal steelworks.

The buses "with allegedly abandoned fighters from the Azov Valley Plant, accompanied by armored vehicles, were moving towards the exit from Mariupol," reported the RIA Novosti news agency - adding that before the departure of the bus convoy there were no shots at the Azov Valley for several hours -Werk had been fired.

On Tuesday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said 265 militants, including 51 seriously wounded, surrendered near Azovstal and were evacuated on Monday evening.

Ukraine war: Putin accuses West of “war” – 3000 civilians probably in Russian penal colony

+++ 3:00 p.m .:

According to a report by the Kiyv Independent news portal, Russia’s armed forces in the Donetsk region are said to be holding more than 3,000 residents of Mariupol in a “filtration prison”.

According to the information, the Russian troops are holding them in a former penal colony in the village of Olenivka in the Donetsk region.

Among them are said to be about 30 volunteers trying to bring humanitarian aid to besieged Mariupol.

Civilians are being tortured with electric shocks before being brought into the colony, the report said.

The information cannot be independently verified.

+++ 1:50 p.m .:

According to information from Kiev, efforts to rescue the last remaining Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol continue.

"We are working on further stages of the humanitarian operation," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote in the Telegram news service on Tuesday.

The 52 seriously injured men who were brought out of the Azovstal steel mill on Monday would soon be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war, she said.

There was no further confirmation from the Russian side. 

Ukraine war: "Nazi criminals are not subject to exchange"

+++ 1:40 p.m .:

The head of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, spoke out against a general exchange of prisoners after the capture of Ukrainian fighters in the port city of Mariupol.

“Nazi criminals are not subject to exchange.

These are war criminals and we must do everything we can to bring them to justice," the Duma chief said at a plenary session on Tuesday.

Ukraine, on the other hand, is hoping for an exchange of more than 260 of its own soldiers, who had previously left the Azovstal steelworks, which had been under siege for weeks. 

Ukraine war: Putin accuses West of “war” – Russia suffers heavy losses

+++ 12.40 p.m .:

The governor of the Lviv region reports that Russian rocket attacks have caused damage to the railway infrastructure.

Maksym Kozytsky said Russian forces struck a railway infrastructure facility in Yavoriv district overnight, but so far there have been no reports of injuries or fatalities.

+++ 12.40 p.m .:

Russia’s military has reported numerous rocket attacks on various parts of Ukraine.

In the western Ukrainian region of Lviv, Ukrainian reservists and foreign military equipment were attacked with Kalibr missiles, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Tuesday.

In the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, among other things, military training centers were attacked. 

Ukraine war: Putin accuses West of “war” – Russia suffers heavy losses

+++ 11.50 a.m .:

According to Moscow, the Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from the besieged steelworks in Mariupol have “surrendered” and are now in Russian captivity.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that 265 fighters had laid down their arms within 24 hours.

51 of them were taken to Novoazovsk for treatment with serious injuries.

First report from Tuesday, May 17, 11:45 a.m.:

The Kremlin has accused the West of waging a war against Russia.

“They are enemy states.

Because what they are doing is war," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, referring to President Putin.

He had previously spoken of an economic “lightning war” with a view to the western sanctions.

The Russian leadership calls its own war of aggression in Ukraine, which has now lasted almost three months, a "special military operation".

(aa/dil/tu/kh/lz/nak with dpa/AFP)