Video summary of the war Ukraine - Russia: May 18 17:47
(CNN Spanish) --
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that more than 900 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol since May 16 have been sent to a preventive detention center.
Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that a total of 959 Ukrainian soldiers, including 51 with serious injuries, had surrendered over the course of two days.
He reaffirmed that the wounded are receiving treatment at the Novoazovsk hospital, in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), while the others were sent to a pre-trial detention center in Olenivka, a city close to the front lines but in territory controlled by the RPD.
The symbolic defense of Mariupol comes to an end: why is it a key battle in the war in Ukraine?
CNN cannot confirm the Russian count.
The Ukrainian side has not provided updated information on the number of people who have left Azovstal or on the status of negotiations for their exchange for Russian prisoners.
advertising
Buses wait for the Ukrainian military to transport them from Mariupol, Ukraine, to a prison in Olenivka after they left the besieged Azovstal steel plant on May 18.
(Photo: AP)
Amnesty International has stated that the Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered at the steel plant must not be ill-treated and must have immediate access to the International Red Cross.
"The competent authorities must fully respect the rights of prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Conventions," said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty's Deputy Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said 771 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,730 since Monday.
Keeping ports closed in Ukraine is a 'declaration of war' on global food security, says WFP chief
If closed ports in Ukraine for grain shipments are not opened, millions of people will be on the verge of starvation, said the executive director of the World Food Program (WFP).
"Not opening ports will be a declaration of war on global food security, leading to destabilization of nations by famine, as well as mass migration out of necessity," David Beasley said Wednesday, speaking at a meeting on food security. at the United Nations hosted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"It is absolutely essential that we allow these ports to open because this is not just about Ukraine. This is about the poorest of the poor around the world, who are on the brink of starvation as we speak," Beasley added.
"So I ask President Putin, if he has any heart, to open these ports. Please assure all concerned that the passes will be clear so that we can feed the poorest of the poor and avoid famine, as we have done in the past, when the nations in this room have stepped forward together," said the WFP chief.
He noted that Ukraine is a nation that grows enough grain to feed 400 million people and is now out of production.
Ukrainians resort to desperate measures to obtain food and water 3:15
It is "critical" that these farms get back to work, that trucks, trains and ships can move again, he added, stressing that "time is running out."
On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also addressed how the war in Ukraine, in addition to other global crises, "threatens tens of millions of people with food insecurity, malnutrition, mass hunger and famine. "
"There is enough food in our world for everyone, but we must act together, urgently and in solidarity," Guterres said.
German Chancellor proposes EU solidarity fund to rebuild Ukraine
The European Union must start preparing for Ukraine's reconstruction by creating a solidarity fund to help Kyiv cover the billions of euros that reconstruction will cost, according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
"Rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure and revitalizing the Ukrainian economy will cost billions," Scholz told German lawmakers Thursday in the lower house of parliament.
"We, as the EU, must start laying the foundations for a solidarity fund financed by contributions from the EU and its partners," he added, on the eve of a major EU summit later this month.
Scholz also said that Ukraine's EU accession process cannot be accelerated despite the Russian invasion.
"There are no short cuts on the way to the EU," Scholz said, adding that the bloc must therefore find a "quick and pragmatic" way to help Kyiv.
An exception for Ukraine would be unfair to the six Western Balkan countries -- Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo -- that also want to join the bloc, the foreign minister said.
Its integration into the EU is also of "strategic interest", referring to the influence of "external powers" in the region, including Russia, he added.
The Russians "suffer losses" in their efforts to advance on Sloviansk, according to the Ukrainian military
The Ukrainian military reported Thursday that Russian forces trying to break through to Sloviansk, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, have suffered losses and have withdrawn.
Despite artillery and missile attacks by Russian forces on a wide front over the past 24 hours, there is no sign that they have seized new territory.
"The enemy carried out combat activities in the Velyka Komyshuvakha area with the support of artillery; it was unsuccessful, suffered significant losses in some areas and was forced to withdraw to previously occupied positions," the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces in their daily update.
Fighting in the Velyka Komyshuvakha area has been going on since the end of April - since the Russians took control of Izium and tried to advance towards Sloviansk - but the front lines have changed little.
A Ukrainian main battle tank drives down a street during a mortar shelling in Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine, on May 18.
(Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)
In Luhansk:
On the other main front, in the parts of the Luhansk region still held by the Ukrainians, Russian aircraft have attacked several villages, according to the General Staff.
Ukrainian defenses were holding up around the industrial city of Severodonetsk, and Russian assault operations in the Zolote area had been unsuccessful, he said.
Serhii Hayday, head of the Luhansk military administration, said Severodonetsk had been the hardest hit by the latest attacks and confirmed that four civilians had been killed on Wednesday.
Elsewhere
: Other regions also reported Russian artillery and missile attacks overnight.
In the southern Dnipropetrovsk region, the military administration of the city of Kryvih Rih said "there was enemy shelling along the entire line of contact overnight."
He said there had been heavy shelling of residential areas in Velyka Kostromka, a town about 30 kilometers south of Kryvih Rih that has been on the front lines for more than a month.
war in ukraine
