Russians are withdrawing from Kharkiv, says Ukraine
Putin warns Finland Nato membership would harm ties as Duma dy head visits occupied Kherson
KYIV: Russian troops are withdrawing from around Ukraine’s second-largest city after weeks of heavy bombardment, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday, as Kyiv and Moscow’s forces engaged in a grinding battle for the country’s eastern industrial heartland.
Ukraine’s general staff said the Russians were pulling back from the northeastern city of Kharkiv and focusing on guarding supply routes, while launching mortar, artillery and airstrikes in the eastern Donetsk province in order to “deplete Ukrainian forces and destroy fortifications.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainians were doing their “maximum” to drive out the invaders and that the outcome of the war would depend on support from Europe and other allies.
Mariupol negotiations
Zelensky said talks with Russia on getting wounded defenders out of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol were “very complex”, adding that Kyiv was using influential intermediaries.
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, told the country’s Suspilne news outlet Saturday that Ukrainian authorities are negotiating the evacuation of 60 severely wounded troops from the steelworks.
She said Russia had not agreed to the evacuation of all wounded fighters at the plant, who number in the hundreds.
An aide to Mariupol’s mayor said between 150,000 and 170,000 civilians remain in the city, which had a prewar population of more than 400,000. In a Telegram post, Petro Andryushchenko said the residents were “hostages” of the occupying Russian forces.
Kherson visit
The deputy speaker of the Russian parliament, Anna Kuznetsova, visited the region on
Saturday and discussed “emergency humanitarian issues” with Kherson’s new Russia-installed regional governor, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Kherson borders Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, and a member of the Moscow-installed administration there has suggested that Russia should try to annex Kherson as well.
G7 warning
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, who hosted a meeting of top G7 diplomats, said the war had become a “global crisis”.
In statements released at the end of the three-day meeting on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, the G7 pledged to provide further humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable.
The G7 nations also called on China not to help Russia, including by undermining international sanctions or justifying Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
Beijing should support the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, and not “assist Russia in its war of aggression,” they said. They urged China “to desist from engaging in information manipulation, disinformation and other means to legitimize Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Finland’s Nato bid
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday about the Nordic country’s application for Nato membership, expected to be announced this weekend, his office said.
The phone call, which was “initiated by Finland... was direct and straightforward and it was conducted without aggravations. Avoiding tensions was considered important,” Niinisto was quoted as saying in a statement by his office.
But the Kremlin responded by saying that Putin viewed any end to Finland’s military neutrality as a “mistake.”
“Putin stressed that the end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland’s security,” it said in a statement.