Russia removes over 260 fighters from steel plant
KYIV, Ukraine — More than 260 Ukrainian fighters, including some who are badly wounded, were evacuated Monday from a steel plant in the ruined city of Mariupol and taken to areas under Russia’s control, the Ukrainian military said.
Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said 53 seriously wounded fighters were taken to a hospital in Novoazovsk, east of Mariupol. An additional 211 fighters were evacuated to Olenivka through a humanitarian corridor. An exchange would be worked out for their return home, she said.
Malyar said missions are under way to rescue the remaining fighters inside the plant, the last stronghold of resistance in the ruined southern port city of Mariupol.
“Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol, Ukraine gained critically important time,” she said. “And they fulfilled all their tasks. But it is impossible to unblock Azovstal by military means.”
The steel mill’s defenders got out as Moscow suffered another diplomatic setback in its war with Ukraine, with Sweden joining Finland in deciding to seek NATO membership. And Ukraine’s president congratulated soldiers who reportedly pushed Russian forces back near the border.
Earlier Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced an agreement for the wounded to leave the steelworks for treatment in a town held by proMoscow separatists.
After nightfall Monday, several buses pulled away from the steel mill accompanied by Russian military vehicles.
There was no immediate word on whether the wounded would be considered prisoners of war.
Russian forces pounded targets in the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, and the death toll, already many thousands, kept climbing with the war set to enter its 12th week on Wednesday.
The international response to the Russian invasion picked up pace. Sweden’s decision to seek NATO membership followed a similar decision by neighboring Finland in a historic shift for the countries, which were nonaligned for generations.
But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a NATO member, ratcheted up his objection to their joining. He accused the countries of failing to take a “clear” stance against Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara considers terrorists, and of imposing military sanctions on Turkey.
He said Swedish and Finnish officials who are expected in Turkey next week should not bother to come if they intend to try to convince Turkey of dropping its objection.
“How can we trust them?” Erdogan asked at a joint news conference with the visiting Algerian president.
All 30 current NATO members must agree to let the Nordic neighbors join.
Europe is also working to choke off funding for the Kremlin’s war by reducing the billions of dollars it spends on imports of Russian energy. A proposed EU embargo faces opposition from some countries dependent on Russian imports, including Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Bulgaria also has reservations.
“We will do our best in order to deblock the situation,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. “I cannot ensure that it is going to happen because positions are quite strong.”
Also on Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Ukrainian refugees and urged the need to confront Russian brutality as she visited Poland ahead of a meeting of finance ministers for the Group of Seven leading economies.
Yellen applauded Poland for helping refugees fleeing the fighting and working with neighboring countries to find ways to get Ukraine’s wheat and other critical food supplies to the world.
“The devastation in Ukraine in the past months reminds us not to take our next meal for granted, and how quickly events can take a turn for the worse,” Yellen said at a visit to the World Central Kitchen site in Warsaw.
She met with refugees from Ukraine who are running the kitchen and said she will release an action plan later this week to address the global food crisis threatening parts of the developing world.