latest news and war situation May 18, 2022

The surrender of hundreds of soldiers in Azovstal continues. The Russian Defense Ministry assured on Wednesday that: 959 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered this week against Russian troops at the Azovstal steel mill, the last point of resistance in the Mariupol area.

The Russian government has taken stock of the alleged deliveries since May 16 and has estimated 694 of them in the past 24 hours. Among the 959 Ukrainian soldiers there are said to be some 80 injuredaccording to the count collected by the Interfax news agency.

According to the vice president of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, among the nearly 1,000 soldiers who surrendered, none are no high military position “They haven’t come out yet,” he said, suggesting they might still be inside.

The Defense Ministry has released a video about the surrender, but has not indicated whether there are other defenders in Azovstal or whether it plans to exchange them for Russian prisoners, as Kiev has suggested.

The footage shows the soldiers leaving the metallurgical plant, including some women, leaving the Azovstal complex with their mats and suitcases and queuing to be searched by Russian soldiers.

Some rely on crutches and even canes to walk, others are blindfolded, and still others are stretched to an ambulance.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky has assured that the “evacuation work” of the steel plant will continue, with the help of “the majority of influential international mediators” and the supervision of Ukraine’s intelligence and armed forces.

It remains to be seen what treatment Russia will give to the soldiers who surrendered in Azovstal, as the Russian Commission of Inquiry has already warned that it will question them with a view to possible prosecution, although it has guaranteed treatment “in accordance with the international law.” The Ukrainian authorities hope to get these soldiers back in a future prisoner exchange.

Situation of the fronts in recent hours

In recent hours, the Russian army has continued its attacks in eastern Ukraine, in the Donetsk region and in front of one of its strategic cities, Slovianks, where it is trying to reorganize and maintain positions, the General Staff reported on Wednesday. General of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on his Facebook page.

In the north of the country, on the border fronts of Volhynia, Polissia and Siversk, units of the Belarusian armed forces continue to carry out tasks to fortify the border between Ukraine and Belarus.

Russian forces continue to fire artillery fire at Ukrainian troop positions and civilian infrastructure in towns and villages adjacent to that border, which affects the Chernigov and Sumy regions near Kiev.

On the Kharkov Front, Ukraine’s second largest city, the Russians have stopped bombing the region’s capital, but are maintaining positions in other areas and trying to hinder the advance of Ukrainian troops. According to Ukraine, the Russian army has deployed artillery to shell the towns and villages of Tsyrkuny, Ruski Tyshky, Cherkaski Tyshky and Pytomnyk, all in the region.

In Mykolaiv, another of the open fronts in the war, north of the occupied Crimean peninsula, Russian occupation forces deployed various types of artillery to inflict fire damage on the positions of Ukrainian troops.

On the Donetsk and Lugansk fronts, Ukrainian forces repulsed 12 Russian attacks in the past 24 hours, destroying three tanks, three artillery systems, six armored fighting vehicles and seven motorized vehicles, the military report said.

In addition, as reported by Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command on its Telegram account, the Russian military launched a missile strike from its positions in the Black Sea on Wednesday that hit the Odessa region. According to preliminary data collected by the command, no casualties or significant material damage have been reported.