As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its 88th day, we take a look at the main events.
Here are the key events so far on Sunday, May 22.
Get the latest updates here.
Struggle
- Russia hit Ukrainian forces with air and artillery strikes in the east and south, targeting command centers, troops and ammunition depots, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
- Russian forces are intensifying efforts to capture Severodonetsk, Ukraine’s last stronghold in the eastern Luhansk region.
- Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said the only functioning hospital in Severodonetsk has only three doctors and 10 days’ worth of supplies.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian army was also attacking the Donetsk city of Sloviansk, but Ukrainian forces were halting their advance on the two main centers. Sloviansk is central to Russia’s goal of capturing all of eastern Ukraine.
- Russia claims to have taken nearly 2,500 Ukrainian fighters prisoner from the besieged Azovstal steel plant, and concerns about their fate have grown.
- Moscow released a video of Russian troops detaining Serhiy Volynskyy, commander of the Ukrainian Navy’s 36th Special Marine Brigade, which was one of the main forces defending Azovstal.
- A leading Russian parliament member, Leonid Slutsky, said Moscow was studying the possibility of exchanging the Azovstal fighters for Viktor Medvedchuk, a wealthy Ukrainian with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is facing criminal charges in Ukraine.
- The Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol has warned that he is facing a health and sanitation “catastrophe” due to mass burials in shallow pits throughout the ruined city, as well as broken sewage systems.
- The Russian military has said it destroyed a major Western arms shipment in Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, west of kyiv, using Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles.
- Russian missiles also hit fuel storage facilities near Odessa on the Black Sea coast and shot down two Ukrainian Su-25 planes and 14 drones, the army said.
Diplomacy
- Ukraine has ruled out agreeing to a ceasefire with Russia, saying kyiv would not agree to any deal with Moscow involving ceding territory.
- Zelenskyy said his country is prepared to exchange Russian prisoners of war for its troops who surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
- US President Joe Biden has signed a bill to provide nearly $40 billion in aid to Ukraine as part of efforts to boost military support for Russia’s invasion, the White House said.
- Polish President Andrzej Duda has arrived in Ukraine on an unannounced visit and will address the country’s parliament on Sunday.
- Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said he has lobbied Western countries for multiple launch rocket systems, which he said “just sit still” in other countries but are key to Ukraine’s success.
- In an interview with the Telegraph, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she wants to see Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova “equipped to NATO standard” to protect itself against any threat from Russia.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has opposed Sweden and Finland joining NATO, held phone calls with the leaders of the two countries and discussed his concerns about “terrorist” groups there.
- Zelenskyy said he had spoken with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and emphasized the importance of more sanctions on Russia and the unblocking of Ukrainian ports.
Economy
- Russian energy giant Gazprom has halted gas exports to neighboring Finland, the latest escalation in an energy payment dispute with Western nations.
- Russia’s transport minister said Western-backed sanctions have “virtually broken” logistics in the country.
Reference-www.aljazeera.com