Ukraine says it is repelling Russian attack as war continues in east | Government and politics

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities said Friday their troops repelled a Russian attack in the east, as Moscow struggles to gain ground in the region now at the center of the war while stepping up its campaign the low.

Battered by their months-long siege of the vital port city of Mariupol, Russian troops need time to regroup, the British Ministry of Defense said in an assessment – but they may not get it. The town and the steel mills where Ukrainian fighters repelled the Russian onslaught for weeks have become a symbol of Ukraine’s stoic resilience and surprising ability to thwart a much larger force.

A number of soldiers – the number of which was unclear – were still locked up in the Azovstal factory on Friday, after the surrender of more than 1,900 soldiers in recent days, according to the latest figures from the Russian Minister of Security. Defence, Sergei Shoigu. Efforts to remove the dead from the battle were also underway, according to Denis Prokopenko, the commander of the Azov regiment, which is among those defending the plant.

Speaking of “fallen heroes”, Prokopenko said: “I hope that soon relatives and all of Ukraine will be able to bury the fighters with honors.” The Red Cross, meanwhile, said it had visited POWs from all sides of the conflict, amid international concerns that the Russians might retaliate against Ukrainian prisoners.

With the end of the battle for the steel plant, Russia has already begun to withdraw its troops from the site. But the British assessment indicated that Russian commanders are under pressure to quickly send them elsewhere in Donbass.

“This means that Russia is likely to redistribute its forces quickly without adequate preparation, which risks causing further force attrition,” the ministry said.

Donbass is now at the center of President Vladimir Putin’s concerns after his troops failed to take the capital at the start of the war. Pro-Moscow separatists fought Ukrainian forces for eight years in the region and held a considerable part of it before the February 24 Russian invasion.

But the effort to take more territory there has been slow. In a sign of Russia’s frustration with the war, some senior commanders have been fired in recent weeks, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.

– Russia will cut off natural gas to Finland on Saturday, Finland’s state-owned energy company announced. Poland and Bulgaria were isolated late last month as Moscow tries to use its energy exports to retaliate against Western countries aiding Ukraine. The move comes after Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership, prompted by security concerns following the Russian invasion.

— A young Russian soldier, accused of killing a Ukrainian civilian, awaited his fate in Ukraine’s first war crimes trial. sergeant. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old soldier in a Russian tank unit, pleaded guilty, but the prosecution still presented its evidence, in accordance with Ukrainian law. Shishimarin told the court on Thursday he shot Oleksandr Shelipov, 62, after he was ordered to – and apologized to the widow.

– Major Group of Seven economies and global financial institutions agreed this week to provide more money to bolster Ukraine’s public finances, bringing total aid to $19.8 billion, the German Minister of Finance. Western financial and weapon support has been essential to Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.

On Friday, a Donbass governor said Russian forces attacked the towns of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. Twelve people were killed and more than 60 houses were destroyed across the region, Lugansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said in a Telegram post.

But the Severodonetsk attack failed. Haidai and the Ukrainian army general staff said Russia had suffered losses and withdrawn. Their reports could not be independently verified.

Yet Russia’s struggles in the east seemed to result only in an escalation of the offensive that is inflicting increasing suffering.

“It’s hell out there, and that’s not an exaggeration,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of the campaign.

“The brutal and completely senseless bombardment of Severodonetsk. Twelve dead and dozens injured there in a single day,” he said in his Thursday night video address to the nation.

While Mariupol had been a target since the start of the invasion and had been under effective Russian control for some time, a group of Ukrainian fighters held out in the sprawling steelworks – a symbol of how Ukrainian forces managed to crush Russian troops.

As hundreds of fighters left, in a brief video message, the deputy commander of the Azov regiment said he and other fighters were still inside.

“An operation is underway, the details of which I will not announce,” Svyatoslav Palamar said.

While Ukraine has expressed hope for a prisoner swap for those who surrendered, Russian authorities have threatened to possibly try some of the Azovstal fighters for war crimes.

The far-right origins of the Azov Regiment were seized upon by the Kremlin as part of an effort to turn the Russian invasion into a battle against Nazi influence in Ukraine.

The International Red Cross said this week that it had registered hundreds of fighters who left the factory as prisoners of war, as part of its role to ensure their humane treatment under the Geneva Conventions. The organization revealed on Friday that it had visited prisoners of war from “all sides” since the start of the fighting. This allows him to transmit information to families about their loved ones.

The organization did not specify how many families had been informed about their relatives or where the visits had taken place.

McQuillan reported from Lviv. Associated Press reporters Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and other AP staff from around the world contributed.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine