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Less than three months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a war to take control of Ukraine and halt NATO's expansion near his country's borders, Russia's Nordic neighbor Finland is set to join the Western military alliance.
The Kremlin vowed "retaliatory steps" in the wake of the move, a significant shift in policy that Sweden is expected to follow in the coming days as Putin's troops are being pushed back in northeastern Ukraine and continue to hit Mariupol's last stronghold in an effort to take full control of the key port city.
Here's the latest:
- Finland's leaders back NATO bid "without delay."
- The Kremlin says Finland's move represents a threat to Russia and vows "retaliatory steps."
- Ukrainian forces reclaim territory around Kharkiv in the north.
- Russian forces are still bombarding Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant.
Ukraine claims it has struck a Russian logistics ship in the Black Sea
KYIV, Ukraine —Ukrainian officials say their forces took out another Russian ship in the Black Sea.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said late Thursday the Vsevolod Bobrov logistics ship was struck as it was trying to deliver an anti-aircraft system to Snake Island. He said the ship was badly damaged but was not believed to have sunk.
A spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration said the vessel caught fire after the strike. There was no confirmation from Russia and no reports of casualties.
The British Ministry of Defense said this week that Ukraine has been targeting Russian air defenses and supply vessels on Snake Island in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s efforts to expand its control over the Black Sea coastline.
The Ukrainian military last month sank the Moskva cruiser, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet. In March, the military destroyed the landing ship Saratov.
On nurses day, Zelenskyy accuses Russia of ‘barbarism’ for attacks on hospitals
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Russian forces have destroyed more than 570 health care facilities in his country, including 101 hospitals.
“This is barbarism,” Zelenskyy said in an address on International Nurses Day.
The World Health Organization said this week that there have been “continuous attacks on health care” since Russia attacked and invaded the country on Feb. 24.
The WHO said it had verified 209 attacks on health care facilities in Ukraine as of Wednesday, with 75 people killed. Fifty-five others have been injured.
U.S. and other officials have accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in what they have condemned as the unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine, citing indiscriminate attacks and attacks targeting civilians.
Zelenskyy said that 570 health care facilities have been destroyed and that “101 hospitals were completely destroyed.”
Rand Paul blocks quick passage of $40B aid package
WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., defied leaders of both parties Thursday and single-handedly delayed until next week the Senate’s approval of $40 billion more to help Ukraine and its allies withstand Russia’s three-month-old invasion.
With the Senate poised to debate and vote on the package of military and economic aid, Paul, a libertarian who often opposes U.S. intervention abroad, denied leaders the unanimous agreement they needed to proceed, saying he wanted language inserted into the bill, without a vote, that would have an inspector general scrutinize the new spending.
The bipartisan measure, backed by President Joe Biden, underscores U.S. determination to reinforce its support for Ukraine’s outnumbered forces. It has been approved overwhelmingly by the House and has strong bipartisan support in the Senate. Final passage is not in doubt.
Ukraine offers to exchange prisoners for 'severely wounded' Azovstal fighters
Negotiations with Russia to free “severely wounded” fighters from Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant continue, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said Thursday.
Describing the talks as “difficult,” Iryna Vereshchuk said in a post on her Telegram channel that Ukraine had offered to exchange 38 fighters for 38 Russian prisoners.
She added the negotiations were being conducted on behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Four House committee chairs ask Big Tech to archive evidence of war crimes in Ukraine
Four high-ranking congressional Democrats sent formal requests Thursday asking the CEOs of YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook’s parent company, Meta, to archive content that could be used as evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
“We write to encourage Meta to take steps to preserve and archive content shared on its platforms that could potentially be used as evidence as the U.S. government and international human rights and accountability monitors investigate Russian war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities in Ukraine,” said the letter that was sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The letters were signed by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chair of the Oversight Committee; Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., chair of the Oversight and Reform subcommittee on national security; and William Keating, D-Mass, chair of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe, energy, the environment and cyber.
They specifically ask the social media companies “to flag or mark content as containing potential evidence of war crimes and other atrocities.”
YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
U.N. sets up inquiry into Russia’s alleged rights abuses in Ukraine
The U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution by a strong majority Thursday to investigate allegations of rights abuses by Russian troops in parts of Ukraine formerly under their control.
The Geneva-based council passed the resolution through a vote of 33-2, with China and Eritrea voting no. There were 12 abstentions.
Russia was recently suspended from the 47-member council. It could still have joined the session as an observer but chose not to do so in protest of the resolution, which it said amounted to political score-settling.
Ukraine says it blew up Russian pontoon bridges over a key river — and units trying to cross it
Ukraine’s military says it blew up a key Russian crossing on the Siverskyi Donets River on its eastern front, inflicting heavy losses in a potentially significant blow to the Kremlin’s designs on the regions of Luhansk and Kharkiv.
Images shared by the Defense Ministry appeared to show a ruined pontoon crossing with dozens of destroyed or damaged armored vehicles on both banks.
“Artillerymen of the 17th tank brigade of the #UAarmy have opened the holiday season for [Russian forces],” the ministry said on Twitter. “Some bathed in the Siverskyi Donets River, and some were burned by the May sun.”
Kyiv’s strategic communications directorate tweeted images of smoking wreckage and two ruined bridgeheads and said the army’s 80th Separate Assault Brigade had “destroyed all attempts by the Russian occupiers to cross” the river.
Blinken to travel to Europe for NATO meeting
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Germany for an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers to discuss the war in Ukraine, the State Department said in a news release Thursday.
The meeting in Berlin on Saturday will also include a discussion about the leaders’ summit, which is set to take place in the Spanish capital, Madrid, next month, the release said.
Blinken will then travel to Paris for a U.S. and European Union Trade Council meeting, it added.