(CNN) — NATO foreign ministers meet in Germany, while Finland and Sweden consider joining the US-led military alliance.
Here is the latest news on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Finland prepares to seek NATO membership
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday that the Nordic nation will decide “seek membership in NATO in the coming days,” Niinistö’s office said in a statement. Putin called such a move a “mistake,” and Russia suspended its energy exports to Finland. Germany has “prepared everything to do a rapid ratification process” if Sweden The US and Finland are applying to join NATO, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday.
Where is the fighting taking place?
In the north of the country, Ukraine continues to press with a counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, where his troops have made significant advances north and east toward the Russian border. The goal of the Ukrainian offensive is to cut off Russia’s supply lines to its forces trying to advance into the eastern Donetsk region. The withdrawal of Russian forces from areas around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, has revealed new evidence of atrocities. Ukrainian officials say there were more airstrikes in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions of northern Ukraine.
Several industrial cities in the east have been under relentless bombardment for weeks as Russian forces try to break down Ukrainian defenses. One is Severodonetsk, where a chemical plant and high-rise buildings were attacked, according to Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, who warns that “the Russians are gathering equipment and manpower closer to Severodonetsk and preparing to attack it.” “.
On the southern front, Ukrainian regional authorities report that the Russians have started digging trenches in some front-line positions, while in the west of the country, four missiles hit a military infrastructure facility in the Yavoriv district, they said. Ukrainian officials.
Russian losses
Russia may have lost up to a third of the ground force it committed when it invaded Ukraine, according to an intelligence assessment by Britain’s Defense Ministry. He added that Russian forces suffered heavy losses in their offensive in Donbas and “in the current conditions, it is unlikely that Russia will drastically accelerate its rate of advance in the next 30 days.” It is unclear how the ministry has arrived at that assessment. Russia is believed to have committed some 100 battalion tactical groups to the offensive in eastern Ukraine, but Western officials say many of these groups are weakened.
Mariupol Convoy
A convoy of 500 to 1,000 cars containing people evacuated from Mariupol entered the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia on Saturday, Mariupol assistant mayor Petro Andryushchenko said on his telegram channel.
Zelensky met with the American delegation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met on Saturday in Kyiv with a congressional delegation led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and called for Russia to be officially recognized as a “terrorist state.”
Ukraine won at Eurovision
Ukrainian folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest this year, riding a wave of goodwill from European nations to post the country’s third victory in the dazzling event. The song “Stefania”, written about the leader’s mother, beat main rivals from the UK and Spain in the competition in the Italian city of Turin.