Russia-Ukraine live news: Kyiv says 20 civilians killed in east | Russia-Ukraine war News
Ukrainian military says Russian attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk regions hit 42 residential buildings and a school.
- Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force says 20 civilian killed in Russian shelling in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey “cannot say ‘yes’” to NATO bids by Finland and Sweden.
- About a dozen buses apparently carrying Ukrainian fighters left the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, the Reuters news agency reports.
- A senior US defence official says Russian long-range attacks near Lviv appeared to target a Ukrainian military training centre.
- Polish agriculture minister says Ukraine’s grain exports could be routed through Poland as long as the war prevents them from departing Black Sea ports.
Here are all the latest updates:
US backs UN push to get Ukraine grain back to global market
The United States supports efforts by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to get Ukrainian grain back into the international marketplace amid the war, the US ambassador to the United Nations has said.
“He has spoken to us about his plans and his discussions with the Ukrainians and the Russians on this issue,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters without giving further details.
Ukraine’s grain exports could be routed through Poland: Minister
The Polish agriculture minister has said that Ukraine’s grain exports could be routed through Poland as long as Russia’s war prevents them from departing Black Sea ports.
Henryk Kowalczyk, the agriculture minister and a deputy prime minister, spoke in Warsaw alongside US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, as well as Ukraine’s agriculture secretary and the European Union’s commission for agriculture, who is Polish.
Ukraine, a major producer of grain, had previously warned that Russia is provoking a global food crisis by blocking the country’s Black Sea ports
Russian attack targets training centre in western Ukraine: US official
A senior US defence official has said that Russian long-range attacks near the western city of Lviv appeared to target a Ukrainian military training centre in Yavoriv, ess than 25km (15 miles) from the border with Poland.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US military assessment, at this point, is that there were as many as a half-dozen missiles fired and that a few small buildings were damaged.
There are no reports of casualties yet, the official said, adding that the missiles were fired from the Black Sea and likely came from a Russian submarine.
Ukraine says 20 civilians killed in Russian shelling
Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force has said 20 civilians, including a child, were killed in Russian shelling in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The military task force said in a statement on its Facebook page that 25 communities in the regions were fired at, with 42 residential buildings and a school among the locations hit.
Buses carrying Ukrainian fighters leave Mariupol: Report
The Reuters news agency has reported that about a dozen buses apparently carrying Ukrainian fighters left the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
It was not possible to determine how many people were aboard, the agency said. Reuters later published photos of the buses.
Approximately 600 fighters have been estimated to be inside the vast Soviet-era plant, including dozens of wounded.
Turkey will not say ‘yes’ to NATO bids of Sweden, Finland: Erdogan
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ratcheted up his objection to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
Erdogan accused the countries of failing to take a clear stance against Kurdish fighters and of imposing military sanctions on Turkey.
“Neither country has an open, clear stance against terrorist organisations,” Erdogan said at a joint news conference with the visiting Algerian president. “We cannot say ‘yes’ to those who impose sanctions on Turkey, on joining NATO which is a security organisation.”
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Read all the updates from Monday, May 16 here.
