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Latest Developments in Ukraine: May 18

by VOA News

   For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit [1]Flashpoint
   Ukraine.

   The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All
   times EDT:

   1:15 a.m.: Lawmakers in Finland voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor
   of the country joining NATO by a vote of 188-12, marking a dramatic
   reversal of Finland's military non-alignment policy dating back more
   than 75 years. Agence France-Presse has the video:

   12:30 a.m.: The fall of the Ukrainian port of Mariupol to Russia
   appeared imminent Tuesday as Ukraine moved to abandon the city's
   sprawling steel plant, and hundreds of Kyiv fighters who had been holed
   up there turned themselves over to Russian forces in a deal reached by
   the warring parties.

   The capture of Mariupol, a prewar city of 430,000 people along the
   north coast of the Sea of Azov, would be Moscow's biggest success in
   its nearly three-month offensive against Ukraine. But Russia is
   struggling to capture more territory in eastern Ukraine and has failed
   to topple the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or take the
   capital, Kyiv. VOA's National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin
   reports.

   Under constant Russian shelling, which Ukraine estimates has killed
   20,000 civilians in Mariupol, much of the city has been reduced to
   rubble. What's left of it is situated between the Russian mainland and
   the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

   More than 260 Ukrainian fighters -- some of them seriously wounded and
   lying on stretchers -- left the ruins of the Azovstal steel plant on
   Monday and turned themselves over to Russian forces. Ukrainian
   authorities said they were working to remove its remaining soldiers
   from the steel mill, but it was not clear how many remained.

   Russia called the operation a mass surrender. The Ukrainians, in
   contrast, said its garrison had completed its mission.

   12:01 a.m.: In an interview with VOA's Ukranian Service Tuesday,
   Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko spoke of the courage of Ukrainian forces
   who defended the once-thriving Southeastern seaport besieged by Russian
   artillery for 82 days.

   "There is still a Ukrainian flag over Mariupol. And they were doing it
   against the powers that were [a] dozen times stronger. They were
   working professionally, almost without food or water. Without [much]
   weapons," Boychenko said.

   He praised Denys Prokopenko, commander of Azov special regiment, who
   was in charge of the defense and others who supported Ukraine's fight
   against Russia's invasion.

   "They were not only holding Mariupol, but they've held back an immense
   power of 20-30 professional Russian military," said Boychenko. "It has
   allowed the other [Ukrainian] military groups, other cities to better
   prepare for this war."

   Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse.

References

   1. https://www.voanews.com/z/6932