Trial rather than exchange may be the main Russian trail in the fate of the Ukrainian prisoners from the Mariupol steelworks that Russia claims to have taken recently.
A proposal to get Putin’s friend and oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk from Ukraine in exchange is toned down.
Several media outlets cite Russian media that the Russian MP Leonid Slutsky suggested that Medvedchuk, who was arrested and shown in Ukraine last month, could be part of a prisoner exchange. But according to Russian Interfax, which is referenced by the AP, Slutsky has backed down and says, like the Russian-backed separatist Denis Pushilin, that the fighters from the Azov plant should rather be brought to justice.
Terminator back
The British Ministry of Defense writes in its daily update about the war on the ground in Ukraine that the fighting is fierce around the city of Sevierodonetsk in the northeastern part of the country, in Donbass. The ministry states that Russia has sent a special type of maintenance vehicle for an advanced tank, the Terminator model, which indicates that a selected unit in the Russian army has been sent there. But the unit lost a lot of power and materiel in the beginning of the invasion around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The Ukrainian military describes fierce fighting in the Donbass, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video statement that the situation in the Donbass and around the cities of Sevierodonetsk and Slovyansk is very difficult. A monastery in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the region is said to have been hit in an air strike.
WHO oroas
When the UN WHO, the World Health Organization, opens its annual meeting today, Ukraine is also part of the agenda. Russia is expected to face strong criticism and Ukraine is seeking support for a resolution condemning Russian attacks on schools, health centers and ambulances.
The meeting is also expected to discuss the serious effects of the war, on prices and access to food around the world due to reduced harvests and hard-hit expert on raw materials from Ukraine.