Ukrainian forces reach border near Kharkiv: ‘We made it!’

Russian “occupying forces” are moving quickly to clear debris from areas they bombed during the weeks-long offensive against Mariupol, according to Ukrainian officials.

Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the city’s mayor, said the Russians had begun “dismantling the debris” in hospital No. 3, which was heavily bombed in March. Video of the aftermath of the bombing showed heavily pregnant women being taken from the hospital; at least one later died.

The adviser said the Russians were also trying to clear and reopen the port, but that a sunken ship still blocked the entrance to the new port.

Like other Ukrainian officials, Andriushchenko is not in Mariupol but says he receives information and video from residents.

Not enough water: He said many basements were still flooded in the city because of damage to the water pipes and drinking water is mostly inaccessible. At the weekend, Andriushchenko posted video of a long line of people waiting for water from tankers. “There are huge queues at the bottling points, but there is not enough water for everyone,” he said.  

He said efforts to reconnect the electricity supply had resulted in short-circuits and fires.

Andriushchenko said there was still a high mortality rate in Mariupol even though, beyond the besieged Azovstal plant, the Mariupol area is quiet.

The new Russian-backed administration in the city has said little about its plans for reviving the city, where thousands of buildings have been destroyed and damaged, and where 100,000 people still live.

Civilian casualties “in the thousands”: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet last week said her office continues to investigate allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Ukraine, “many of which may amount to war crimes.”

Speaking from Vienna during a Human Rights Council special session on Ukraine, Bachelet said her office estimates “the civilian death toll in Mariupol to lay in the thousands” and that only with time “the true scale” of alleged atrocities will become clear. She said in areas of intense hostilities, such as Mariupol, it has been difficult for her team to get access and collect information.

Some background: Meanwhile, the Ukrainian General Staff said Russia continues massive artillery and air strikes to block and destroy units trapped at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Several hundred wounded soldiers are trapped at the plant.

In his daily video message late Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the government continues “very complicated and delicate negotiations to save our people from Mariupol, from Azovstal.”

Ukraine’s State Border Service says Russian troops opened fire across the frontier in the Sumy region on Monday, adding that “border guards fought enemy saboteurs” who tried to enter Ukrainian territory from the village of Lokot.

Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine lies 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the border with Russia, and Sumy was one of the first cities to be attacked in the Russian invasion. 

The State Border Service claimed the Russians had “fired mortars, grenade launchers, machine guns and automatic rifles. Border guards fought the saboteurs and forced them to retreat beyond the state border.”

After several weeks of quiet, the border villages of Sumy have come under fire in recent days, and local authorities say the Russians have used both air strikes and artillery.

Some background: Analysts say the Russian attacks on Sumy and also across the international border into the Chernihiv region are likely intended to tie down Ukrainian units that might otherwise be deployed to the main front lines in Donbas.

There is “strong bipartisan support” for Finnish accession to NATO, US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said during a visit to Finland on Monday.

Speaking during a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Helsinki, McConnell called Monday’s Finnish parliament debate on potential NATO membership a “historic day” for the country.

Some background: Finland is on the cusp of joining NATO while Sweden is on the verge of following suit. While other Nordic countries like Norway, Denmark and Iceland were original members of the alliance, Sweden and Finland did not join the pact for historic and geopolitical reasons. Finland, which declared independence from Russia in 1917 after the Bolshevik revolution, shares a 830-mile border with Russia.

“Finland brings a lot to the alliance. Frankly, their participation strengthens the alliance significantly and it’s a great honor to have to be here on the day when your request for admission is official,” the Minority Senate Leader continued.

The Finnish president told McConnell that his visit was a “very important moment for Finland,” adding that the two officials had already “a very good discussion.”

“We had a very interesting discussion not only dealing with Finnish membership in NATO, but also Ukraine,” Niinistö said.

McConnell added that he expects the US Senate to approve a bipartisan package of $40 billion in aid for Ukraine this week.

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French carmaker Renault has announced the sale of its assets in Russia as it formally leaves the country following the invasion of Ukraine. The assets are worth 2.195 billion euros ($2.29 billion), according to Renault.

The company’s directors unanimously agreed the sale of Renault Russia to the city of Moscow and its majority interest in Russia carmaker AVTOVAZ to NAMI (the Central Research and Development Automobile and Engine Institute), according to a statement Monday.

The sale of its stake in AVTOVAZ provides the option for Renault to buy back its interest within six years, per the statement.

Writing on his blog, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that the city had decided to take over ownership of the plant and would “resume production of passenger cars under the historical Moskvich brand.”

“We will try to keep most of the team directly working at the plant and with its subcontractors,” Sobyanin wrote, promising a future move to the production of electric cars.

Moskvich was a Soviet-era carmaker of everyday passenger vehicles.

Russia was a key piece in Renault’s global empire before the war broke out.

With 482,264 cars sold in 2021, Russia was the second most important market for Renault, ranking only behind the carmaker’s home base France in terms of sales volumes, according to the group’s 2021 sales results.

The foreign ministers of Austria and Estonia have spoken about the prospect of an upcoming sixth EU sanctions package against Russia, with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg “confident” that the package will be “done in the next days.”

The EU has been ratcheting up its economic action against Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. 

Speaking ahead of an EU-Canada Joint Ministerial Committee meeting in Brussels, Schallenberg said that the sixth sanctions package would be “very substantial,” but there was still “a certain need for discussion.” The whole Russian military complex would be targeted in the upcoming sanctions, he added. 

Liimets added that the EU “must continue to support Ukraine, we must continue to give to Ukraine humanitarian aid, also defensive military aid, but also to discuss with Ukrainians how we can support them to reconstruct their country.”

Finland and Sweden joining NATO would be a “mistake” with “far-reaching consequences” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Monday, according to state news agency TASS. 

On Sunday, Finland’s government signaled its intention to join NATO, leaving behind decades of neutrality and ignoring Russian threats of retaliation, as the Nordic country attempts to strengthen its security amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

Sweden’s ruling party later said it will also support joining the alliance.

Finland’s accession to NATO — which will likely take months to finalize — would bring the US-military alliance to Russia’s doorstep, as the two nations share an 830-mile (1,335- kilometer) border. 

Ukraine has reported another missile strike against the Black Sea coastal region of Odesa, causing damage to infrastructure and resulting in a fire.

It said Russia continued to strike the already heavily damaged bridge across the Dniester estuary south of Odesa. Two people were injured.

Some context: Last week, a shopping mall and two hotels were hit by Russian military strikes on Odesa.

Three Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were fired from a plane and and hit a “tourist infrastructure target” a Ukrainian official said.

In Luhansk and Donetsk regions, fighting continues along front lines that stretch for several hundred kilometers. The Ukrainians also report continued fighting in areas in the east, where Russian forces are trying to break through. 

The heaviest combat appears to be in two locations: around industrial towns in Luhansk, and in rural areas north of the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk. 

The Russians have reinforced their presence around Izium in an effort to push further south, and heavy fighting was reported in the area over the weekend.

The General Staff said that in three frontline areas — Lyman, Bakhmut and Kurakhiv —Russian forces continued to advance and fighting continued. But it also claimed that in another area, Avdiivka, Russian units had retreated.

Russian forces continue to bombard Severodonetsk, according to local officials.

Serhii Hayday, head of the military administration in Luhansk, said that two people in the city had been killed in the most recent shelling. He said there had been heavy bombardment of several towns and villages in the area but Russian forces had been forced to retreat near the town of Borivske to the south of Severodonetsk.

Speaking on Ukrainian television Monday, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said the key area in the Russians’ offensive now was around Severodonetsk. 

CNN has geolocated satellite imagery showing that three bridges west of Russian supply lines to Izium have been destroyed in the past week.

Mariupol: In the south, the General Staff said Russia continues massive artillery and air strikes to block and destroy units trapped at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Several hundred wounded soldiers are trapped at the plant.

In his daily video message late Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the government continues “very complicated and delicate negotiations to save our people from Mariupol, from Azovstal.”

A Ukrainian unit fighting north of Kharkiv says it has reached the Russian border, with the message: “Mr. President, we made it!”

Video released by the unit shows a small group carrying a blue and yellow stake to the border line.

Some context: Over the past few days, Ukrainian forces advanced toward the border in several places north and east of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city before the invasion began, as Russian forces have withdrawn.

Ukrainian officials said last week they were liberating villages on the outskirts of the city. Their advances threaten the symbolic embarrassment of expelling the Kremlin’s forces back to their own border while posing the strategic threat of cutting Russia’s supply lines into Ukraine and its forces further south in the Donbas region.