May 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The Russian Defense Ministry says the evacuation of wounded Ukrainian forces from the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol has begun.

Russian network RT has shown video of about 10 to 12 buses leaving the plant. The buses appear to be a mixture of hospital and ordinary transport — some are marked with a red cross.

Media outlets in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic showed at least one wounded fighter on a stretcher arriving at a hospital in the region late Monday. The fighter did not speak and there was no way to confirm his identity.

"On May 16th, as a result of negotiations with representatives of Ukrainian servicemen blocked on the territory of the Azovstal Metallurgical Plant in Mariupol, an agreement was reached on the removal of the wounded," the ministry said, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

"Currently, a ceasefire regime has been established in the area of ​​the enterprise and a humanitarian corridor has been opened, through which wounded Ukrainian servicemen are being delivered to a medical facility in Novoazovsk, Donetsk People's Republic, to provide them with all the necessary assistance," the statement continues.

Novoazovsk is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Mariupol.

In a brief statement late Monday, the Azov regiment — one of the Ukrainian army’s units in Mariupol — announced that: "In order to save lives, the entire Mariupol garrison is implementing the approved decision of the Supreme Military Command and hopes for the support of the Ukrainian people."

"The defenders of Mariupol fulfilled the order, despite all the difficulties, and distracted the overwhelming forces of the enemy for 82 days," it continued.

It did not provide any further details.

CNN's Taras Zadorozhnyy contributed reporting to this post

European Union leaders were unsuccessful in reaching unanimity on banning Russian oil during a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers, Josep Borrell, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, said Monday. 

Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Borrell said “unhappily” it was not possible to reach an agreement on a sixth sanctions package against Russia, telling reporters that “we are with the same difficulties about unanimity on the oil ban.”

The EU has proposed banning all oil imports from Russia by the end of this year and removing the country's biggest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT international payments network.

On Wednesday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Hungary will only vote for EU sanctions on Russian oil if the bloc comes up with solutions to the problems it would create.

Borrell told reporters that the day’s discussion had clarified some issues about the difficulties Hungary is facing.

“It was not even in the agenda to try to get an agreement today, because we knew it was not possible,” Borrell said.

“But we had a very constructive discussion about the reasons why some member states are reluctant — not only about oil ban but other elements of the sanctions package,” he continued.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that he would not approve Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership if they sanction Turkey. 

Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Erdogan said Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother coming to Turkey to try to convince Turkey to approve the country’s NATO membership. 

Turkey’s foreign minister held “some” meetings with Swedish and Finnish counterparts, Erdogan said, adding that none of the two countries had a clear stance against terror organizations.

“Even if they say ‘we are against them,’ on the contrary they have statements saying that they do not hand over the terrorists that they need to hand over to Turkey,” he said. 

He added that Sweden is a “nest” for terror organizations, saying it allows terrorists to speak in parliaments. 

“They have special invitations to terrorists. They even have pro PKK MPs in their parliaments. How are we going to trust them?”

Erdogan reiterated the same stance last week when he told a news conference in Istanbul that he was not looking at the prospect of Finland and Sweden joining NATO “positively,” accusing both countries of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations.”

The PKK, or Kurdistan Worker's Party, which seeks an independent state in Turkey, has been in an armed struggle with Turkey for decades and has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have endorsed Sweden and Finland’s plans to seek membership in NATO.

In a joint statement released on Monday, the foreign ministers called the decisions “historic” and said that they will “do what it takes to assist both countries.” 

The ministers added that Sweden and Finland’s membership “will also greatly increase the security of the Baltic Sea region”, as well as “open new perspectives for Nordic-Baltic and other regional cooperation formats in defense and security matters.”

“We are committing ourselves to promote speedy ratification of the accession protocols once they are signed,” the joint statement adds.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said on Monday that there’s “strong bipartisan support” in the US to help Finland become a member of NATO and that he thinks the US Congress will vote “as rapidly as possible” — likely before the chamber’s August recess — to support Finland’s application to join the alliance. 

He added: “The goal of the United States will be able will be to approve that as rapidly as possible.” 

Two-thirds of the Senate is required to support the treaty in order for it to be ratified. McConnell said he expects the size of the vote in the chamber to be “very significant.”

When asked when Congress would vote, the Kentucky Republican said: “I think certainly we hope to achieve it before the August recess when Congress typically goes out of session. Obviously, that would be well before the fall election. With regard to the size of the vote, I think it will be very significant, not unanimous, but very significant.”

McConnell also said on Monday that Republicans are “absolutely” committed to NATO, when asked about reports that former President Trump has expressed wanting to pull the US out of NATO and whether the GOP still strongly support the alliance.

“Absolutely,” he said. “That’s not the majority view in the Republican party. Certainly not the majority view amongst Senate Republicans or House Republicans.”

McConnell led a US congressional delegation to Ukraine over the weekend and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv Saturday. McConnell was joined on the unannounced trip by Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John Barrasso of Wyoming and John Cornyn of Texas.

McConnell and the other senators became the latest US officials to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded the eastern European nation in late February.

Russian forces fired long-range missiles over the last 24 hours that appeared to be targeting the Yavoriv military training facility near the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, a senior US defense official said Monday.

The official said there was “minimal damage” as a result of the strikes.

“I don't have perfect visibility on those strikes. They do appear to have been targeted at that training facility and again, what we what we can see from our perspective is minor damage to a few buildings,” the official said.

The leaders of Denmark, Iceland and Norway have welcomed Finland and Sweden's decision to apply for membership of NATO. 

"We strongly welcome Finland and Sweden’s decisions to apply for NATO membership," the three nations said in a joint statement.

More context: On Monday, the Swedish government announced its decision to apply for NATO membership after determining that membership "is the best way to protect Sweden’s security in light of the fundamentally changed security environment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine."

Last week, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Finland must apply for membership "without delay" and will complete the steps it needs to on the national level "in the next couple of days."

The three nations stressed Monday that Finnish and Swedish security are "a matter of common concern to us all."  

"Should Finland or Sweden be victim of aggression on their territory before obtaining NATO membership, we will assist Finland and Sweden by all means necessary," the three nations pledged. 

They also vowed to do their "utmost to ensure a swift accession process, as Finland and Sweden already live up to the relevant criteria for NATO membership."

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre pledged in a separate statement to "further develop our Nordic defense cooperation."  

The Swedish government has said on its website that it has decided to apply for NATO membership.

The statement said the decision is based on a "security analysis" that the government invited "other Riksdag (parliament) parties to take part in." Its conclusions were presented in a report on May 13.

Earlier Monday, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said Sweden should join NATO together with neighboring Finland to "ensure the safety of Swedish people."

When asked when exactly the country will hand in the application, she said it could it happen this week — either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. She added that it needs to be done in coordination with Finland.

President of the European Council Charles Michel commended Sweden and the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, on deciding to join NATO, calling it a “decision for the benefit of collective security and defense.”

“EU contribution to NATO deterrence is increasingly invaluable,” he added.