Ukraine says more than 260 soldiers evacuated from Mariupol; Sweden and Finland move to join NATO

The war in Ukraine, along with other global shocks to food security, is creating conditions for a significant increase in life-threatening malnutrition for children, according to UNICEF.

The United Nations agency said in a statement that soaring food prices caused by the war is set to drive up the cost of "life-saving" therapeutic food treatment. It added that severe malnutrition in children could go to "catastrophic levels."

Around 13.6 million children under five suffer from severe wasting — a condition where children are too thin for their height, leading to weak immune systems, the UN agency said in a press release.

The most effective treatment is a ready-to-use therapeutic food, but the price of that is expected to increase by up to 16% in the next six months due to a sharp rise in the cost of ingredients.

"For millions of children every year, these sachets of therapeutic paste are the difference between life and death," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

Around 10 million severely wasted children do not have access to the treatment, and another 600,000 children may lose access at current spending levels, Unicef added.

Before the war in Ukraine began, conflict, climate change and Covid were already making it difficult for families to feed their children, said Russell.

"The world is rapidly becoming a virtual tinderbox of preventable child deaths and child suffering," she said.

"There is precious little time to reignite a global effort to prevent, detect and treat malnutrition before a bad situation gets much, much worse," she added.

— Abigail Ng

Russia will likely continue relying heavily on massed artillery strikes as it tries to regain momentum in its advance on the eastern Donbas region, said the U.K.'s Defence Ministry in its daily intelligence update.

The update added that Russia had proven it was willing to use strikes against inhabited areas.

Around 3,500 buildings were estimated to have been destroyed or damaged in the Chernihiv region north of Kyiv, during Russia's abandoned advance towards the Ukrainian capital, the ministry said in its update, posted on Twitter. As much as 80% of the damage was caused to residential buildings.

"The scale of this damage indicates Russia's preparedness to use artillery against inhabited areas, with minimal regard to discrimination or proportionality," the ministry said in its update, posted on Twitter.

Russia has possibly relied more heavily on such "indiscriminate" shelling because of its "unwillingness to risk flying combat aircraft routinely beyond its own frontlines," the ministry said.

— Weizhen Tan

More than 260 Ukrainian fighters, including some who are badly wounded, were evacuated Monday from a steel plant in the ruined city of Mariupol and taken to areas under Russia's control, the Ukrainian military said.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said 53 seriously wounded fighters were taken to a hospital in Novoazovsk, east of Mariupol. An additional 211 fighters were evacuated to Olenivka through a humanitarian corridor. An exchange would be worked out for their return home, she said.

Malyar said missions are underway to rescue the remaining fighters inside the plant, the last stronghold of resistance in the devastated southern port city.

"Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol, Ukraine gained critically important time to form reserves and regroup forces and receive help from partners," she said. "And they fulfilled all their tasks. But it is impossible to unblock Azovstal by military means."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the evacuation of the fighters from Azovstal to separatist-controlled territory was to save their lives. He said the "heavily wounded" were getting medical help.

"Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes to be alive. It's our principle," he said. "The work continues to bring the guys home, and it requires delicacy and time."

—Associated Press

Ukrainian police officers document the destruction at one of Europe's largest clothing markets, Barabashovo in Kharkiv.

Black smoke rises into the sky from the Barabashovo market which was reportedly hit by shelling, in Kharkiv on March 17, 2022, amid the ongoing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Poland's agriculture minister 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 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Ukraine's agriculture secretary and the European Union's commission for agriculture, who is Polish.

Ukraine is a bread basket whose exports to world markets have been disrupted, threatening to exacerbate food shortages, hunger and inflation across the world.

Vilsack denounced Russia's theft of Ukraine's grain and its use of hunger as a tool of war. He said the U.S. would do what it could to prevent Russia from profiting from the theft.

Kowalczyk said that Poland's ports on the Baltic Sea are prepared to be put to use to transport Ukraine's grain abroad.

— Associated Press

Kalush Orchestra, the winners of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, are welcomed by members of Ukraine's State Border Guard Service as they arrive at the Ukraine-Poland border crossing point near the village of Krakovets in the Lviv region of Ukraine.

— Pavlo Palamarchuk | Reuters

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations said there are ongoing talks with Russia to reopen critical food pathways in Ukraine.

"There are discussions ongoing at this moment to see how those corridors can be unblocked," Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, adding that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres raised the issue with Russian officials.

"I can say that the situation is urgent and that we need to address it now. Because we're already seeing the impact," she added.

For weeks, Russian forces have blocked roughly a dozen Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, destroyed civilian infrastructure and targeted grain silos.

David Beasley, the head of the United Nations' top food agency, said last week that "millions of people around the world will die" if Ukraine's ports, namely Odesa, are not reopened.

— Amanda Macias

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother coming to Ankara to convince it to approve their NATO bid.

Sweden's government has formally decided to apply for NATO membership, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said, a day after Finnish President Sauli Niinisto confirmed that Helsinki will also apply for membership.

Turkey surprised its NATO allies last week by saying it would not view their applications positively, mainly citing their history of hosting members of groups Ankara deems terrorists.

In a news conference, Erdogan repeated that Turkey would not approve their bids to join NATO, calling Sweden a "hatchery" for terrorist organizations, and adding it had terrorists in its parliament.

"Neither of these countries have a clear, open attitude towards terrorist organization," Erdogan said. "How can we trust them?"

— Reuters

Ukraine has said its troops have regained control of territory on the Russian border near the country's second-largest city of Kharkiv, which has been under constant fire since Moscow's invasion began in late February.

Soldiers of the Kraken Ukrainian special forces unit stand by a destroyed bridge outside the city:

— Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

Howitzers that the U.S. provided to Ukraine have proven to be "very effective" in the country's fight against a Russian invasion, a senior U.S. Defense official said.

Ukrainian forces have used about 74 of the 90 howitzers given from U.S. stockpiles, said the official, who declined to be named. The official also said that the U.S. has delivered about 60% of the approximately 209,000 artillery rounds set out for Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces trained alongside U.S. troops in a location outside of the country before operating the howitzers.

Read more about the weapons the U.S. has sent to Ukraine thus far.

— Amanda Macias

A woman inspects a trench left by Russian soldiers next to civilian houses in Kozarovychi village, north of Vyshhorod, a city near Kyiv which was captured by the Russian army in the first days of the war.

— Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote that he spoke with International Monetary Fund Director Kristalina Georgieva about financial support for his country.

Zelenskyy said in a Twitter post that he and Georgieva discussed the need for financial support for the Ukrainian economy. He added that he looks forward to "further fruitful joint work in maintaining financial stability of Ukraine."

The update from Zelenskyy comes a month after the two talked about Ukraine's economic stability and "preparations for post-war reconstruction," according to a social media post from Zelenskyy dated April 17.

In a reply to that April post on Twitter, Georgieva said that "continued economic support by Ukraine's partners is essential to lay the foundations for rebuilding a modern competitive #Ukraine."

Ukraine's economy and finances have whipsawed in recent months amid the Russian invasion and subsequent support from Western allies. Moscow's blockades of Ukrainian ports, for example, has disrupted trade routes and halted a major source of global food exports.

— Thomas Franck

Lockheed Martin has been awarded two contracts worth $309 million by the U.S. army for its Javelin missiles, the antitank weapon that has helped Ukraine fight Russia's invasion, the company said.

The Javelin missiles are made jointly by Lockheed and Raytheon Technologies' missile unit.

Demand for Javelin missiles remains high as the war in Ukraine worsens, where they were used to stop Russian tanks from advancing on the capital, to an artillery battle in Ukraine's east.

So far, the United States has sent more then 5,500 Javelin systems to Ukraine.

— Reuters

The United States will send a delegation to Moldova, Georgia and the United Kingdom this week as Russia continues its assault on eastern Ukraine.

State Department Counselor Derek Chollet will lead the group representing the U.S. In Moldova, one of the countries considered most vulnerable to a potential expansion of Russia's war, he plans to meet with government officials and "reinforce U.S. support for Moldova's democracy, prosperity, and security," the State Department said.

Chollet will then head to Georgia, where he "will meet with government, opposition, and civil society representatives for discussions on Russia's continuing occupation of parts of Georgia, on the Kremlin's brutal war against Ukraine, and on how to advance the people of Georgia's aspirations for a democratic, peaceful, prosperous, and Euro-Atlantic future," according to the department.

In the U.K., Chollet plans to discuss the countries' response to the war in Ukraine along with other global security concerns.

— Jacob Pramuk

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen thanked Polish leaders for sheltering millions of Ukrainian refugees and pushed officials to support the European Union's plans to introduce a 15% global corporate minimum tax.

Yellen, whose comments came during her trip to the Polish capital of Warsaw, spoke with Ukrainian refugee cooks during her visit to the Wilcza Hostel and the World Central Kitchen facility for Ukrainian refugees.

The U.S. Treasury Department said that Yellen would use the trip to Warsaw to discuss the war's effect on Poland's economy, particularly on inflation, fiscal policy, and supply chains.

"Secretary Yellen will also express her gratitude for the generosity Poland has shown in welcoming refugees, address the rising threat of food insecurity, and discuss the agreement on new international tax rules," the department said.

Poland is the sole holdout in the EU's plan to introduce a global corporate minimum tax. It vetoed a compromise in April to launch the 137-country deal that sought to end a downward competitive spiral in business tax rates.

— Thomas Franck

The United Nations has confirmed 3,668 civilian deaths and 3,896 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher, because the armed conflict can delay reports.

The international body said most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as missiles and airstrikes.

— Amanda Macias

Moscow has wasted no time in making its feelings known about the likely expansion of the Western military alliance NATO, with President Putin saying Monday that it "is a problem."

Putin claimed that the move was in the interests of the U.S., in comments reported by Reuters, and said Russia would react to the expansion of military infrastructure to Sweden and Finland, although he insisted Moscow had "no problems" with the countries.

Putin's comments come after other top Kremlin officials deplored the future expansion of NATO, with one describing it is a "grave mistake" with global consequences.

— Holly Ellyatt

McDonald's said Monday that it will sell its business in Russia, a little more than two months after it paused operations in the country due to its invasion of Ukraine.

"The humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald's to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald's values," the company said in a news release.

Russian forces, directed by President Vladimir Putin, have been accused of an array of war crimes during their assault on Ukraine.

McDonald's exit from Russia is a bitter end to an era that once promised hope. The company, among the most recognizable symbols of American capitalism, opened its first restaurant in Russia more than 32 years ago as the communist Soviet regime was falling apart.

— Mike Calia