More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers, including wounded, were evacuated on Monday from the Azovstal steel complex in the southern city of Mariupol, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said, while 20 people were killed in Russian shelling on various areas in the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.
Deputy Defense Minister Gana Maliar said on Monday evening that 53 seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated from the Azovstal complex to the city of Novoazovsk, which is under the control of pro-Moscow separatists.
Another 211 soldiers were transferred from Azovstal to the Olenivka region of the Crimea via a humanitarian corridor.
exchange deal
The Ukrainian military official added that the evacuated soldiers will be part of a prisoner exchange deal between Moscow and Kiev, because Novoazovsk and Olinivka are under the control of Russia and the separatists backed by Moscow.
Ukrainian troops reportedly leaving the Azovstal by Russian busses now.
By @Reuters pic.twitter.com/3r0G4uubTS
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) May 16, 2022
Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted a military source in the Donetsk region as saying that about 10 buses left the vicinity of the Azovstal complex towards the city of Novoazovsk located in a province in Donetsk.
The witness added that some of the evacuees were transported from buses on stretchers to be transported to receive medical care.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that Mariupol's forces had completed their combat mission, and the military source explained that negotiations are underway to rescue those trapped in the industrial zone.
The Ukrainian General Staff indicated that the measures to rescue the remaining defenders on the territory of the Azovstal complex are continuing, in reference to the Ukrainian forces that have been besieged by Russian forces and separatist forces for two months inside the complex east of Mariupol.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of the success of negotiations, through international mediation, in the transfer of 221 Ukrainian soldiers who were trapped inside the Azovstal complex.
On the other hand, Reuters news agency reported that a series of explosions rocked the city of Lviv, western Ukraine, on Monday, and there was no information on casualties in the wake of the explosions.
Some reports said that between 8 and 10 explosions occurred quickly and in succession.
Donbass front
The Ukrainian Joint Task Force said yesterday evening, Monday, that 20 civilians, including a child, were killed in Russian bombing of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
The military force stated in a statement that 25 residential communities were targeted in the two areas, and that the bombing hit 42 residential buildings, as well as a school.
Lugansk Governor Sergey Gaidai said on Monday that at least 10 people were killed in Russian bombing of Severodonetsk, one of the largest cities in eastern Ukraine, which Russian forces seek to control.
In a message posted on the Telegram application, Gaidai said that Severodonetsk and the neighboring city of Lysychanek were subjected to artillery shelling, which caused fires in residential neighborhoods.
In the neighboring Donetsk region, the region's governor, Pavlo Kirilenko, said that 9 civilians were killed on Monday and 16 others were wounded in his region. Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk announced on the sixth of this month that the city is almost surrounded by Russian forces and pro-Moscow separatists.
Stryuk explained that 15,000 of the city's population of about 100,000 people who lived in it before the war, are still there.
Kharkiv region
On the other hand, Ukrainian forces regained control of part of the border with Russia in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine.
In a statement posted on Facebook accompanied by a video showing soldiers in front of a yellow and blue border insignia, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said, "The 227th Battalion of the 127th Regional Defense Brigade of the Kharkiv Armed Forces expelled the Russians and stationed on the border."
On the other hand, Russia said on Monday that it had targeted with "high-precision" missiles two Ukrainian command centers and 5 artillery ammunition depots near Zaporozhye, Paraskovka, Konstantinovka and Novomykailovka in Donetsk, and the Russian Defense Ministry added that its forces destroyed two fuel depots, as well as shooting down 3 Ukrainian warplanes.