Ukraine crisis: Russia advances in Donbas as Azovstal siege ends

Russia has claimed victory in a months-long battle for Mariupol's Avostal steel plant, taking it a step nearer to its goal of controlling Ukraine's Donbas region.

The last Ukrainian forces holed up in Azovstal surrendered on Friday (May 20), Russia's defence ministry said, ending the bloodiest siege of the war.

They were seen arriving on buses in the Russian-controlled town of Olenivka near Donetsk.

Ukraine's General Staff of Armed Forces did not comment on Russia's claim in its morning update.

Meanwhile, Moscow launched what appeared to be a major assault to seize the last Ukrainian-held territory in Luhansk, part of the southeastern Donbas. Russian-backed separatists already controlled swathes of territory there before the Feb 24 invasion.

Luhansk's regional governor said on social media early on Saturday (May 21) that Russia was trying to destroy the city of Sievierodonetsk, with fighting taking place on the outskirts of the city.

Ukraine's General Staff of Armed Forces did not comment on Russia's claim in its morning update.

The end of fighting in Mariupol, the biggest city Russia has captured so far and the main port for the Donbas, gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a rare victory after a series of setbacks.

Putin says Russian troops are undertaking a "special military operation" to demilitarise Ukraine and rid it of radical anti-Russian nationalists. Western countries call it an unprovoked war of aggression.

Moscow also halted gas exports to Finland on Saturday, in an escalation of an energy payment dispute with Western nations.

It had rejected Russian demands to pay for the gas in roubles because of Western sanctions.

The move comes days after Finland and Sweden decided to apply to join the Nato military alliance, a decision spurred by the Ukraine war.

VIDEO: REUTERS

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#straitstimes

[profitmuhammed]

Due to politicians greed, now Finnish has to suffer from shortage of gas supply as Rusia is a major gas supplier in Europe

[lagrangewei]

WEST: "UKRAINE IS WINNING"
RUSSIA: OK MATE!
WEST: "AZOV IS SUCCESSFULLY EVACUTED"
RUSSIA: CORRECT, TOTALLY NOT SURRENDERING...
WEST: "RUSSIA CUT FINLAND GAS BECAUSE THEY JOIN NATO!"
RUSSIA: TOTALLY NOT BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO PAY.

[wangchung]

If only Nato and Ukraine have taken Russia's security interests seriously.

[ssuwandi]

The comments alone is worthy the information than the Clip!! 😎😎 Cheap journalism 😅

[knowledge]

After 19 years since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, has the West forgotten this war?
The Iraq war is said to have resulted in 1 million deaths the difference is russia have weapons of mass destruction

A message to the future generations never make russia feel threatened
the difference between "looking dangerous" and "being dangerous".Russia
describes military doctrine as defensive military doctrine. With regard
to nuclear weapons specifically, Russia reserves the right to use
nuclear weapons: in response to the use of nuclear and other types of
weapons of mass destruction against it or its allies, in case of
aggression against Russia with the use of conventional weapons when the
very existence of the state is threatened
Russia has the World's Largest Bomber
As of 2022, the Federation of American Scientists estimates that Russia possesses 5, 977 nuclear weapons, while the United States has 5, 428; Russia and the U.S. each have about 1, 600 active deployed strategic nuclear warheads.
Russia has the most nuclear weapons of any country, at 6, 257. Of these, 1, 458 are active, meaning they are already deployed, 3, 039 are available (can be deployed if needed) and 1, 760 are retired (out of use and awaiting dismantlement

How do Russian nuclear weapons compare to the rest of the world?

Russia - 6, 257
America 5, 550
UK - 225
France - 290
China - 350
Israel - 90
Pakistan - 165
India - 156
North Korea - 40

When you tell the truth it's always gonna be controversial.
sar Bomba, (Russian: “King of Bombs”), byname of RDS-220, also called Big Ivan, Soviet thermonuclear bomb that was detonated in a test over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean on October 30, 1961. The largest nuclear weapon ever set off, it produced the most powerful human-made explosion ever recorded.

Russia's Tsar bomba: World's most powerful nuclear weapon of mass destruction. The Tsar bomba exploded about 4 km above the ground and reportedly produced a mushroom cloud 60 km high
However, the Soviet Union developed three AN602 physics packages at 101.5 megatons (Mt) and these are more powerful than the Tsar Bomba, which was downscaled to 51 Mt before being used RDS-220 Vanya.

it was modified to yield 50 megatons, which was estimated to be about 3, 800 times the strength of the U.S. bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II

The declassified study from the scientists at the Los Alamos laboratory, published in 1947 had first shed light on the question that how many nuclear bombs it would take to destroy the world. According to the study, it would take about ten to a hundred 'super nukes' to end humanity

[Zinaida.Z]

"Almost no one in Europe knows about the vile, racist roots of Ukrainian nationalism, " writes British journalist Peter Hitchens in Mail Online. "Never have I seen such a wave of ignorant sentiment in Europe, " he notes. “The other day I shocked a well-known Oxford scientist by telling her that beautiful, angelic, holy, perfect Ukrainians cut off the water supply to Crimea in 2014, ” the author writes. The scientist was shocked by this fact, but it is even more shocking that such an educated British woman did not know anything about this, Hitchens notes. Also, no one in Europe knows anything about the discrimination against the Russian language, which was carried out by the Kyiv authorities.