The southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol has been under near-constant Russian bombardment since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Securing the strategic port on the Sea of Azov would allow Russia to establish a broad "land bridge" connecting the annexed Crimean peninsula with eastern Ukraine's separatist-held Donbas region.

But the city's Ukrainian defenders have resisted Russian efforts to capture the city and over 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers are believed to be sheltering in the sprawling Azovstal steel plant.

Reporters and eyewitnesses have described harrowing scenes of civilian death and suffering from the all-but-destroyed port city in the months since Russian forces arrived.

The UN estimates that thousands of civilians have died in Mariupol since the war began.

But while most of the city's pre-war population of 400,000 has fled, some 100,000 civilians are believed to have stayed.

Source: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/16/in-photos-mariupol-under-russian-occupation-a77691

Russia will suspend electricity supplies to Finland this weekend, a supplier said on Friday as tensions rise over Helsinki's NATO bid following the conflict in Ukraine.

"We are forced to suspend the electricity import starting from May 14," said RAO Nordic, a subsidiary of Russian state energy holding Inter RAO that sells its electricity on the Nordic market.

It blamed the suspension on not having received payment for electricity sold in May and said as a consequence it was no longer able to pay for more electricity from Russia.

"This situation is exceptional and happened for the first time in over 20 years of our trading history," RAO Nordic said, hoping the situation would "soon" improve and the trade could resume.

#Russia #Finland #NATO

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/13/russia-says-to-cut-electricity-to-finland-from-saturday-a77678

Russia's President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto Saturday that Finland scrapping its military neutrality would be a "mistake," the Kremlin said.

"Putin stressed that the end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland's security," the Kremlin said in a statement after a phone call between the two leaders.

Helsinki is expected to announce its NATO membership bid on Sunday.

"Such a change in the country's political orientation can have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations developed over years in a spirit of good neighborliness and cooperation between partners," the statement added.

Both leaders also touched on the situation in Ukraine, where Russia has been leading a military operation since Feb. 24.

#Russia #Finland #Putin #NATO

More: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/14/finlands-end-of-military-neutrality-a-mistake-putin-tells-finnish-president-a77682

In Kharkiv, Russians fired long-range weapons at the post office where residents were receiving humanitarian aid. 6 civilians were killed, said the head of the Kharkiv regional state administration Oleg Sinegubov. Another 15 people were injured

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