The 12th week of the Russian invasion of Ukraine saw Kyiv’s forces continue to press their counteroffensive against Russian forces in the east of the country, and reportedly all the way to the Russian border north of Kharkiv. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says the number of Ukrainian refugees has passed the six-million mark.
The evacuation of wounded fighters from the Azovstal steel plant begins under a prisoner-swap agreement with Russian POWs. It is then extended to hundreds of fighters as Ukraine’s military declares an end to the Azovstal operation in Mariupol. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says negotiators are trying to secure the release of all the remaining defenders of the Azovstal plant – an estimated 600. Russia’s defence ministry confirms that 265 Ukrainians have surrendered, 51 of them injured.
