WEDNESDAY 18 MAY 2022

Day 84 of the war against Ukraine.

THE TELEGRAPH

• There are negotiations about prisoner exchange for the fighters at Azovstal steel plant. 
• The trial starts today of the 21-year-old who is accused of killing a Ukrainian man over 60.   Vadim Shishirarin is accused of shooting and killing Oleksandr Shelipov.
• There is some bellicose language in Russia in the media about executing the fighters from the steel plant.
• Russia had claimed victory in Mariupol weeks ago. 
• Russia will put pressure on these fighters to get information out of them.  But, these men have been holed up under the ground and probably don’t have much information.  The fighters will be wondering whether they fought hard enough, have doubts, and the Russians will encourage those doubts. 

EUROMAIDAN PRESS

• Belarus is banning Orwell’s 1984.
• Ukrainian guerilla fighters blow up Russian armored train in occupied Melitopol.
• Kalashnikov sells weapons to US bypassing sanctions.
• Russian bomb attacks on Mariupol’s Azovstal might have killed the flora and fauna of the Sea of Azov.
• Russian troops are focused on setting conditions for the Battle of Sievierodonetsk (Just north of Lisichansk)

KYIV INDEPENDENT

• Russia expels diplomats from France, Spain and Italy.
• US unlikely to extend Russia’s debt-payment license, increasing risk of default.