Russia’s Claim of Mariupol’s Capture Fuels Concern for POWs

 An aerial view of a residential area destroyed by Russian shelling in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, May 21, 2022. (AP)
An aerial view of a residential area destroyed by Russian shelling in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, May 21, 2022. (AP)
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Russia’s Claim of Mariupol’s Capture Fuels Concern for POWs

 An aerial view of a residential area destroyed by Russian shelling in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, May 21, 2022. (AP)
An aerial view of a residential area destroyed by Russian shelling in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, May 21, 2022. (AP)

Russia’s claimed seizure of a Mariupol steel plant that became a symbol of Ukrainian tenacity gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a badly wanted victory in the war he began, capping a nearly three-month siege that left a city in ruins and more than 20,000 residents feared dead.

After the Russian Defense Ministry announced late Friday that its forces had removed the last Ukrainian fighters from the plant's miles of underground tunnels, concern mounted for the Ukrainian defenders who now are prisoners in Russian hands.
Denis Pushilin, the head of an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, said Saturday that the Ukrainians, considered heroes by their fellow citizens, were sure to face a tribunal for their wartime actions.

"I believe that a tribunal is inevitable here. I believe that justice must be restored. There is a request for this from ordinary people, society, and, probably, the sane part of the world community," Russian state news agency Tass quoted Pushilin as saying.

Russian officials and state media repeatedly have tried to characterize the fighters who holed up in the Azovstal steel plant as neo-Nazis. Among the plant's more than 2,400 defenders were members of the Azov Regiment, a national guard unit with roots in the far right.

The Ukrainian government has not commented on Russia's claim of capturing Azovstal, which for weeks remained Mariupol's last holdout of Ukrainian resistance, and with it completing Moscow's long-sought goal of controlling the city, home to a strategic seaport.

Ukraine's military this week told the fighters holed up in the plant, hundreds of them wounded, that their mission was complete and they could come out. It described their extraction as an evacuation, not a mass surrender.

The end of the battle for Mariupol would help Putin offset some stinging setbacks, including the failure of Russian troops to take over Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, the sinking of the Russian Navy’s flagship in the Black Sea and the continued resistance that has stalled an offensive in eastern Ukraine.

The impact of Russia's declared victory on the broader war in Ukraine remained unclear. Many Russian troops already had been redeployed from Mariupol to elsewhere in the conflict, which began when Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported Saturday that Russia had destroyed a Ukrainian special-operations base in the Black Sea region of Odesa as well as a significant cache of Western-supplied weapons in northern Ukraine's Zhytomyr region. There was no confirmation from the Ukrainian side.

In its morning operational report, the Ukrainian military general staff reported heavy fighting in much of eastern Ukraine, including the areas of Sievierodonetsk, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

After failing to capture Kyiv, Russia focused its offensive on the country's eastern industrial heartland. The Russia-backed separatists have controlled parts of the Donbas region since 2014, and Moscow wants to expand the territory under its control.

The seizure of Mariupol furthers Russia’s quest to essentially create a land bridge from Russia stretching through the Donbas region to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Saturday that Russia was working to restore the port and remove mines.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, demanded anew that Russia pay "in one way or another for everything it has destroyed in Ukraine. Every burned house. Every ruined school, ruined hospital. Each blown up house of culture and infrastructure facility. Every destroyed enterprise."

"Of course, the Russian state will not even recognize that it is an aggressor,” he said in an address late Friday. "But its recognition is not required."

Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to his US counterpart, Joe Biden, who signed off Saturday on a fresh, $40 billion infusion of aid for the war-ravaged nation. Half of the funding provides military assistance.

Mariupol, which is part of the Donbas, was blockaded early in the war and became a frightening example to people elsewhere in the country of the hunger, terror and death they might face if the Russians surrounded their communities.

As the end drew near at the steel plant, wives of fighters who had held out told of what they feared would be their last contact with their husbands.

Olga Boiko, the wife of a marine, wiped away tears as she shared the words her husband wrote her on Thursday: "Hello. We surrender, I don’t know when I will get in touch with you and if I will at all. Love you. Kiss you. Bye."

The seaside steelworks, occupying some 11 square kilometers (4 square miles), had been a battleground for weeks. Drawing Russian airstrikes, artillery and tank fire, the dwindling group of outgunned fighters held out with the help of airdrops before their government ordered them to abandon the plant.

Zelenskyy revealed in an interview published Friday that Ukrainian helicopter pilots braved Russian anti-aircraft fire to ferry in medicine, food and water to the steel mill as well as to retrieve bodies and rescue wounded fighters.

A "very large" number of the pilots died on their daring missions, he said. "They are absolutely heroic people, who knew that it would be difficult, knew that to fly would be almost impossible," Zelenskyy said.

Russia claimed that the Azov Regiment's commander was taken away from the plant in an armored vehicle because of local residents' alleged hatred for him, but no evidence of Ukrainian antipathy toward the nationalist regiment has emerged.

The Kremlin has seized on the regiment's far-right origins in its drive to cast the invasion as a battle against Nazi influence in Ukraine. Russian authorities have threatened to put some of the steel mill’s defenders on trial for alleged war crimes.

With Russia controlling the city, Ukrainian authorities are likely to face delays in documenting evidence of alleged Russian atrocities in Mariupol, including the bombings of a maternity hospital and a theater where hundreds of civilians had taken cover.

Satellite images in April showed what appeared to be mass graves just outside Mariupol, where local officials accused Russia of concealing the slaughter by burying up to 9,000 civilians.

Earlier this month, hundreds of civilians were evacuated from the plant during humanitarian cease-fires and spoke of the terror of ceaseless bombardment, the dank conditions underground and the fear that they wouldn’t make it out alive.

At one point in the siege, Pope Francis lamented that Mariupol had become a "city of martyrs."

An estimated 100,000 of the 450,000 people who resided there before the war remain. Many, trapped by Russia’s siege, were left without food, water and electricity.

The chief executive of Metinvest, a multinational company that owns the Azovstal plant and another steel mill, Ilyich, in Mariupol, spoke of the city's devastation in an interview published Saturday in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"The Russians are trying to clean it (the city) up to hide their crimes,'' the newspaper quoted Metinvest CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov as saying. ”The inhabitants are trying to make the city function, to make water supplies work again."

"But the sewer system is damaged, there has been flooding, and infections are feared” from drinking the water, he said.

The Ilyich steelworks still has some intact infrastructure, but if the Russians try to get it running, Ukrainians will refuse to return to their jobs there, Ryzhenkov said.

"We will never work under Russian occupation,'' he said.



Turkish, Greek Leaders Voice Desire to Resolve Issues After Talks

In this photo released by the Turkish Presidency, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Turkish Presidency via AP)
In this photo released by the Turkish Presidency, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Turkish Presidency via AP)
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Turkish, Greek Leaders Voice Desire to Resolve Issues After Talks

In this photo released by the Turkish Presidency, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Turkish Presidency via AP)
In this photo released by the Turkish Presidency, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Turkish Presidency via AP)

The leaders of Türkiye and Greece voiced their desire to resolve longstanding maritime disputes hobbling ties during discussions in Ankara on Wednesday, as the NATO allies and historic rivals try to build on warming relations.

The neighbors have been at odds over a range of issues for decades, primarily maritime boundaries and rights in the Aegean, an area widely believed to hold energy resources and with key implications for airspace and military activity.

Following years of heightened tensions, a 2023 declaration on friendly relations prompted a thaw in rhetoric, though their maritime issues have remained unresolved and the two sides still disagree over ‌regional matters.

Speaking at ‌a press conference in Ankara with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, ‌Turkish ⁠President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said ⁠they had discussed their issues in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean "in an open and sincere way" during the talks.

"While the issues may be thorny, they are not unsolvable on the basis of international law. I saw that we were in agreement with my friend Kyriakos," Erdogan said.

He added that the two countries would continue working to achieve their goal of reaching $10 billion in bilateral trade.

Mitsotakis said he hoped circumstances would allow the sides to solve a dispute on ⁠the demarcation of maritime and exclusive economic zones in the Aegean ‌and eastern Mediterranean.

'IF NOT NOW, WHEN?'

"It is time to ‌remove any substantial and formal threats to our relations, if not now, when?" Mitsotakis said.

"Destiny has ‌appointed us to live in the same neighborhood. We cannot change geography, but we can ‌make it an ally, choosing convergence, dialogue and trust in international law... to build a future of peace, progress and prosperity for our people."

Despite the positive tone, Greece's foreign minister earlier said Athens planned to extend its territorial waters further, including potentially in the Aegean.

Shortly after, Ankara said it had issued ‌a maritime notice urging Greece to coordinate research activities in areas of the Aegean that Türkiye considers part of its continental shelf.

In ⁠1995, Türkiye’s parliament ⁠declared a casus belli — a cause for war — should Greece unilaterally extend its territorial waters beyond six nautical miles in the Aegean, a stance Athens says violates international maritime law. Greece says it wants only to discuss demarcation of maritime zones.

Mitsotakis also said the flows of migrants in the Aegean Sea had decreased by almost 60% last year due to cooperation between the two countries, adding this should be strengthened.

Fifteen migrants died in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Chios last week after their boat collided with a Greek coastguard vessel and sank in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish coast.

Türkiye is a transit country for migrants seeking to reach the European Union via Greece. Ankara says the EU has not fully delivered on commitments under a 2016 migration deal and Athens wants Türkiye to do more to curb irregular crossings.


US Energy Secretary in Venezuela for Oil Talks

Handout picture released by the US Embassy in Venezuela showing US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright (2-R) walking next to the new head of the United States diplomatic mission for Venezuela, Laura Dogu (2-L), upon his arrival at Maiquetia International Airport in Maiquetia, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on February 11, 2026. (Handout / US Embassy in Venezuela / AFP)
Handout picture released by the US Embassy in Venezuela showing US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright (2-R) walking next to the new head of the United States diplomatic mission for Venezuela, Laura Dogu (2-L), upon his arrival at Maiquetia International Airport in Maiquetia, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on February 11, 2026. (Handout / US Embassy in Venezuela / AFP)
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US Energy Secretary in Venezuela for Oil Talks

Handout picture released by the US Embassy in Venezuela showing US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright (2-R) walking next to the new head of the United States diplomatic mission for Venezuela, Laura Dogu (2-L), upon his arrival at Maiquetia International Airport in Maiquetia, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on February 11, 2026. (Handout / US Embassy in Venezuela / AFP)
Handout picture released by the US Embassy in Venezuela showing US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright (2-R) walking next to the new head of the United States diplomatic mission for Venezuela, Laura Dogu (2-L), upon his arrival at Maiquetia International Airport in Maiquetia, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on February 11, 2026. (Handout / US Embassy in Venezuela / AFP)

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright arrived in Venezuela on Wednesday for talks with acting president Delcy Rodriguez and oil industry executives on harnessing the country's vast crude reserves.

Wright is the highest-ranking official in the administration of US President Donald Trump to travel to Venezuela since US special forces seized and overthrew longtime socialist leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3.

Trump has backed Maduro's former deputy Rodriguez to succeed the ousted leader, on condition that she abide by US demands, including granting the United States access to Venezuelan oil and ease state repression.

Welcoming Wright to Venezuela on X, the US embassy in the country said: "Your visit is key to advancing @POTUS's (Trump's) vision of a prosperous Venezuela."

It added that "the US private sector will be essential to boost the oil sector, modernize the electric grid, and unlock Venezuela's enormous potential."

A photo posted by the embassy showed Wright on the tarmac at Maiquetia International Airport, which serves the capital Caracas, together with the new US charge d'affaires in Venezuela, Laura Dogu.

Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world's oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States.

But it produced only around one percent of the world's total crude output in 2024, according to OPEC, due to years of under-investment, mismanagement and US sanctions.

Washington eased sanctions on Venezuelan oil last month after Rodriguez's administration passed a law throwing open the sector to private investment.

Trump wants US oil majors to rapidly rebuild the sector and boost output by millions of barrels a day.


Trump Meets Netanyahu, with US-Iran Nuclear Diplomacy Topping Agenda

 President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
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Trump Meets Netanyahu, with US-Iran Nuclear Diplomacy Topping Agenda

 President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)

President Donald Trump hosted Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday, with the Israeli prime minister expected to press him to widen US talks with Iran to include limits on Tehran's missile arsenal and other security threats beyond its nuclear program.

In his seventh meeting with Trump since the president returned to office nearly 13 months ago, Netanyahu was looking to influence the next round of US discussions with Iran following nuclear negotiations held in Oman last Friday.

Trump has threatened strikes on Iran if no agreement is reached, while Tehran has vowed to retaliate, stoking fears of a wider war. He has repeatedly voiced support for a secure Israel, a longstanding US ally and arch-foe of Iran.

In media interviews on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his warning, saying that while he believes Iran wants a deal, he would do "something very tough" if it refused.

TRUMP SAYS NO TO IRANIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS, MISSILES

Trump told Fox Business that a good deal with Iran would mean "no nuclear weapons, no missiles," without elaborating. He also told Axios he was considering sending a second aircraft carrier ‌strike group as part ‌of a major US buildup near Iran.

Israel fears that the US might pursue a narrow ‌nuclear deal ⁠that does not ⁠include restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program or an end to Iranian support for armed proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah, according to people familiar with the matter. Israeli officials have urged the US not to trust Iran's promises.

"I will present to the president our perceptions of the principles in the negotiations," Netanyahu told reporters before departing for the US. The two leaders could also discuss potential military action if diplomacy with Iran fails, one source said.

Iran has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions but has ruled out linking the issue to missiles.

Iran’s "missile capabilities are non-negotiable," Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said on Wednesday.

Netanyahu's arrival at the White House was lower-key than usual. He entered the building away ⁠from the view of reporters and cameras, and a White House official then confirmed he was inside ‌meeting with Trump.

GAZA ON THE AGENDA

Also on the agenda was Gaza, with Trump looking to ‌push ahead with a ceasefire agreement he helped to broker. Progress on his 20-point plan to end the war and rebuild the shattered Palestinian enclave has stalled, ‌with major gaps over steps such as Hamas disarming as Israeli troops withdraw in phases.

Netanyahu's visit, originally scheduled for February 18, was brought forward ‌amid renewed US engagement with Iran. Both sides at last week's Oman meeting said the talks were positive and further talks were expected soon.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of the Oman meeting that negotiations would need to address Iran's missiles, its proxy groups, and its treatment of its own population. Iran said Friday’s talks focused only on nuclear issues.

Trump has been vague about broadening the negotiations. He was quoted as telling Axios on Tuesday that it was a "no-brainer" ‌for any deal to cover Iran's nuclear program, but that he also thought it possible to address its missile stockpiles.

Iran says its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes, while the US and Israel have ⁠accused it of past efforts to develop ⁠nuclear weapons.

Last June, the US joined Israel's strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during a 12-day war.

Israel also heavily damaged Iran's air defenses and missile arsenal. Two Israeli officials say there are signs Iran is working to restore those capabilities.

Trump threatened last month to intervene militarily during a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran, but ultimately held off.

ISRAEL WARY OF A WEAKENED IRAN REBUILDING

Tehran's regional influence has been weakened by Israel’s June attack, losses suffered by its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, and the ousting of its ally, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But Israel is wary of its adversaries rebuilding after the multi-front war triggered by Hamas' October 2023 assault on southern Israel.

While Trump and Netanyahu have mostly been in sync and the US remains Israel's main arms supplier, Wednesday’s meeting could expose tensions.

Part of Trump's Gaza plan holds out the prospect for eventual Palestinian statehood - which Netanyahu and his coalition, the most far-right in Israel's history, have long resisted.

Netanyahu's security cabinet on Sunday authorized steps that would make it easier for Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israel broader powers in what the Palestinians see as the heartland of a future state. The decision drew international condemnation.

"I am against annexation," Trump told Axios, reiterating his stance. "We have enough things to think about now."