Nearly 1,000 fighters leave the Azovstal steel plant, according to Russia

In a war that has continuously gone wrong for Russia Putin has gained some leverage and has stated that he will ‘investigate’ the prisoners taken from Mariupol, a major port city, on the sea of Azov.

Russian defense ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that 959 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered since May 16. He also said that 51 wounded soldiers had been sent to Novoazovsk.

Mariupol had some of the most intense fighting in the war with severe shelling and rockets rained down indiscriminately on the city.

Elsewhere in the war:

A 21-year-old Russian soldier pleaded guilty to killing a 62-year-old man in Ukraine. He is the first war crimes trial since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Turkey is discussing NATO membership applications with Sweden and Finland, as well as Germany, the US and the UK. It has accused Sweden and Finland of harboring PKK members and supporters of Fethullah Gulen.

The Ukrainian armed forces have recaptured another settlement in the Kharkiv region, while Russian troops have targeted a Ukrainian tank, according to new videos circulating on social media.

NATO doesn’t expect significant battlefield gains for either side in the coming weeks. The debate within NATO circles is now over whether Ukraine can retake Crimea and the Donbas territories.

The European Union Commission announced a $220 billion plan to boost renewable energy use to sidestep Russian gas. Its main gas company, Gasum, is warning that Russian gas supplies could be cut off this weekend.

The U.S. State Department said U.S. embassy operations in Kyiv resumed Wednesday, with diplomats returning on a permanent basis to the city. They had previously been temporarily relocated to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and neighboring Poland.

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