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and assault rifles while sending a group of saboteurs into the region on the morning of May 16, the State Border Guard and Sumy Oblast Governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said. Border guards managed to repel the attack, they said.
The US and Canada have already approved acts of reparations from Russia. Ukraine has already begun work to prepare for the payment of reparations by Russia for damages. Still, legally this process will be complicated, said the Deputy Head of the Office of President Igor Zhovkva. “These mechanisms exist in the world, and this is not something new. We know that such a strategy has been applied to some countries. The fact that it will not be easy to do legally is true, but Ukraine has already started working in this direction,” said Zhovkva. He stressed that more and more countries are saying that Russian assets should not just be frozen but used to rebuild Ukraine. According to him, this is difficult, detailed work, which in most countries requires the adoption of relevant legislation. However, the US and Canada have already approved such acts, and the remaining countries are working on it.
Ukraine has asked Germany to take the lead in helping Ukraine become an EU member. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Germany to take a lead in the process leading to Ukraine becoming part of the European Union, reported CNN. According to Kuleba, during his visit to Berlin earlier in the week, he had a very rational discussion with the German delegation about Ukraine becoming a part of the EU. "I told them it will happen anyway, and Ukraine will inevitably receive candidate status sooner or later. The German elites have a choice to either lead this process and inscribe their names in the history of Europe, or it will still happen but without their leadership,” he added. The minister also discussed the Russian oil embargo, currently being debated by EU member states, and the issue of a Russian gas embargo also came up during his visit.
The battle ends in Mariupol: The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces confirmed on May 16 that a “rescue operation” was carried out at the Azovstal iron and steel works in Mariupol where Ukrainian soldiers finally surrendered to invading Russian and Russia-backed separatist troops. According to Kyiv, 53 wounded Ukrainian servicemen were hospitalized in Novoazovsk and the remaining 211 prisoners were moved to Olenivka (both these settlements are located in territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic). Ukrainian officials say there is an agreement in place to exchange these men for other prisoners and return them to Ukrainian-controlled soil. In a statement released beforehand, members of the Azov Regiment said Ukraine’s high military command ordered their surrender.
Ukraine might become a NATO member without a Membership Action Plan. According to US Chargé d'Affaires Kristina Kvein, Ukraine has a chance to become a NATO member without a Membership Action Plan, similar to what Finland and Sweden seek to do, because it is not a mandatory part of the accession process, reported European Truth. "As for the possibility of Finland's accession without a MAP, the Membership Action Plan has never been a legal requirement for NATO membership, so Ukraine can also join the alliance without it. However, I would not call it a shortened procedure," Kvein said. She noted that the MAP is a mechanism that allows a member state to meet the compatibility requirements, and if a state already meets all the requirements, the Membership Action Plan becomes unnecessary.
12 UKRAINE Country Report XXXX 2018 www.intellinews.com