Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from Mariupol steelworks

After almost three months of fighting, more than six million refugees have fled Ukraine

Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers have been evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steelworks -- the last holdout of troops defending the southern port city of Mariupol -- Kyiv said on Monday.

The plant had become a symbol of resistance, with around 600 soldiers holed up in underground tunnels and bunkers fighting a rear-guard battle to prevent Russian troops taking full control of the strategically located city.

"An exchange procedure will be carried out for their further return home," Malyar said.

By holding the steelworks, they stopped Russian forces from rapidly capturing the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a statement on Facebook said.

The latest example of this came Monday, when Ukraine's defence ministry announced its troops had regained control of territory on the Russian border near the country's second-largest city of Kharkiv, which has been under constant attack.

Since failing to take Kyiv in the early weeks of the war, Moscow has switched its focus to Donbas, a region near the Russian border that is home to pro-Russian separatists.

Its occupation would grant the Kremlin de facto control of Lugansk, one of two regions -- along with Donetsk -- that comprise Donbas.

Russia continued strikes on Lugansk, killing two people and wounding nine during shelling of a Severodonetsk hospital, the Ukrainian presidency said Monday.

Police in neighbouring Donetsk said six civilians were killed and 12 wounded in Russian shelling over the past 24 hours.

- NATO 'no direct threat' -

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson confirmed on Monday her country would apply to join the alliance, a day after Finland -- which shares a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia -- said the same.

The Russian leader's reaction was more moderate than comments earlier Monday from deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, who called the expansion a "grave mistake with far-reaching consequences". 

Sweden and Finland have failed to respond positively to Turkey's 33 extradition requests over the past five years, justice ministry sources told the official Anadolu news agency on Monday.

But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced confidence Sunday that Sweden and Finland would join NATO despite Turkey's opposition.

- 'Time is running out' -

"We are unhappy with the fact that the oil embargo is not there," Ukraine's top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba said afterwards.

The war meanwhile is taking its toll on the continent's growth. The European Commission sharply cut its eurozone forecast for 2022 to 2.7 percent, blaming skyrocketing energy prices.

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