Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Blinken discusses military aid as ...

Ukraine’s military also said that Russian forces were retreating from Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.Here’s what else is going on:Read full coverage of the war here.The Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday that Finland and Sweden would be “important additions” to NATO as he led a delegation of GOP senators to the region in a show of support against Russia’s aggression.McConnell also called on President Joe Biden to designate Russia as state sponsor of terrorism over its invasion of Ukraine.Speaking to reporters from Stockholm, McConnell said that Finland and Sweden, unlike some members of the Western alliance, would likely be in a position to pay their NATO obligations and would offer significant military capabilities.“They will be important additions to NATO, if they choose to join,” he said, adding, ”I think the United States ought to be first in line to ratify the treaty for both these countries to join.”Artem GrudininUkrainian fighters are continuing to defend the sprawling Azovstal steel plant “despite the extremely difficult conditions” in the southern city of Mariupol, Ukraine’s border guard said Sunday. ReutersHacker attacks by pro-Russian groups were thwarted during the May 10 semi-final and Saturday final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italian police said Sunday.During voting operations and contestants’ performances, police said they had mitigated several cyber attacks on network infrastructure by the hacker group “Killnet” and its affiliate “Legion.”On May 11, “Killnet” claimed an attack to the websites of several Italian institutions, including the Senate, Italy’s upper house of parliament, and the National Health Institute (ISS), the ANSA news agency reported.Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, many Western governments have raised alert levels in anticipation of possible cyber attacks on IT systems and infrastructure.Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with their entry “Stefania”, riding a wave of public support to claim an emotional victory that was welcomed by the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Mariia UlianovskaFour missile strikes hit military infrastructure in the Yavoriv area of western Ukraine, near to the Polish border, early Sunday, Maxim Kozitsky, the regional governor of Lviv said.“The object is completely destroyed,” Kozitsky said in a post on his Telegram channel that was translated by NBC News. His post came after the regional air command of Ukraine said several missiles had been fired at the Lviv region from the Black Sea in the early hours of the morning.Minyvonne Burke, Dennis Romero and The Associated PressUkraine was crowned the winner Saturday of Eurovision Song Contest.The contest tweeted the winner.The Ukrainian band was the beneficiary of a last-minute wave of 439 votes from the television audience that put it in front.Winning Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra’s “Stefania” was written as a tribute to the frontman’s mother, but became an anthem for the war-torn country.“Indeed, some stuff in here was written long before the war, and it was dedicated to my mother,” frontman Oleh Psiuk told The Associated Press.Read the full story here.KYIV, Ukraine — Russian troops are withdrawing from around Ukraine’s second-largest city after bombarding it for weeks, the Ukrainian military said Saturday, as Kyiv and Moscow’s forces engaged in a grinding battle for the country’s eastern industrial heartland.Ukraine’s general staff said the Russian forces were pulling back from the northeastern city of Kharkiv and focusing on guarding supply routes, while launching mortar, artillery and airstrikes in the eastern province of Donetsk in order to “deplete Ukrainian forces and destroy fortifications.”Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine was “entering a new — long-term — phase of the war.”President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said Ukrainians were doing their “maximum” to drive out the invaders and that the outcome of the war would depend on support from Europe and other allies.© 2022 NBC UNIVERSAL