In April, Croatian media reported that at least four Croatian volunteers were among the militants of the Ukrainian right-wing extremist Azov battalion trapped in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
The Croatian foreign ministry has confirmed the detention of one Croatian national who was reported to have tried to leave the city with several other militants, but it refrained from disclosing any further details due to the delicate nature of the situation, the broadcaster said.
The ministry was cited as saying that it will work with the Ukrainian authorities to try resolve the issue.
Mariupol went under the control of Russian forces in April, with the remainder of Azov militants holed up in a local steel plant. After Ukrainian claims that there were civilians at the Azovstal plant as well, the Russian military said it would guarantee safe evacuation to civilians, if any, and all those ready to surrender during regular UN-facilitated humanitarian pauses.
The authorities also confirmed that the Berlin police will make sure there is no "public approval of the offensive war against Ukraine" at pro-Russian events outside of the memorial sites.
In January, the CEO of the Baykar technology company, Haluk Bayraktar, announced concluding contracts to sell its Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles to 16 countries. Last September, the Ukrainian Defenсe Ministry and the Turkish company signed a memorandum on the construction of a joint center for drone maintenance and modernization near Kiev.
"We hear the threatening nuclear rhetoric of the Russian leadership. This is irresponsible and reckless. A nuclear war cannot be won, and it should never be fought; the same applies to Russia," Stoltenberg said.
"For the crimes committed in Ukraine by the Kyiv Nazi regime, the leadership of the United States should also be held accountable, joining the list of war criminals", the speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said.
"In any case, I can confirm the presence of senior officers of foreign states, primarily European states. Azov fighters stated it themselves, as well as those who were taken prisoner, those who surrendered and and civilians, who came out of there. Meaning, we can figure this out from their words. In addition, this is indirectly proved by attempts to release the radicals at Azovstal, and by attempts to reach an agreement - in particular, frequent calls and requests from [French] president Macron", he noted.