May 11, 2022: Russia-Ukraine news

By Ben Church, Joshua Berlinger, Adrienne Vogt, Aditi Sangal, Melissa Macaya and Maureen Chowdhury, CNN

Updated 0418 GMT (1218 HKT) May 12, 2022

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12:14 p.m. ET, May 11, 2022

It's just after 7 p.m. in Kyiv. Catch up on the latest developments in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

As Wednesday winds down in Ukraine, these are the latest developments in Russia's war:

Missiles struck two areas of the city of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine: No casualties have been noted so far, Mayor Vadym Liakh said, and authorities are assessing the resulting damage. Sloviansk is the main goal of Russian forces trying to push south into the Donetsk region, and has been a key focus since Russia revised its strategy away from northern Ukraine in early April.
Ukraine suspended some of its Russian gas exports to Europe on Wednesday due to interruptions at key transit points: The country had been continuing the gas transportation operations through the ongoing invasion but it's currently "impossible to fulfill obligations" to European partners due to "the interference of the occupying forces," the Ukrainian gas transmission system operator (GSTOU) announced in a statement Tuesday. It said Russia's interference, including the unauthorized gas offtakes, had "endangered the stability and safety" of Ukrainian gas transportation system.

Ukrainians have retaken several villages between Kharkiv and the Russian border to the north: Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv military administration, says more settlements to the north of the city have been retaken by Ukrainian troops.Video geolocated by CNN show signs of a chaotic Russian retreat from the area at the beginning of the month, with several vehicles half submerged in a river after a road bridge was struck. In some areas to the north and east of Kharkiv, Ukrainian units — which include highly mobile contingents of the Azov regiment, are within a few kilometers of the Russian border. Despite being under Ukrainian control, much of the area is still within range of Russian artillery fire.
Ukraine's desire to negotiate declines "with each new Bucha, with each new Mariupol," Zelensky says: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Kyiv’s patience is running out for negotiations with Russia, given mounting evidence of atrocities committed by the Russian army, in a virtual address to French university students on Wednesday. “We are ready to conduct these negotiations, these talks, as long as it is not too late,” Zelensky said. Zelensky also expressed his determination that Kyiv will win the war and take back all territories that belong to Ukraine.
Prosecutor says first Russian soldier will stand trial in death of Ukrainian man: Ukraine has announced the first Russian soldier set to stand trial in the death of a 62-year-old man in Ukraine’s Sumy region, according to a statement published by the country's prosecutor general's office on Wednesday. The prosecutor general's office said it has filed an indictment against Vadim Shishimarin, commander of the military unit 32010 of the 4th Tank Kantemirov Division of Moscow region. The investigation alleges the 21-year-old Russian killed an unarmed 62-year-old resident who was riding a bicycle along the roadside in the village of Chupakhivka in Sumy region on Feb. 28
Foreign weapons are at the front lines: Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, says that weapons supplied to Kyiv by the US and other partners are already deployed to the front lines. "Apart from the Javelins and Stingers, 155 mm American howitzers are already being used at the front," Maliar said in a briefing on Wednesday. "We are working to accelerate the pace of aid, as this is the life of our soldiers." A senior US defense official told reporters on Tuesday that 89 of the 90 Howitzers the US agreed to give to Ukraine have been transferred to Ukrainian possession.
Nearly 5 million Ukrainians have lost their jobs since Russian invasion began, UN agency report says: An estimated 4.8 million people in Ukraine have lost their jobs since the Russian invasion began in February, according to a new brief by the International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN agency. The ILO report also pointed out that the Ukrainian government has made considerable efforts to keep the national social protection system operational by guaranteeing the payment of benefits, including to internally displaced persons, through the utilization of digital technologies. Out of 4.8 million people who lost their jobs, a total of 1.2 million of them are refugees who fled to neighboring countries and 3.6 million of them are unemployed living in Ukraine, according to the ILO report. More than 5.23 million refugees who are mainly women, children, and people over the age of 60 have fled to neighboring countries since Feb. 24, the report said Wednesday.

11:06 a.m. ET, May 11, 2022

CNN speaks to Ukrainians in war-torn villages in the south: "I am left alone in four walls. Nothing anywhere"

From CNN's Natalie Gallón, Nick Paton Walsh and Brice Laine

Since the last time CNN’s team was on the ground in southern Ukraine six weeks ago, nothing has changed, and yet, everything has.

The heavily contested areas are in a brutal stalemate with the give and take on Russian advances as they try to move towards Mykolaiv, a strategic port city.

Constant shelling has torn apart much of the area, trapping many who cannot flee while leaving many isolated — and alone.

The village of Shevchenkove was held by Russia in March but the Ukrainian military has taken it back.

On Sunday, CNN visited and witnessed what is left of it— buildings damaged on every road and empty homes. So much is abandoned, but the sounds of outgoing and incoming artillery fire continue.

More the 50% of this village is destroyed, the military escort told CNN.

The shelling starts getting closer, but two neighbors walking down a gravel road continue chatting, not a flinch in reaction to the sounds of the blasts.

“I go out every day, the goats are waiting for me,” Lyuba says about her goats that were born when the war began. “They need me to give food — the goats. And they give milk, of course. I call them my children of war.”

The damage from shrapnel is visible outside the home. She showed CNN the area where she sleeps in their dark and damp candle-lit bunker. She and her husband have been lucky.

Driving into another village nearby, the damage looks the same. In Kotlyareve, few people walk the streets, several elderly are seen on bikes.

“In war I was born, and in war I will die,” Valentina said as she sat alone in her front yard under the shade of a tree.

Using a stick to help her walk, she showed CNN the damage to her home and the craters the shelling left behind.

“Look at these torments,” she said. “This house was smashed to clay. I am left alone in four walls. Nothing anywhere.”

For many, there is nowhere else to go. Some say they are too old to evacuate. For others, it’s their land they don’t want to give up.

“It would be best to lie down at night and not get up. Neither hear nor see. Pity all the people, pity the soldiers,” Valentina added, sometimes mumbling to herself.

But for mothers like Svitlana, it’s waiting for her son to return from the war in Mariupol that keeps her here.

“Our children are all at war. My son is a prisoner. If he comes back, and if I have gone, it’s like I’ve abandoned him. We wait, hope, worry, he is alive and we will live," she told CNN.

10:35 a.m. ET, May 11, 2022

First Russian soldier will stand trial in death of Ukrainian man, prosecutor says

From CNN's Katharina Krebs in London

Ukraine has announced the first Russian soldier set to stand trial in the death of a 62-year-old man in Ukraine’s Sumy region, according to a statement published by the country's prosecutor general's office on Wednesday.

The prosecutor general's office said it has filed an indictment against Vadim Shishimarin, commander of the military unit 32010 of the 4th Tank Kantemirov Division of Moscow region.

The investigation alleges the 21-year-old Russian killed an unarmed 62-year-old resident who was riding a bicycle along the roadside in the village of Chupakhivka in Sumy region on Feb. 28.

According to the statement, the Russian forces drove into the village in a stolen car with punctured wheels.

On the way, they saw a man returning home and talking on the phone, according to the statement. One of the Russians ordered a sergeant to kill a civilian so that he would not report them to the Ukrainian army. Shishimarin fired several shots through the open window of a car from a Kalashnikov rifle at the head of the resident, prosecutors allege.

"Shishimarin is currently in custody. Prosecutors and SBU investigators have gathered enough evidence of his involvement in violating the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). He faces between 10 and 15 years in prison or life in prison," Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said in a statement on Facebook.

CNN has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.

10:18 a.m. ET, May 11, 2022

UN chief defends Putin meeting, saying it's important to speak to those who "cause or can solve the problem"

From CNN’s Benjamin Brown in London

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, right, meet in Moscow, Russia, on April 26. (Kremlin Press Service/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was right to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin and that one needed “to deal with those that cause the problem or that can solve the problem” to find solutions.

“It makes full sense to talk to the leader of the Russian Federation; it makes full sense to talk to any other relevant actors in the present crisis," he said at a press conference in Vienna.

Guterres met Putin in Moscow in late April before making his way to Ukraine to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky. His itinerary had received a lot of criticism.

The UN chief said the Putin meeting had produced “concrete results” and resulted in the evacuation of civilians trapped in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

“I think the lives that were rescued of civilians that were in the bunkers of Mariupol deserve that I meet anybody in any part of the world without having any doubt that that is the right thing to do,” Guterres said when asked by reporters whether his Moscow visit had been the right thing to do.

Guterres was at the news conference with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg Wednesday,

Nehammer, who in April became the first European Union leader to meet with Putin since the invasion of Ukraine, also defended his decision to travel to Moscow, saying, “there cannot be one talk too many, only one too few.”

9:31 a.m. ET, May 11, 2022

Kremlin says there are no plans to declare martial law in Russia

From CNN’s Anna Chernova

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits to watch the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, on May 9. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday the internal political situation in the country is stable and dismissed allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to declare martial law.

When asked whether Putin is planning to introduce martial law in Russia, Peskov said, “No, this is not in the plans.”

US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Tuesday that the current trend in Ukraine increased chances that Putin would turn to more drastic means, including “imposing martial law, reorienting industrial production, or potentially escalatory military actions to free up the resources needed to achieve his objectives as the conflict drags on.”

9:24 a.m. ET, May 11, 2022

Pope Francis meets with wives of Ukrainian soldiers defending Azovstal steel plant

From CNN’s Livia Borghese in Rome

Wives of Ukrainian Azov soldiers currently trapped inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, Ukraine, meet with Pope Francis as they attend the weekly general audience at the Vatican, on May 11. (Vatican Media/Reuters)

Pope Francis on Wednesday met the wives of two Ukrainian soldiers holed up inside Mariupol's besieged Azovstal steel plant.

The two women, Yulia Fedosiuk and Kateryna Prokopenko, confirmed the meeting with the Pope at the Vatican to CNN.

The two said their husbands are soldiers of the Azov regiment and are currently inside the steel plant defending it against Russian attacks.

They said they had written to the Pope in recent days through the Ukrainian ambassador in Rome and were surprised when they received an invitation for the Pope's weekly general audience.

“We told the Pope about our husbands, about the injured soldiers, the dead that cannot be buried. We asked him for help, to be a third party in this war, and help us to guarantee a humanitarian corridor,” Fedosiuk said.

She said that they also told the Pope about the desperate and unhealthy conditions inside the plant.

Fedosiuk added that the Pope seemed very well-informed of the situation in Ukraine, and he said that he will pray for them.

9:22 a.m. ET, May 11, 2022

Nearly 5 million Ukrainians have lost their jobs since Russian invasion began, UN agency report says

From CNN's Hande Atay Alam

An estimated 4.8 million people in Ukraine have lost their jobs since the Russian invasion began in February, according to a new brief by the International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN agency.

"If hostilities were to escalate, employment losses would increase to seven million," the report estimated, emphasizing that "if the fighting were to cease immediately, then a rapid recovery would be possible, with the return of 3.4 million jobs. This would reduce employment losses to 8.9 percent."

The ILO report also pointed out that the Ukrainian government has made considerable efforts to keep the national social protection system operational by guaranteeing the payment of benefits, including to internally displaced persons, through the utilization of digital technologies.

Out of 4.8 million people who lost their jobs, a total of 1.2 million of them are refugees who fled to neighboring countries and 3.6 million of them are unemployed living in Ukraine, according to the ILO report.

More than 5.23 million refugees who are mainly women, children, and people over the age of 60 have fled to neighboring countries since Feb. 24, the report said Wednesday.

The crisis in Ukraine may also create labor disruption in neighboring countries, mainly Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, the report added.

"If the hostilities continue, Ukrainian refugees would be forced to remain in exile longer, putting further pressure on the labor market and social protection systems in these neighboring states and increasing unemployment in many of them," it said.

12:08 p.m. ET, May 11, 2022

Ukraine suspends the flow of some Russian gas exports headed to Europe

From CNN's Alex Stambaugh and Nathan Hodge

The factory chimneys of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator (GTSOU) in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 11. (Dogukan Keskinkilic/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Ukraine will suspend some of the Russian gas exports to Europe that flow in pipelines through the country due to interruptions at key transit points, the country's gas transmission system operator (GSTOU) said in a statement Tuesday.

Amid Russia's invasion, Ukraine has continued its operations transporting Russian gas through the country.

But GSTOU said it's currently "impossible to fulfill obligations" to European partners due to "the interference of the occupying forces." It said Russia's interference, including the unauthorized gas offtakes, had "endangered the stability and safety" of the Ukrainian gas transportation system.

As a result, it had decided to suspend operations from 7 a.m. local time on Wednesday at the entry point gas measuring station Sokhranivka and border compressor station Novopskov through which almost a third of gas from Russia to Europe — up to 32.6 million cubic meters per day — is transited.

Ukraine said it could possibly transfer temporarily unavailable capacity from Sokhranivka to the Sudzha point located in the territory controlled by Ukraine.

However, Russia's state energy company Gazprom said it was "technologically impossible" to switch gas transfers to Ukraine to a new entry point, the agency said in a statement.

The Kremlin's response: The Russian government responded Wednesday to Ukraine’s suspension of some Russian gas exports to Europe, saying Russia always fulfilled and plans to fulfill its contractual obligations on gas supplies.

“Russia has always reliably fulfilled and intends to fulfill its contractual obligations,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Peskov reiterated Russia's state gas company Gazprom’s official line claiming there were no “force majeure” events that could affect its gas supplies.

Force majeure is "a provision in a contract that frees both parties from obligation if an extraordinary event directly prevents one or both parties from performing," according to Cornell Law.

“The Ukrainian side reported certain conditions of force majeure. We’ve heard statements from Gazprom that there were no explanations for force majeure,” he added.

CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed reporting to this post.

8:45 a.m. ET, May 11, 2022

Here's what's in the $40 billion Ukraine aid bill that passed in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday

From CNN's Clare Foran, Annie Grayer and Ellie Kaufman

The Democratic-led House of Representatives voted 368-57 on Tuesday evening to pass a roughly $40 billion bill to deliver aid to Ukraine as it continues to face Russia's brutal assault. All 57 votes in opposition were from Republicans.

The measure will next need to be passed by the Senate before it can go to US President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

The legislation the House approved provides funding for a long list of priorities, including military and humanitarian assistance. Here's a breakdown:

An increase in presidential drawdown authority funding from the originally requested $5 billion to $11 billion: It allows the administration to send military equipment and weapons from US stocks, and has been critical in providing Ukrainians with military equipment quickly over the past 75 days of the conflict.
$6 billion in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funding: It allows the US to buy weapons from contractors and then provide those weapons to Ukraine, so this method does not draw directly from US stocks. It's another way the US has been providing Ukraine with military assistance.
Roughly $9 billion to help restock US equipment that has been sent to Ukraine: Many lawmakers have raised concerns about replacing US stocks of weapons the US is giving to Ukraine, especially stingers and javelin missiles.
Refugee assistance with $900 million: This includes housing, trauma support, and English language instruction for Ukrainians fleeing the country. An additional $54 million that will be used for public health and medical support for Ukrainian refugees.

CNN's Kristin Wilson, Donald Judd and Ali Zaslav contributed reporting to this post.

Read more about the bill here.