May 12, 2022: Russia-Ukraine news

By Aditi Sangal, Jessie Yeung, Travis Caldwell, Adrienne Vogt, Seán Federico O'Murchú, George Ramsay, Jack Guy and Maureen Chowdhury, CNN

Updated 3:21 p.m. ET, May 16, 2022
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2:17 p.m. ET, May 12, 2022

Ukrainian foreign minister urges German companies to pull out of Russia and relocate to Ukraine

From CNN's Hande Atay Alam

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday urged for German companies to pull out of Russia and relocate to Ukraine.

Kuleba tweeted, "As Russia keeps committing heinous atrocities in Ukraine, revenues of foreign companies still doing business in Russia are stained with Ukrainian blood. I urge German businesses to pull out of Russia and relocate to Ukraine. This will be a sincere contribution to peace in Europe."

Earlier Thursday, Kuleba told reporters in Berlin that Ukraine has seen the positive dynamic and praised Germany's response to the war with Russia. ''We see an evolving position of Germany on the most important issues — this position is moving in the right direction,'' Kuleba said.

View Kuleba's tweet here:

2:11 p.m. ET, May 12, 2022

France says it fully supports Finland’s "sovereign choice" to join NATO 

From CNN's Zahid Mahmood in London, Joseph Ataman in Paris and Nadine Schmidt in Berlin

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media in February in Berlin.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media in February in Berlin. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool/Getty Images)

French President Emmanuel Macron told his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö on Thursday that France “fully supports” Finland’s bid to join NATO. 

"The President of the [French] Republic has told the President of Finland that France fully supports Finland's sovereign choice to quickly join NATO," the Elysee Palace said in a statement. 

Earlier on Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also welcomed Finland’s bid to join the alliance and offered Berlin’s “full support,” after Finland's president and prime minister announced their support for joining NATO, moving the Nordic nation — which shares an 800-mile border with Russia — one step closer to membership of the US-led military alliance.  

On Wednesday, Niinistö said that Russian President Vladimir Putin should “look in the mirror" if Finland decides to join NATO to increase its own security.  

While speaking alongside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Helsinki, the Finnish leader said that if Finland joined NATO, it would be the result of Putin’s own actions. 

 

1:39 p.m. ET, May 12, 2022

Another Russian naval ship is on fire in the Black Sea, Ukraine says

From CNN's Tim Lister and Olga Voitovych

A Russian support ship, the "Vsevolod Bobrov," was being towed to Sevastopol from the area of Snake Island after it caught fire, according to Serhii Bratchuk, spokesperson for Odesa Regional Military Administration.

2:06 p.m. ET, May 12, 2022

G7 foreign ministers will discuss how to end Ukrainian grain blockade during meeting in Germany 

From CNN’s Nadine Schmidt in Berlin 

The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations will discuss how to end a blockade of Ukrainian grain so it can be exported to the world, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Thursday, as the meeting kicks off at the Baltic Sea resort of Weissenhaus, northeast of the German city of Hamburg.    

''There are 25 millions of grain currently blocked in the Ukrainian port of Odesa, which means food for millions of people in the world that is urgently needed, above all in African countries and the Middle East,” Baerbock told reporters.  

Ukraine is one of the world's largest grain-producing countries. 

The UN has called to reopen the Odesa port in southern Ukraine to help ease a global food crisis. CNN has also reported that Russian forces are stealing thousands of tons of grain from Ukrainian farmers, as well as targeting food storage sites with artillery, according to multiple sources. 

The German foreign minister on Thursday welcomed top diplomats of the G7 nations for a three-day meeting, which will focus on the war in Ukraine, energy and food security, relationship with China and climate change.  

Baerbock also welcomed her Ukrainian and Moldovan counterparts, Dmytro Kuleba and Nicu Popescu, who are attending the meeting as guests.  

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, whose country chairs the Group of 20 major economies (G20) this year, is also participating in the meeting but remotely.  

1:02 p.m. ET, May 12, 2022

Nearly 100 children killed in Ukraine in April alone and actual figures could be higher, UNICEF says

From CNN's Hande Atay Alam 

UNICEF has verified that almost 100 children were killed in Ukraine in April alone, but actual figures could be significantly higher with the conflict creating a child protection crisis, a top UNICEF official told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

"In just this past month, the UN verified that nearly 100 children were killed, and we believe the actual figures to be considerably higher," UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Omar Abdi said. 

During his remarks at the UN Security Council Meeting on the maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine, Abdi said, "More children have been injured and faced grave violations of their rights, millions more have been displaced," and added, "The war in Ukraine, like all wars, is a child protection and child rights crisis."

Abdi also said that "education is also under attack" and "schools continue to be used for military purposes."

"As of last week, at least 15 of 89 — one in six — UNICEF-supported schools in eastern Ukraine had been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war." he said and added, "Hundreds of schools across the country are reported to have been hit by heavy artillery, airstrikes, and other explosive weapons in populated areas." 

"Schools are a lifeline for children, especially in conflict. Schools are a safe spaces, with routines providing protection from harm and a semblance of normalcy. Schools are also critical conduits for information about the risks of deadly explosive ordnance. And they are a connector to essential health and psychosocial services," he continued.

12:39 p.m. ET, May 12, 2022

UN urges all parties in Ukraine to remove barriers blocking movement of humanitarian staff to save lives

From CNN's Hande Atay Alam 

The United Nations on Thursday urged all parties in the Ukraine conflict to remove any barriers blocking the free movement of humanitarian staff to allow for the delivery of life-saving assistance across Ukraine. 

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council meeting Thursday on Ukraine's maintenance of peace and security, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya said that under international humanitarian law, the parties must respect all civilians as well as civilian homes.

"This includes allowing civilians to leave areas of hostilities voluntarily and safely," she added.

Msuya also said that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross were able to evacuate 174 civilians on Monday from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol and other parts of the city. Msuya added that this was the third operation in the past week out of Mariupol, "bringing the total number of civilians evacuated from the steel plant Mariupol and neighboring towns to over 600." 

Msuya said that almost 14 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes. Of that number, 8 million have been internally displaced. Nongovernmental organizations have provided assistance to more than 5.4 million people, she said, the majority of whom are in eastern Ukraine.

Msuya also emphasized the importance of the UN in exploring all options to save lives in Ukraine, saying, "We remain firmly committed to leaving no stone unturned." 

"The world expects this of us; the people of Ukraine deserve this," Msuya added. 

1:17 p.m. ET, May 12, 2022

Ukrainian woman whose boyfriend died at Mariupol's Azovstal plant says she still texts him every day

From CNN's Daria Markina

During a news briefing in Kyiv with relatives of soldiers who died or are still trapped in the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, CNN spoke with Nastya Bilousova, 21, whose boyfriend Dmytro Chornyi was killed by a sniper.

Bilousova said she was told that he died via an Instagram message, and she didn't believe it at first. But three days later, she received official confirmation.

Bilousova said she and Chornyi, also 21, were together for four years and dreamed of going to the country of Georgia.

Even though she received the last text messages from him on March 1, she still texts him every day, telling him about her life and how she cannot accept his death.

Nastya Bilousova shows a conversation she had with her boyfriend, Dmytro Chornyi, who was killed in the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, Ukraine. In the message, Chornyi tells Bilousova that he is getting a rest from fighting, and she tells him she loves him. She also told him that she went out for the first time in days to buy food.
Nastya Bilousova shows a conversation she had with her boyfriend, Dmytro Chornyi, who was killed in the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, Ukraine. In the message, Chornyi tells Bilousova that he is getting a rest from fighting, and she tells him she loves him. She also told him that she went out for the first time in days to buy food. (Daria Markina/CNN)

Nicole, 21, who only provided CNN with her first name, attended the briefing with her 5-year-old nephew, Kirill, on her lap.

She, her nephew and her sister spent five days escaping from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia. She said they walked for two days and spent a night in a church to hide from shelling. They arrived in Zaporizhzhia on April 6.

21-year-old Nicole wipes away tears at a briefing about soldiers in Mariupol's Azovstal plant, as her 5-year-old nephew Kirill sits on her lap. She said that yesterday, she found out one of her good friends had died in the plant.
21-year-old Nicole wipes away tears at a briefing about soldiers in Mariupol's Azovstal plant, as her 5-year-old nephew Kirill sits on her lap. She said that yesterday, she found out one of her good friends had died in the plant. (Daria Markina/CNN)

Yesterday, she was told that her close friend Olexandr, who was fighting at Azovstal, had died. But she refuses to believe it.

“We were very good friends. He was a wonderful, kind man. He loved the guys he fought with. He often told me not to worry, that everything would be OK. Now I feel nothing," she said.

She had been getting fewer and fewer messages from him. The last time they messaged was on May 8.

"I believe and hope this is a mistake, that he is alive," she said.

On Thursday, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that "very difficult negotiations" are ongoing on the evacuation of seriously wounded fighters from the Azovstal steel plant in exchange for Russian prisoners of war.

8:26 a.m. ET, May 14, 2022

A Ukrainian revisits the site where she survived a missile attack: In my nightmares, "nobody hears my cries"

From CNN's Natalie Gallón, Nick Paton Walsh and Dennis Lapin

(Dennis Lapin/CNN)
(Dennis Lapin/CNN)

Ayuna Mozorova recently returned to the site of a blast that left her buried under rubble for several hours and recalled the harrowing moments to CNN.

She remembered where she was standing that day at the Kharkiv regional administration building in Ukraine. Seventy-two days earlier, she had been standing next to a cupboard, distributing coffee and cookies to Ukrainian soldiers, when the building was bombed.

"I feel a physical manifestation of fear. I don’t like cookies any more. A box fell on me and I remember the smell," she told CNN.

Her husband Andrei had scoured the place, looking for her for three hours.

(Dennis Lapin/CNN)
(Dennis Lapin/CNN)

"When I heard her voice, I was crawling across the rubble, and the emergency services were trying to kick me out. I pulled a man out and then heard her. I did not plan to leave her here," he said.

The multiple-rocket attack was an early sign of the brutality Russia would unleash on civilian targets.

The soldiers waiting in the corridor outside from her died. The young women in the basement below her died — their bodies were not found for three weeks.

Yet where Mozorova stood, somehow the concrete fell in a way that it shielded her.

(Natalie Gallón/CNN)
(Natalie Gallón/CNN)

"I knew I was alive, in pain but nothing broken. But I was worried I would be left and never be heard. The first time they heard me, they started to get me out and then the second missile came, and I was properly trapped," she said.

When her husband found her, he cried.

"It got easier to breathe. I was surprised as I thought I was still at ground level. The ambulance guys said, 'It’s your second birthday. You are alive.'”

The trauma lives on. Mozorova said she now sleeps with lights on, and when she hears a loud car or a jet plane, she braces.

"The nightmares are that I am again lying there and shivering cold. And that nobody hears my cries. That’s also stop me sleeping," she told CNN.
(courtesy Ayuna Mozorova)
(courtesy Ayuna Mozorova)

Mozorova was born in Russia, but can no longer talk to her relatives there. She said they believe Russian state media’s absurd claims that this is a limited operation against Nazis.

"They say it was my stupidity, and I don't need to be here," Mozorova said. "I hope when time passes, our children can talk, but I can’t talk to them now. Russia has lost its mind and cannot control its president. They are all each responsible, every citizen."

11:26 a.m. ET, May 12, 2022

More than 6 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian invasion began, UN refugee agency says

From CNN's Benjamin Brown in London

More than 6 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in late February, according to the latest data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

In addition, more than 8 million people – nearly one in five of Ukraine’s pre-war population – are internally displaced in the country after having been forced to flee their homes, according to the latest report by the International Organization for Migration.

A projected 8.3 million refugees are expected to flee Ukraine, the UNHCR said in late April.