May 19, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

A failure to open closed ports in Ukraine to ship grains out will bring millions of people to the brink of starvation, said the executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP).

"Failure to open the ports will be a declaration of war on global food security, resulting in famine destabilization of nations, as well as mass migration by necessity," said David Beasley on Wednesday, addressing a food security meeting at the United Nations hosted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

The US is working closely with European allies to try to develop routes to get Ukrainian wheat and corn out of the country after Russia blocked Ukrainian ships from departing with grain that is vital for food supplies around the world, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.

"It is absolutely essential that we allow these ports to open because this is not just about Ukraine. This is about the poorest of the poor around the world who are on the brink of starvation as we speak," Beasley added. 

"So I ask President Putin, if you have any heart at all, please open these ports. Please assure everyone concerned that the passageways will be clear so that we can feed the poorest of the poor and avert famine, as we've done in the past, when nations in this room have stepped up together," the WFP chief said. 

He noted that Ukraine is a nation that grows enough grain to feed 400 million people and that is now out of production.

It is "critical" that these farms get back in operation, that trucks, trains and ships can move again, he added, stressing that "time is running out."

On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also addressed how the war in Ukraine, on top of other global crises, "threatens tens of millions of people with food insecurity, malnutrition, mass hunger and famine." 

"There is enough food in our world for everyone, but we must act together, urgently and with solidarity," Guterres said.

Japan will increase its financial aid for Ukraine to $600 million, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Thursday, doubling the country's previous $300 million given in financial support.

Kishida said the decision was made after Ukraine expressed its need for assistance due to the worsening financial situation caused by Russia's invasion.

"Japan will continue to strongly support Ukraine in cooperation with the G7 and the international community," Kishida told reporters.

The move comes shortly after the US and European Union announced new assistance to Ukraine and ahead of a visit by US President Joe Biden to the region, where he is expected to visit South Korea and Japan.

Kishida said Thursday he would discuss Japan's position on the conflict during next week's talks.

The European Union must start preparations for rebuilding Ukraine by setting up a solidarity fund to aid Kyiv in covering the billions of euros reconstruction will cost, according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"Rebuilding destroyed infrastructure and revitalizing the Ukrainian economy will cost billions," Scholz told German lawmakers Thursday at the lower house of parliament.

"We as the EU must start laying the ground for a solidarity fund financed by contributions from the EU and its partners," he added, speaking ahead of a major EU summit at the end of this month.  

Scholz also said that Ukraine's bid to join the EU cannot be sped up despite the Russian invasion. 

"There are no shortcuts on the way to the EU," Scholz said, adding that the bloc must therefore find a "fast and pragmatic" way to aid Kyiv.  

An exception for Ukraine would be unfair to the six Western Balkan countries -- Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo -- also seeking membership in the bloc, said the German Chancellor.

Their integration into the EU is also of "strategic interest," referencing the influence of "external powers" in the region, including Russia, he added.  

The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that 771 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 1,730 since Monday.

The ministry said 80 of those were wounded, and all those in need of any medical attention are receiving treatment in hospitals in Novoazovsk and Donetsk.

CNN is unable to confirm the Russian tally.

The Ukrainian side has not given an update on the number who have left Azovstal nor on the status of negotiations for their exchange for Russian prisoners.

Some background: On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said nearly 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered, meaning Thursday's new total marks a significant increase.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday the negotiation process on evacuating the last soldiers from the Azovstal steel plant continues with Russia.

It follows the end of Ukrainian forces' "combat mission" at the complex, which was for weeks the last major holdout in a city otherwise occupied by Russian troops.

Ukraine said it expects to carry out an exchange of Russian prisoners of war for the severely injured soldiers.

One civilian was killed and several people were wounded as a result of Ukrainian strikes in Russia’s western region of Kursk at dawn on Thursday, according to regional governor Roman Starovoit.

The strikes hit an ethanol factory in the village of Tyotkino and several homes were affected, Starovoit said on Telegram. 

Tyotkino is located 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from the Ukraine-Russia border. Both sides of the border between Kursk and Ukraine have seen intermittent artillery attacks this month.

The Ukrainian military reported on Thursday that Russian forces trying to break through to Sloviansk, in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, had suffered losses and retreated. 

Despite artillery and missile attacks by Russian forces on a wide front over the past 24 hours, there are no signs they have taken new territory.  

There has been fighting in the Velyka Komyshuvakha area since late April — since the Russians took control of Izium and tried to push toward Sloviansk — but the front lines have changed little. 

In Luhansk: On the other main front, in the parts of Luhansk region the Ukrainians still hold, Russian aircraft have attacked several villages, according to the General Staff.

Ukrainian defenses were holding around the industrial city of Severodonetsk, and Russian assault operations in the Zolote area had been unsuccessful, it said.

Serhii Hayday, head of the Luhansk military administration, said Severodonetsk had suffered the most in the latest attacks and confirmed that four civilians were killed on Wednesday.

Elsewhere: Other regions also reported Russian artillery and missile strikes overnight. In the Dnipropetrovsk region in the south, the city military administration in Kryvih Rih said "there was enemy shelling along the entire line of contact during the night."

It said there had been heavy shelling of residential areas of Velyka Kostromka, a town that lies some 20 miles south of Kryvih Rih that has been on the front lines for more than a month.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with the leaders of Finland and Sweden on Thursday as part of a show of support by the United States after the two nations submitted their formal applications to become NATO members.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that the meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson in Washington will allow the three nations “to coordinate on the path forward” and “compare notes” on the move.

Sweden and Finland’s bids to join NATO come in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which sparked security concerns across the region. Their bids to join the alliance mark a dramatic evolution in European security and geopolitics.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry said more than 900 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol since May 16 have been sent to a pretrial detention center.

Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that a total of 959 Ukrainian soldiers, including 51 with severe wounds, had surrendered over the course of two days.

She reaffirmed the injured are receiving treatment at the hospital at Novoazovsk in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), while the others were sent to a pretrial detention center in Olenivka, a town near the front lines but in territory controlled by the DPR.

CNN is unable to confirm the Russian tally.

The Ukrainian side has not given an update on the number who have left Azovstal nor on the status of negotiations for their exchange for Russian prisoners.

Amnesty International has said Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered at the steel plant must not be ill-treated and should receive immediate access to the International Red Cross. 

President Joe Biden departs Thursday on an alliance-boosting visit to Asia, a belated first trip to a region that remains central to his foreign policy goals even as his focus has been drawn away.

Biden’s stops in two staunch US allies — South Korea and Japan — are meant to bolster partnerships at a moment of global instability. While Biden and his team have spent much of their time and resources on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, provocations from North Korea have intensified and China continues to flex its economic and military might.

Realigning US foreign policy: After months of all-consuming attention on Russia’s war in Ukraine — a conflict that has summoned Cold War comparisons and revitalized alliances built last century — Biden’s debut visit to Asia is an opportunity to renew what he views as this century’s challenge: Confronting a rising China through a system of renewed economic and military partnerships.

And even as Russia’s war grinds on, tensions have been building elsewhere.

North Korea, which Biden identified as his greatest foreign policy challenge early in his presidency, resumed provocative weapons tests ahead of South Korean President-elect Yoon Seok-youl's inauguration. 

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