That's our live blog wrapping up for Thursday evening. 

We're back on Friday morning with all the latest developments. 

Reports: Four dead, five wounded in  Donbas

Four civilians were reported dead and five more were injured in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Thursday, the regional governor said.

“On May 12, the Russians killed four more civilians of the Donbas: two in Novoselivka, one in Avdiivka and one in Lyman. Five more people were injured,” Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote in a Telegram post, referring to a village and two cities in the Donetsk region, one of two which make up the Donbas.

His claims could not be immediately verified.

(AP)

Zelenskyy says he's ready to talk to Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he’s ready to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that “we must find an agreement,’’ but with no ultimatum as a condition.

Zelenskyy also told Italian RAI state TV in an interview scheduled to be broadcast on Thursday night that Ukraine will never recognize Crimea as part of Russia, which annexed that part of southern Ukraine in 2014.

“Crimea has always had its autonomy, it has its parliament, but on the inside of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said, in excerpts of the interview that RAI released earlier on Thursday.

The interviewer asked the Ukrainian leader about a comment by French President Emmanuel Macron cautioning against any humiliation of Putin.

“We want the Russian army to leave our land, we aren’t on Russian soil,’’ Zelenskyy replied. “We won’t save Putin’s face by paying with our territory. That would be unjust.”

In another comment, Zelenskyy sounded a forward-looking note. “We have to think of the future of Russia. I, as president of Ukraine, say these are our neighbors. There will be other presidents, other presidents and other generations” of Russia, Zelenskyy said.

(AP)

Baseball signed by President Zelenskyy raises money for Ukraine relief

A baseball signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sold at auction for more than $50,000, a portion of which will go toward providing humanitarian aid to Ukrainians displaced by the nation’s war with Russia, auctioneer RR Auction of Boston said Thursday.

The winning bid for the Rawlings Major League baseball in the auction that closed Wednesday was more than three times what is was expected to sell for.

RR Auction will donate its $15,000 cut of the sale, while seller Randy Kaplan will also donate an undisclosed portion of his proceeds, to provide humanitarian aid through the global nonprofit Americares.

Kaplan is a well-known collector of baseballs signed by world leaders who rarely auctions his prized pieces.

The winning bidder wished to remain anonymous, but was described by RR Auction as a “collector from the Midwest who is thrilled to have some of the funds go to the Ukraine relief effort.”

The ball is signed with black felt tip in Ukrainian Cyrillic and Latin letters. It is accompanied by a transmittal letter signed by Volodymyr Yelchenko, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations.

(AP)

UN calls on Russia to stop bombing schools in Ukraine

The United Nations on Thursday called for an end to the bombing of schools in Ukraine, while denouncing their use for military purposes, at a UN Security Council meeting convened at the request of France and Mexico.

"These attacks (on schools) must stop," said a senior official of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Omar Abdi. "Until last week, at least 15 of the 89 schools - one in six - supported by UNICEF in eastern Ukraine had been damaged or destroyed since the war began on 24 February," he said.

"Hundreds of schools across the country have reportedly been hit by heavy artillery, air strikes and other explosive weapons in populated areas, while other schools are being used as information centres, shelters, supply centres or for military purposes - with a long-term impact on children's return to school," Omar Abdi also denounced.

During the debate, Mexico and France recalled that the attacks on schools were a flagrant violation of humanitarian law. 

"The Russian army continues to kill civilians, including children," and "the cost of the war" for them "is terrible," said French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Rivière, calling for a halt to hostilities.

His Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, rejected "absurd accusations" against the Russian armed forces. Russia is providing humanitarian aid to children in Donbass (eastern Ukraine), where for more than eight years, he said, the Ukrainian army has been waging "a civil war against its own people". With a school textbook in hand, the Russian diplomat also said that the teaching of history to children in Ukraine was biased.

The Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, called on the UN to act to reunite separated children with their families. He again accused Russia of continuing "its abductions of Ukrainian children". "After being forcibly transferred to Russia, they are illegally adopted by Russian citizens."

(AFP)

Russian missiles hit Ukraine infrastructure targets

Between 8 and 12 Russian missiles hit the oil refinery and other infrastructure in the Ukrainian industrial hub of Kremenchuk Thursday, the acting governor of the central Poltava region said that same day.

In a Telegram post, Dmytro Lunin urged residents to remain in underground shelters, citing the “persistent” threat of airstrikes.

In early April, Lunin had said that the Kremenchuk refinery - Ukraine’s only remaining fully functional facility of its kind at the time — was no longer operational following a Russian attack. Moscow claimed to have targeted the refinery again at the end of the month, and to have destroyed further fuel production and storage facilities.

(AP)

UN Human Rights Council votes for Russia investigations

The top United Nations human rights body has overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on its investigators to specifically look into possible rights abuses and violations in northern Ukraine shortly after Russia’s invasion.

In a 33-2 vote, with 12 abstentions, the Human Rights Council concluded a special session Thursday on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also by calling on Russia to grant international human rights groups “unhindered, timely, immediate, unrestricted and safe access” to people who have been transferred from Ukraine to Russia or areas controlled by Russian forces or affiliates.

Only China and Eritrea voted against the measure, which also urged the UN human rights office to report on events in Mariupol, a besieged southeastern port city where thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed. Access to the city has been virtually nonexistent for international human rights during recent fighting there.

The council called on a team of investigators known as a Commission of Inquiry to look specifically into the “events” in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine in late February and early March after Russia’s invasion “with a view to holding those responsible to account.” The commission was already created to investigate rights abuses and violations generally in Ukraine.

Many atrocities in the war came to light last month after Moscow’s forces aborted their bid to capture Kyiv and withdrew from around the capital, exposing mass graves and streets and yards strewn with bodies in towns such as Bucha.

(AP)

UN: More than 6 million people have now fled Ukraine

The United Nations' refugee agency is reporting that more than 6 million people have now fled Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion on 24 February. 

Geneva-based UNHCR also said Thursday that the number of refugees who have returned back to Ukraine, either partially or fully, has reached more than 1.6 million. It says that number reflects cross-border movements, and doesn’t necessarily indicate “sustainable” returns. The agency says it’s too early to draw conclusions about “definitive trends” on returns.

Matthew Saltmarsh, an agency spokesman, also said Thursday that a total of 2.4 million people who have left Ukraine have moved beyond Ukraine’s immediate border countries which have taken in the lion’s share of refugees from the country. Poland alone has registered more than 3.2 million people who fled Ukraine. It and other European Union member countries have open borders, making tracking where people go a complex endeavor.

On Tuesday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, tweeted that the number of refugees from Ukraine had reached the same 5.7 million figure as the tally from Syria’s 11-year war, which previously was the source of the world’s biggest refugee crisis.

(AP)

Ukraine negotiates to evacuate wounded troops

Talks are underway between Kyiv and Moscow on the possible evacuation of 38 “severely wounded” Ukrainian troops from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine’s deputy PM said Thursday afternoon.

The steel mill is the only remaining stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the ruined port city, and is now surrounded by Russian forces.

“Currently, we are negotiating only about 38 severely wounded fighters, who cannot stand on their own. We are working step by step,” Iryna Vereshchuk wrote in a public post on the Telegram messenger app.

She said that Kyiv hoped to exchange the soldiers for 38 “significant” Russian prisoners of war, before moving on to the next stage of the negotiations. She did not specify what this next stage would concern, but said that there were no negotiations “on the exchange of 500 or 600 people.”

Earlier on Thursday, an official at the Ukrainian President’s Office said that Kyiv hoped to extract “half a thousand” wounded Ukrainian fighters from Azovstal.

Members of the Azov Regiment holed up inside the plant have repeatedly refused to surrender, citing fears of being killed or tortured. On Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said that “more than a thousand” Ukrainian troops, many of them injured, remained at Azovstal.

(AP)

Russia warns of 'retaliation' against Finland for NATO decision

Russia has warned that it will have to take unspecified “military-technical” steps in response to Finland’s decision to join NATO.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Finland’s accession to NATO will “inflict serious damage on Russian-Finnish relations, as well as stability and security in Northern Europe.”

It said in a statement that “Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps of military-technical and other characteristics in order to counter the emerging threats to its national security.”

The statement noted that while it’s up to Finland to decide on ways to ensure its security, “Helsinki must be aware of its responsibility and the consequences of such a move.” The ministry charged that Finland’s move also violated past agreements with Russia.

“History will determine why Finland needed to turn its territory into a bulwark of military face-off with Russia while losing independence in making its own decisions,” it added.

The ministry’s statement follows Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s comment earlier Thursday that Finland’s decision wouldn’t help stability and security in Europe. Peskov said that Russia’ response will depend on NATO’s moves to expand its infrastructure closer to the Russian borders.

(AP)

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians 'held in prison by pro-Russian separatists'

About 3,000 Mariupol civilians are being detained in prisons controlled by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s industrial east, the country’s human rights chief says.

Lyudmyla Denysova claimed on social media Thursday that Kyiv is aware of at least two prisons set up in the eastern Donetsk region, one in the regional capital of Donetsk and another in Olenivka, a suburb 20 kilometers southwest of the city center.

She claimed that authorities in Kyiv had received reports of people being “tortured, interrogated, threatened with execution and forced to cooperate,” and others disappearing after interrogations.

She also alleged that detainees were being kept in “inhuman conditions,” with inadequate access to bathrooms and no space to lie down.

She claimed that some captives had been released after 36 days, after signing unspecified documents, but did not provide more details. Ukrainian authorities are calling on the UN to intervene.

More than 100,000 civilians remain in the ruined port city of Mariupol, which had a pre-war population of about half a million. Ukrainian authorities have previously claimed that “thousands of Ukrainians” had been forcibly taken to Russia.

Troops from Ukraine’s Azov Regiment continue to hold out at the Azovstal steelworks, the last bulwark of Ukrainian resistance in the city.

(AP)

German chancellor gives 'full support' to Finland's NATO bid

Germany gives its "full support" to the will of the Finnish leaders to immediately join NATO, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday.

"I welcome Finland's decision to come out in favor of the country's immediate membership in NATO," the German leader wrote on Twitter.

Scholz says he told Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in a telephone interview of the "full support of the German government" for the Nordic nation's desire to join.

The President and Prime Minister of Finland said they were in favor of joining NATO "without delay" on Thursday, a huge step towards a candidacy to be formalized on Sunday.

The Kremlin immediately reacted by saying that joining the Nordic country in the Western military alliance would "certainly" constitute a threat against Russia.

(AFP)

Russia accused of using prohibited weapons in Ukraine

A regional military chief in Ukraine says that Russia has used cluster bombs and phosphorus munitions in the southern Ukrainian region of Kryvyi Rih.

It’s the first time use of the weapons has been reported in the area. The claim could not immediately be verified.

“The occupiers are firing, including with the use of prohibited phosphorus and cluster munitions,” regional military governor Oleksandr Vilkul said Thursday on Ukrainian TV channels. He didn’t detail where and when they allegedly were used.

He said one person was killed and one wounded over the past day.

Russian troops have been pressing an offensive toward the city of Kryvih Rih, the capital of the region. It is north of the Russian-held Black Sea port city of Kherson, and is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown.

The Ukrainian military previously accused Russian forces of using phosphorus and cluster munitions in the eastern Donbas region. Ukrainian authorities have launched investigations into their use, which dozens of countries have agreed to ban under an international treaty.

(AFP)

Putin: West is suffering more from sanctions than Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the West was suffering more than Russia from the sanctions imposed on Moscow over the offensive in Ukraine, boasting that the Russian economy was resilient to "external challenges".

The authors of the sanctions, "guided by their inflated and blind ambitions and Russophobia, are dealing a much harder blow to their own national interests, their own economies and the prosperity of their own citizens," Putin said at a meeting on economic issues. 

"We see this above all by looking at a sharp rise in inflation in Europe, which is approaching 20% in some countries," he said.

According to Putin, "it is obvious that (...) the continuation of the obsession with sanctions will inevitably lead to the most difficult consequences for the European Union, for its citizens".

"For its part, Russia is confidently coping with external challenges thanks to its responsible macroeconomic policy of recent years, as well as systemic decisions aimed at strengthening its economic sovereignty and technological and food security," Vladimir Putin assured.

He welcomed the "gradual" slowdown in inflation after it soared to 16.7% in March, as well as the strengthening of the Russian currency, which on Thursday showed a record rise in strength since the start of 2020, reaching 67.7 roubles to the euro and 65.2 roubles to the dollar at 12:00 GMT. 

At the beginning of 2022, the ruble rate was around 85 rubles to the euro and 75 rubles to the dollar.

(AFP)

View - Russia needs to be contained, not beaten, to save Ukraine

Like the Romanovs and Bolsheviks before him, Putin grasps the geographical reality that Ukraine is the key to Russia’s security. 

Read more of Ian Morris' views here: 

Russia needs to be contained, not beaten, to save Ukraine | View

Russia responsible for 'vast majority' of civilian casualties in Ukraine, UN human rights commisioner says

The UN's human rights chief says her office has found that Russian forces and affiliated armed groups are responsible for most civilian deaths during the war in Ukraine.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the “vast majority” of civilian casualties have been caused by the use of explosive weapons, including heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and airstrikes.

“According to our information, while such incidents can be attributed to both parties to the conflict, most of these casualties appear attributable to the Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups,” Bachelet told a special session of the Human Rights Council on Thursday.

Ukraine and its backers led a push to convene the special session of the 47-member body. The Geneva-based council was set to vote on a resolution that would reiterate its demand “for the immediate cessation of military hostilities against Ukraine.”

The UN General Assembly voted last month to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council, the organisation's top human rights body, over allegations of war crimes by Russian forces.

'Growing threat of Russia-NATO conflict'

A top Russian official says that there is a growing threat of the fighting in Ukraine spilling into a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said Thursday that growing Western arms supplies to Ukraine and training for its troops have “increased the probability that an ongoing proxy war will turn into an open and direct conflict between NATO and Russia.”

He added that “there is always a risk of such conflict turning into a full-scale nuclear war, a scenario that will be catastrophic for all.”

Medvedev, who served as Russia’s placeholder president from 2008-2012 while Putin shifted into the prime minister’s seat to observe term limits, has become increasingly hawkish in his statements in recent months.

In a messaging app commentary, Medvedev urged the US and its allies to think about the possible consequences of their actions and “not to choke on their own saliva in the paroxysms of Russophobia".

Finland joining NATO 'would be a threat to Russia'

Finland joining NATO would "certainly" be a threat to Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

It comes after the country's leaders -- President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin -- said this morning that Finland must apply for NATO membership "without delay".

Finland's governing social democratic party is to present its positions this weekend. Sweden will announce its decision, too. 

"NATO's enlargement and the alliance's rapprochement with our borders do not make the world and our continent more stable and secure," Peskov told reporters, responding to a question about whether Russia would consider Finland's entry into NATO a threat.

Along with Ukrainian resistance and Western sanctions, if Finland decides to join it would be one of the most significant ways in which the invasion appears to have backfired on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who cited NATO expansion as one of the reasons for attacking Ukraine. 

Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine 'to drop by a third on Thursday'

The transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine will see a drop of nearly a third on Thursday compared to the day before, according to the Russian energy giant Gazprom, as supplies are affected for the second day in a row by the conflict.

Some 50.6 million cubic metres are to transit via the Soudja station on Thursday against 72 million the day before, according to Gazprom, quoted by Russian agencies.

Ukraine has been saying for two days that it can no longer transit gas through the station's facilities near Sokhranivka in the Luhansk region, due to the presence of Russian armed forces, leading to a drop in supplies, as Moscow says it cannot increase volumes on another pipeline. 

(AFP)

Russian forces hit city in Chernihiv region, killing at least three 

A Russian airstrike on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Novhorod-Siverskyi killed at least three people and wounded 12 others on Wednesday night, local rescue services stated.

"There are three people killed and 12 injured as a result of a strike" on the city in the Chernihiv region, some 330 kilometres from Kyiv, a spokesman for the rescue services said, giving an initial assessment on Thursday.

Ukraine to hold first war crimes trial of captured Russian soldier

Ukraine’s top prosecutor announced on Wednesday that the country will hold the first war crimes trial of a captured Russian soldier.

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said her office charged Sgt Vadin Shyshimarin, 21, in the killing of an unarmed 62-year-old civilian who was gunned down while riding a bicycle in February, four days into the war.

Read more about this case here:

Ukraine to hold first war crimes trial over Russia's invasion

Finland must join NATO 'without delay', leaders say

Finland's leaders have announced their position on the country joining NATO military alliance, stating that the northern European state with the longest border with Russia must apply for membership "without delay".

"NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance," President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement on Thursday morning.

"We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days."

Earlier on Wednesday, Marin said the invasion of Ukraine had "changed everything" in terms of security for Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia.

Neighbour Sweden is also expected to announce whether it will ask to join the alliance.

Read more here: 

Finland's leaders back applying for NATO membership 'without delay'

euronewsThe war in Ukraine has sparked debates in Finland and Sweden over whether they should join the NATO military alliance.

Russian army continues bombardment of Mariupol steel plant

Ukraine's military says Russian forces are continuing airstrikes on the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol and pressing their advance on towns in eastern Ukraine.

In its operational statement for Day 78 of the war, the Ukrainian military's General Staff says Russian forces have also fired artillery and grenade launchers at Ukrainian troops in the direction of Zaporizhzhia, which has been a refuge for civilians fleeing Mariupol.

It did not elaborate on the latest action around Azovstal.

The military says Russian forces also fired artillery at Ukrainian units north of the city of Kharkiv in the northeast and reported Russian strikes in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions to the north.

German army begins training Ukrainians to use its advanced howitzers

The Bundeswehr says it has begun training Ukrainian soldiers to use a powerful artillery system that Germany and the Netherlands plan to supply to Ukraine.

The Defense Ministry said 18 crews are being trained to use the Panzerhaubitze 2000, an advanced, self-propelled howitzer.

“This is a clear sign of our solidarity,” the ministry said, “but Germany won’t become a party to the conflict because of the training or delivery."

Ukrainian military: Moscow 'has not given up' on taking control of Kyiv

A Ukrainian general says that Russia hasn’t abandoned hopes to capture the Ukrainian capital.

Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov said at Wednesday’s briefing that the Russians harbour plans to take control over the southern Mykolaiv and Odesa regions to build a land corridor to the Transnistria separatist region of Moldova and also try to storm Kyiv.

Gromov said that Russia still hopes to capture more Ukrainian territories and call a sham vote to make them part of Russia.

He added that such Russian plans will be foiled by the Ukrainian resistance.

The Russian forces tried to capture the Ukrainian capital in the first weeks of the invasion, but have pulled back after facing staunch defences and shifted their focus on the country’s east and south.

Moscow is stealing Ukraine's grain, foreign ministry claims

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has accused Russia of stealing the country’s grain and trying to sell some of it on global markets.

The ministry said in Wednesday’s commentary that the stealing of Ukrainian grain amounts to looting.

It warned countries that purchase Russian grain that some of its shipments could contain the grain stolen from Ukraine, making its buyers possible accomplices.

The ministry cited official estimates indicating that Russia already may have stolen 400,000-500,000 metric tonnes of grain that cost over €100 million. It claimed that “practically all ships leaving Sevastopol with a load of grain are carrying the grain stolen from Ukraine”.