May 11, 2022: Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of the war in Ukraine has moved here.

Lenta.ru newsroom is seen in this file photo in Moscow.

Journalists Yegor Polyakov and Aleksandra Miroshnikova, working for Russian online newspaper Lenta.ru, told CNN?that the idea to publish dozens of articles critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine came about because they couldn’t continue working as usual with the war in Ukraine raging on.

The articles were published to Lenta.ru, a pro-Kremlin news outlet in Russia, on May 9. It coincided with Russia’s Victory Day, a major national holiday in the country that celebrates the surrender of the Nazis in Berlin during World War II.?

The two journalists published a number of articles with headlines such as, “Putin unleashed one of the bloodiest wars of the 21st century” and “Vladimir Putin lied about Russia’s plans in Ukraine.”

“Some people say, ‘We had no other choice but to keep working,’” the two journalists said.?“We had no choice but to do what we did. It was the only right decision for us.”?

Fearful of reprisals against their families in Russia, the two journalists would not go into details of how they?published?the articles.?But said they have been hard at work for the last week, only sleeping two to five hours a day.?

“The articles that we have published are not just catchy headlines, they are well-thought-out materials, with all links, with visual inserts,” the two said.?

It’s unclear whether the two journalists have been fired from Lenta.ru, but they say that they no longer have access to the site’s publishing tools.??

“Our bosses deleted all correspondence with us,” they said.?“Yegor had a rather unpleasant conversation with them, but they didn’t even bother to say a word to [Aleksandra].??

They realize that the risk, and the potential repercussions, they may face for publishing the articles.?

“Perhaps this will have serious consequences for us,” they said.?“I can’t exclude the possibility that our actions will also have consequences for our colleagues, who did not participate in this, but who can become just demonstrative victims so that no one else dares to repeat this.”?

They hope their action will inspire others in Russia to do the same.?For now, the two say they are no longer in Russia.?

“I don’t know what’s next,” Miroshnikova said.?“I am in another country, completely alone, I have some small savings to live on for a few months. But I have no idea what to do, where to go and how to live on. Hope I will figure it out.”??

Both have also?received?a?positive response?from some readers?thanking them for setting an inspiring example.?

“Some stranger people abroad even wrote that they were ready to shelter Yegor and [Miroshnikova] on their couches,” the two said.?“It was very heart-warming and such comments make me feel less alone.”?

Some even offered to shelter the two of them while they figured out what to do next.

“It was very heart-warming and such comments make me feel less alone,” Miroshnikova said.??

However, the ?responses from some, namely colleagues and family members, were not supportive.?

“For me personally, the situation is quite difficult, because many of my relatives did not approve of my decision at all,” Miroshnikova said.?“Someone considered it a betrayal, someone - just stupidity, because of which I will be left without a job and any future.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko speaks with CNN on Wednesday May 11.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko tells CNN’s Erin Burnett he worries about the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin using a tactical nuclear weapon on Kyiv.

“Safety is the main priority right now …Yes of course we worry, and we hope our warriors defend us, but the risk is still there and without our partners, without United States and European countries we can’t survive,” Klitschko said.

He also said there is “no doubt” the capital of Ukraine is still Russia’s “main target.”

He said Russian attacks could happen “any second.”

Klitschko added that war “changed the life for everyone” and he says he is keeping his fingers crossed to “stop this senseless war as soon as possible.”

Ukrainian Capt. Svyatoslav Palamar

Ukrainian Capt. Svyatoslav Palamar, who is hunkered down inside Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant, told CNN on Wednesday that he believes all civilians sheltering inside the plant are now out — with the caveat that due to the constant bombardment, it is difficult to make a full assessment of the situation across the massive facility.

Palamar, the deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov regiment, made the comments to CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday.?

“If you’re talking about the Azovstal plant itself, then the civilians that we knew about, the civilians that we had with us, the civilians that we were taking care of, they are not with us. They managed to leave the plant. And as far as the – I cannot tell you for sure, maybe there’s someone else further down in the territory because no international organization at any point came or had access to come and assess the situation,” he told CNN.

Here are more of the latest headlines in the Russia-Ukraine war:

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton?tells CNN it is “unfair” to call the European Union divided over an oil embargo against Russia, despite Hungary saying it would not support the sanctions.

The European Commission is now discussing changes to win over countries, including Hungary and Slovakia.?Hungary has warned it cannot accept the EU’s planned ban on Russian oil saying it would amount to an “atomic bomb” for its economy.

Breton insisted the EU has acted very quickly to put in place five packages of sanctions so far and that they must hold discussions to take care of everyone.

Breton also had strong words for the chief executive of Volkswagen, who had called for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine so that sanctions can be lifted.

“Listen, there is a war here.?And a war is a matter of states, it’s not a matter of companies.?We have always been very clear, with every single industrial ecosystem and companies.?We will take care of what we have to take care of, but a war is a matter of the state- no one else,” he said.

The Ukrainians have — twice in the last 24 hours — stopped Russians efforts to cross the Siverskyi Donets River in the Luhansk oblast, blowing up two pontoon bridges near Bilohorivka.

A satellite image collected by geospatial intelligence firm BlackSky shows a Russian pontoon bridge crossing the river on May 10 shortly after a Ukrainian artillery barrage hit the surrounding area.

Smoke is seen rising from the western shore of the Siverskyi Donets River at one end of the bridge.?On the eastern bank,?craters and smoke are also seen on the eastern shore, including around Russian military vehicles that crossed over.

Grainy drone video circulating on social media, geolocated and its authenticity verified by CNN, shows the aftermath of the strikes.?The military strikes destroyed the bridge, which is seen half-sunk in the river.?

Additional photos circulating on social media, also taken by a drone, show the Russians tried to erect a second pontoon bridge across the river.?That bridge, too, was blown up by the Ukrainians in addition to a number of military vehicles.??

Traversing Ukraine’s topography — specifically its rivers — has repeatedly proven a logistical nightmare that’s hampered Russian military advances for weeks, across numerous parts of Ukraine. In more remote areas, or in places that bridges have been blown up, they have resorted to utilizing pontoon bridges.

These bridges have repeatedly been targeted and blown up by Ukrainian forces.?

CNN has previously reported the bridge first appeared on May 8.

Serhiy Hayday, the Luhansk regional military administrator, said on Wednesday that the Russians are continuing to try to construct bridges across the Siverskyi Donets River.?He also said that the Ukrainians have repeatedly blown them up.??

They fought side-by-side in the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, two Ukrainian soldiers among hundreds refusing to surrender.?

And on May 5,?Valeria and Andrew were married.?

Three days later Andrew was killed, according to a Facebook post by Valeria on Wednesday.

The post included photographs of the two getting married in a bunker wearing their uniforms and photographs of the couple before the siege began.?

The Facebook post — created on Wednesday night local time — also includes a message from Valeria:

She promised him that she would survive the siege - and live for the two of them.

For the first time, a civilian in Russia has reportedly died as a result of cross-border shelling from Ukraine, according to Russian authorities.

The governor of the Belgorod region,?Vyacheslav Gladkov,?said that “one person was killed during shelling of the village of Solokhi.”

Solokhi is a village ten kilometers from the Ukrainian border.?

“The population of the village of Solokhi will be taken to a safe place under the leadership of the head of the district, Vladimir Pertsev, and the head of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergey Potapov,” Gladkov said.

The Belgorod region has seen several explosions in recent weeks that appear to have been caused by missiles and bombs. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied being responsible for the blasts.?

Last week, Gladkov said five houses had been destroyed in another village, Nekhoteevka.

“Today there are just under 30 people left in the settlement,” he said then. “We have already evacuated most of the people to safety.”

Ukraine has offered Russia to release Russian prisoners of war in exchange for the evacuation of injured Ukrainian soldiers from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Wednesday.

In a Facebook post, Vereshchuk said there is no agreement yet and negotiations are underway regarding the proposal.

She said the government is working out different options to get Ukrainian soldiers out of Azovstal but that none of the options are “ideal.”

“We are not looking for an ideal option, but a working one,” Vereshchuk said.

Smoke rises above the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 10.

Ukrainian Capt. Svyatoslav Palamar, who is hunkered down inside Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant, tells CNN that he believes all civilians sheltering inside the plant are now out — with the caveat that due to the constant bombardment, it is difficult to make a full assessment of the situation across the massive facility.

Palamar, the deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov regiment, made the comments to CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday.?

Palamar added that a ceasefire was needed so that an international NGO could enter the steel plant to properly assess the situation, because the current siege did not allow for a proper assessment of current conditions.

“Basically what needs to be done is [that] a ceasefire is called upon so that some international organization can come and assess the situation, because under this constant bombardment, we are not able to go around and check anything,” Palamar said.?

On Saturday, Ukraine’s President Voldomyr Zelensky said in his nightly addressed that “phase one” of the Azovstal evacuations was over and that essentially all civilians —meaning women, children and elderly — had exited the plant.?

The president said “phase two” would involve the exodus of the wounded and medics, as well as military still inside the plant.

The Russian-installed leadership of the Kherson region said that the issuing of Russian passports to residents of the region who want them will begin by the end of the year.

Speaking on a newly created television network in the region,?Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-installed military-civilian administration, said:?“The next step will be an offer to issue passports of the Russian Federation to everyone. I think that this year we will already begin issuing passports.”

He said it would not be obligatory for residents of the region to obtain Russian passports.

Earlier Wednesday, the new Russian-installed leadership of the Kherson region said it plans to make a formal request to become part of the Russian Federation, according to a statement on a new Telegram channel that appears to be linked to the pro-Russian administration.

Russian soldiers stand near trucks in Kherson, Ukraine on March 7.

A resident of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson said that her city is like a “zombie apocalypse” since Russian troops took over.

The woman, who requested to be identified as Tanya, said in an interview on CNN International that the invasion has taken a physical and psychological toll.

“It’s very hard to live in such conditions, physically, because you cannot do things that you did before the war,” she said. “You can’t go out as much, you can’t breathe fresh air, so it’s hard physically.”

“Psychologically, it’s even more harder because you see all those empty shelves in the stores, you see all those armed people going out to walk by you, by the street, and it’s terrifying because they are all around the city. So it’s hard,” she continued

The new Russian-installed leadership of the Ukrainian region of Kherson today announced plans to make a formal request to become part of the Russian Federation.

“Authorities of Kherson region will appeal to the President of Russia with a request to include the region into Russia,” according to a statement on a new Telegram channel, which appears to be linked to the pro-Russian administration.

Tanya said she is scared of Russian soldiers patrolling the city and that no one she knows wants to be a part of Russia.

Tanya said that many people have left the city and it’s fairly empty by 3 p.m. local time.

The woman told CNN she wants to leave the city — like many of her friends have already — but it’s very difficult because there are no official evacuation corridors and dozens of Russian checkpoints.

She said the city’s train station has not been operating since the Russians took over the city, and Russian troops are now using it as a base.

Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

The social media giant Meta is walking back a call for advice on how to moderate Facebook and Instagram content related to the war in Ukraine.

The company said Wednesday it has withdrawn a request for its external Oversight Board to opine on how to handle material surrounding Russia’s invasion.

The move leaves Meta to continue figuring out on its own, for now, how to deal with the myriad of platform challenges posed by the conflict, ranging from?Ukrainians’ calls for violence?against Russian invaders to?fake videos of the war?to malicious?hacking of Ukrainian military officials’?Facebook accounts.?

Some more context: The Oversight Board, created by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as an independent, court-like entity, is composed of experts on civil rights and free expression and can issue non-binding policy guidance to Meta on its content moderation, as well as review specific cases of content removals.

Meta declined to characterize details of the original request for advice and the types of questions it had for the board, citing “ongoing security concerns on the ground” as a reason for pulling its call for policy guidance.?

The Oversight Board, in a separate?statement, said Meta had cited “specific” security concerns in its notification of withdrawal.?

Meta’s initial request for guidance was filed on March 25, the company told CNN. The Oversight Board told CNN it had agreed to take up the matter on March 29. Meta then withdrew the request in late April, it said.?

“The withdrawal of this request does not diminish Meta’s responsibility to carefully?consider the ongoing content moderation issues which have arisen from this war,” the Oversight Board said in its statement.

After two days of sharp losses, oil prices rose sharply Wednesday on renewed concerns about the flow of energy from Russia.?

US oil jumped 6.3% to $105.97 a barrel in recent trading. Brent crude, the world benchmark, gained 5.2% to $107.75 a barrel.

The rebound comes amid continued uncertainty over the supply of Russian energy to Europe.

Not only is the European Union debating an embargo on Russian oil, but Ukraine?suspended the flow of some Russian natural gas?to Europe. The Ukrainian gas transmission system operator blamed “interference by the occupying forces.”

“The ante has been upped. Markets are skittish,” said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst for the Americas at data and analytics firm Kpler.

US oil fell 9% over the prior two days, finishing Tuesday at $99.76 a barrel.?

The volatility comes as prices at the pump continue to march higher, contributing to high inflation gripping the US economy.

Gas prices?hit $4.40 a gallon on Wednesday for the first time ever, up three cents in one day, according to AAA. The fresh record leaves the national average up 17 cents in just the past week and well above the March peak of $4.33.?

US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia, in 2021.

US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan visited the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow on Wednesday to deliver a message to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, a US State Department official said.?

The meeting was to discuss bilateral issues, the official said, without detailing what specific issues were discussed. The Russians did not summon Sullivan, this was a previously planned meeting, the official said.?

The official said that reports about the meeting lasting for about 20 minutes were roughly accurate, but noted that is a normal amount of time for meetings between US and Russian officials.

More context: Sullivan’s meeting comes just weeks after a prisoner swap between the US and Russia led to the release of a wrongfully detained American citizen, Trevor Reed. Sullivan was a key player in the Biden administration who worked on securing Reed’s release.?

After that release a different senior State Department official noted that the Biden administration could not share many details about the process behind the release because of the other wrongfully detained Americans in Russia right now, who they are still trying to get home.?

“We need to be cautious because this is not the end, by any means, of what we are involved with in discussing the status of wrongfully detained American citizens in Russia. We need to protect the way that this came about. I am not saying that the others will come about in same way, but I need to be careful about what we say publicly,” the senior State Department official told CNN last week.?

US Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley speaks during a hearing in Washington, DC, on April 5.

US Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said the Russian use of hypersonic weapons in Ukraine was not having “really significant or game-changing effects” during a House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing.

“Other than the speed of the weapon, in terms of its effect on a given target, we are not seeing really significant or game-changing effects to date with the delivery of the small number of hypersonics that the Russians have used,” Milley said.

A senior US defense official said on Tuesday that Russia had launched between 10 and 12 hypersonic missiles against Ukraine so far.

Milley confirmed this was the first time hypersonic weapons had ever been used in combat, and he said that the Defense Department has analyzed each hypersonic strike, but added he could only elaborate on the details in a classified session.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the same hearing that he concurred with Milley, and he did not think that Russian President Putin’s use of hypersonics would “cause him to be willing to elevate to use a nuclear weapon.”

Earlier in the hearing, Austin said it was US President Joe Biden’s decision to share intelligence with US allies and partners in the lead-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“That created trust amongst our allies in a more meaningful way,” said Austin, “and that trust allowed us to create greater unity.”

Austin said that intelligence sharing was “a key element” in fostering that unity, which he hoped would continue.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, right, meet in Moscow, Russia, on April 26.

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.

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.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits to watch the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, on May 9.

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.”

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.

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.??

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.??

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.

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.

The factory chimneys of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator (GTSOU) in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 11.

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.

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:

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

Read more about the bill here.

Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin, left, speaks next to Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a joint press annoucement at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, on May 11.

If Finland applies to join NATO it will be “for the security” of its citizens, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Wednesday.

Speaking during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, Marin said she had talked to her Japanese counterpart about Finland’s “plans to possibly apply for NATO membership.”

On Tuesday, Finland’s?Parliamentary Defense Committee told the Finnish Foreign Affairs Committee that it is in favor of applying for NATO membership, according to Finnish state media YLE.

The defense committee stated its belief that NATO membership would be the best solution for Finnish security.

Finnish?Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen for European Affairs told CNN Tuesday that it is “highly likely” that the country will apply for NATO membership.

She hopes that if Finland does apply to join the alliance “the ratification process would be as brief as possible.”

Russia’s response: Russia is closely monitoring NATO configuration close to its borders, Kremlin spokesperson?Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, commenting on the prospect of Finland and Sweden joining the alliance.

“We are watching everything that is connected with actions that are capable of changing the configuration of the Alliance near our borders in one way or another,” Peskov told reporters on a conference call.?

“This is the subject of a very, very thorough analysis,” he added.

Read more about how Finland joining NATO could impact Russia:

Swedish Army armoured vehicles and tanks participate in a military exercise called "Cold Response 2022", gathering around 30,000 troops from NATO member countries as well as Finland and Sweden, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Setermoen in the Arctic Circle, Norway, March 25, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Related article Analysis: Finland is on the verge of asking to join NATO. Here's why that's bad news for Putin

CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to students of the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Paris, France, on May 11.

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.?

He reiterated the need for Ukraine to join the European Union, calling for meaningful steps to include Ukraine into the union.

“Ukraine will only strengthen other states, our army has demonstrated its capabilities. Our people have proven themselves,” Zelensky said.

The new Russian-installed leadership of the Ukrainian region of Kherson plans to make a formal request to become part of the Russian federation.

“Authorities of Kherson region will appeal to the President of Russia with a request to include the region into Russia,” says a statement on a new Telegram channel which appears to be linked to the pro-Russian administration.

The announcement was swiftly reported by Russian state media.

The appeal is attributed to?Kirill Stremousov?— the newly appointed deputy head of the military-civilian administration in Kherson.

At the weekend, Stremousov said that “citizens residing in the Kherson region will have the right to obtain Russian citizenship.”

“We are not planning referendums, and we are not planning the creation of republics,” he said.

“We are talking about the fact that we will integrate as much as possible into the Russian Federation according to all the opportunities that we have.

“And all those citizens who are on the territory of the Kherson region will have the right to obtain Russian citizenship and Russian passports.”

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian President, tweeted his response to the announcement from Kherson.

What Russia is saying: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday it should be the decision of the people of Kherson when asked if Russia is ready to accept the Kherson region should the local authorities make such a request.?

“It is up to the citizens of the Kherson region to decide whether such an appeal will happen or not and to determine their own destiny,” Peskov told journalists on a regular conference call.?

Commenting on the legitimacy of such a procedure and whether it should be done through a referendum or by a decree, Peskov added it should be done in a “legitimate” way.

“This issue should be clearly and carefully verified and assessed by lawyers and legal experts because such fateful decisions should have a clear legal background, a justification, they should be absolutely legitimate, as was the case with Crimea,” he said.

Russian forces are occupying much of the southern Ukrainian province of Kherson, including the city of Kherson.?

CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed reporting to this post.

Hungary will only vote for EU sanctions on Russian oil if the bloc comes up with solutions to the problems it would create, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister?Péter Szijjártó.

“We have made it clear to the European Commission that we can only vote for this proposal if Brussels offers a solution for the problems Brussels would create,”?Szijjártó said in a video posted on Facebook Wednesday.

The EU has proposed banning all oil imports from Russia by the end of this year and removing the country’s biggest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT international payments network.

“We are expecting a solution not only relating to the transformation of our refineries that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, not only relating to the capacity increase of the oil pipeline [that runs] across Croatia to Hungary that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but also with regard to the future of the Hungarian economy, as, like I said before, this current proposal is like?‘an atomic bomb’?for the Hungarian economy,” Szijjártó continued.

Last week,?Zoltan Kovacs, spokesperson for the Hungarian Prime Minister, told CNN’s Eleni Giokos that the EU proposal is “against Hungarian national energy security.”

Kovacs said Hungary has told the EU that Hungarian oil companies have made it “clear” that they would not be able to rid themselves of Russian oil imports for at least three to five years.

President Joe Biden speaks on security assistance to Ukraine during a visit to the Lockheed Martin Pike County Operations facility where they manufacture Javelin anti-tank missiles on May 3, in Troy, Alabama.

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.

Maliar said that the supply of foreign weapons had settled into a routine, despite Russian efforts to destroy transport infrastructure.

She also suggested that new arrangements would help Ukraine sustain a longer conflict.

“A lend lease package is currently being considered. We receive support from the European Union and other countries,” she said.

Maliar also said Ukrainian production lines were being ramped up.

“We are making a strategic bet on the development of our own production. Manufacturers are already loaded with military orders to the end of the year. In addition, the Defense Ministry buys protective equipment from abroad,” she said.

In the first ten days of May, the Ukrainian armed forces had received more than 34,000 body armor vests, she said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Austrian President give a joint press conference in Vienna, Austria, on May 11.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that Ukraine’s agricultural production must be available on international markets again.

Speaking at a news conference in Vienna with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Guterres stressed that the “senseless war” in Ukraine “is causing massive devastation, destruction and suffering in the country,” with a vast impact on Ukraine’s “food, energy and finance”.

“We need quick and decisive action to ensure the steady flow of food and energy and open markets, by lifting export restrictions, allocating surpluses and reserves to those who need them and addressing food price increases to?calm?market volatility.”

Guterres went on to say these additional challenges were coming off the back of the pandemic, further escalating “inequalities and insufficient resources for recovery”.

Regarding the possibility of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Guterres said: “This war will not last forever. There will be a moment in which the peace negotiations will be on the table.”

“It’s not on the immediate horizon, but one thing I can tell you: We will never give up,” he added.

The pipe systems and shut-off devices at the gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the OPAL (Ostsee-Pipeline-Anbindungsleitung - Baltic Sea Pipeline Link) long-distance gas pipeline in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lubmin on April 27

Germany’s gas supply “remains secure” after Ukraine suspended some of its Russian gas exports to Europe due to interruptions at key transit points, the German economy ministry said Wednesday.

“Our gas supply is guaranteed at this stage and we are monitoring the supply situation closely together with the Federal Network Agency,” spokesperson Susanne Ungrad told CNN.

Most of the Russian gas imported by Germany, however, does not cross through Ukraine, instead being transported via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline through the Baltic, Ungrad added.

German officials had previously warned that it could face gas shortages over a payments dispute with Russia that arose following the invasion of Ukraine.

?A couple in front of a house damaged by shelling on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 10.

Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv military administration, says more settlements to the north of the city have been retaken by Ukrainian troops.

One soldier posted on his Telegram channel Wednesday a video from a village about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north-west of the city.

All the settlements are villages between Kharkiv and the Russian border to the north.

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.

Syniehubov warned civilians that it was still dangerous to return to the area.

Despite being under Ukrainian control, much of the area is still within range of Russian artillery fire.

Syniehubov also said that there had been relative silence in the city of Kharkiv, but settlements to the south-west had come under fire.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei?Lavrov?speaks during a news conference in Moscow, Russia, on March 17.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia does not want a continent-wide war in Europe, but added a note of caution surrounding the intentions surrounding the Western governments supporting Ukraine.

“If you are concerned about the prospect of war in Europe, we absolutely do not want this, but I draw your attention to the fact that West constantly insists that Russia must be defeated in this situation. Draw your own conclusions,” Lavrov?said.

Lavrov appeared to be referring to comments like those from US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said last month that Washington wants “to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”

Russia has continually tried to justify its invasion of Ukraine as a fight against Ukrainian neo-Nazis and NATO’s expansion into eastern Europe, forces that, according to the Kremlin, pose an existential threat.

Lavrov has previously alluded to the danger of a wider war – even a nuclear one – rhetoric that US President Joe Biden called “irresponsible.”

Energy exports: Speaking alongside Omani Foreign Minister?Sayyid Badr Albusaidi?following talks in Muscat on Wednesday, Lavrov said that Moscow has enough buyers of its energy resources, as the European Union?considers banning Russian oil imports.

“We have enough buyers of our energy resources. We will work with them and let the West pay them much more than it paid to the Russian Federation and explain to its population why they should become poorer,” he said.?

A temporary accommodation centre for evacuees from Ukraine in a local sports school in Taganrog in the?Rostov?region, Russia, on March 17.

Russia has opened a further nine temporary accommodation centers to receive people from Ukraine and the self-declared republics, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported Wednesday.

Currently 66 centers are operating in the Rostov region, the main “entry gate” to Russia for people from Ukraine.

Ukraine officials claim that Russia is forcibly deporting people from Mariupol and other areas in the Donbas region, and consider it a war crime.

Ukrainians who have been evacuated from separatist-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine sit in a bus as they arrive at a railway station in the?Rostov?region, Russia, on February 20.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than half a million Ukrainians have been deported to Russia since the start of the war.

CNN is unable to independently confirm the number of Ukrainians who have been taken across the border into Russian territory.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomes U.S. House Speaker Nancy?Pelosi?(D-CA) before their meeting in Kyiv,?Ukraine, on?April 30.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the “friends” of his country in the US House of Representatives for approving a bill that would see Washington deliver $40 billion worth of aid to Ukraine amidst Russia’s ongoing invasion.?

The House approved the bill Tuesday evening with?broad bipartisan support,?368 to 57.?All 57 votes in opposition to the measure were from Republicans.?

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

Pelosi made an unannounced visit to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, earlier this month to meet with Zelensky.

Read more about what’s in the bill here:

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 21: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks at her weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol Building on October 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Speaker Pelosi discussed a range of topics including the status of the negotiations for the Build Back Better agenda. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Related article House expected to vote Tuesday on $40 billion Ukraine aid bill | CNN Politics

Crimean human rights activist and nurse Iryna Danylovich disappeared on her way home from work in the?Russian-annexed peninsula?more than a week ago. She has not been seen since.

Danylovich is believed to have been detained by Russian authorities, but they have refused to say whether, where or by whom she is being held.

Through her work as a citizen journalist, Danylovich has exposed problems in Crimea’s health care system, including in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. She has written for a number of Ukrainian media outlets and has published her findings on Facebook.

Danylovich’s father Bronislav told the news site Krym.Realii, a Radio Liberty affiliate, that his daughter planned to take public transport home on the morning of April 29, after finishing her shift at a medical facility in Koktebel, south-eastern Crimea.

Azamatov said the nurse stopped answering her phone at that point.

Azamatov, Danylovich’s family and several human rights organizations have been searching for her at detention centers in multiple cities in Crimea ever since her disappearance.

Read more about the search for Danylovich?here:

Related article Russian authorities accused of 'abducting' Crimean human rights activist

Denis Pushilin, center, leader of the separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), meets with local residents in the city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 29.

The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) laid additional claims of liberation while speaking on the anniversary of its declaration of independence Wednesday.

Some context: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic days before commencing with the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine and a vast majority of European nations have spoken out against the claims as illegitimate.

Lithuania’s decision to declare Russia “a state that supports and perpetrates terrorism” is provocative and extremist, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday in a comment on Russia’s Sputnik radio.

Some context: The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, on Tuesday passed a resolution declaring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “genocide” and Russia a perpetrator of terrorism.

The parliament also called for the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Read more about Lithuania and Russia here:

VILNIUS, LITHUANIA - FEBRUARY 19: Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis during a press conference on February 19, 2022 in Vilnius, Lithuania. For the past two days, NATO Defence Ministers have gathered in Brussels to discuss the expansion of military points along the European Eastern flank. Ongoing conversations between Western countries and Russia to de-escalate the crisis at the Russian- Ukrainian continue, but Western leaders continue to claim that there is a very high chance that a Russian invasion might happen in the coming days. (Photo by Paulius Peleckis/Getty Images)

Related article Lithuanian foreign minister says Putin and Russian regime must be removed to stop 'warmongering'

Ukrainian soldiers next to a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 8 May.

Russia has assembled about 20 battalion tactical groups in Belgorod — a Russian city close to the Ukrainian border — and is concerned about the possibility of Ukrainian counterattacks, according to a senior Ukrainian official.

Russian forces, however, have enough strength for another attack on the area, he said.

Skirmishes to the south: The most active battles Wednesday are farther south, Denysenko said, “in the Luhansk direction. This is Rubizhne, Severodonetsk.”

He denied a claim by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Tuesday that Russian forces had reached the border of Luhansk.

Russian forces are trying to break south from Izium to take other parts of the Donetsk region, but there’s been little movement on the ground.

Missiles struck two areas of the city of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine, according to the city’s mayor.

No casualties have been noted so far, Mayor Vadym Liakh said, and authorities are assessing the resulting damage.

Some context: 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.

According to a report from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Tuesday, Russians were trying to break through Ukrainian defenses north of Sloviansk, around the settlements of Oleksandrivka and Shandryholove.

This area has seen almost constant fighting for around two weeks, but the Russians appear to have made minimal progress on the ground.

Kalush Orchestra are seen on the turquoise carpet of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest on May 8, in Turin, Italy.

Musicians representing Ukraine were selected Tuesday to advance to the finals of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Kalush Orchestra, performing on behalf of Ukraine, is heavily favored to win, according to Johnny Weir, who hosted the US coverage of the competition on the streaming service Peacock.

The group’s song is called Stefania.

The run-up to Eurovision featured controversial decisions determining whether musicians from Russia would be able to participate following the invasion in February.

The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest, had initially decided it would allow a performer to represent Russia but changed course less than 24 hours later following public outcry.

Ukraine and others had petitioned the European Broadcasting Union to bar Russia from participating.

Ten countries in all advanced from the competition’s first semi-final on Tuesday.

The Grand Final will take place Saturday following the second semifinal, which is set to happen Thursday in Turin, Italy.

Read more about Ukraine and the competition here:

10 May 2022, Italy, Turin: The Kalsuh Orchestra from Ukraine performs with the title Stefania at the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). The international music competition is taking place for the 66th time. In the first semifinal, participants from 17 countries will play music to reach the final. The first ten will advance. Photo by: Jens B'ttner/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

Related article Here is who is moving on to the Eurovision Grand Final so far

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks during the daily briefing at the White House on Tuesday.

The US House of Representatives passing a bill to send $40 billion in additional aid to Ukraine sends “a clear, bipartisan message to Ukraine, to Russia, and to the world that the United States stands with the people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy against Russian aggression,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Tuesday.

The bill was approved in the House with broad bipartisan support by a vote of 368-57. The Senate will next take up the measure, and upon approval is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Read more about the aid package here:

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 21: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks at her weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol Building on October 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Speaker Pelosi discussed a range of topics including the status of the negotiations for the Build Back Better agenda. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Related article House expected to vote Tuesday on $40 billion Ukraine aid bill | CNN Politics

The first president of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk speaks in in Parliamentary Hall in Kyiv, Ukraine on July 16, 2020.

Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk, Ukraine’s first president who served from 1991 to 1994, died on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement.

In an on-camera address,?Zelensky paid homage to the late president, calling the news tragic.

Kravchuk was a key figure in Ukraine’s independence movement in the late 1980s amid the collapse of the Soviet Union. He later became Ukraine’s first president when the country declared independence in 1991.

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Reflecting on the Cuban missile crisis, US President John Kennedy once warned that nuclear powers “must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war.”

The showdown with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine does not yet mirror the one-minute-to-midnight brinkmanship that brought the Soviet Union and the West to the cusp of Armageddon in October 1962.

But Kennedy’s superpower logic is resounding poignantly as Putin gets backed into a corner by the strategic disaster of his war, Ukraine’s heroic resistance and an extraordinary multibillion-dollar allied conveyor of arms and ammunition.

Read the full analysis here:

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MAY 09: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the military parade during 77th anniversary of the Victory Day in Red Square in Moscow, Russia on May 09, 2022. The Victory parade take place on the Red Square on 09 May to commemorate the victory of the Soviet Union's Red Army over Nazi-Germany in WWII. (Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Related article Putin's current dilemma was JFK's worst fear | CNN Politics

Ukraine’s fierce resistance to the Russian invasion has resonated around the world.

At the center of that fight are ordinary citizens who left behind comfortable lives to answer a call of duty — people such as a software engineer, a logistics manager and even a poet.

The area south of Izium is a key point of resistance against Russian attempts to completely encircle the Donbas region.

Most civilians have left, and the artillery battles are near-constant. These are some of the people trying to ensure it does not fall into Russian hands.

Anna Arhipova, 22

Anna Arhipova was a logistics manager in her hometown of Poltava, northeast Ukraine, before the war began.

At the time, her overriding fear was not of the violence, but of “not being useful,” she says. So she signed up, and now drives a pickup truck to some of the most dangerous areas of the conflict.

In a world of bearded, stocky young men, her slight frame cuts an uncommon figure. But she says it’s the men, not her, who are troubled by her presence.

“Everybody tells me that I have to give birth, cook, clean, and do the housekeeping, not be here,” she says. “It irritates me very, very much. I answer that if I would like to give birth, I would not be here.”

Alex, 34

Alex, who wanted to use only his first name out of privacy concerns, is a software engineer from Kharkiv. Last year, he built his own countryside log cabin.

Now his house, which was on a strategically located hill, has been reduced to a hole five meters deep, and he spends many of his nights sleeping in a tank named ‘Bunny,’ which was stolen from the Russian military in the opening weeks of the war.

“This is like my personal tank,” he explains. “I am like tank commander and tank owner,” he says with a laugh.

Vlad Sord, 27

Vlad Sord was still a teenager when he signed up to fight for Ukraine in 2014.

“A lot of strange things happen there,” explains Sord, as he chain smokes cigarillos. “Things that I could not explain, I collected them, compiled them, wrote them down.”

He’s now a published author and poet. He fights for his country, and gathers material to document what’s happening.

“I have a very good memory for the dialogues themselves and I use that. I write everything down.”

As intense fighting continues in the eastern and southern portions of Ukraine, Russia’s ally Belarus announced it will deploy its special forces along the border it shares with Ukraine’s north, claiming opposing military buildups from the US and its allies.

Meanwhile, a United Nations agency has reported that more than 8 million people — roughly one in five of Ukraine’s pre-war population — are internally displaced, with needs “growing by the hour.”

Here are some of the latest developments:

Bryan Stern, co-founder of Project Dynamo, left, and Kirillo Alexandrov, a 27-year-old American?citizen who was held captive by Russians for alleged espionage.

CNN’s Erin Burnett spoke with Kirillo Alexandrov, a 27-year-old American?citizen who was held captive by Russians for alleged espionage.?

Bryan Stern, co-founder of Project Dynamo, told CNN that?Alexandrov?and his Ukrainian wife and mother-in-law were taken by Russian forces?more than a month ago?in Kherson Oblast.?They had been held in a building occupied by the Russians and the Russian security services would not allow them to leave until today, Stern said.????

Sitting next to Stern, Alexandrov told Erin, “I feel relieved,?nothing more, nothing less, just relieved.”??

When asked how he was treated by Russian soldiers while in captivity he said he is a victim of war crimes.?

Alexandrov?did not know negotiations for his release were happening.?

“I was ignorant to basically everything. I was just held in a room for however many days. It just felt like one long day or a lifetime,” he said.?

His wife was assaulted during their time in captivity but she is a strong person and doing much better, he said.?

“She’s great. She’s held me up … she’s got a strong grip, she’s a strong person and she’s doing a lot better,” he said of his wife.?

The US government was aware and helped when they could,?Stern told CNN.?

“We were close to getting them out pretty much every day for the last two and a half weeks,” he said. “A lot of people told us this was a losing case, this is not gonna work, this is too hard, he’s an alleged spy in captivity there’s just no way … A lot of people told us it was impossible but we get told that a lot in Dynamo and it always seems to work out.”?

Alexandrov says he’s indebted to Stern for his teams work securing his released.?

The Armed Forces of Belarus will deploy special forces to the border of Ukraine because “the?United States and its allies continue to increase their military presence at the state borders,” according to?the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Viktor Gulevich.

“In order to ensure the security of the Republic of Belarus in the southern direction, the forces of the units of the special operations forces are deployed in three tactical directions,” according to a statement Tuesday.

It said the Ukrainians had created a force of 20,000 close to the Belarus border, which “requires a response from us.”

“As part of the second stage of checking the immediate reaction forces, battalion-tactical groups were sent to the Western and North-Western operational directions. To strengthen them, air defense, missile forces and artillery units are being moved forward to ensure their combat functioning,” the statement continued.

Earlier today, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said the country has started the second stage of?inspection of its army’s reaction forces, according to video commentary posted on the Telegram account of Belarusian state media Belta.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testifies during a Senate Armed Services hearing in Washington, DC, on May 10.

The US intelligence community believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is likely to become “more unpredictable and escalatory” in the coming months, the nation’s director of national intelligence told Congress on Tuesday.?

Here’s what to know about Avril Haines’ remarks:

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks to members of the media outside the West Wing of the White House following a meeting with President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. The meeting comes hours before the House plans to vote on a nearly $40 billion aid bill for Ukraine.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives voted on Tuesday evening to pass a?roughly $40 billion bill?to deliver aid to Ukraine as it continues to?face Russia’s brutal assault.

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

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier in the day that after the House approved the package, the Senate “will move swiftly” to get the measure passed and sent to Biden’s desk.

Aid to Ukraine has been a rare bright spot of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill with Democrats and Republicans largely rallying around a call to help the nation as it faces Russian attack.

Lawmakers unveiled the bill text earlier in the day ahead of the House vote. The legislation the House approved provides funding for a long list of priorities, including military and humanitarian assistance.

The bill includes an increase in presidential drawdown authority funding from the $5 billion the Biden administration originally requested to $11 billion. Presidential drawdown authority funding allows the administration to send military equipment and weapons from US stocks. This has been one of the main ways the administration has provided Ukrainians with military equipment quickly over the past 75 days of the conflict in Ukraine.

Read more here:

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 21: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks at her weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol Building on October 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Speaker Pelosi discussed a range of topics including the status of the negotiations for the Build Back Better agenda. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Related article House expected to vote Tuesday on $40 billion Ukraine aid bill | CNN Politics