May 22, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during a post cabinet press conference at Parliament on May 23.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that?her country would deploy an extra 30 defense force personnel to the United Kingdom to support the training of Ukrainian armed forces.

They will train Ukrainian soldiers on how to use the L-119 light gun, she added.

The troops, training ammunition and surplus equipment including aiming systems will be moved in an airlift coordinated by the UK.

This follows a previous deployment of 66 New Zealand defense force personnel in April along with a?Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules.

Trees in a forest area damaged by Russian attacks are seen in Irpin, Ukraine on April 1.

The pine forests around?Irpin?are Oleh Bondarenko’s happy place. He discovered them as a child, when his mom sent him to the area for summer camp, and he has been coming back ever since.

The hour-long journey from Kyiv – a trip he has made many times over the decades – was filled with anguish for Bondarenko, who worried what he would find in Irpin.

This area was under Russian control for several weeks in March; it has subsequently become known around the world as the site of some of the worst atrocities committed by Russia in this war. At least 1,200 bodies of civilians have been discovered in the region since Russian troops withdrew from there, according to the Kyiv region police. At least 290 of them were found in?Irpin, according to the city’s?mayor.

In addition to the human toll, the destruction Russian forces caused to the landscape here is brutal and omnipresent: Scorched earth, forest floors ravaged by missiles, and trees broken down and uprooted, while abandoned military equipment litters the ground. Many of the town’s neat houses lie in ruins; the woodland and green spaces around them are off limits.

Anzhelika Kolomiec, Bondarenko’s friend who lives in Irpin, told CNN the authorities have banned people from going into the woods. “We have a beautiful forest here, but this year there won’t be any walks, there won’t be any mushroom picking, there won’t be berries. We are not allowed to go in because of mines and unexploded missiles,” she said.

While the world’s eyes are focused on the human suffering brought about by Russia’s invasion, environmental experts in Ukraine are keeping a close record of the environmental damage it has caused, to try to repair it as soon as possible, and in hopes of extracting reparations.

Read more:

Related article Ukraine's natural environment is another casualty of war. The damage could be felt for decades | CNN

It took a few weeks of sleeping on crates of grenades for a bed and hiding his face from?Ukrainians?amid a growing sense of guilt, for the Russian junior officer to come to his conclusion: This wasn’t his battle to fight.

“We were dirty and tired. People around us were dying. I didn’t want to feel like I was part of it, but I was a part of it,” the officer told CNN.

He said he went to find his commander and resigned his commission on the spot.

His story is remarkable, but it could also be one of many, according to opponents of the war in Russia as well as in Ukraine who say they have heard of a lot of cases of soldiers – both professional and conscript – refusing to fight.

Russian troops have been struggling with low morale and heavy losses in Ukraine, according to the assessments by Western officials including the Pentagon.

The UK’s Intelligence, Cyber and Security Agency?says some have even refused to carry out orders.

Read more:

Black smoke rises from a military airport in Chuguyev near Kharkiv on February 24, 2022.

Related article Russian officer reveals why he risked it all to quit Putin's war | CNN

A man gets out of an evacuation van in Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on May 21.

Over 100 million people have been forced to flee conflict, violence and persecution, a record figure setting a “staggering milestone,” the United Nations refugee agency said Monday.

“One hundred million is a stark figure – sobering and alarming in equal measure. It’s a record that should never have been set,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

“This must serve as a wake-up call to resolve and prevent destructive conflicts, end persecution, and address the underlying causes that force innocent people to flee their homes.”

The UNHCR said the war in Ukraine has displaced 8 million within the country this year, and more than 6 million refugee movements from Ukraine have been registered. The number has also been propelled by “new waves of violence” or conflict in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Nigeria, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ukrainian President?Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during his nightly address, on Sunday.

Ukrainian President?Volodymyr Zelensky announced a “historic” joint customs control with Poland on Sunday, stressing “unity of Ukrainians and Poles is a constant that no one will break.”

Zelensky’s comments came on the heels of?Polish President Andrzej?Duda’s visit to Kyiv earlier in the day. Duda?also emphasized the unity between the two countries?as he became the first foreign leader since the Russian invasion to address Ukraine’s parliament, the Rada.

Zelensky described Ukrainian-Polish relations as “finally on a completely clean, sincere basis, without any quarrels and old conflict heritage. This is an achievement — the historic achievement of our people. And I want the brotherhood between Ukrainians and Poles to be preserved forever. As I talked about it today in front of the deputies, our unity of Ukrainians and Poles is a constant that no one will break.”

Zelensky also said he signed a decree introducing a new award “to thank those cities of partner countries that have helped the most. And Rzeszow became the first such city. The savior city. It is fair to say.”

The Ukrainian leader went on to announce the preparation of a bill that will mirror the law passed in Poland about Ukrainian citizens who sought refuge in Poland and?who “have been legally given the same opportunities as Poles.”

Nearly 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees have entered?Poland?since the Russian invasion in February, making it by far the single largest host nation for people fleeing the country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.?

“It will be the right gesture to pass such a law in Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “Let it be so that the citizens of Poland will never have to use such a law. But let us show our gratitude and our respect.”

The Ukrainian leader also said he spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and “discussed ways to increase the volume of our exports, especially agricultural products. As well as the volume of fuel imports to Ukraine.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told Ukrainian children they should be “immensely proud” of themselves in an open letter published Sunday, three months into the Russian invasion that has displaced millions of refugees within Ukraine and abroad.

The British PM said “the absence of children and young people on the streets and in the parks” he saw when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed him around Kyiv last month made him “feel very sad.” According to UNICEF, more than half of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children have been forced to flee the ongoing violence, as homes, schools, water supplies and hospitals have been damaged or destroyed.

Boris Johnson also told Ukrainian children: “you are not alone,” echoing many messages of solidarity expressed in the United Kingdom and in many other countries.

“Here in the United Kingdom. We fly Ukrainian flags from our homes, offices, churches, shops and playgrounds. Even from my own roof in Downing Street, where the windows are filled with sunflowers drawn by British children. Our young people are painting your flag in their classrooms and making blue and yellow bracelets in support of your country,” his letter read.

Johnson shared Zelensky’s hopes regarding the end of the conflict: “I believe, like your president, that Ukraine is going to win this war,” he wrote.

“I hope with all my heart that one day soon, you will be free to return to your homes, your schools, your families, and whatever happens, however long it takes.”

“We in the UK will never forget you and we’ll always be proud to call you our friends,” Johnson’s letter concluded.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Paddington Station in London, England, on May 17.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will “redouble efforts to provide vital food and humanitarian aid” to Ukraine,?his office said?Sunday.

During a phone call?with Ukrainian President?Volodymyr?Zelensky, Johnson spoke?about the “despicable” blockade of the key port city of Odesa, according to the statement. The Prime Minister will work to “ensure that the country is able to export to the rest of the world,”?according?to a 10 Downing Street statement.

In Johnson’s view, “every country has a duty to help Ukraine in their struggle for freedom, both now and in the long-term.”?He reiterated?the British people are?“1,000% behind the people of Ukraine.”

Johnson?also?“expressed his profound hope that they would, along with all the people of Ukraine, be able to return to life as normal one day soon.”

Russian forces?shelled?three settlements in the Kryvyi Rih district,?the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council, Mykola?Lukashuk,?said?Sunday.

Lukashuk said in a post on his Telegram page “ten shells flew into Maryanske village, and two more strikes hit Apostolove?Community.”

Infrastructure facilities were not affected, he added.

He also reported one Russian missile fell into the Samara River in Pavlograd district. According to Lukashuk,?there were no casualties.

“Other districts of Dnipropetrovsk region were not attacked today. There are no Russian occupation troops in the region,”?he said.

At least one person was killed in a Russian missile attack on Malyn, in the Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv, a senior Ukrainian military official said Sunday.

His comments were reported in a Telegram post by Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

A downed bridge that connects the city of Lysychansk to the city of Severodonetsk, on Sunday.

Russian forces attacked Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine from several directions overnight but were repelled to previous positions, President Zelensky’s office said on Sunday.

Seven houses in Severodonetsk and at least 27 houses in surrounding towns and villages were damaged, according to the statement from the office.

The attack on Severodonetsk was part of a broader assault along the line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian forces, the Ukrainian military general staff said.?

“The enemy forces are preparing to resume the offensive in the Sloviansk direction,” the Ukrainian general staff said, referring to another key city in the area.

Russian forces have also destroyed the Pavlograd bridge between Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in the Luhansk region, says the Ukrainian head of the regional military administration.

Severodonetsk and Sloviansk are key to controlling Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Parts of Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk have been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

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

Ukraine’s Air Command Center said Russian forces fired missiles at infrastructure facilities in the Zhytomyr region on Sunday.

The Zhytomyr region was attacked from “the south-eastern direction” by “naval-based cruise missiles” according to Ukraine’s Air Command Center on Facebook.

The center added, “four Russian cruise missiles were destroyed by the Center’s air defense units.”

Three missiles were destroyed by aircraft, and one by an anti-aircraft missile unit of the Ukrainian air force, they added.

The Zhytomyr region sits to the west of Kyiv.

A security personnel walks next to the entrance of Russia House, now rebranded as the Russian War Crimes House, in Davos, on Sunday.

The venue typically used by Russia to promote itself at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos has been rebranded as the Russian War Crimes House.?

Russia House was used to host events at WEF by Russians for many years. A Ukrainian businessman, working with WEF, has turned the venue into an exhibition depicting the devastation and destruction of the war in Ukraine.?

Organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and PinchukArtCentre, an international centre for contemporary art based in Kyiv, “the exhibition aims to inform about the main facts, share faces, names and dates and provide at least some of the victims a platform from which to tell their real story,” the foundation said in a press release.

Bj?rn Geldhof, the exhibition’s curator, told CNN that the process of collecting and verifying the images took about one-and-a-half weeks, collecting more than 4,600 images showing “overwhelming amount of evidence of war crimes.”

“An exhibition as this, is one of the steps to raise awareness for the absolute necessity of bringing war criminals to justice and this is not exclusively the task of Ukraine, this is a common task, this is?a task for all countries in the world to say this cannot be,” Geldhof told CNN.

He added that this project is “about people” who have been attacked and killed. “And we need to honor them, we need to give them a voice and we need to give them a face,” he said.

Russian politicians and businessmen were not invited to this year’s World Economic Forum after Russia invaded Ukraine.

“As Russia is not here, we had the opportunity to speak about Russia but about a different reality of Russia, about the war crimes that Russia is committing in Ukraine,” Geldhof said adding that “it is incredibly important to show what Russia is really doing in Ukraine which is proactively and consciously targeting civilians, killing, raping civilians in a way to try to exterminate Ukraine as a nation.”

The initiative was supported by the City Council and the World Economic Forum.

France’s European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune speaks during a press conference in Paris on March 30.

Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union would take at least “15 or 20 years” to complete, France’s European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said on Sunday, while promoting President Emmanuel Macron’s alternative proposal of creating a new “European political community” including Ukraine.

“If we say that Ukraine will join the European Union in 6 months, one year, two years, we are lying. It is not true,” Beaune told Jewish community radio station Radio J. “It is probably maybe 15 or 20 years. No matter what, it’s very long,” he added.

The French minister went on to say that Macron’s recent proposal to create a new European political community outside the EU, including Ukraine, was “not an alternative” to any EU membership for Ukraine and “did not prevent its future EU membership.”

“It is a complementary project to the European Union, which can offer a concrete political project to countries that are not in the heart of the European Union but that want to get closer to the Union,” the minister said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech on Saturday that any alternative to Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union would be a “compromise” with Russia, in response to the project proposed by Macron.

Beaune said that “any accession to the European Union, let’s be honest, it takes time.” “And while waiting for this membership, we cannot simply say ‘it is this or nothing’,” he added.?

“It is a quick and useful complement to protect Ukraine politically, economically and energetically and to tell Ukraine ‘you are already in a project and a European political family’,” Beaune told the radio.

A convoy of Russian armored vehicles drives along a road near Mariupol, Ukraine on May 20.

The Russian forces that control Mariupol have started requiring permits for cars entering and exiting the occupied Ukrainian city, an adviser to the city’s Ukrainian mayor said Sunday.

Petro Andrushchenko, the adviser, also warned that deportations of Ukrainians from the region were increasing.

Under the restrictions introduced Saturday, cars and passengers entering the city need single-use passes issued by a Russian commandant in Manhush or Vynohradne, towns to the west and east of the occupied city, Andrushchenko said.

Passes to leave the city must be obtained from the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk People’s Republic Ministry of Internal Affairs.

There is already a wait of several weeks for a pass, he said, and traveling within the district without entering the city also requires a pass.

A man pushes a stalled car past a damaged tram in Mariupol on May 21.

Mariupol, a strategically important port city on the Azov sea, fell under complete Russian control last week with the surrender of the Azovstal steel works, the last stronghold of Ukrainians defending the city.

The Russians are also setting up more checkpoints to control travel in the district, Andrushchenko said.

“Today it is almost impossible to leave the city, even to Berdyansk,” another Russian-controlled city southwest of Mariupol. “As new checkpoints appear, all roads, both official and unofficial, are blocked. Today, it is impossible to bypass the filtration procedure or obtain a pass from the occupying authorities.”

Nearly 50,000 people have been deported from Mariupol by the Russians, he said, adding that Ukrainian authorities are trying to find out where they have been sent.

A resident walks near a damaged building in Mariupol on May 20.

“We hope that we will be able to get at least some of our people back to Ukraine or to free countries,” Andrushchenko said.

He said that 313 people, including 55 children, were deported from Mariupol to the Bezimenne filtration camp on Saturday.

Some 175 people, including 17 children, were deported from Bezimenne to Russia on Saturday, he said, and 70 people, including 12 children, were deported from the filtration point in the village of Nikolske to Russia.

He said it was the first time Ukraine had seen direct deportations from Nikolske to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a parliament session in Kyiv, Ukraine on May 22.

Ukraine’s parliament voted Sunday to extend martial law in the country for another 90 days, until August 23, the legislature announced on Telegram.

There were 320 votes in favor of the measure, the Verkhovna Rada said. The body has 450 members.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to sign the measure into law.

Polish President Andrzej Duda addresses lawmakers during a Ukrainian parliament session in Kyiv on May 22.

Polish President Andrzej Duda told Ukrainian lawmakers Sunday that the “free world today has the face of Ukraine,” according to a Ukrainian member of parliament.

Roman Hryshchuk tweeted a photo of Duda addressing the chamber with lawmakers holding up a blue and yellow Ukrainian flag.

“Dear Ukrainians, your relatives — wives, parents, children — who were forced to leave for Poland, are not refugees in our country. They are our guests,” Hryshchuk tweeted in English, quoting Duda.

Nearly 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland since the Russian invasion in February, making it by far the single largest host nation for people fleeing the country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.?

Duda also told Volodymyr Zelensky that “no one can break our unity” during the address, as he became the first foreign leader since the Russian invasion to address Ukraine’s parliament, the Rada, in Kyiv.

Duda’s office tweeted the message.?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Russia of blocking 22 million tons of food and warns that countries will face crises if ports are not unblocked. “Russia has blocked almost all ports and all, so to speak, maritime opportunities to export food – our grain, barley, sunflower and more,” Zelensky said in a meeting with media on Saturday.

Here are the latest updates in the war in Ukraine:

Russian forces pushed back from strategically important city: Russia attacked Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine from several directions overnight but were repelled to previous positions, President Zelensky’s office said on Sunday.

Seven houses in Severodonetsk and at least 27 houses in surrounding towns and villages were damaged, according to the statement from the office.

The attack on Severodonetsk was part of a broader assault along the line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian forces, the Ukrainian military general staff said.?

“The enemy forces are preparing to resume the offensive in the Sloviansk direction,” the Ukrainian general staff said, referring to another key city in the area.

Severodonetsk and Sloviansk are key to controlling Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Parts of Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk have been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

Lithuania cuts Russian energy imports: Lithuania will have?completely cut imports of Russian energy supplies including oil, electricity and natural gas from Sunday.

The country’s Ministry of Energy said in a statement on Friday that?the?pan-European power exchange Nord Pool had?decided?to stop trading Russian electricity with its only importer in the Baltic States, Russian utility Inter RAO – meaning the country would no longer be importing any Russian energy.?

Biden to meet Modi: President Joe Biden will meet one-on-one this week with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Japan as the US works to convince India to join western punishment of Russia.

They will meet on the sidelines of the Quad summit, where security in the Indo-Pacific is expected to be a central issue. The Quad is an?informal?alliance?between the US, India, Japan, and Australia.

When Biden and Modi meet separately, their talks will be “constructive and straightforward,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters as the US President flew from South Korea to Japan.

India is a major purchaser of Russian arms, and has been wary of distancing itself from Moscow amid the war in Ukraine.

Polish President addresses Ukrainian Parliament: Andrzej Duda is in Ukraine today and is the first foreign head of state to address the council since the war began.

It took a few weeks of sleeping on crates of grenades for a bed and hiding his face from?Ukrainians?amid a growing sense of guilt, for the Russian junior officer to come to his conclusion: This wasn’t his battle to fight.

“We were dirty and tired. People around us were dying. I didn’t want to feel like I was part of it, but I was a part of it,” the officer told CNN.

He said he went to find his commander and resigned his commission on the spot. CNN is not naming the officer or including personal details that would help to identify him for his security.

His story is remarkable, but it could also be one of many, according to opponents of the war in Russia as well as in Ukraine who say they have heard of a lot of cases of soldiers – both professional and conscript – refusing to fight.

Russian troops have been struggling with low morale and heavy losses in Ukraine, according to the assessments by Western officials including the Pentagon.

The UK’s Intelligence, Cyber and Security Agency?says some have even refused to carry out orders.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has not responded to a CNN request for comment.

The officer who spoke to CNN says he was part of the massive troop build-up in the west of Russia that triggered global fears for Ukraine.

But he said he did not think much about it, even on February 22 this year when he and the rest of his battalion were asked to hand over their mobile phones while stationed in Krasnodar, southern Russia, without any explanation.

That night they spent hours painting white stripes on their military vehicles. Then they were told to wash those off, he said. “The order has changed, draw?the letter Z, as in Zorro,” he remembered being told.

Read more here:

Black smoke rises from a military airport in Chuguyev near Kharkiv on February 24, 2022.

Related article Russian officer reveals why he risked it all to quit Putin's war | CNN

US President Joe Biden arrives in Japan on May 22. He will have a separate one-on-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Quad summit.

President Joe Biden will meet one-on-one this week with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Japan as the US works to convince India to join western punishment of Russia.

They will meet on the sidelines of the Quad summit, where security in the Indo-Pacific is expected to be a central issue. The Quad is an?informal?alliance?between the US, India, Japan, and Australia

When Biden and Modi meet separately, their talks will be “constructive and straightforward,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters as the US President flew from South Korea to Japan.

Sullivan said it wouldn’t be a “new conversation,” since Biden and Modi have spoken by phone about the issue, but rather a continuation of that conversation.

“They’ll talk all of that through,” added Sullivan.

India is a major purchaser of Russian arms, and has been wary of distancing itself from Moscow amid the war in Ukraine.

At the larger Quad summit – which will include Australia’s freshly elected prime minister Anthony?Albanese – leaders will discuss security issues, including Taiwan, according to Sullivan.

He declined to preview the Quad leaders statement, but said no member wants to see military aggression.

Lithuania will have?completely cut imports of Russian energy supplies including oil, electricity and natural gas from Sunday.

The country’s Ministry of Energy said in a statement on Friday that?the?pan-European power exchange Nord Pool had?decided?to stop trading Russian electricity with its only importer in the Baltic States, Russian utility Inter RAO – meaning the country would no longer be importing any Russian energy.?

“Not only it is an extremely important milestone for Lithuania in its journey towards energy independence, but it is also an expression of our solidarity with Ukraine,” Lithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys said. “We must stop financing Russian war machine.”

Lithuania’s announcement was praised by Oleksandr Korniyenko, first deputy speaker of Ukraine’s parliament.?

“Lithuania officially stops importing Russian gas, oil and electricity. An excellent example for other allies of how to gain independence from Russian energy resources,” Korniyenko wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Smoke rises during shelling in the city of Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine on May 21.

The strategically important city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine was attacked from multiple directions overnight, but the Russians were pushed back, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said Sunday.

“Severodonetsk was assaulted from four sides at once, but the enemy was repelled and retreated to previous positions,” the presidential morning briefing said.

Seven houses in Severodonetsk and at least 27 houses in surrounding towns and villages were damaged, the statement said.?

The attack on Severodonetsk was part of a broader assault along the line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian forces, the Ukrainian military general staff said.?

“The enemy fired with mortars and artillery on the positions of the Defense Forces along the entire line of contact, concentrating efforts in the direction of the settlements of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk,” the Ukrainian military said in its morning briefing.

“The enemy forces are preparing to resume the offensive in the Sloviansk direction,” the Ukrainian general staff said, referring to another key city in the area.

Severodonetsk and Sloviansk are key to controlling Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Parts of Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk have been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

The current phase of the Russian campaign in Ukraine is aimed at securing control of all of the separatist regions.

Ukrainian President?Volodymyr Zelensky attend a new conference with Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa after their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine on May 21.

Ukrainian President?Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of blocking the export of 22 million tons of food products and warned that if its ports are not unblocked, many countries will face a food crisis.

“The world community must help Ukraine unblock seaports, otherwise the energy crisis will be followed by a food crisis and many more countries will face it,” Zelensky?said during a meeting with media following talks with Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa in Kyiv on Saturday, according to the president’s office.

“Russia has blocked almost all ports and all, so to speak, maritime opportunities to export food – our grain, barley, sunflower and more. A lot of things,” he said, according to the statement.?

“There will be a crisis in the world. The second crisis after the energy one, which was provoked by Russia. Now it will create a food crisis if we do not unblock the routes for Ukraine, do not help the countries of Africa, Europe, Asia, which need these food products

“You can unblock them in different ways. One of the ways is a military solution. That is why we turn to our partners with inquiries regarding the relevant weapons,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky also accused Moscow of “gradually stealing” food products and trying to sell them.

“Russia puts millions of people at risk of hunger by blocking our ports,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also tweeted Saturday, adding that Ukraine has established with its partners two alternative land routes to deliver food exports and “save Africa and other regions from hunger.”

Before the war, wheat supplies from Russia and Ukraine accounted for almost 30% of global trade, and Ukraine is the world’s fourth largest exporter of corn and the fifth largest exporter of wheat, according to the US State Department.

The United Nations World?Food Program – which helps combat global?food?insecurity – buys about half of its wheat from Ukraine each year and has warned of dire consequences if the Ukrainian ports are not opened up.?

Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has arrived in Ukraine, his office said Sunday.

Duda will deliver a speech to Ukraine’s parliament,?the Verkhovna Rada, as the first foreign head of state to address the council since the war began, the president’s office said in a statement.

It didn’t give details on the timing of his remarks.

Moscow is considering exchanging Ukrainian prisoners from the Azov regiment for Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and oligarch, according to Russian state media.

Medvedchuk was detained by Ukrainian authorities in April in a “special operation”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this year.?

Announcing Medvedchuk’s detention in April, Zelensky posted a photo of a handcuffed and disheveled-looking Medvedchuk wearing fatigues on Telegram, with the caption: “A special operation was carried out thanks to the SBU [the Security Service of Ukraine]. Well done!”

Prior to Russia’s invasion, Medvedchuk had faced allegations of treason in Ukraine and had been under house arrest. His whereabouts had been unknown in the weeks following the invasion. Some observers speculated that Medvedchuk or one of his allies might be the Kremlin’s preference to lead a puppet government in Ukraine if the Feb. 24 invasion succeeded in toppling Zelensky.

Residents take out their belongings from their house ruined by the Russian shelling in Irpin, Ukraine, on Saturday, May 21.

More than 1,000 education institutions in Ukraine have been destroyed by Russian forces since the war began, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with that figure including primary schools, kindergartens and universities.

Here are the latest updates in the war in Ukraine:

Russia bans Biden: Russia has banned more than 900 Americans from entering the country, including President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Russia published its updated “stop list” on Saturday, banning a total of 963 American officials and figures from entering the country.

The updated list included the majority of US senators and members of the House of Representatives, former and current government officials, journalists, military personnel, advocates, citizens, CEOs — and even a few deceased individuals.

Longtime Arizona. Sen. John McCain and Defense Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Melissa Drisko, who both died in 2018, were included on the list, as well as Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State under President Donald Trump.

Bridge destroyed: Russian forces have destroyed the Pavlograd bridge between Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, according to Serhiy Hayday, the head of the regional military administration. In a post on his Telegram page on Saturday, Hayday said this will “greatly complicate the evacuation and delivery of humanitarian aid,” but right now, “there is a connection between the cities.” Hayday also reported 57 people were evacuated on Saturday from the Luhansk region.?

Carnage in Lozova: A Russian missile strike on Lozova in the Kharkiv region on Friday damaged more than a thousand apartments and 11 educational institutions, according to Mayor Serhiy Zelensky.?

“The figures are shocking: 11 educational institutions, including five schools. There are questions about the amount of damage suffered by a hospital and a clinic. Our Palace of Culture was completely destroyed too,” the mayor said Saturday in a video statement on Telegram.

Educational institutions hit: More than 1,000 Ukrainian educational institutions have been destroyed by the Russian army since the start of the war, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The figure includes primary schools, universities, kindergartens, and other institutes hit by Russian shelling since the war began last February.

Donbas offensive: the Russian army has been escalating attacks on Slovyansk and Severodonetsk over the past few days and the situation in Donbas is now “extremely difficult,’ the Ukrainian President said in his nightly address Saturday.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is a man on a mission.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, he has imposed sanctions on Moscow, agreed to pursue a nuclear-free world with the Pope and taken a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia and Europe to rally world leaders to protect democracy.

But it’s not just democracy in Ukraine that he’s trying to protect – Kishida sees parallels between Russia’s actions in Europe and China’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific, a region stretching from America’s Pacific coastline to the Indian Ocean.

“We strongly oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force, regardless of the location,” said Kishida,?in a joint statement with European Union leaders in May. The same statement included a clause expressing “serious concern about reports of militarization, coercion and intimidation in the South China Sea,” though it didn’t name China as the aggressor.

Japan’s location places it in an increasingly volatile security environment – flanked by China to its south, nuclear-armed North Korea to the west and Russia to its north. As a result, the war in Ukraine has catalyzed debates on Japan’s national security like never before.

Read the full story: Japan turns away from post-war pacifism as China threat grows

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said?in his nightly address Saturday “the situation in Donbas is extremely difficult,” as the Russian army has been escalating attacks on Slovyansk and Severodonetsk over the past few days.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are deterring this offensive. Every day that our defenders take away from these offensive plans of Russia, disrupting them, is a concrete contribution to the approach of the main day,” Zelensky said.

“No Russian strikes; neither by missiles in the Rivne region, nor by artillery in the Kharkiv or Sumy region, nor by all possible weapons in Donbas, will give Russia any result,” Zelensky added.

Firefighters work at the scene after an airstrike on the Cultural Center, in?Lozova, Kharkiv region, Ukraine on Friday, May 20.

A Russian missile strike on Lozova in the Kharkiv region on Friday damaged more than 1,000 apartments and 11 educational institutions, according to Mayor Serhiy Zelensky.

“Among the damaged educational facilities is the Lozova branch of the Kharkiv Automobile and Road College. Educational building number 1, training and production workshops, and a dormitory that are located on the territory of the college suffered damage as well,” Mayor Zelensky added.

CNN reported Friday a Russian missile had destroyed the House of Culture in Lozova, injuring seven, including an 11-year-old child, according to Ukraine’s Office of the President.

Lozova is roughly 73 kilometers, or 45 miles, southwest of Izium, a Russian-occupied city in the Kharkiv region.?

Russian forces have destroyed the bridge between Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Serhiy Hayday, the head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram on Saturday.

This is the second time the bridge has been destroyed, Hayday added.?

According to Hayday, militants had blown up the bridge while retreating during the liberation of Lysychansk in July 2014. Since then, communication between the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk – both of which have a population of roughly a hundred thousand people – has been difficult. The bridge was rebuilt in 2016.?

Hayday also reported 57 people were evacuated on Saturday from the Luhansk region.?

Earlier on Saturday, CNN reported at least six people had been killed in Russian attacks in the city of Severodonetsk.?

President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 17, in Washington, DC.

Russia published its updated “stop list” on Saturday, banning a total of 963 American officials and figures from entering the country.

The updated list included the majority of US senators and members of the House of Representatives, former and current government officials, journalists, military personnel, advocates, citizens, CEOs — and even a few deceased individuals.

Longtime Arizona. Sen. John McCain and Defense Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Melissa Drisko, who both died in 2018, were included on the list.

Russia also targeted Hollywood, with actor Morgan Freeman and actor/filmmaker Rob Reiner making the list. In 2017, Reiner?was involved?in promoting the group The Committee to Investigate Russia, and Freeman was featured in a video on the site.

Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State under President Donald Trump, was also listed. He previously spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about its?election interference?in US elections.

The ministry accused the people on the list of inciting “Russophobia”.

The growing list also includes several CNN contributors, though listed for their former duties, not their CNN association. They are David Axelrod, John Kasich, Wesley Clark, James Clapper, and Susan Glasser.

CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh, International Security Editor, is also on the stop list. Walsh is a British citizen.

Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev attends a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2021.

Russian Transportation Minister Vitaly Savelyev said on Saturday that Western sanctions against Russia have “practically broken all” logistics corridors used by the country for trade, state news agency TASS reported.

Speaking during a visit to Russia’s Astrakhan region, Savelyev said: “The sanctions that have been imposed on the Russian Federation today have practically broken all logistics [corridors] in our country. And we are forced to look for new logistics corridors together.”

He said Moscow is looking into capitalizing from alternative trade routes such as the International North–South Transport (INSTC) corridor – a transit route linking India with Central Asian countries, Russia and Europe through Iran, according to TASS.?