May 12, 2022: Russia-Ukraine news

From CNN Business' Matt EganDavid Beasley, head of the United Nations World Food Programme, is pleading with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reopen Ukraine’s Black Sea ports before global calamity strikes.Asked what he would say directly to Putin, the UN official said: “If you have any heart at all for the rest of the world, regardless of how you feel about Ukraine, you need to open up those ports.”Vital shipments of agriculture from Ukraine, known as the breadbasket of the world, are stuck in the war-torn nation because the port of Odesa and neighboring ports have been blocked by Russian officials.Beasley, a former Republican governor of South Carolina, warned that the ports must be operational within the next 60 days or Ukraine’s agriculture-centric economy will implode.Read the full story:The Finnish government is planning to issue a second white paper on Sunday proposing that the country joins NATO, Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters in a media briefing in Helsinki on Thursday.The proposal would then be put into a parliamentary vote with a plenary scheduled for Monday morning.Haavisto noted that it is “important to go through a proper parliamentary debate”The Finnish foreign minister said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had “changed very much the security landscape in Europe,” adding that it also changed the public opinion on NATO membership.Finland’s support for joining NATO is the result of a “very drastic change in our security environment” after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Klaus Korhonen, Finnish Ambassador to NATO told CNN on Thursday.Here are the latest updates from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:Ukraine welcomes positive changes in Germany's position: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba praised Germany's response to the war with Russia, saying Germany has now moved in ''the right direction'' following tensions between Kyiv and Berlin.''We see an evolving position of Germany on the most important issues -- this position is moving into the right direction,'' Kuleba told reporters in Berlin Thursday.This could be the supply of weapons to Ukraine or the sanctions that need to be imposed against Russia, he said. Every day a new school or kindergarten appears there, which was deliberately destroyed with unprecedented cynicism by the Russians," she said.Russia is using energy as "a weapon," German vice chancellor says: German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck accused Russia on Thursday of using energy "as a weapon," following an announcement by the Russian government on Wednesday to impose sanctions on 31 foreign energy companies in retaliation for Western penalties over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. US: "Several thousand Ukrainians" sent to so-called filtration centers and tens of thousands taken to Russia: The United States assesses that Russian forces have sent “at least several thousand Ukrainians” to be processed at Russia’s so-called filtration centers “and evacuated at least tens of thousands more to Russia or Russia-controlled territory,” US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Michael Carpenter said Thursday.The forced displacement — and reported violence that are faced by those at the so-called filtration centers — amount to war crimes, Carpenter said according to the transcript of his remarks to the OSCE Permanent Council.“Numerous eyewitness accounts indicate that ‘filtering out’ entails beating and torturing individuals to determine whether they owe even the slightest allegiance to the Ukrainian state,” Carpenter said.From Laura Ford, Jaya Sharma and Sarra AlayyanFinland’s support for joining NATO is the result of a “very drastic change in our security environment” after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Klaus Korhonen, Finnish Ambassador to NATO told CNN on Thursday.Currently, there are no “direct military threats against Finland,” by Russia, Korhonen said, adding that they don’t see any “irregular activity.”But the nation does expect potential “cyber harassment” or “disinformation campaigns,” by Russia which would be “nothing new” to them, he added.Remember: Finland shares an 800-mile border with Russia and its accession to the alliance would mean that Russia would share a border with a country that is formally aligned with the United States.When asked what the Nordic-nation has to offer NATO if it were to join, Korhonen said that they have a “strong national defense” and that by being a member of the alliance the protection “would be even more effective.”“We have a strong defense, we have a very capable border guard, and I think right now we are awake, so I think the border is very secure,” he said. Korhonen continued by saying that while nuclear rhetoric is “always part of Russian security policy narratives at this time,” we are currently “very far away from any nuclear situation.”“The use of nuclear weapons or threat of use of nuclear weapons, that would open up an entirely new chapter in the Euro Atlantic landscape,” he said.From CNN's Bethlehem FelekeThe United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called for international allies to commit more sanctions against Russia until it completely withdrawals from Ukraine and agrees to peace, according to a UK statement following a meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers in Germany on Thursday.She urged sanctions on Russia not be lifted until those demands are met.The foreign secretary also asserted that NATO allies should plan to assist Ukraine's transition to NATO-standard equipment by the end of the summer.