Facts about Russia-Ukraine conflict: Russia vows retaliation against Finland's potential NATO membership

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine:

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Finland's possible accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would force Moscow to take "military-technical" retaliatory measures.

Russia has repeatedly noted that while it is up to Finland to decide which measures it will take to ensure its national security, it must also be aware of the consequences of its actions, the ministry said.

"Finland's accession to NATO will seriously damage Russian-Finnish relations as well as stability and security in Northern Europe," it added.

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On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament approved a presidential decree on seizing the assets of Russia's state-run Sberbank and the state development corporation VEB.RF, Unian news agency reported, citing lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

The presidential proposal on the seizure of the assets of Russian financial institutions was supported by 334 lawmakers in the 450-seat assembly, Zheleznyak said.

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By waging a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, Western countries ultimately risk turning the current conflict into a full-fledged nuclear war, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.

NATO countries increase the risk of a direct and open conflict with Russia by pumping weapons into Ukraine, training Ukrainian troops using Western equipment, dispatching mercenaries and conducting exercises near Russia's borders, Medvedev wrote on his Telegram.

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Russian forces carried out a rocket attack on a major oil refinery in Kremenchuk town in Ukraine's central Poltava region on Thursday, said the head of Poltava regional military-civilian administration Dmytro Lunin.

"Today's shelling of the Poltava region is perhaps the largest during the full-scale war," Lunin wrote on Telegram.

Twelve rockets hit the infrastructure facilities in Kremenchuk, with most of them striking the oil refinery, Lunin said.

The attack caused a fire at the oil refinery, Lunin said, adding there were no casualties in the shelling.

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Ukraine is negotiating with Russia over the evacuation of seriously injured soldiers from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Thursday.

Ukraine seeks to exchange 38 severely injured soldiers from Azovstal for the captured Russian military, Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram.

Currently, there are no talks on exchanging several hundred people, as reported by some media outlets, Vereshchuk said.