Drone attacks on Kyiv largest to date, Ukraine says

May 28, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

By Sophie Tanno, Thom Poole, Mike Hayes and Matt Meyer, CNN

Updated 12:03 a.m. ET, May 29, 2023
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4:43 p.m. ET, May 28, 2023

Drone attacks on Kyiv largest to date, Ukraine says

The overnight drone attacks on Kyiv that left one person dead were the largest to date, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said in a tweet.

"Ukraine's air defense shot down 52 out of 54 Iranian-made Shaheds," it added.

Kyiv has been regularly targeted in recent weeks but fatalities have been rare.

4:45 p.m. ET, May 28, 2023

Death toll from Friday's attack on a medical facility in Ukraine's Dnipro rises to 4

From CNN's Olga Voitovych and Niamh Kennedy

Police officers stand near the site of a missile strike on a hospital, fenced by warning tape on May 26, in Dnipro, Ukraine. 
Police officers stand near the site of a missile strike on a hospital, fenced by warning tape on May 26, in Dnipro, Ukraine.  Yurii Tynnyi/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images

The death toll from Russia's attack on a medical facility in Dnipro on Friday has risen by one to four, according to the head of Dnipropetrovsk region military administration, Serhii Lysak. 

Among the dead are a 56-year-old doctor, a 64-year-old employee of the medical facility and a 57-year-old veterinary clinic employee, Lysak said on Telegram.

Lysak did not provide any details about the identity of the fourth victim. 

What happened: Russian forces struck a medical facility in the city of Dnipro on Friday morning, after intense shelling rained over central Ukraine overnight.

A veterinary clinic nearby was also hit, where animals undergoing treatment had to be dug out of the rubble.

It is the latest attack on health care in Ukraine and sparked widespread criticism, with Kyiv and its allies calling for Russia to be made accountable.

4:47 p.m. ET, May 28, 2023

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence agency says it gained "valuable information" from Belgorod incursion

From CNN's Mariya Knight

Ukraine gained “valuable information” from the cross-border incursion into Russia’s Belgorod region, Andriy Yusov, a representative for Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency, said in an interview with Ukrainian media on Friday. 

This week saw a group of anti-Putin Russian nationals, aligned with the Ukrainian army, claim responsibility for an attack in Belgorod, a raid that was embarrassing to Russia.

"As a result of the operation in the Belgorod region, valuable information for Ukrainian military intelligence was collected, which for obvious reasons will not be disclosed," Yusov said.
He also said that the purpose of the incursion was to accelerate “the exhaustion of Putin's power apparatus,” as well as to reveal “Russia's vulnerability to internal attacks.” 

Yusov’s comments echoed the claims of Wagner group chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who said on Tuesday that Russian Volunteer Corps groups are really acting as “combat reconnaissance” to try to learn how Russians will act if their border is crossed.   

Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of protecting borders near the combat zone while ensuring the rapid delivery of everything needed to the regions newly-occupied by Russia, in his Border Guard Day address on Saturday. 

"A separate and very significant task is to reliably protect the borders in the immediate vicinity of the combat zone,” Putin said.

Read more about the Belgorod cross-border attacks here.

4:47 p.m. ET, May 28, 2023

More than 50 Russian drones downed in wave of attacks on Ukrainian capital, Kyiv says

From CNN's Josh Pennington and Irene Nasser

A local resident walks past a partially destroyed residential building after a massive Russian drones strike mainly targeting the Ukrainian capital, in Kyiv, on May 28.
A local resident walks past a partially destroyed residential building after a massive Russian drones strike mainly targeting the Ukrainian capital, in Kyiv, on May 28. Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images

A wave of Russian drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital left one person dead and sparked fires around the city, officials in Kyiv said early Sunday.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitchsko said Ukrainian air defense forces had “already intercepted more than 20 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)” heading toward the capital and warned that “a new wave of drones is on its way.”

The Ukrainian Air Force said that 54 Iranian Shahed drones had been launched by Russia overnight and that 52 of them had been destroyed by Ukrainian forces.

“The enemy launched another overnight attack on military facilities and critical infrastructure in the country’s central regions, specifically Kyiv Oblast. Near the zone Air Command ‘Center’, most of the attack drones were destroyed!” the air force said in a Twitter post.

The use of such a large number of drones may be an effort by Russia's army to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses.

Read the full story here.

4:11 a.m. ET, May 28, 2023

Hundreds of German civil servants are being expelled from Russia

From CNN's Claudia Otto in Berlin 

Hundreds of German diplomats and state employees living and working in Russia have been expelled by Moscow and given just days to leave the country, a spokesperson from Germany's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Saturday's order is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat expulsions that began after Germany decided to kick out several Russian diplomats who had been accused of working for Russia's intelligence service. Russia responded by expelling 20 German diplomats in April.

The foreign ministry spokesperson said the latest order applies to German diplomats, state employees working in Russia and teachers at the government-sponsored Goethe Institute, which offers German language courses and cultural exchange programs. All must leave the country by June 1.

The statement called the latest move "unjustified" and "incomprehensible."

"This limit, set by Russia as of the beginning of June, requires a major cut in all areas of our presence in Russia," the statement read. "The Federal Government is now concerned to ensure a minimum presence of intermediaries in Russia while maintaining a diplomatic presence as well."

5:12 a.m. ET, May 28, 2023

Russia shoots down 12 Ukrainian drones over 24 hours, defense ministry claims

From CNN's Darya Tarasova

Russia has shot down 12 Ukrainian drones over various settlements over the course of 24 hours, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The ministry's news service claims Russia's defenses shot down drones in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic, and in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia.

Russian air defense systems also intercepted two long-range "Storm Shadow" cruise missiles and 19 rockets from HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, it says.