May 31, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The Kremlin is concerned about the situation in Belgorod, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN in a regular call with journalists on Wednesday.

Some context: His comments come after the town of Shebekino in Russia's Belgorod region was hit by a "massive strike," injuring four people, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram Wednesday. 

Eight apartment buildings, four private homes, a school and two administrative buildings were all damaged in the shelling, according to Gladkov.

Gladkov also said that children will be evacuated out of Shebekino and Grayvoron, with the first 300 taken today to Voronezh.

A drone attack was launched on Russia's Bryansk region, state news agency RIA Novosti said Wednesday.

About 10 drones tried to attack the Klimovsky district overnight, RIA reported, citing emergency services.

RIA did not report any damage and said some of the drones were shot down, while others were intercepted by electronic warfare.

Bryansk is on the border with Ukraine and has seen previous attacks blamed on Kyiv.

Remember: Earlier this month, there were unconfirmed reports that four of Russia's aircraft were shot down inside Bryansk.

One Russian media outlet says that at least two combat aircraft – an Su-34 and an Su-35 – and two Mi-8 helicopters crashed.

Ukraine did not confirm its air defenses were involved in the reported downing of the Russian aircraft, but said the aircraft “ran into some trouble.”

A beluga whale known internationally as an alleged Russian "spy" has entered Swedish waters, an organization set up to track the whale announced Monday.

The whale, nicknamed Hvaldimir, garnered international fame in 2019 after it was spotted wearing a specially made harness with mounts for a camera, leading experts to believe that it may have been trained by the Russian military.

“After four years of swimming south down the coast of Norway, Hvaldimir — known worldwide as the 'Russian spy' beluga whale — is now in Swedish waters,” the organization OneWhale said in a statement.

Hvaldimir was recently spotted in Norway’s capital Oslo, prompting concerns for the whale’s safety given the heavy boat traffic in the area.

“But the famous beluga skirted around the dangerous waters of Oslo for Sweden,” OneWhale’s statement said. "We are impressed by Sweden's show of care for Hvaldimir. They immediately contacted us upon his arrival, and even closed a bridge to protect him." 

President of OneWhale, Rich German, said, "Hvaldimir's situation remains an extremely vulnerable one as Sweden is a highly populated country, but we are very grateful Swedish authorities have quickly taken action to care for the whale."

Watch CNN's Melissa Bell's report here.

South Africa has issued diplomatic immunity to all officials attending a summit in August, meaning Russian President Vladimir Putin might be able to travel to the country despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest.

South African officials, which announced the controversial decision on Monday in a government gazette notice, insisted that it may not override the ICC arrest warrant. As a signatory to the ICC, South Africa may be legally obligated to arrest Putin. The court issued a warrant for his arrest in March over the alleged deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.

South Africa is hosting a meeting of the BRICS group of developing nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- in August.

The ministry said this was routine protocol to protect the conference and its attendees, not for specific individuals, adding that "these immunities do not override any warrant that may have been issued by any international tribunal against any attendee of the conference."

South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), said in a statement Tuesday that it had launched a court application to request the government detain Putin and surrender him to the ICC, if he were to visit the country. The DA said their application outlines precise steps to be taken should a request for Putin’s arrest be made by the ICC, so that there is "no legal ambiguity relating to the procedure to be followed, and the obligations placed upon the state."

Some background: The South African government has come under intense criticism for its stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has routinely abstained from votes condemning Russia at the United Nations General Assembly. 

While South African leadership has repeatedly stated that they are neutral in the conflict and have frequently called for a negotiated settlement, their actions have come under increasing scrutiny from Western powers. Earlier this month, the US ambassador to South Africa accused the South African government of delivering arms and ammunition to a sanctioned Russian cargo vessel late last year.

Previous reporting from CNN's David McKenzie

Authorities in southern Russia said a drone crashed at an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region early on Wednesday, an incident that followed reports of a fire due to a possible drone attack at another nearby fuel depot.

In a statement on Telegram, Krasnodar's operational headquarters said no casualties were reported in the 4 a.m. attack at the Ilsky oil refinery.

In a separate incident Wednesday, reports emerged of a possible drone attack on the Afipsky oil refinery, also located in Krasnodar, that caused a fire but no casualties.

The two facilities are located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) apart.

Anti-Putin Russians fighting to free Ukraine and topple the Kremlin have launched an "additional" recruitment drive for drone pilots, a day after a drone attack brought the war to the Russian capital.

The post comes after drone attack on Moscow Tuesday that the Kremlin blamed on Ukraine, which denied any direct involvement.

Eight drones were involved in the attack, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the capital's air defenses worked normally, also suggesting the attacks had been in response to recent Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure.

"Kyiv chose the path of intimidation of Russian citizens and attacks on residential buildings," Putin said.

Freedom for Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, which both fall under the command of the Ukrainian security forces, last week claimed responsibility for an incursion inside the Russian border region of Belgorod.

A Ukrainian official acknowledged last week that the units had carried out an operation in the area but insisted they were acting independently.

Five people were killed and 19 others injured in Ukrainian shelling of Luhansk, according to the Moscow-installed head of the occupied region in eastern Ukraine.

Leonid Pasechnik, acting head of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic, said on Telegram that two of those injured in the shelling of Karpaty village, Perevalsk district, are in serious condition in hospital.

CNN cannot verify the claims.

Tra Reade, a former staffer who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault, has defected to Russia and spoke to Russian state media in a press conference that lasted several hours.

Reade drew headlines during the 2020 presidential race, when she accused then candidate Biden of sexually harassing and assaulting her when she worked in his Senate office in 1993.

Biden has strongly denied Reade’s allegations, and no ex-Biden staffer has come forward to say they ever witnessed or heard about any kind of sexual misconduct in his Senate office.

In an interview with MSNBC in 2020, Biden said he is “saying unequivocally, it never, never happened. It didn’t. It never happened.”

Reade later faced credibility questions of her own including about her education and other credentials.

After being out of the headlines for years, Reade turned up in Moscow on Tuesday, where she sat alongside convicted Kremlin spy Maria Butina and answered questions from Russian state media.

Butina was sentenced to 18 months in an American prison in 2019 for conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent, and now serves in the Russian Parliament in President Vladimir Putin’s party.

Reade said she decided to come to Russia following death threats she received this year after she reiterated her accusations regarding Biden and announced on Twitter that she was willing “to testify under oath in Congress if asked.”

CNN cannot verify Reade’s claims of receiving threats on her life.

Reade said that “this illusion of Russia as an enemy is propagated by a few Washington elites who are determined to cause problems.” 

During the conference, Butina promised to discuss the possibility of granting Russian citizenship to Reade and ask Putin “to fast track her citizenship request.” 

Russian President Vladimir Putin called a drone attack in the Moscow region a "clear sign of terrorist activity" while pointing the finger at Ukraine. Though Ukraine has denied that it was directly involved, it came the same day that at least one person was killed in an aerial assault on Kyiv early Tuesday.

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said the number of Ukrainian strikes has increased near the border with its highest number of reported attacks in the past 24 hours.

Here's what to know to get up to speed: