May 10, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Additional drone attacks were conducted over Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post Wednesday.

Two drones detonated and fell over a private residential area in the region, Gladkov said. No casualties were reported, but two residential buildings and a car were damaged, he added.

Another drone was shot down by Russian air defense systems over the region, Gladkov said. The governor said there were no casualties and that response teams are assessing the aftermath on the ground.

A drone strike hit Bryansk, another Russian region on the Ukraine border, said Bryansk Gov. Alexander Bogomaz.

Bogomaz said there were no casualties, and that an administrative building was struck in Stardoub. Response teams are working on site, he added. said.

Russia has conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in Bakhmut and the Avdiivka and Mariinka areas, with the "fiercest battles" taking place in Bakhmut and Mariinka, according to the Ukrainian military's General Staff.

Russian forces claimed earlier Wednesday that they had taken the village of Kamianka, north of Avdiivka, where Ukrainian forces have been surrounded on three sides for several months.

Further south — where observers expect a Ukrainian counteroffensive to be focused — Russian forces are conducting “defensive operations in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions,” and had carried out a number of airstrikes, the General Staff said.

If you're just now catching up, here's what else you should know:

Zaporizhzhia claims: The Russian defense ministry claimed on Wednesday that Russian forces had hit the ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army’s 65th mechanized brigade in the Zaporizhzhia region – an area that has seen a rise in shelling by both sides in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive. A senior Russian-appointed official in the occupied part of the region also made the same claim. Ukraine's military said Wednesday that Russian soldiers are preventing employees of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from evacuating a nearby frontline town with their families. Russia-backed authorities have ordered the evacuation of thousands of civilians along the southern front as a Ukrainian counteroffensive looms.

The battle for Bakhmut: According to the commander of the Ukrainian Land Forces, Ukrainian forces are conducting “effective counterattacks” in the Bakhmut area. In another expletive-laden tirade, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said one Russian brigade had abandoned its positions south of Bakhmut, leading to many casualties among his fighters. Wagner units have been pulled back to the eastern city of Bakhmut from other areas where they had combat missions, according to Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar. They have been replaced by regular Russian army troops in those areas, she said.

Foreign perspectives: China's foreign minister warned against an "emotional" view of the war in Ukraine, saying on a visit to Germany that "the only way out is to remain calm and rational and create conditions for a political solution." And according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is informing China’s calculations on a possible invasion of Taiwan. Meanwhile, France has opened a war crime investigation following the death of Agence France-Presse journalist Arman Soldin in Ukraine, a statement from the country's antiterrorism prosecution office said on Wednesday. And Italy told its nationals on Wednesday who are still in Ukraine to leave the country "immediately" ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces. Also, Latvia and Canada will begin to train Ukrainian soldiers in Latvia starting on May 15, a statement from the Canadian government said on Wednesday.

Amid reports of fires in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, a senior Russian-appointed official in the occupied part of the region has claimed that a Ukrainian ammunition depot was struck.

The photograph could not be geolocated. 

There’s been no word on the attack from Ukrainian authorities. Some unofficial accounts said a number of properties had been set on fire in a strike by Russian forces.

There are no details about casualties.

The “special military operation” in Ukraine has been what Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described as “very difficult,” but said certain goals have been achieved over the past year.

Speaking to Bosnian Serb channel ATV in remarks carried by Russian state news agency TASS on Wednesday, Peskov said Russia is acting “slowly” In Ukraine because it is conducting a “special military operation, not a war.”

He acknowledged Ukraine’s stronghold in the eastern city of Bakhmut and said “a large amount of AFU troops are concentrated there, which is constantly receiving reinforcements.”

Peskov said the West has made “many mistakes” and “deceived Russia,” which prompted Russia to launch the operation in Ukraine — something he said the West became a participant in.

He maintained that the recent drone attacks on the Kremlin were an “attempted terrorist attack” against Russian President Vladimir Putin. By doing so, Peskov insisted, Ukraine has “equated itself with the state sponsors of terrorism.”

He said Russia will implement all necessary security measures following the incident. Ukrainian officials and the US have repeatedly denied being behind a drone attack on the Kremlin.

Referring to the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant issued against Putin earlier this year, Peskov said, “It's difficult to imagine that anyone in the world would seriously consider issuing an ICC warrant against Putin, the leader of a nuclear power.”

Peskov told the channel that his country is “too strong a state” to give up its positions under pressure from the West, and said the Kremlin would not communicate with Western media “until they begin to show some interest in the truth.”

Ukrainian forces are conducting “effective counterattacks” in the Bakhmut area, according to the commander of the Ukrainian Land Forces.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner private military company, also indicated that Ukrainian forces have been able to advance south of Bakhmut.

“It was the competent conduct of the defensive operation that exhausted the trained forces of the Wagner PMC and forced them to be replaced in certain areas by less trained units of the Russian regular army, which were defeated and retreated,” Syrskyi said.

Prigozhin said earlier that units of Russia's 72nd brigade had retreated from their positions. Other Russian accounts have said Wagner forces have moved to the city itself.

He singled out the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, which was involved in an assault on the positions of the 72nd Brigade, and “inflicted a powerful strike on the enemy in the battle,” Syrskyi said.

Poland summoned Russia's ambassador on Wednesday after a Russian fighter jet intercepted a Polish border patrol plane last week and nearly resulted in a collision, according to Poland's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lukasz Jasina.

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet intercepted a Polish Border Police aircraft flying a mission over the Black Sea near the Romanian border on Friday, Romanian authorities said Sunday.

The incident took place on Friday morning, about 60 km (37 miles) east of Romania’s airspace, the Romanian defense ministry said in a statement. 

The Polish aircraft was there as part of a joint mission coordinated by the European Union border patrol system Frontex. The mission, which is set to last until mid-December, focuses on preventing irregular migration, illegal fishing, marine pollution and other cross-border crimes in the Western Black Sea, according to the ministry. 

The Polish Border Guard on Twitter said the Russian SU-35 flew into the area without radio contact and performed “aggressive and dangerous maneuvers.” 

CNN's Tim Lister and Xiaofei Xu contributed reporting.

The Russian offensive is concentrated in four different parts of the Donetsk region, with the "fiercest battles" in the cities of Bakhmut and Mariinka, according to the Ukrainian military's General Staff.

Russia conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in Bakhmut and the Avdiivka and Mariinka areas, it said. Russian forces claimed earlier Wednesday that they had taken the village of Kamianka, north of Avdiivka, where Ukrainian forces have been surrounded on three sides for several months.

Further south — where observers expect a Ukrainian counteroffensive to be focused — Russian forces are conducting “defensive operations in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions,” and had carried out a number of airstrikes, the General Staff said.

Settlements close to the front lines had also been shelled, including 35 airstrikes and four attacks from MLRS [rocket systems] on the positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements of the Kherson region, it added.

The General Staff also claimed that Russians were evacuating civilians in the town of Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhia region to ”terrible living conditions” further south. “Russian occupiers, under the pretext of evacuating civilians, continue to take away looted property from the front-line settlements of the Zaporizhzhia region,” it said, adding that medical institutions in the city of Enerhodar had been looted.

The Ukrainian air force had carried out several strikes, it said, including against a Russian electronic warfare unit. The Ukrainians appear to be trying to disrupt both Russian military communications and electronic warfare capabilities ahead of a counter-offensive.

Fighters from the Wagner private military group have been pulled back to the eastern city of Bakhmut from other areas where they had combat missions, according to Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar. They have been replaced by regular Russian army troops in those areas, she said.

As the situation around Bakhmut appears to become more fluid, Ukraine's military has not lost any positions in the area over the last day, Maliar said on Telegram.

Russian military bloggers have made similar reports, but they have complained that there is little coordination between Wagner fighters and Russian forces. Those same complaints have also been aired by the head of the mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Earlier Wednesday, Prigozhin said a Russian brigade had abandoned its positions south of Bakhmut, leading to many casualties among his fighters.