July 6, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

All bomb shelters in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv will be open “all the time” following Russia’s deadly missile attack on Thursday, city Mayor Andriy Sadovyi told CNN.

When asked why 10 of the shelters in the city were closed during the attack, Sadovyi told CNN’s Isa Soares “we much completely change the situation about shelters.”

“We have in my city 6,000 shelters. It is private shelters, local government shelters, different owners. After the missiles attacked, we made a new decision — all shelters must be open all the time,” he said. 

He added that Lviv used to be a safe city but now “it’s a very tough situation.”

The time for Russian missiles to reach Lviv if they are launched from Crimea is about 30 minutes, Sadovyi said. If they are launched from Belarus, the time to reach Lviv is 17 minutes. 

“But if Russia uses Kinzhal [missiles], the time is only 3 minutes,” he said. 

Russia claimed to have targeted only military targets, but Sadovyi said the Russian missiles hit civilian infrastructure, including buildings, schools and office spaces. 

Ukraine hopes for a “positive outcome” in the “very dangerous” situation involving the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.

“We know that the (International Atomic Energy Agency) IAEA has contacts with the Russian Federation. Well, they have to work,” he said during a news conference in Prague with the Czech Republic President Petr Pavel. “We would be grateful if there is a positive outcome in this dangerous, very dangerous story.” 

On Tuesday, Zelensky warned that Russia may be using the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as a weapon. He accused Russian troops of placing “objects resembling explosives” on roofs at the plant.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s whereabouts remain hazy — he is not in Belarus as previously thought, but in St. Petersburg, according to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

And in western Ukraine, six people have now died as a result of a Russian attack early Thursday, according to officials. Catch up on the latest developments here:

Where is Prigozhin? Lukashenko was noncommittal in an answer to CNN during a press conference in Minsk, saying Prigozhin “is in St Petersburg. Or maybe this morning he would travel to Moscow or elsewhere.”

“But he is not on the territory of Belarus now,” Lukashenko said.

When asked by CNN if the Kremlin is aware of Prigozhin’s whereabouts, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he was “not commenting on that right now.”

Prigozhin has not been seen in public since June 24.

Lviv attack: The death toll from a Russian missile attack in the western city rose to six on Thursday, according to a Ukrainian official.

More than 30 houses, over 250 apartments, at least 10 dormitories, two university buildings, an orphanage, a school and a power substation were damaged.

The attack violated the World Heritage Convention by hitting a historic building in a protected area, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Looking ahead to NATO in Vilnius: Ukraine hopes for “a clear signal” in regard to an invitation to join the NATO alliance during the summit in the Lithuanian capital next week, Zelensky said Thursday. The Ukrainian president met with leaders of NATO members Czech Republic and Bulgaria on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the alliance’s chief says admission is “within reach” for Sweden, which was driven to join NATO by Russia’s war in Ukraine, but has been stalled in the process by objections from Turkey.

Cluster munitions: The United States is expected to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that will include cluster munitions for the first time, defense officials told CNN. Changing battlefield conditions inside Ukraine over the last two weeks prompted US officials to give the cluster munitions renewed and serious consideration, officials told CNN. 

On the front lines: Ukraine’s offensive “is not fast” but is “moving forward,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday during a press conference in Prague.

The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, told US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley that his country’s counteroffensive is going “according to the plan.”

And Ukrainian forces on the southeastern front continue to advance and take back territory, according to the commander of the Tavria Joint Forces Operation.

200,000 children missing: About 200,000 Ukrainian children are missing due to Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Some of them are deported, some are in the occupied territories, and we don’t know who is alive,” he said.

Moscow has been accused of forcibly and unlawfully transferring Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia. In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova Belova for their responsibility in the alleged forced deportations. 

Ukraine’s offensive is not moving quickly, but “we are moving forward,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.

Zelensky, speaking at a news conference in Prague with the President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel, said things are going in the right direction.

“We are advancing, we have the initiative now. The offensive is not fast, that’s a fact, but nevertheless, we are moving forward and not moving backward, and that’s why I see it as a positive thing,” he said. 

Allies must do “everything we can” to help Ukraine succeed in its counteroffensive, Pavel said.

Pavel said it is not realistic to expect that Ukraine would be able to launch another counteroffensive in several weeks or months, “so we must do everything we can for Ukraine to be successful in this counteroffensive,” Pavel said. 

Ukraine hopes for “a clear signal” in regard to an invitation to join the NATO alliance during the upcoming summit in Lithuania, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.

“What would be ideal for us, to be invited, what kind of wording is needed for an invitation, we just need an invitation, we understand that there may be difficulties with this or that, but we need to get the united support of all the partners of the alliance,” Zelensky said during a press conference in Prague with the President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel. 

“Somebody is looking back at Moscow, somebody is afraid of Russia, although I think this is a great moment, a chance to show the courage of the Alliance and the strength of the Alliance, but nevertheless we are talking about a clear signal, some concrete things in the direction of an invitation, we need this motivation, we need it in our relations,” he added. 

Zelensky expressed gratitude to the Czech Republic for its military assistance and its support for Ukraine’s membership in the European Union.

Some context: Zelensky also met with Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov on Thursday, which comes about a week before the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Ukraine has long pushed to join the military alliance, of which Bulgaria is a member, and that effort has taken on new urgency in the wake of Russia’s invasion.

While Ukraine is expected to be at the top of the agenda for world leaders in Vilnius, the process for accession to NATO is long, and Zelensky has acknowledged that membership would have to wait until after the war with Russia has concluded.

The death toll has risen to six in the Russian attack on a neighborhood in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, a local official said.

Rescuers found an additional body as they searched the rubble of a residential building hit during Thursday’s bombardment, the head of the region’s military administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, said in an update on Telegram.

“While clearing the rubble in Lviv, rescuers found another body. It is a woman. Our condolences to the family and friends of the victim,” he said. “70% of the destruction has already been cleared. The services will work throughout the night.” 

About the attack: Officials said the missile attack destroyed more than 30 houses, more than 250 apartments, at least 10 dormitories, two university buildings, an orphanage and a school. It also damaged a power substation.

In addition to those killed in the attack, it left dozens of people wounded, according to Ukrainian authorities.

CNN’s Radina Gigova contributed reporting to this post.

The United States is expected to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that will include cluster munitions for the first time, defense officials told CNN. 

CNN first reported last week that US President Joe Biden’s administration was strongly considering approving the transfer of the controversial weapons to Ukraine, as the Ukrainians have struggled to make major gains in its weeks-old counteroffensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed also concerns about ammunition shortages. 

Changing battlefield conditions inside Ukraine over the last two weeks prompted US officials to give the cluster munitions renewed and serious consideration, officials told CNN. 

More about the weapons: Cluster munitions are banned by more than 100 countries because they scatter “bomblets” across large areas that can fail to explode on impact and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines. The US and Ukraine are not signatories to that ban, however. 

The US has a stockpile of cluster munitions known as DPICMs, or dual-purpose improved conventional munitions, that it no longer uses after phasing them out in 2016. 

Both the Ukrainians and the Russians have used cluster bombs since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, and more recently, Ukrainian forces have begun using Turkish-provided cluster munitions on the battlefield.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, declined to comment Thursday on reports that the US Defense Department was preparing to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, but said considerations from the department do not include older variants. 

Russia’s attack in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv violated the World Heritage Convention by hitting a historic building in a protected area, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The bombing hit a historic building located in the buffer zone of Lviv’s “Ensemble of the Historic Centre,” which is a World Heritage Site, UNESCO said. Buffer zones are areas that add an additional layer of protection to World Heritage sites. 

The attack was the first to take place in an area protected by the convention since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the agency said. 

“UNESCO recalls the obligations of States Parties under these widely ratified normative instruments,” it said, adding that States Parties should not take “any deliberate measures which might damage the cultural and natural heritage situated on the territory of other States Parties.” 

In March 2022, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay sent a letter to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “to remind him of these obligations and to specify the coordinates of the World Heritage sites in Ukraine,” the agency said.

The death toll in Thursday’s Russian attack has risen to at least five people, with at least 36 people injured, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. 

Officials said the missile attack destroyed more than 30 houses, more than 250 apartments, at least 10 dormitories, two university buildings, an orphanage and a school. It also damaged one substation in Lviv. 

UNESCO offered condolences to the families of the victims, as well as support for those injured and the Lviv community.

The city of Lviv is a “UNESCO creative city for literature” and will host a UNESCO cultural center that would become a national hub for Ukrainian artists, the agency said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Prague for a quick visit to the Czech Republic. 

The Ukrainian president is expected to meet with Czech leaders before departing for Turkey to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday.

The two leaders are expected to “discuss relations between the two countries, as well as regional and international issues, including the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, the Black Sea grain deal which is set to expire on July 17, and ensuring peace and stability in the Black Sea region,” Turkish state-run media Anadolu said. 

The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, told US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley that his country’s counteroffensive is going as expected.

“I’ve carried out a telephone conversation with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley,” Zaluzhnyi said in a Facebook post on Thursday. “I informed him about the operational situation at the frontline. The Ukrainian servicemen continue to conduct active offensive actions.”

Zaluzhnyi also thanked Milley for the United States’ continued support for Ukraine and conveyed his military’s needs in terms of military assistance. 

“We’ve also discussed the urgent needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in terms of weapon and ammunition for the continuation of the liberation of Ukrainian territory from the Russian invaders,” he said. “I expressed my gratitude for the support and assistance, as well as congratulated the American people on the Independence Day of the United States, which had been celebrated just recently.”

The United States is expected to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that will include cluster munitions for the first time, defense officials told CNN. 

The US ambassador to the United Nations expressed concern about Russia’s use of Iranian drones in Ukraine and that Moscow may be receiving materials from Tehran to build a UAV manufacturing plant.

“The United States remains gravely concerned with Russia’s use of Iranian drones against Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure in its unprovoked war against Ukraine. Over the last several weeks we have seen Russia repeatedly use these UAVs in attacks that have destroyed Ukrainian public works and killed civilians,” UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a report Thursday.

“Moreover, we have shared publicly and with the Secretariat information that Russia is working with Iran to produce Iranian UAVs in Russia. Specifically, Russia is receiving materials from Iran needed to build a UAV manufacturing plant inside Russia. This plant could be fully operational early next year,” she noted.

She said that if the plant is completed it “would dramatically enhance Russia’s capacity to attack Ukraine and enable Russia’s ongoing campaign to disable Ukraine’s power plants, close its rail lines, and prevent agricultural goods from transiting to world markets.”

She called for a team of investigators to be sent to examine debris from weapons Russians are using against Ukraine that have been recovered by Ukraine and the UK. And adds Iranian UAV proliferation is a global threat.

On Monday Ukraine said there was a deadly attack by Shahed drones in Sumy. On Wednesday Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia launched five Iranian Shahed drones within the last day, two of which were destroyed by Ukrainian air defense.

The White House has declined to weigh in on the whereabouts of Yevgeny Prigozhin after comments from Belarus’ president today deepened the mystery surrounding the chief of the Wagner private military group.

A spokesperson told reporters traveling with US President Joe Biden on Thursday that the administration will “continue to monitor” the Wagner Group, but stopped short of confirming reports Prigozhin has left Belarus and returned to Russia after his short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin.

“I am not going to address his whereabouts — you will need to consult other sources for that,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told reporters. “We continue to monitor the Wagner group … we have applied biting sanctions to them. They commit a wide range of crimes in the countries in which they are active. But I do not have new details to provide about whereabouts or anything else concerning Prigozhin or the Wagner Group.” 

Some context: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told reporters shortly after Prigozhin’s insurrection last month that the Wagner chief traveled to Belarus under a deal he helped broker between Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But on Thursday, Lukashenko told CNN that Prigozhin was in St. Petersburg, Russia, adding that it is possible he has traveled to Moscow.

Lukashenko said he did not believe Putin will seek vengeance on Prigozhin.

“I know for certain that Prigozhin is free,” the president claimed.

Sweden’s NATO membership is “within reach,” the military alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg said in a news briefing following a meeting of senior officials from Turkey, Sweden and Finland on Thursday.  

The meeting was called to try to overcome Turkish objections to Sweden joining the alliance.  

“It is time for Sweden to join the alliance,” Stoltenberg said, adding that it was possible that a “positive decision” will follow at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next Monday.  

Stoltenberg will meet with the Turkish and Swedish presidents Monday to discuss next steps, he said.

Finland was welcomed into NATO in April which, according to Stoltenberg, has been a “game changer” for NATO’s shared security.  

In Thursday’s meeting, the parties agreed that full membership for Sweden is in all allies’ security interests, Stoltenberg said. They want to complete the accession process as soon as possible, he added.

Some background: Turkey has pushed back on Sweden’s membership because it says the Nordic country has allowed members of recognized Kurdish terror groups to operate there. More recently, it condemned Swedish officials’ approval of a small Quran-burning demonstration.

Turkish President Erdogan said Monday that his country “will not back down” on its opposition to Sweden joining NATO until “demands are met.”

Meanwhile, news the country is nearing NATO membership has prompted protests in Sweden against Turkey and the military alliance.

But Stoltenberg says Sweden has delivered on the necessary commitments for NATO accession, including amending its constitution, introducing new anti-terrorist legislation, removing restrictions on arms exports to Turkey and stepping up counter-terrorism cooperation – including against the Kurdish political party, the PKK.  

How it relates to the war in Ukraine: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove non-aligned Finland and Sweden to abandon their long-held neutrality and seek protection within NATO, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has long sought to undermine.

Finland’s acceptance alone doubled the alliance’s border with Russia.

Ukraine will be at the top of the agenda at next week’s summit in Vilnius. Kyiv itself has long sought membership in the alliance, though Ukraine has acknowledged that its accession would have to wait until after the war with Russia concludes.

CNN’s Jomana Karadsheh, Jessie Gretener, Lauren Kent, Alex Hardie, Li-Lian Ahlskog Hou and Tara John contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a visit to Bulgaria on Thursday that the two nations will deepen their cooperation on defense issues.

“We have agreed today to significantly intensify cooperation between the defense agencies and in the defense sector in general,” Zelensky said during a joint news conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov. “Rest assured that we will definitely share all the useful experience gained in this war with our partners to make our joint strength greater.”

The Ukrainian president, who met with Denkov in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, thanked his counterpart for the Balkan country’s support during Russia’s full-scale invasion. Zelensky said the aid “has already helped protect many lives.”

He added that the two leaders discussed the “specific details” of their current defense package.

Diplomatic efforts: Zelensky’s meeting with the Bulgarian prime minister comes about a week before the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Ukraine has long pushed to join the military alliance, of which Bulgaria is a member, and that effort has taken on new urgency in the wake of Russia’s invasion.

While Ukraine is expected to be at the top of the agenda for world leaders in Vilnius, the process for accession to NATO is long, and Zelensky has acknowledged that membership would have to wait until after the war with Russia has concluded.

About 200,000 Ukrainian children are missing due to Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Just imagine, we don’t know where 200,000 children are now,” Zelensky said during a press conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Thursday.

“Some of them are deported, some are in the occupied territories, and we don’t know who is alive,” he continued.

Some context: Moscow has been accused of forcibly and unlawfully transferring Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia. In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova Belova for their responsibility in the alleged forced deportations. 

The Russian government doesn’t deny taking Ukrainian children and has made their adoption by Russian families a centerpiece of propaganda.

Some of the children have ended up thousands of miles and several time zones away from Ukraine. According to Lvova-Belova’s office, Ukrainian kids have been sent to live in institutions and with foster families in 19 different Russian regions, including Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tyumen regions in Siberia and Murmansk in the Arctic.

Lvova-Belova dismissed the ICC’s arrest warrant against her, saying it was “great” that the international community appreciated her work for children, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday, Turkish state-run media Anadolu said. 

The two leaders are expected to “discuss relations between the two countries, as well as regional and international issues, including the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, the Black Sea grain deal which is set to expire on July 17, and ensuring peace and stability in the Black Sea region,” it said.

If we learned one thing from Thursday’s press conference by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, it’s that Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has not been seen in public since June 24, appears to be in a decidedly perilous limbo.

Lukashenko put a gulf of distance between himself and Prigozhin the Wagner boss when he said that neither Prigozhin nor his mercenaries were in Belarus, and it was unclear if they would ever move here.

“He is in St. Petersburg. Or maybe this morning he would travel to Moscow or elsewhere,” Lukashenko said in response to a question from CNN. “But he is not on the territory of Belarus now.”

When Lukashenko was said to have brokered a deal to end Prigozhin’s would-be insurrection in Russia last month, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the agreement came about because Prigozhin and Lukashenko had known each other “personally for a long time, for about 20 years.”

But on Thursday, Lukashenko said that it was Putin who was Prigozhin’s longtime friend, who knew him “much better than I do and knows him longer than I do, about 30 years.”

Neither leader seems too keen on being Prigozhin’s best friend now.

Lukashenko, whose fealty to Russian President Vladimir Putin has led many to characterize his as nothing more than a vassal state, doubled down on his friendship with Putin.

Even if there are at times tensions, he said, “we have channels of communication and in just minutes have a conversation and in hours meet face to face. We are in the same boat. If we pick a fight and make a hole in this boat, we will both drown.”

Indeed, he said, when it comes to the Russian nuclear weapons that are newly stationed in Belarus, the two countries are joined at the hip.

“It is intended solely for defensive purposes,” he said. Were Russia to use nuclear weapons, “I am sure that it would consult with its closest ally.”

Russia’s first experimental modernized strategic bomber Tu-160M started joint trials, state media TASS reported.

The Tu-160M is designated to strike enemy targets in remote areas with nuclear and conventional weapons, according to TASS.

The trials were conducted by crews of the Russian Defense Ministry and the design firm on Thursday, the press service of Russian state technology company Rostec told TASS. 

“The first upgraded prototype of the Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber developed by the Tupolev PJSC (part of the United Aircraft Corporation within Rostec) has entered the program of state joint trials,” Rostec said in a statement.

More context: Tu-160M is an upgraded version of Russia’s Tu-160, which TASS claimed is “the world’s largest and most powerful supersonic military aircraft with a variable-sweep wing to date.”

Russia launched the program of restarting the production of upgraded Tu-160 strategic bombers following a decision by President Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian forces on the southeastern front continue to advance and take back territory, according to Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of the Tavria Joint Forces Operation.

“We are moving forward, knocking out the enemy, returning our land,” he said in a Thursday update, adding that Ukrainian forces have destroyed 47 units of Russian military equipment within the last day.

A spokesperson of the Tavria forces said in a Thursday briefing that despite heavy mining in the south of the Zaporizhzhia region, “we have thorough plans to continue our offensive, and our strike units continue to entrench themselves on the achieved frontiers.”

“We have effective aerial reconnaissance of the area. We inflict artillery fire on the identified enemy targets. We are carrying out counter-battery measures,” said spokesperson Valerii Shershen. 

“The Tavria defense forces are conducting offensive operations in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions and defensive actions in the Avdiivka direction,” Shershen said. “The trend is that we are creating systemic pressure through our offensive actions. There is significant progress in these two vectors.”

Shershen also said the Russian military occasionally redeploys its units to reinforce different areas because it “does not know and does not guess where a major breakthrough in our offensive actions may take place.”

“In this way, it tries to calculate our actions, and this creates a certain chaos, which we take advantage of,” Shershen added.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in a statement on Telegram that the armed forces have destroyed six ammunition depots in the Tavria sector. 

“This is our response to the enemy’s frontal assaults. We are launching effective, painful surgical strikes, exhausting the occupiers, for whom the lack of ammunition and fuel will sooner or later become fatal,” Maliar said. “In modern warfare, logistical targets are key.”

Regarding strikes on the Makiivka district of Russian-occupied Donetsk region earlier this week, Maliar added, “This is a vivid example of the effective work of Ukrainian artillery, which delivered the fire damage, and aerial reconnaissance, which corrected the strike.”

She said a large warehouse that stored artillery shells and missiles for BM-21 Grad MLRS was destroyed.

Washington should crank up the pressure on Moscow as Russian President Vladimir Putin is confronted by a powerful one-two punch of military and economic failures, former CIA director David Petraeus tells CNN.

“Putin is in a very, very difficult situation,” Petraeus said in a phone interview. “We need to continue to tighten the screws.”

The perception of Putin’s ironclad grip on power was shattered by last month’s Wagner rebellion, a short-lived uprising that nonetheless amounted to the greatest challenge to the Russian leader’s authority since he rose to power in the 1990s.

Petraeus, currently serving as vice chairman of the KKR Global Institute, said Putin faces “bleeding on the battlefield” as well as “in the economy, the home front.”

“It has not been as bad as a lot of us hoped it would be. Still, they are in trouble on the home front,” he said of Russia’s economic situation.

The retired four-star general cited a range of developments that illustrate severe pain in the Russian economy, including Moscow’s mounting budget deficits, the exodus of more than 1,000 major Western companies, the withdrawal of major oil producers and their superior technology, and the severing of much trade with Europe.

The Russian government’s revenues from oil and gas fell by 47% to 3.38 trillion roubles ($37.4 billion) in the first half of the year from the same period in 2022, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing finance ministry data. Tax returns fell because of lower prices and sales volumes.

Petraeus, the former head of US Central Command, said Russia also faces a brain drain caused by the sheer number of talented citizens who left the country since the war began in February 2022.

“They’ve lost hundreds of thousands of their best and brightest — who no longer wanted to live in a country that is a global pariah,” he said.

Western sanctions have not delivered a deathblow to the Russian economy. Some, including economist Larry Summers, argue that economic penalties on Russia haven’t bitten as hard as anticipated because not enough countries have imposed sanctions.

Others, like Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, say sanctions are “working tremendously” well against Russia.

“Russia is no longer an economic superpower. This is an economy that is hemorrhaging,” Sonnenfeld told CNN.

Read more here.

Ukraine and Russia have carried out another prisoner of war swap, both sides reported on Thursday.

“We managed to bring home 45 soldiers from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service and two civilians,” the head of the office of the Ukrainian President said on Telegram on Thursday. “Among them are two officers, 41 privates and sergeants, a civilian employee of Azovstal and a self defense unit member from Kherson.”

“We are bringing back the defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal. There are wounded servicemen. There are also military men from Donetsk, including Bakhmut, Zaporizhzhya and Kharkiv directions,” Yermak added. “Each of them is a hero.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense also announced the swap, and said those released have been provided with the necessary medical and psychological assistance.

This is the 47th prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine since the war began, according to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament commissioner for human rights.

Questions swirl around the whereabouts of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin after President Alexander Lukashenko said he is not in Belarus as was previously agreed. Here’s what you need to know:

Prigozhin is in St. Petersburg, not Belarus as previously agreed: Lukashenko said Prigozhin is currently in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, adding that Wagner forces were at their “regular camps,” implying that they are not in Belarus. Lukashenko had previously said he brokered a deal to end Prigozhin’s mutiny last month, convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin not to “destroy” the Wagner group and arranging for Prigozhin to move to Belarus. CNN cannot independently verify Prigozhin’s whereabouts.

Lukashenko claims Prigozhin is “free”: After announcing that Wagner boss Prigozhin is not in Belarus, President Lukashenko said, “I know for certain that Prigozhin is free. And right now, as well, he is free. We spoke several times on the phone. Yesterday after lunch, we talked with him on the phone and just discussed … further actions of Wagner [private military company].”

Russian police raided Prigozhin’s St. Petersburg residence and office: Russian state media have shown video purported to be of a police raid of the Wagner boss’s office and residence in Saint Petersburg, stepping up an apparent propaganda campaign against the Wagner mercenary boss. The footage shows what is described as a stash of gold, money and wigs, along with weapons and several passports apparently belonging to Prigozhin under different aliases.

Casualties rise after Russian strike in Lviv: Meanwhile in Ukraine, at least five people were killed following a Russian missile strike in the western city of Lviv on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said. The missile directly hit an apartment building, destroying the third and fourth floors and injuring a child among at least 36 people, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. Officials said the missile attack also destroyed more than 30 houses, over 250 apartments, 10 dormitories, two university buildings, an orphanage and a school. It also damaged one substation in Lviv. 

The death toll in Thursday’s Russian attack on a residential building in Lviv has risen to at least five people, with at least 36 people injured, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. 

The State Emergency Service also said that seven people were rescued without injuries and 64 people were evacuated at the scene. 

Earlier Thursday, the Lviv military administration said the missile attack was “the most devastating attack on civilians in the Lviv region since the beginning of the full-scale war.”

Officials said the missile attack destroyed more than 30 houses, over 250 apartments, 10 dormitories, two university buildings, an orphanage and a school. It also damaged one substation in Lviv. 

Ukraine is pushing ahead with reforms despite the fact that it is under attack from Russia, Kyiv said on Thursday, responding to comments from the White House.

White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre said that Ukraine would have to implement reforms to meet the same standards as any NATO country before they are able to join the alliance.

“Apart from Ukraine, currently, there is no other country in the world that is implementing so many reforms under conditions of a large-scale war on its territory. Ukraine’s fundamental internal transformations will inevitably continue,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said.

He thanked the US, calling it Ukraine’s “leading ally in countering Russia’s armed aggression.”

“As soon as our partners consider Ukraine’s membership in NATO without looking back at Moscow, it will become obvious that providing Ukraine with an invitation to join the Alliance at this stage is in the security interests of the Allies, and will be an important step towards restoring peace in Ukraine and Europe as a whole and preventing a repeat of Russian aggression in the future,” he added.

US President Joe Biden has previously said that Ukraine would have to adopt reforms to meet NATO standards, noting that he thinks it can be done, according to Jean Pierre. The White House has also reiterated that it is committed to NATO’s open-door policy and will continue to do so.

The Kremlin has refused to say whether Yevgeny Prigozhin is in St. Petersburg, following a claim by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko that the Wagner chief is in the Russian city. 

When asked by CNN if the Kremlin is aware of Prigozhin’s whereabouts, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he was “not commenting on that right now.”

Prigozhin has not been seen in public since June 24.

Lukashenko told CNN during a press conference earlier on Thursday that the Wagner chief is in Russia, not Belarus as had been agreed following his short-lived mutiny last month.

Peskov also refused to comment on Prigozhin’s whereabouts during a conference call with journalists later on Thursday.

Asked again if the Kremlin was aware of Prigozhin’s current location, Peskov stated, “No, we do not track his movements. We have neither the ability nor the desire to do so.”

Peskov did confirm upcoming talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lukashenko but did not disclose whether they would discuss Wagner or Prigozhin.

“At this point, I cannot say what the agenda of these talks will be, particularly since an exact date has not been determined yet,” Peskov said.

Peskov also confirmed that Prigozhin’s supposed relocation to Belarus, as per the reported agreement to end the Wagner mutiny, was one of the conditions agreed upon by Putin and Lukashenko.

Thursday’s Russian missile strike on Lviv was “the most devastating attack on civilians” in the region since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Lviv Military Administration said.

“The youngest woman killed by a missile in her apartment in Lviv tonight was only 21. Russia is killing our youth. Our future,” said Maksym Kozytskyi, the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration. 

“The oldest victim was 95. The woman survived World War II, but unfortunately, she did not survive Russo-fascism,” Kozytskyi said. 

Officials said the missile attack destroyed more than 30 houses, more than 250 apartments, 10 dormitories, an orphanage, two university buildings and a school in the western Ukrainian city.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine said it received information about at least 10 closed bomb shelters in Lviv during the missile attack overnight.

“It is an outrageous situation,” said Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko, noting that the ministry has poured lots of attention into the issue and made strict demands to ensure bomb shelters are open. “And yet, some responsible persons have not made any conclusions.”

Klymenko said Lviv police have opened criminal proceedings against those responsible for the closed bomb shelters.  

The issue of inaccessible shelters sparked outrage last month after three people were killed in Kyiv while desperately trying to take cover in a closed bomb shelter.

Lviv’s mayor Andrii Sadovyi announced two days of mourning following the strike.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said he did not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin would seek vengeance on Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“I know for certain that Prigozhin is free. And right now, as well, he is free. We spoke several times on the phone. Yesterday after lunch, we talked with him on the phone and just discussed … further actions of Wagner [private military company].”

Lukashenko said earlier that Prigozhin, who has not been seen in public since June 24, was now in Russia, despite an earlier claim that he would be exiled to Belarus.

Speaking at a news conference in Minsk on Tuesday, he said:

“What will happen to Prigozhin next? Well, everything happens in life. But if you think that Putin is so malicious and vindictive that he will ‘kill’ Prigozhin tomorrow – no, this will not happen.”

Putin knows Prigozhin “much better than I do,” Lukashenko said.

“You have to understand that Putin knows Prigozhin much better than I do and knows him longer than I do, about 30 years, as they both lived and worked in St Petersburg. They had very good relations with each other, maybe even more than that.”

In the wake of Prigozhin’s aborted insurrection and Lukashenko’s intervention, the Kremlin touted Lukashenko’s relationship with Prigozhin.

“The fact is that Alexander Grigoryevich [Lukashenko] has known Prigozhin personally for a long time, for about 20 years,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 24. “And it was his personal proposal, which was agreed with Putin. We are grateful to the President of Belarus for these efforts.”

CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed reporting.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his country’s relations with Russia have been strengthened by his personal intervention in the Wagner insurrection.

Speaking during a press conference in Minsk on Thursday, Lukashenko said:

“I see that some Russian experts have become jealous, which I take into account. What can you do? But the role of Belarus and my role, in particular, has not damaged Russia. Putin said it openly in his second address. I am convinced that, on the contrary, our relations will be stronger.”

Lukashenko said that he would soon hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which they would discuss Wagner and other issues.

He said that even if there are at times tensions, “we have channels of communication and in just minutes have a conversation and in hours meet face to face. We are in the same boat. If we pick a fight and make a hole in this boat, we will both drown.”

Some context: Belarus has long been Russia’s most loyal — and increasingly nearly the only — ally. Lukashenko allowed Russian troops to use Belarus as a staging ground for the full-scale attack on Ukraine last year. In May, Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement on deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya previously told CNN Russia’s aim was “to subjugate Belarus.”

Russian state media have shown video they said was from a police raid of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s office and residence in St. Petersburg.

Here are some of the pictures the authorities have released from the purported raid. CNN is unable to independently verify the images.

One image shows various wigs stashed in a cupboard in what the Russian authorities said is Prigozhin’s home.

Other images showed weapons and ammunition and large amounts of cash.

Alexander Lukashenko said on June 27 that Yevgeny Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus under a deal he purportedly brokered between the Wagner chief and the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But on Thursday, Lukashenko had an updade, telling CNN’s Matthew Chance at a press conference that Prigozhin was now in Russia.

Prigozhin has not been seen in public since June 24.

Here’s what Lukashenko said now and then.

June 27: “I see that Prigozhin is already flying on this plane. Yes, indeed, he is in Belarus today,” Lukashenko said, according to Belarusian state TV, days after Prigozhin launched and quickly abandoned a rebellion against the Russian military command.

Satellite imagery by global monitoring company BlackSky showed two planes linked to Prigozhin landed at a Belarusian airbase outside the country’s capital that morning.

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 indicated the planes landed near Minsk at around 8 a.m. local time. Both planes had their transponders turned off before landing, obscuring their exact landing location.

It wasn’t clear whether Prigozhin was actually on board the planes. Two sources – a senior European intelligence official and a source familiar with Prigozhin’s planes – confirmed at the time that the jets were linked to the Wagner boss but did not know if he was on board.

Prigozhin’s supposed arrival in Belarus followed a deal that Lukashenko said he brokered, which would see the Wagner chief halt his mutiny and move to Belarus.

July 6: Lukashenko struck a very different tone on Thursday.

“In terms of Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in St Petersburg. Or maybe this morning he would travel to Moscow or elsewhere,” Lukashenko said. “But he is not on the territory of Belarus now.”

He said that Wagner’s whereabouts were “not a question for me,” because “this is a Russian company.”

Those comments will raise questions about the deal that was supposedly arranged, and about the fate of the Wagner leader whose dramatic but short-lived mutiny posed a serious threat to Putin’s leadership.

Russian state television appears to have launched a campaign vilifying Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner private military company.

Wagner’s operations in Ukraine were, until recently, lionized on the state TV, especially after the capture of Bakhmut, which was a rare Russian gain in Ukraine in recent months.

However, that has all changed following the short-lived Wagner mutiny last month.

A lengthy television segment aired on state television detailed Prigozhin’s criminal past, including allegations of robbery and assault and a lengthy sentence in a penal colony in the 1980s. Vesti/ Russia 24 presenters also said “there were also guns and a collection of passports with the same photo but with different names and surnames.”

The presenters further said “suspicious packages” were found during the search on Prigozhin’s premises in St. Petersburg, insinuating that they might be drugs.

In a separate segment, Russia 24 aired a video of police raiding his office and several photographs of a richly decorated house where a wardrobe full of differently colored wigs can be seen.

Russian state television often airs dramatic footage of what are described as raids by security services and foiled terrorist plots. Experts and human rights advocates say Russian authorities have a pattern of fabricating criminal cases against the Kremlin’s political challengers.

Wagner troops would “happily” share their experiences with the Belarusian military if stationed in the country, its president Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday.

“As far as I am informed as of this morning, the Wagner fighters are now stationed at their regular camps where they go for their rotation to rest and recover from frontlines. This a regular rotation for wartime. After Bakhmut they have left to their camp where they are today,” Lukashenko told CNN’s Matthew Chance at a press conference.

He denied that housing Wagner forces could pose a danger to Belarus “if it happens.”

“I absolutely don’t see any risks of housing Wagner PMC in Belarus if it happens. Everyone is trying to pressure me about this, and I understand why. If Wagner PMC comes to Belarus, then all our neighbours and of course your leaders understand that this is a very powerful military unit that doesn’t have many equals in the world.”

He he told Chance that Belarus’ military was “not inferior” to Wagner.

“The experience that Wagner fighters and their commanders have, they will happily share with our military.”

Some context: Lukashenko invited Wagner Group mercenaries to Belarus last month to train the country’s military. He said Wagner had been offered the use of land following the short-lived rebellion but denied building camps on Belarusian territory for the mercenary group.

Russian state media have shown video purported to be of a police raid of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s office and residence in St. Petersburg, stepping up an apparent propaganda campaign against the Wagner mercenary boss.

News of the raid came as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced Thursday that Prigozhin was in St. Petersburg, and not Belarus. Lukashenko previously said he brokered a deal to end Prigozhin’s attempted insurrection last month, convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin not to “destroy” the Wagner group and arranging for Prigozhin to move to Belarus.

The footage — described by presenters as “scandalous” — shows what is described as a stash of gold, money and wigs, along with weapons and several passports apparently belonging to Prigozhin under different aliases.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is currently in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told CNN during a press conference with international media in Minsk.

In response to a question from CNN’s Matthew Chance, Lukashenko said that Wagner forces were at their “regular camps,” implying that they are not in Belarus.

“In terms of Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in St Petersburg. Or maybe this morning he would travel to Moscow or elsewhere,” Lukashenko said. “But he is not on the territory of Belarus now.”

He said that Wagner’s whereabouts were “not a question for me,” because “this is a Russian company.”

Lukashenko previously said he brokered a deal to end Prigozhin’s mutiny last month, convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin not to “destroy” the Wagner group and arranging for Prigozhin to move to Belarus.

CNN cannot independently verify Prigozhin’s whereabouts.

At least four people have been killed, and 34 others injured, in a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Lviv early on Thursday morning, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The Russian missile struck at around 2:46 a.m. local time on Thursday (7:46 p.m. on Wednesday ET), according to the Prosecutor General’s Office. 

The Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office has opened a pre-trial investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war in relation to the attack. 

“Search and rescue operations are underway to dismantle the collapsed building,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.

“Priority measures are being taken to document the crime committed by the army of the aggressor country.”

Images from the western city of Lviv Thursday showed rescue teams working at the scene of a deadly Russian missile strike following what officials said was a “direct hit” on an apartment building.

At least four people were killed and dozens of others injured in the attack, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said. At least 13 people were hospitalized, the city’s mayor said.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, said preliminary information shows the attack was carried out with a Kalibr cruise missile. 

In a Telegram post, Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said the strike destroyed the third and fourth floors of the building.

People are trapped under the rubble and rescue efforts are ongoing, he said.

Prior to Thursday’s attack Lviv had largely been spared from the relentless bombardment seen across much of Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

The city is located close to the Polish border and Yermak warned there are “no guarantees” that Russian missiles “will not accidentally hit neighboring countries during the terror of Ukraine.”

Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said nearly 100 houses and 50 cars were damaged in the attack.

President Volodymyr Zelensky offered his condolences to the victims’ families and vowed to respond to the strike. There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one,” he said on Telegram. 

The deadly Russian missile strike on an apartment building in western Ukraine Thursday was “another tragedy and terrorist act,” a senior Ukrainian official said as rescue efforts were ongoing in the city of Lviv.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, said preliminary information shows the attack was carried out with a Kalibr cruise missile. 

“Russia manufactures missiles, uses Western components, and circumvents sanctions. It can only be stopped by force,” Yermak said. “We need more air and missile defense than we have now.”

Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said at least four people were killed and 13 people have been hospitalized. A child is among at least 32 people injured, officials said earlier.

Sadovyi said nearly 100 houses and 50 cars were damaged in the attack. Authorities have already allocated funding to restore the homes, and all residents who lost their houses have been offered temporary accommodation, he said. 

“No guarantees”: Prior to Thursday’s attack Lviv had largely been spared from the relentless bombardment seen across much of Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

The city is located close to the Polish border and Yermak warned there are “no guarantees” that Russian missiles “will not accidentally hit neighboring countries during the terror of Ukraine.”

He also urged NATO members to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the defense alliance.

“Of course, the security guarantees and Ukraine’s membership in NATO are the real signals that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is afraid of. Inviting our country to join NATO and strengthening our defense capabilities will help us defeat the Russians,” Yermak said.

A child is among at least 32 people injured in the deadly Russian missile attack on an apartment building in Lviv on Thursday, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Ihor Klymenko, said on Telegram that at least four people were killed in the strike in the western city.

People are trapped under the rubble and rescue efforts are ongoing, he said.

For three days, shells and mortars were “flying and whistling overhead, exploding around us,” Anton, a Russian soldier positioned south of Bakhmut, tells CNN. “We were jumping like rabbits under mortar rounds and bombs.”

When it got quieter, he and fellow soldier Slava fell asleep. The sound of a roaring engine and shooting soon woke them up, and shelling eventually blew out the logs covering the foxhole they were hiding in.

They ran, jumping over craters and bodies blown to pieces by incessant shelling, into another foxhole. They could hear a vehicle and the voice of Ukrainian soldiers moving above them, he says.

Anton had one rifle and one grenade. He says he heard a click, and two grenades were thrown in. The depth of the foxhole protected them from the blast.

“It was silent for a while, then (the Ukrainians) came back. I thought that was the end,” Anton says. He believed he would either be executed or brutally tortured.
“I switched the rifle to single shot mode, and I thought I would shoot myself. But I couldn’t,” he says, breaking into tears. He sobs silently and lights up a cigarette offered by a Ukrainian soldier.

He is one of eight Russian soldiers held by the Ukrainian Third Assault Brigade at a makeshift jail in eastern Ukraine. The men were kept in small cells without natural ventilation or sunlight, but with access to food, water and cigarettes.

CNN interviewed three of them before their transfer to Ukrainian intelligence, in rare access to POWs at this stage of detention. CNN is not using their real names and has concealed their identities to avoid possible negative consequences upon their return to Russia, and with regard to guidance published by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the reporting of POWs.

In the presence of two Ukrainian soldiers, the three men described low morale in their trenches, disarray and the apparent expendability of some Russian forces. They did not appear to be speaking under duress.

Read the full story here.

The death toll has risen to at least four people and nine others are injured following a Russian missile strike in the western city of Lviv Thursday, Ukrainian officials said.

The missile directly hit an apartment building, destroying the third and fourth floors, Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Ihor Klymenko, said on Telegram.

People are still trapped under the rubble and rescue efforts are ongoing, he said. So far, seven people have been rescued and 64 evacuated, he added.

President Volodymyr Zelensky offered his condolences to the victims’ families and vowed to respond to the attack. 

President Joe Biden’s emphatic Oval Office statement Wednesday that the US “fully, fully, fully” backs Sweden’s bid to join NATO emphasized the extraordinary, legacy defining role he has played in defying 21st century Russian expansionism.

Yet as the war in Ukraine grinds deep into its second, bloody summer, its short-term trajectory — and the shape of the conflict’s ultimate resolution — remain as uncertain as they were after the Russian invasion stalled early last year.

And several developments are underscoring the still high peril of the conflict as Biden prepares to head to Lithuania next week for a hugely symbolic NATO summit in one of the Baltic states once forcibly folded into the Soviet Union.

They include:

Read the full analysis here.

Rescue efforts are ongoing following a deadly Russian missile attack in the western city of Lviv early Thursday, Ukrainian officials said. 

At least three people were killed in the “direct hit” on a residential building, officials said.

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

Rescue efforts are ongoing following a deadly Russian missile attack on a residential building in the western city of Lviv on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said. 

At least three people were killed and eight others wounded, Lviv officials said.

Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv regional military administration, said rescue teams are working to save lives.

“We are currently working through the rubble. Of course, there are wounded and dead. This is how the Russian world came to Lviv,” Kozytskyi said. “Look at the result of the Russian world. It was a direct hit on a residential building.”

In a video posted to Telegram, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said more people could be under the rubble.

“Many rooms, apartments have been damaged, windows in many buildings have been blown out, and many cars have been damaged,” he said, standing at the scene of the attack.

“Currently, public utilities and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are working at the site. There may be more people under the rubble. As you can see, the situation is extremely difficult. There is serious damage to the buildings.”

At least three people were killed in a missile attack on Lviv in western Ukraine on Thursday, according to the city’s Mayor Andriy Sadovyi.

Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv regional military administration, said earlier Thursday that at least four people were wounded after a Russian missile struck an apartment building in Lviv.

Rescue efforts to clear the rubble are ongoing, Kozytskyi said.

Remember: Lviv, a strategic city close to the Polish border, has largely been spared from the relentless bombardment seen across much of Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been “slowed down” by entrenched Russian defenses, President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an exclusive interview broadcast on Wednesday— adding that he wished Western weapons had arrived sooner to allow the campaign to begin “much earlier.”

Speaking with CNN’s Erin Burnett in Odesa, Zelensky said his military cannot “even think of starting” attacks in some areas, because it does not have “the relevant weapons.”

Here are some of the other key takeaways from the interview:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims that Russia has been using the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as a cover for shelling neighboring cities.

The plant, with six reactors, is the largest nuclear power station in Europe. It was mostly built in the Soviet era and became Ukrainian property after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Russia captured the plant in March 2022. Since then, international and local experts have voiced grave warnings, not only for the safety of the plant’s workers but also for fear of a nuclear disaster that could affect thousands of people in the surrounding area.

Russian forces have “set up artillery on the territory of the plant or near it and fire,” Zelensky said in a virtual address to students and professors from several universities in Argentina on Wednesday.   

“Moscow is considering various scenarios, including those similar to the man-made disaster at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. That is, for cynical military purposes. But we should not even think about which scenario is most likely. We should only think about how to prevent any disaster scenario,” Zelensky added. 

It’s not yet clear whether the Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed in June because it was deliberately targeted or if the breach was caused by structural failure. Dozens of people died in the flooding, according to officials, while it also caused widespread damage to homes and farmland. Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the collapse. 

Ukrainian officials earlier on Wednesday said they are well prepared for a Russian attack at the Zaporizhzhia plant, though they warned that Moscow is capable of anything, even “completely reckless actions” that it could try to pass off as sabotage by Ukraine. 

Russia claimed to be taking precautionary measures to counter a threat at the plant by Ukraine amid increasing rhetoric. According to Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, the situation at Europe’s largest nuclear station is “quite tense,” and the potential for “sabotage by the Kyiv regime” is “high,” which could have “catastrophic consequences.”

The UN’s nuclear watchdog said in an update on Wednesday that there are no visible indications of mines or explosives at the power plant, although it requested additional access to the site.

CNN’s Lauren Kent and Anna Chernova contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian strikes have caused an oil depot fire in the Makiivka district of occupied Donetsk, Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said on Wednesday.

A video posted by RIA shows large flames and plumes of smoke, with a fire truck heading toward the flames.

Ukrainian fighters used HIMARS to conduct several strikes on the oil depot, according to the news agency. Citing preliminary information, RIA reported there were no victims, but that a severe fire broke out. Local emergency service workers are responding to the incident, RIA said.

Makiivka was shelled Tuesday night, according to Denis Pushilin, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). It was shelled again on Wednesday night, according to local mayor Vladislav Klyucharov.

At least one person was killed and 68 were injured from Tuesday’s strikes on Makiivka, according to state media outlets.

Russia continues to focus “its main efforts” on the areas of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka in eastern Ukraine, with more than 30 combat engagements taking place there within the past day, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. 

In the Lyman sector, more than 10 villages came under artillery fire as Russian forces unsuccessfully tried to force Ukrainian troops out of their positions near Novoyehorivka in the Luhansk region, the General Staff said in an update.

A further 10 localities were shelled in the Avdiivka sector, where Ukrainian defense forces claim to be continually holding back the Russian offensive.

“The enemy launched airstrikes in the areas of Bohdanivka and Toretsk,” the General Staff said. “More than 10 localities suffered from enemy artillery shelling, including Vasyukivka, Khromove, Oleksandr-Shultine and Pivnichne, in the Donetsk region.”

According to the General Staff, Ukrainian forces “successfully repelled enemy attacks in the areas south of Berkhivka and Bohdanivka in the Donetsk region.”

“At the same time, they continue to conduct offensive operations south and north of the city of Bakhmut, strengthening their positions,” the update continued.

The commander of Ukraine’s “Terra” reconnaissance unit, Mykola Volokhov, described the situation in Bakhmut as “quite positive and optimistic.”

“Over the last month [in the Bakhmut sector] we have been making steady progress in moving forward: liberating Ukrainian land from the enemy, regaining what was lost. We are starting to enter the territories that we did not initially control,” Volokhov said. 
“The nature of the fighting is a lot of infantry battles, but lately, both our side and the enemy have been using a lot of tanks.
“Previously, it was just infantry, but now the enemy is actively showing off their equipment. For us, this is a good sign, because it means that they are not able to cope and need to pull out reserves.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said it also repelled all attacks around the town of Marinka. 

“At the same time, the Ukrainian Defence Forces continue to conduct offensive operations in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, strengthening their positions, inflicting artillery fire on the identified enemy targets, and carrying out counter-battery measures,” the update continued. 

Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been “slowed down” by entrenched Russian defenses, President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an exclusive interview broadcast on Wednesday, adding that he wished Western weapons deliveries had allowed it to begin “much earlier.”

Speaking with CNN’s Erin Burnett in Odesa, Zelensky said that in some areas of the country his military cannot “even think of starting” attacks, because it does not have “the relevant weapons.”

“I’m grateful to the US as the leaders of our support,” he told Burnett through a translator, “but I told them as well as the European leaders that we would like to start our counteroffensive earlier, and we need all the weapons and materiel for that. Why? Simply because if we start later, it will go slower.”

The Ukrainian leader added that difficulties on the battlefield were now leading to a “slowed down” counteroffensive.

“I wanted our counteroffensive to happen much earlier, because everyone understood that if the counteroffensive unfolds later, then a bigger part of our territory will be mined. We give our enemy the time and possibility to place more mines and prepare their defensive lines.”

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said that while the counteroffensive is under way, the main push is yet to come.

Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said last month that Ukraine was holding back some of its reserves and that the “main strike” was still ahead.

In any direction Ukraine chooses to attack, however, time is the enemy, Zelensky told Burnett. “The later we start, the more difficult it will be for us.”

Read more here.