July 29, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

We've wrapped up our live coverage for the day. Catch up on today's headlines by scrolling through the posts below, or read more here.

Fighting is raging across the southern and eastern fronts of the war in Ukraine this week, with Kyiv claiming modest gains in areas where it has recently ramped up its counteroffensive.

In southern Ukraine: Kyiv's troops remain on offense in areas surrounding the cities of Melitopol and Berdiansk in the country's south, military leaders said in a statement Saturday.

Russia is responding with missiles, rockets and air strikes targeting Ukraine's troops and populated areas of southern Ukraine, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

"Unfortunately, there were civilian casualties, and residential buildings were destroyed," it said in an update.

A Ukrainian fighter with a mechanized infantry brigade told CNN Saturday that it has made successful gains on the outskirts of Robotyno, north of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region. The brigade has also seen progress on the outskirts of the village of Verbove nearby. 

Ukraine's military also reported Russian air strikes near Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region, and in the Kherson region's Antonivka. In those areas, the General Staff said, "the enemy is focusing its main efforts on preventing further advance of our troops."

Russian forces in both regions have also been focused on holding the land corridor to Crimea, according to Ukraine's Military Media Center.

In eastern Ukraine: In the Bakhmut area, the Ukrainian military has pushed Russian forces back almost to the village of Klishchiivka, Ukrainian serviceman Yevhen Kozhyrnov said on national television Saturday. 

Kozhyrnov said the Ukrainian armed forces are moving on two flanks — north and south of Bakhmut. Over the past three days, a mechanized infantry brigade has advanced a little less than half a mile on the city's outskirts, pushing back the enemy and reaching an advantageous height to control access to Bakhmut, Klishchiivka and access roads to the village, he said.

Kozhyrnov acknowledged "the advance is not fast," adding that Russian forces are "still fighting back."

CNN cannot independently verify claims on battlefield developments from either side in the conflict.

As Russia's war against Ukraine rages on, and Kyiv escalates its counteroffensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin says a ceasefire is hard to implement.

He made the claim at a carefully orchestrated press event attended by a small group of Russian media in St. Petersburg. 

Putin said Moscow has never rejected peace negotiations with Ukraine. In order to start the process to end the war, an agreement is needed from both sides, but it's difficult to reach one while Ukraine's army is on offense, the Russian leader said.

Putin also claimed Saturday that Ukrainian forces have lost hundreds of tanks and over 1,000 armored vehicles since June 4, a majority of them Western-made. CNN cannot independently verify claims on battlefield developments from either side in the conflict.

Key context: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and several other African leaders have presented a 10-step peace initiative to both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

At his Russia-Africa summit this week, Putin has said the Kremlin is “carefully” considering the African leaders’ proposal, and blamed Kyiv for not coming to the table.

But Zelensky has ruled out any peace negotiations with Russia until Moscow’s troops withdraw from his country’s territory. Zelensky said allowing any negotiations while another nation's military is occupying Ukraine would only "freeze" the war, pain and suffering caused by Putin's invasion.

Kyiv is claiming modest gains in areas where it has recently ramped up its counteroffensive.

Kyiv's troops remain on offense in areas surrounding the cities of Melitopol and Berdiansk in the country's south, military leaders said in a statement Saturday.

Russia is responding with missiles, rockets and air strikes targeting Ukraine's troops and populated areas of southern Ukraine, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Ukraine's military also reported Russian air strikes near Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region, and in the Kherson region's Antonivka. In those areas, the General Staff said, "the enemy is focusing its main efforts on preventing further advance of our troops."

Here are other headlines you should know:

Russian missile strikes: A Russian missile strike on an apartment block in central Dnipro left at least nine people wounded, according to Serhii Lysak, the head of the region's military administration. And at least four people have been hurt in Ukraine's Kherson region after Russian shelling hit residential areas and near a grain terminal in the Beryslav district on Friday, regional leader Oleksandr Prokudin said in an update on Telegram. Russian strikes also left two people dead and another person wounded in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a local official said Saturday. 

Ukrainian attacks: Ukrainian forces targeted a railroad between the southern Kherson region and Crimea overnight with 12 Storm Shadow long-range missiles, which were intercepted by air defenses, according to a Russia-backed local official. Moscow also reported an apparent rare example of Ukraine using missiles to attack inside Russian territory, leaving at least 14 wounded in the city of Taganrog.

Wagner Group developments: More than 100 Wagner Group mercenaries have moved toward the Suwałki corridor, a small stretch of NATO territory separating the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad from Belarus, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday. Morawiecki called it “a step toward a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.” He warned, according to the Polish Press Agency, that Wagner mercenaries may try to pose as migrants in order to cross from Belarus into Poland.

Russia-Africa summit: Russian President Vladimir Putin continued his meetings with African leaders in St. Petersburg today, including holding discussions on the war in Ukraine. Putin has been hosting representatives from the continent in a summit this week, seeking to strengthen ties after being left internationally isolated by the Ukraine invasion.

Zelensky visits troops: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he traveled to the Bakhmut area of eastern Ukraine to visit troops and present them with state awards on Saturday, which marks Special Operations Forces Day in Ukraine. Zelensky said he visited "advanced positions" of the forces, but that he could not go into details about their current mission.

Christmas in Ukraine: Ukraine has passed legislation moving its official Christmas holiday to December 25, further distancing itself from the traditions of the Putin-aligned Russian Orthodox Church, which celebrates the holiday on January 7. Zelensky signed the bill into law Friday after it was passed by Ukraine’s parliament earlier this month.

Olga Kharlan update: The Ukrainian fencing champion Olga Kharlan, who was banned from the world championships in Italy for refusing to shake hands with a Russian opponent, has been readmitted to the tournament and given an automatic place at next year’s Paris Olympics.

One of the newest pieces in Ukraine's arsenal is a remote-controlled sea drone designed to attack Russian forces in the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian-made surface drones, first shown publicly to CNN, are armed with 300 kilograms (about 660 pounds) of explosives and can hit a target 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) away.

A pilot who goes by the call sign "Shark" said the drones are easy to control and have limited the Russian navy's movements. Equipment on Russian ships is designed to attack other ships, according to the drones' developer, rendering the vessels' defenses ineffective.

Naval drones were used to strike the Kerch bridge — which links Crimea to mainland Russia — earlier this month, and they could prove to be vital against Russian threats on ships after the country withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal.

Watch more from Alex Marquardt's report here:

Russian strikes left two people dead and another person wounded in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a city official said Saturday. 

"The blast wave knocked out windows in high-rise buildings and damaged the building of an educational institution and a supermarket," he added. 

Further south in the Zaporizhzhia region: On Friday, a Ukrainian commander on the southern front said that his forces are “having some success” in driving back Russian forces, but intense combat continues.

Ukrainian forces this week for the first time reached Russia’s critical "dragon's teeth" fortification, part of Moscow's main line of defense. Satellite imagery had previously shown that Russia installed the "dragon's teeth" lines — concrete and rebar pyramids designed to block the advance of armored vehicles — across the territory it controls in Ukraine. CNN has geolocated a video to an area just east of the small villages of Nove and Kharkove, near Robotyno, along the Melitopol axis in the Zaporizhzhia region. 

Ukraine has passed legislation moving its official Christmas holiday to December 25, further distancing itself from the traditions of the Putin-aligned Russian Orthodox Church, which celebrates the holiday on January 7.

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the bill into law on Friday after it was passed by Ukraine’s parliament earlier this month.

The legislation’s sponsors said its passage would help Ukraine "abandon the Russian heritage of imposing the celebration of Christmas on January 7," and help Ukrainians "live their own life with their own traditions (and) holidays."

Ukraine and Russia are both majority Orthodox countries, but since Russia illegally annexed Crimea and began supporting separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in 2014, a large part of the Orthodox community in Ukraine has moved away from Moscow.

Russia’s war in Ukraine further accelerated the divide between the two branches of Orthodox Christianity, especially given that the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, fully endorsed the invasion and framed it as a culture clash between the wider Russian world and Western liberal values.

The new law will effectively formalize what some churches in Ukraine had already begun practicing. A branch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine allowed its churches to celebrate Christmas on December 25 last year. Ukraine’s main Greek Catholic church said in February it was moving to a new calendar to celebrate Christmas on December 25 as well.

Tetyana, an Orthodox Christian from Kyiv, said the date was not important for her, but she was ready to support the move because of its symbolic value.

Read more on what Ukrainians say about the move.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he traveled to the Bakhmut area of eastern Ukraine to visit troops and present them with state awards on Saturday, which marks Special Operations Forces Day in Ukraine.

Zelensky said he visited "advanced positions" of the forces, but that he could not go into details about their current mission.

Images and video released by his office showed the president talking to soldiers at a local gas station, drinking coffee and taking pictures with them. Zelensky referred to the meeting as a "traditional coffee talk."

Zelensky went to a command post for special forces tactical groups in the town of Chasiv Yar, which is located about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) west of Bakhmut.

In addition to Chasiv Yar, Zelensky also visited the cities Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, his office said. 

Anniversary of prison attack: Zelensky also mentioned the anniversary of a strike on a detention center in Olenivka, where more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners were killed last year. 

"Today is the anniversary of Olenivka, one of the most vile and cruel crimes of Russia. The deliberate, pre-planned killing of captured Azov warriors," Zelensky said. 

An extensive CNN investigation published in August last year demonstrated that the Russian narrative claiming the camp in Olenivka had been hit by a Ukrainian HIMARS rocket did not stand up to scrutiny. The Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner has also supported the findings of the investigation. 

CNN's Tim Lister and Gianluca Mezzofiore contributed reporting.

More than 100 Wagner Group mercenaries have moved toward the Suwałki corridor, a small stretch of NATO territory separating the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad from Belarus, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday.

Morawiecki called it “a step toward a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.”

Poland’s government has used the term “hybrid attack” to describe attempts by the neighboring Belarusian regime to manipulate the flow of migrants through the area, putting pressure on the EU over sanctions against Minsk. Polish officials have said that its ally Russia helps Belarus with this scheme.

So far this year, there have been about 16,000 attempts by migrants to cross the border illegally, "pushed to Poland" by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mateusz said. 

The prime minister warned, according to the Polish Press Agency, that Wagner mercenaries may try to pose as migrants in order to cross from Belarus into Poland.

Rising tensions: This is the latest example of regional tensions inflamed by Lukashenko welcoming Wagner troops into his country following their short-lived rebellion against Moscow.

Belarus announced earlier in July that its forces will hold joint exercises with Wagner fighters near the border with Poland. Putin also made a series of unsubstantiated allegations last week, accusing Poland of harboring plans to "directly intervene" in the war and "tear off" parts of Ukraine for itself, also claiming Warsaw has aspirations to annex parts of Belarus.

Germany has pledged NATO would defend alliance member Poland in case of an attack.

More on the Suwałki corridor: This thin strip of land, also known as the Suwałki gap, is the only overland link between the Baltic states — NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — and the rest of the European Union. The corridor separates the Russian standalone region of Kaliningrad from Belarus and connects Polish and Lithuanian territory.

Kaliningrad was captured by Soviet troops from Nazi Germany in April 1945 and then became part of Soviet territory as a result of the Potsdam Agreement. It was renamed from the German Königsberg in 1946.

In 2002, the EU and Moscow reached an agreement on travel between Russia and Kaliningrad, ahead of Poland and Lithuania joining the European Union in 2004. When those countries joined, the exclave became surrounded on three sides by EU territory.

Russia says the 2002 agreement has now been violated, with Lithuania banning the flow of sanctioned goods across its territory. But the government in Vilnius says it is merely upholding EU sanctions introduced following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has not acknowledged that it has nuclear weapons based in Kaliningrad, but in 2018 the Federation of American Scientists concluded that Russia had significantly modernized a nuclear weapons storage bunker in the region, based on analysis of satellite imagery.

CNN's Tim Lister and Rob Picheta contributed reporting to this post.