August 4, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Ukraine news here or read through the updates below.

Ukrainian forces have advanced in the south, while Russian forces are focusing on the east, according to Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister.

“Our troops in the south have broken through the first line of defense in some places and moved to the intermediate line,” Maliar said in a conversation with Ukrainian media on Friday. 

CNN is not able to verify the Ukrainian claims of battlefield gains.

According to Maliar, Russians have built “concrete engineering fortifications” in the south which “complicates the movement” of Ukrainian troops.  

“The majority of Russian resources are currently concentrated near Kupiansk, in the Kharkiv region, as Moscow seeks to take over the territories liberated by Ukrainian forces last fall,” Maliar said.  

Maliar noted that in the south and the east, Russians are deploying their reserves which mainly consist of professional units. “We are seeing airborne assault units being thrown into battle both here and there,” she added.  

Ukrainian troops are “slowly but persistently” moving forward on Bakhmut’s southern flank, while Russia is attacking the city’s northern flank, trying to take over Ukrainian positions, according to Maliar.  

Fierce fighting continues in Avdiivka and Marinka in eastern Ukraine, she said. 

Ukrainian sea drones attacked a major naval base in Russia on Friday, leaving a damaged Russian warship tilting in the Black Sea in a brazen strike carried out hundreds of miles from Ukrainian-held territory.

A Ukrainian source told CNN that a sea drone carrying nearly 1,000 pounds of TNT hit the vessel – and claimed there were about 100 Russian service members aboard.

The incident comes against the backdrop of rising tensions in the Black Sea and stepped-up Ukrainian strikes against targets across Russia after President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to “return” the war to Russian territory.

Early Saturday, Russian media reported that a tanker was attacked in the Kerch Strait and that tugboats were at the scene to tow the vessel. Ukraine has not yet commented, and CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims.

Here are more developments:

Navalny sentencing: Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison after being found guilty on extremism charges, a court within the high-security prison where he is being held, said on Friday, according to Russian state media TASS. This latest verdict is a fresh blow to a fierce critic of Russia’s President Putin that comes amid a worsening climate triggered by the Ukraine war. According to the UN rights chief, Volker Türk, the prison sentence raises “serious concerns” about judicial harassment in Russia.

Wagner threat: Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński said “the threat is very real” from Belarus, arguing that Wagner Group soldiers have made attempts to infiltrate Polish territory. He told CNN that the government was weighing whether to close the border with Belarus, a close Russian ally.

Zaporizhzhia developments: The International Atomic Energy Agency said it has found no evidence of mines or explosives on the rooftops of reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, as had been speculated after the publication of satellite images of the plant. Russian forces have occupied the plant and the surrounding area since the early days of the invasion.

Official meetings: Saudi Arabia is set to host peace talks on Ukraine this weekend that will include the US as well as a number of Western and developing countries. Meanwhile, US Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie met with Zelensky during a trip to Ukraine on Friday. The former New Jersey governor also visited battle-torn areas of Moshchun and Bucha.

At least 200 civilians have been killed and 533 others injured by Russian cluster munitions in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said in a statement on Friday.   

According to the statement, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kherson were the most affected parts of Ukraine.

The office highlighted the April 2022 attack on a railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk as one of the worst cluster munitions cases.

“On that day at least 53 people were killed and 135 injured. It was later confirmed that it was a ballistic missile fired by the Russian troops from the Tochka-U system, that hit the train station on that day, where civilians gathered with the intent to evacuate to a safer place,” the office said in a statement.

The statement reiterated that the use of cluster munitions against civilians is “a gross violation of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and a number of other international treaties, as cluster munitions have an indiscriminate effect and significant destructive power.” 

Some background: Ukrainian troops have started firing the cluster munitions provided by the US as part of their counteroffensive against Russia, two US officials and another person briefed on the matter told CNN last month.

Cluster munitions scatter “bomblets” across large areas, which would allow Ukrainian forces to target larger concentrations of Russian forces and equipment with fewer rounds of ammunition.

But the bomblets can also fail to explode on impact and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines. The UK, France, Germany and other key US allies have outlawed the munitions under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the US and Ukraine are not signatories to the ban.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia has a stockpile and will consider using them against Ukraine “if they are used against us.” But Russia has already used the munitions several times in Ukraine, CNN has previously reported, including in densely populated areas.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said China’s participation in the Ukraine peace meeting in Saudi Arabia this weekend is “a super breakthrough and a historic victory.”

“We want China to participate in the Peace Formula Summit,” Kuleba said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine on Friday. “The news that China is delegating Li Hui to Jeddah is a super breakthrough.” 

Li is China’s special representative on Eurasian affairs and is a former ambassador to Russia. He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials during a visit in May, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

China still has close economic ties with Russia. 

Kuleba emphasized that Saudi Arabia played an important role in China’s decision to send representation to the peace talks, as well as a phone conversation between Zelensky and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

“Saudi Arabia has attracted China, and this is a historic victory,” Kuleba said.

What else to know: The United States as well as a number of Western and developing countries are also expected to be in attendance.

While Russia will not be at the table, the question of what Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to do — and whether he would even abide by a ceasefire or peace agreement — will be top of mind, officials said.

The talks are the second in a series of meetings organized by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak. The first talks took place earlier this year in Copenhagen.

A Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait was damaged in a Ukrainian attack, according to a Russian-appointed official and a maritime rescue center cited by the Russian state news agency TASS. 

Two tugboats were working to tow the vessel, TASS reported.

Vladimir Rogov, a senior Russian-appointed official with the Zaporizhzhia military-civilian administration, claimed Ukraine used marine drones in the Kerch Strait, the narrow sea passage between Russia and occupied Crimea, and that a civilian Russian tanker SIG was damaged.

Several tanker crew members were injured but no one was killed, he said in a post on Telegram.

Ukraine has not yet commented, and CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims.

Three drones were destroyed over the Kerch Strait, the narrow sea passage between Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea, according to an official with the Zaporizhzhia military-civilian administration.

The Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, connects the two sides and is a vital artery for supplying Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine. In July, the bridge was struck in a drone attack claimed by Ukraine.

Senior Russian-appointed official, Vladimir Rogov, claimed on Telegram that Ukraine was again attacking the bridge with drones – but CNN has not seen images of this and was not able to verify the claims.

“Three sea drones have already been destroyed in the area of ​​the Kerch Strait and the area leading to the Crimean Bridge,” Rogov said. 

However, Oleg Kryuchkov, an advisor to the Moscow-appointed head of Crimea, said there were no attacks on the bridge and “no explosions in its area.” 

He said that the bridge was “closed due to the threat of attack for the second or third time” on Friday. 

“All Crimean special services and ministries are working around the clock,” he added. 

Early Saturday, traffic was again moving on the bridge, the state news agency TASS reported.

Russian and Ukrainian social media reported a series of explosions were heard in the area of the bridge, but there was no video evidence showing the blasts.

Ukrainian officials haven’t commented on the incident so far. 

Daniel Kholodny, the former tech director of Alexey Navalny’s YouTube channel, has been sentenced to eight years in a penal colony, according to the Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper.

His lawyer, Svetlana Davydova, shared a letter on the Navalny team’s Telegram channel Friday:

“Hi everyone, this is Danya Kholodny. I was sentenced to 8 years. You may ask what for? Turns out, connecting to a YouTube channel at the office is extremism … But that’s not all! 8 years isn’t long enough to be acquitted, so the court ordered that my property and money be confiscated. That’s what the prosecution asked for,” he wrote. 
“It is important to understand: they condemned me not for being an extremist, because it is clear to a fool that there was no extremism, but so that you, horrified by my fate, would not think of fighting [back],” he added.

Earlier on Friday, Russian media reported that Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison on extremism charges, a fresh blow to a fierce critic of Russia’s President Putin that comes amid an intensifying crackdown on dissent.

Navalny is already serving sentences totaling 11-and-a-half years in a maximum security facility on fraud and other charges that he says were trumped up.

Explosive devices dropped from a Ukrainian drone hit buildings in western Russia on Friday, according to the governor of the Kursk region.

The explosives fell in the city of Rylsk and no one was hurt, Roman Starovoyt said on Telegram.

“Windows were damaged in two administrative buildings, glass was broken in the Church of the Intercession. Representatives of the investigative bodies are working on the spot,” the governor said.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński said “the threat is very real” from Belarus, arguing that Wagner Group soldiers have made attempts to infiltrate Polish territory.

“We are stating very clearly that we will not back down. Obviously there will be attempts. We are expecting more attempts on attacks on our border, perhaps more attempts on also violating our airspace,” Jabłoński told CNN’s Isa Soares, adding that “they will be trying to demonstrate they can do whatever they want.”

“We are getting more and more troops deployed to this region so that we can be resilient,” Jabłoński said. He did not expand on how many troops are being deployed.

Soares also asked Jabłoński whether Poland would weigh closing its border with Belarus.

“We are considering any steps that will be necessary to protect our territory, protect our citizens, including the full isolation of Belarus, including full closure of the border,” he said.

“We would like to avoid this because it is a step of last resort to some extent. But, if there will be continued attacks, continued attempts of destabilizing our country, we might have no other option,” Jabłoński added.

Some background: The Polish defense ministry said Tuesday the country will increase the number of soldiers along its eastern border after two Belarusian helicopters allegedly violated Polish airspace, which the Belarusian defense ministry denied.

It comes amid increased activity near a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, known as the Suwalki gap or corridor, which troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving toward in an apparent attempt to increase pressure on NATO and EU members.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal to cap Wagner’s failed rebellion against Moscow, after which thousands of mercenary fighters were reportedly sent to Belarus.

Satellite imagery shows a Russian naval ship tilting at a Black Sea port Friday after authorities say an overnight Ukrainian assault badly damaged the vessel.

The amphibious Russian landing ship — shown in the photo above by the Earth imaging company Planet Labs PBC — had to be towed back to a base at the Russian port of Novorossiysk following the attack by Ukrainian sea drones.

The attack marks the latest development in rising tensions on the Black Sea. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky has pledged to “return” the war to Russian territory.

CNN’s Tim Lister, Victoria Butenko and Olga Voitovych contributed reporting to this post.

Saudi Arabia is set to host peace talks on Ukraine this weekend that will include the US as well as a number of Western and developing countries.

They will be aimed at developing shared principles to end the war and discussing the kind of security assistance Kyiv will need to deter Russia from ever attacking Ukraine again, US officials have said.

While Russia will not be at the table, the question of what Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to do — and whether he would even abide by a ceasefire or peace agreement — will be top of mind, officials said.

Though the idea of peace negotiations at this point in the war appear premature, US officials believe that multiple factors could impact how dug-in Putin remains on the battlefield, including pressure from the Global South. 

According to the Saudi state-run news agency SPA, the talks will take place on Saturday in Jeddah, and they are scheduled to last for just the day, a senior Saudi government official told CNN.

Who’s going: US officials said Tuesday that White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will be present on behalf of the United States.

A representative from the Chinese government will also be in attendance, the Chinese foreign ministry said Friday. Ukraine has said that other key developing nations, such as India and Brazil, will also attend.

The talks are the second in a series of meetings organized by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak. The first talks took place earlier this year in Copenhagen.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood, Natasha Bertrand, Jennifer Hansler, Kevin Liptak and Nic Robertson contributed reporting to this post

Russian commentators and military bloggers have expressed a mixture of anger and concern and suggested a number of responses about the Ukrainians’ ability to attack a Russian Black Sea port with semi-submersible drones on Friday.

The attack left a damaged Russian warship listing in the Black Sea in a brazen strike carried out hundreds of miles from Ukrainian-held territory.

Sergey Mardan, a Russian journalist and television personality, said the “attack by Ukrainian marine drones on Novorossiysk is simply a quantum leap in the geography of the conflict. It is much larger than even the drones attacking the offices of Russian government ministries.”

“Today’s attack says only one thing — we will still be forced to fight,” Mardan said. 

Another Russian Telegram channel said the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement that no damage had been done and the Ukrainian drones had been destroyed left people “perplexed.”

“The problem of attacks against our fleet will exist as long as the enemy still has the ability to put combat drones into the sea and a port infrastructure in general, and it should continue to be dealt with.” 

Another commentator who writes under the pseudonym Kapral Gashetkin on Kots’ Telegram channel, said that “apparently, the crew of the large landing ship was not prepared for the attack.

Footage from the drone, published in the Ukrainian segment of social media, shows the boat approaching the side of the ship without encountering any opposition. No one fired on the uncrewed boat, it was apparently not even noticed.”

Gashetkin noted that “Throughout the entire war, the Novorossiysk Naval Base was the rear of the Black Sea Fleet. It was thought to be relatively safe. However, it is time to realize that the enemy has a “long arm” and can reach very far with it.”

A widely-followed Telegram channel, Readovka, said the attack on Novorossiysk required an immediate response, and the only realizable solution in the short term is to create a full-fledged system for monitoring the Black Sea water area, and this can only be done from the air.

“The main thing is to learn to detect enemy boats in advance, so that the Russian Armed Forces would have time to intercept them with fleet or air forces…This is an expensive and not very effective solution, but the alternative is the liberation of Odesa,” Readovka said.

The prison sentence handed down for Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny on Friday raises “serious concerns” about judicial harassment in Russia, the UN rights chief, Volker Türk, said in a statement.

Türk said the Kremlin critic has been imprisoned for 19 years “based on vague and overly broad charges” of extremism.

The rights chief also highlighted how Navalny’s sentencing has occurred “amid an increasingly repressive crackdown on freedom of expression and political opposition in Russia.”

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, “some 20,000 people have been arrested throughout the country, many of them briefly, for various actions against Russia’s war against Ukraine, including protesting and posting on social media,” Türk said.  

Türk also pointed to a sharp uptick in the use of espionage and treason provisions in Russia’s criminal code, arguing authorities have attempted to “convict people that were merely exercising their human rights.”

He called for a “transparent and impartial review” of these cases, demanding the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained persons in Russia.

US condemns sentence: The United States also condemned the sentencing, with State Department spokesperson Matt Miller calling it “an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial.”

“For years, the Kremlin has attempted to silence Navalny and prevent his calls for transparency and accountability from reaching the Russian people,” Miller said in a statement. “By conducting this latest trial in secret and limiting his lawyers’ access to purported evidence, Russian authorities illustrated yet again both the baselessness of their case and the lack of due process afforded to those who dare to criticize the regime.”

Navalny speaks out: Navalny said in a statement on his Telegram channel that he has effectively been sentenced to life in prison.

“19 years in a special regime colony. The number doesn’t matter,” he wrote. “I understand very well that, like many political prisoners, I am serving a life sentence. Where life is measured by the duration of my life or the life of this regime. The number from verdict is not for me. It is for you. They want to frighten you, not me, and deprive you of the will to resist.”

“Putin should not achieve his goal. Don’t lose the will to resist,” he added.

A representative from the Chinese government will travel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to attend upcoming Ukraine peace talks, according to an announcement by the Chinese foreign ministry Friday. 

“At the invitation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs Li Hui will travel to Jeddah to attend the meeting on the Ukraine issue,” the statement reads. “China stands ready to work with the international community to continue to play a constructive role in seeking a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”

What to know about the talks: Saudi Arabia is set to host Western and several developing countries for peace talks surrounding Russia’s war in Ukraine, with meetings beginning Saturday, according to Saudi state-run news agency SPA.

Ukrainian officials say the venue is a boon for them that completely destroys Russia’s narrative that Ukraine is only supported by “countries of the collective West.” They expect as many as 40 nations to be represented, including the US and India.

The talks also serve as a response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that Kyiv is the party disinterested in a path toward peace. Ukraine’s president has said he won’t negotiate with Moscow while its troops occupy his country’s territory.

The talks hosted in Saudi Arabia are the second in a series of meetings organized by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak. The first talks took place earlier this year in Copenhagen.

CNN’s Nic Robertson contributed reporting to this post.

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been sentenced to 19 years in prison after being found guilty on extremism charges, a court within the high-security prison where he is being held, said on Friday, according to Russian state media TASS.

This latest verdict is a fresh blow to a fierce critic of Russia’s President Putin that comes amid a worsening climate triggered by the Ukraine war.

TASS said Navalny was found guilty on charges related to creating, financing, organizing and participating in “an extremist community,” as well as for public calls for extremist activities and involving minors in dangerous activities.

He will serve his sentence in a special regime colony. The Russian state media agency described the high-security prisons as containing “convicts with especially dangerous recidivism and sentenced to life imprisonment.” Navalny faces greater restrictions on how he can spend free time, communicate and move around the prison.

About Navalny: Navalny has been incarcerated in Russia since his return to the country in January 2021, on charges of violating terms of probation related to a years-old fraud case, which he dismisses as politically motivated.

There have been concerns about his well-being: Navalny lost weight and suffered stomach pain earlier this year, leading to fears among his lawyers that he had again been poisoned.

He had previously been taken from Russia to Germany in August 2020, after he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.

A joint investigation by CNN and the group Bellingcat implicated the Russian Security Service (FSB) in Navalny’s poisoning, piecing together how an elite unit at the agency had followed the opposition leader’s team throughout a trip to Siberia, when he fell ill. Russia denies involvement in Navalny’s poisoning.

Criticism of the war in Ukraine: Although the Russian authorities’ targeting of Navalny pre-dates Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the country has cracked down even more dramatically on internal opposition and free speech since launching the war.

An expanded and intentionally vague law on “foreign agents” came into effect late last year, requiring organizations and individuals engaging in political activity and receiving funding from abroad to adhere to draconian rules and restrictions.

It has also restricted social media and Western news access, clamped down on peaceful protests, and criminalized the spread of what it calls “deliberately false” information about Russia’s military.

Navalny has nonetheless been a vocal critic of the conflict. On the anniversary of the invasion in February, he called it “an unjust war of aggression against Ukraine under ridiculous pretexts.”

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence says that “unidentified floating objects” damaged a Russian navy landing ship at the port of Novorossiysk on Friday — without officially confirming that Ukraine was behind the attack.

“In Moscow, there are unidentified flying objects. Here we have unidentified floating objects that have obviously damaged this landing ship,” Andriy Yusov told Ukrainian television.

Geolocated social media video indicated that a Russian landing ship — the Olenegorsky Gornyak — was seriously damaged and listing heavily on Friday morning after being struck by a maritime drone.

A satellite image — recorded at 10:32 a.m. local time (3:32 a.m. ET) — also showed that a vessel closely resembling the Russian naval ship Olenengorsky Gornyak was tied up at a dock in in the port of Novorossiysk. The image showed a dark trail — possibly of oil — emerging from the hull of the ship.

Russian bloggers had said one compartment of the Olenengorsky Gornyak had been flooded in the attack.

Yusov, the Ukrainian defense intelligence spokesperson, said the attack was “a serious slap in the face” for the Kremlin. “In terms of security, of course, this is a big loss for the occupiers’ fleet. Planning further landing operations, including the use of these vessels, becomes more problematic,” Yusov said.

“This means that one of the combat units, a large landing ship, is put out of action,” Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian military in the south, said. “We are dealing with a very dangerous, very prepared and difficult enemy in terms of weapons and manpower, so it is absolutely legitimate to destroy the enemy’s potential in a time of war.”

Ukraine said it had carried out a sea drone attack on a Russian naval base, as dramatic videos appeared to show a damaged Russian warship listing heavily in the Black Sea on Friday.

Social media images showed the ship being towed near the Novorossiysk naval base, despite earlier claims by the Russian defense ministry that the attack had been repelled.

A Ukrainian source told CNN that a sea drone with 450 kilograms of TNT had attacked the ship and claimed there were about 100 Russian servicemen aboard.

“A big navy ship Olenogorsky Gornyak was hit,” the source told CNN. “As the result of the attack, the Russian ship has received serious damage and is not able to fulfill its duties.”

Rare access to Ukraine’s sea drones: Perched on the banks of a secret lake, CNN was given exclusive access to the base where much-vaunted sea – or surface – drones are tested.

The Ukrainian-made surface drones 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:

CNN’s Tim Lister, Victoria Butenko and Olga Voitovych contributed reporting to this post.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has found no evidence of mines or explosives on the rooftops of reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), as had been speculated after the publication of satellite images of the plant.

Russian forces have occupied the plant and the surrounding area since the early days of the invasion.

The plant is operated mostly by Ukrainian staff, who were initially forced to work at “gunpoint” by invading Russian troops, according to Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine’s nuclear power operator Energoatom.

When the war began on February 24, 2022, one of the plant’s six reactor units was closed for maintenance. After Russian forces took control of the plant, the Ukrainian workers shut down the remaining units.

IAEA experts were given “unimpeded access” to the plant Thursday, and “have observed no mines or explosives on the rooftops of Unit 3 and Unit 4 reactor buildings and the turbine halls,” said Director General Rafael Grossi.

An inspection of the perimeter at the plant showed that mines observed in July were still in place but no new mines or explosives were observed, he added, reminding about the potential nuclear safety and security risks facing the facility.

CNN’s Christian Edwards contributed reporting to this post.

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during an unannounced trip to Ukraine on Friday. 

The former New Jersey governor also visited battle-torn areas of Moshchun and Bucha. 

He told reporters traveling with him that he came to the country because he wants Americans to see what he sees so their resolve to support Ukraine continues.

The former New Jersey governor has defended US support for Ukraine, and in a CNN town hall said US support was necessary to counter the influence of adversaries like China and Russia. 

He also slammed his 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump, earlier this year for refusing to say whether Ukraine should win the war against Russia. 

Christie’s surprise visit to Ukraine comes as a new CNN poll finds that most Americans oppose Congress authorizing additional funding to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Zelensky outlines meeting: The Ukrainian president said it was very important that Christie “began his visit to Ukraine with a visit to Bucha to see with his own eyes the threat to freedom and to everyone in the world posed by Russian aggression.”

Russian forces committed widespread human rights abuses while occupying Bucha and other areas north of Kyiv.

Zelensky said that, in his meeting with Christie, “I thanked all Americans, each and every one, for their vital support.”

CNN’s Victoria Butenko contributed to this report.

Attacks on an oil storage facility in Russian-occupied Crimea are “inevitable,” a Ukrainian official has said, following reports of drone attacks against the facility overnight on Thursday.

Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military in the south, said that “Everyone knows that there is a very massive oil storage facility [in Feodosia], where very large reserves can be stored for the Black Sea Fleet.”

“It is clear that the [Russians] will defend this area. And it is clear that the enemy’s logistics are concentrated to some extent in these places. And the supply of fuel and lubricants is a very important component of combat readiness. Therefore, “cotton” [explosions] will bloom. And it is inevitable,” Humeniuk said.

Her comments come after reports that several drones targeted the facility in Feodosia on Crimea’s southern coast.

The Russian defense ministry said a total of 13 drones had been brought down.

One prominent Russian military blogger — Rybar — said that groups of UAVs had taken different routes over Crimea in the overnight attack. The first six, Rybar claimed, were suppressed by electronic warfare.

“The enemy’s main attack was concentrated on Feodosia, where Russian troops shot down seven UAVs (three with S-400, four with ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns), and one was suppressed by electronic warfare equipment,” Rybar claimed.
“One of the UAVs landed near an oil depot in the city, there is no data on damage yet.”

The port of Novorossiysk “is working in normal mode after the night UAVs attack,” Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti reported, citing the Russian Seafarers Union. Ukraine’s Security Service and Navy attacked the Russian naval base Friday, a Ukrainian source told CNN.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian military says it has inflicted “significant losses” on Russian forces along the eastern front, preventing any advances.

Here are the latest developments:

Top US and European officials are concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is factoring the 2024 US presidential election into his Ukraine war plan in hopes that a loss by President Joe Biden next year will lead the US to curtail its support for Ukraine and improve Russia’s negotiating position, four US officials told CNN.

One US official said they have “no doubt” that Putin is “trying to hold out” until the 2024 election. 
Another source familiar with the intelligence said “Putin knows Trump will help him. And so do the Ukrainians and our European partners,” the source said. “So even though we haven’t seen anything explicitly to that effect, you have to assume, I believe, that everyone is thinking it.”
A European diplomat told CNN that they believe Russia trying to ride out the war in Ukraine until the US election “is exactly Putin’s plan.”

The US does not yet have explicit intelligence about Putin’s mindset, or whether he is purposefully dragging out the war in hopes of a Donald Trump or Republican presidential victory.

But next year’s election remains a key factor that top Western national security, intelligence and diplomatic officials believe will influence Putin’s decisions in Ukraine, making it even less likely the war is resolved before the end of next year.

Read full article here.

Most Americans oppose Congress authorizing additional funding to support Ukraine in its war with Russia, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, as the public splits over whether the US has already done enough to assist Ukraine.

Overall, 55% say the US Congress should not authorize additional funding to support Ukraine vs. 45% who say Congress should authorize such funding. And 51% say that the US has already done enough to help Ukraine while 48% say it should do more. A poll conducted in the early days of the Russian invasion in late February 2022 found 62% who felt the US should have been doing more.

Partisan divisions have widened since that poll, too, with most Democrats and Republicans now on opposing sides of questions on the US role in Ukraine.

Read full article here.

Poland has detained a Belarusian man suspected of being involved in a Russian spy network, Poland’s Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński said Friday.

 “The internal security agency detained another, the sixteenth, suspected of involvement in a Russian spy network,” Kamiński posted on Twitter.

The man is accused of taking part in “reconnaissance of military facilities and ports,” as well as carrying out “propaganda activities for Russia,” according to Kamiński.

Some context: Tensions are escalating between Warsaw and Minsk after Poland announced it will increase the number of soldiers along its border with Belarus.

On Saturday, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said more than 100 Wagner mercenaries had moved toward the Suwałki corridor, calling it “a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.”

The Suwalki gap is a 60-mile line that is strategically significant to NATO, the EU, Russia and Belarus.

Poland also alleged on Tuesday that two Belarusian helicopters entered its airspace. Belarus denies the allegations.

After the alleged incident, Poland expressed “a very firm protest” against Belarus on Wednesday as Warsaw summoned Minsk’s charge d’affaires.

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti says that the port of Novorossiysk “is working in normal mode after the night UAVs attack,” citing the Russian Seafarers Union.

“Cargo operations are going on as planned,” RIA Novosti reported.

Despite video evidence to the contrary, it added that “the Russian military had repelled an attack by two surface drones in Novorossiysk, with no casualties or damage,” quoting regional governor Veniamin Kondratiev.

“Regarding civilian vessels and in the port, everything is calm,” the Seafarers Union was quoted as saying.

Some context: The attack on Russian naval vessels in the port of Novorossiysk Friday was carried out in a joint operation of the Security Service of Ukraine with the Ukrainian Navy, a Ukrainian source told CNN.

A sea drone loaded with 450 kilograms (992 pounds) of the explosive TNT attacked the ship, which had about 100 Russian servicemen aboard, the source claimed.

Social media videos show a Russian warship listing heavily and being towed after Moscow claimed it had foiled a Ukrainian sea drone attack on the Black Sea base.

Social media videos and several Russian blogger accounts appear to identify the vessel being towed as the warship Olenegorsky Gornyak.

The Ukrainian military says it has inflicted “significant losses” on Russian forces along the eastern front, preventing any advances.

Pavlo Kovalchuk, spokesman for the General Staff, said Ukrainian units “continue to hold back the Russian offensive at the Kupyansk and Lyman directions.”

“In the Bakhmut direction, the Defense Forces are consolidating their positions. Heavy fighting continues,” he added. 

Maksym Zhorin, the acting commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade which has been heavily involved in the fighting around Bakhmut, said Wednesday that “extremely difficult daily battles are taking place” near the city.

The Ukrainians have been trying to take high ground south of the city.

“This area is still extremely important and promising for the enemy. The enemy still sees Bakhmut as an important point from which to continue its offensive,” Zhorin said.
“The most combat-ready Russian units are being redeployed here to first stop our advance, deter it, and then even launch their offensive. But these are just dreams - they are not succeeding in the first stages at the moment,” he added.

The commander of Ukrainian land forces, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Thursday that “as the enemy continues active offensives in the Kupyansk and Lyman sectors, our troops are daily disrupting their plans to break through our defense, inflicting significant losses in personnel and equipment.”

The General Staff said that Russian efforts to conduct offensives in the Donetsk region – specifically around Avdiivka and Mariinka – had been repelled.

Kovalchuk said that in the south the offensive in the directions of Berdiansk and Melitopol continues, with Ukrainian units “consolidating their positions.”

Meanwhile, it also alleged that in the occupied city of Enerhodar, the Russians are forcing workers at the nearby Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to apply for Russian passports “or face threats of reprisals.”

The Ukrainian city of Berdiansk, which is occupied by Russia, was rocked by a series of explosions on Thursday night.

Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor of nearby Melitopol, told Ukrainian television: “Last night, the entire temporarily occupied city of Berdiansk woke up due to explosions.”

“I think we will know the results of the liquidation of the occupiers during the day. It is interesting that yesterday between Berdiansk and Prymorsk there was also the liquidation of an ammunition depot that had been detonating for at least several hours. It was also noisy in Prymorsk yesterday,” Fedorov added.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia military-civilian administration, said the attack occurred soon after 1 a.m. local time (6 p.m. ET) and claimed that air defenses had worked, destroying all five attack drones targeting the city.

“All aerial targets were hit, there were no casualties or damage,” Rogov claimed on Telegram.

Some context: Berdiansk sits on the Azov Sea and is roughly 45 miles (70 kilometers) southwest of Mariupol.

Russian military troops first occupied Berdiansk government buildings on February 27 last year, three days after Russia’s invasion began.

The attack on Russian naval vessels in the port of Novorossiysk Friday was carried out in a joint operation of the Security Service of Ukraine with the Ukrainian Navy, a Ukrainian source told CNN.

A sea drone loaded with 450 kilograms (992 pounds) of the explosive TNT attacked the ship, which had about 100 Russian servicemen aboard, the source claimed .

“As the result of the attack the Russian ship has received serious damage and is not able to fulfill its duties,” the source said.

Social media videos and several Russian blogger accounts appear to identify the vessel being towed as the warship Olenegorsky Gornyak.

CNN has been provided with video that shows an unmanned sea drone approaching a ship that appears to match the identity of the Russian naval vessel seen listing in the port of Novorossiysk. The 36-second video, shot from the sea drone itself, shows it approaching a ship at night. The video ends just as the drone reaches the ship.

CNN is unable to conclusively verify the ship’s identity.

In a statement earlier Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said two uncrewed boats targeted the Novorossiysk naval base in Krasnodar province, but the attack was repelled by Russian ships.

A Russian Navy ship is seen listing heavily and being towed near a Black Sea naval base in videos circulating on social media Friday after the Russian Defense Ministry claimed it had foiled a Ukrainian sea drone attack.

The videos appear to identify the vessel being towed as the Russian landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak. Several Russian bloggers also identified the vessel as the Olenegorsky Gornyak.

CNN has been provided with video that shows an unmanned sea drone approaching a ship that appears to match the identity of the Russian naval vessel seen listing in the port of Novorossiysk.

The 36-second video, shot from the sea drone itself, shows it approaching a ship at night. The video ends just as the drone reaches the ship.

CNN is unable to conclusively verify the ship’s identity.

What Moscow says: In a statement earlier Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said two uncrewed boats targeted the Novorossiysk naval base in Krasnodar province, but the attack was repelled by Russian ships.

The ministry also said it downed 10 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited frontline troops in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday.

Shoigu was briefed by commanders of the Centre military group and thanked troops for “conducting successful offensive operations in the Lyman direction,” the ministry said.

Shoigu stressed the importance of combat tactics, such as inflicting “pre-emptive fire on the enemy while knocking him out of the held positions,” it said.

The defense minister’s trip comes days after Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, visited troops in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Shoigu and Gerasimov were previously the targets of attacks by Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner mercenary group, who accused them of incompetence before he launched a short-lived rebellion in June.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday its forces had foiled separate Ukrainian drone attacks on Crimea and a nearby Black Sea naval base in southwest Russia.

Two uncrewed boats targeted the Novorossiysk naval base in Krasnodar province, the ministry said in a statement.

“In the course of repelling the attack, the uncrewed boats were visually detected and destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of Russian ships guarding the outer roadstead of the naval base,” it said. 

Crimea attack: The ministry also said it downed 10 drones over Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.

“Air defense systems worked in several districts of Crimea. All objects have been shot down,” said Oleg Kryuchkov, adviser to the Moscow-installed Crimea leader Sergey Aksyonov.

No casualties or damage were reported.

A satellite image shows smoke still rising from the site of a purported Russian drone strike on port infrastructure in southwestern Ukraine, more than 24 hours after Ukrainian authorities reported the attack.

The image, taken Thursday morning by the BlackSky, shows the smoke rising in a port area along the Danube River in the city of Izmail, near the border with Romania.

Meanwhile, Russian officials said seven Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow.

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The United States has concerns that North Korea is considering providing lethal aid to Russia, with American intel showing the Kremlin is looking to increase military cooperation between the two nations to help President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to John Kirby, the US National Security Council’s strategic communications coordinator.

“Our information indicates that Russia is seeking to increase military cooperation with [North Korea] such as through DPRK’s sale of artillery munitions, again, to Russia,” Kirby said, referring to to North Korea by its official name. 

The comments come after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently visited North Korea as part of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice. 

“This is yet another example of how desperate Mr. Putin is becoming, because his war machine is being affected by the sanctions and the export controls,” Kirby added, saying that Russian officials are also reaching out to Iran and China. 

During Shoigu’s visit last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave him a tour of a defense exposition in Pyongyang, with images from North Korean media showing them walking past an array of weaponry, from North Korea’s nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to its newest drones.

At a state reception for Shoigu and the Russian delegation, in a reference to the war in Ukraine, North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam expressed Pyongyang’s full support “for the just struggle of the Russian army and people to defend the sovereignty and security of the country,” according to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned Thursday of “further provocations and intrigues” that may arise from the other side of his country’s eastern border with Belarus and Russia, amid growing tensions between Warsaw and Minsk.

“We warn against provocations from Russia and Belarus. The Wagner group may carry out sabotage actions, and all those who underestimate this threat may be responsible for further provocations and intrigues from that side,” Morawiecki said in post on Twitter. 

On July 29, Morawiecki said more than 100 Wagner mercenaries have moved toward a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, known as the Suwalki gap or corridor, and that this was “a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.” Morawiecki also said Wagner mercenaries may try to pose as migrants in order to cross from Belarus into Poland.

On Thursday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko denied Poland’s claims that about 100 of the fighters have moved closer to the Polish border and said Warsaw should “thank him” for “inviting these fighters to our place,” because “otherwise, without us, they would have infiltrated there.”

Belarus and Poland both summoned their respective ambassadors on Tuesday, after Poland alleged two Belarusian helicopters had violated its airspace. Poland announced it will increase the number of soldiers along its border with Belarus because of the alleged violation.

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blasczak also warned of further provocations from Belarus and said the recent “hybrid attacks” are “coordinated in the Kremlin.” He claimed the goal of these attacks is to destabilize Poland, and the country is increasing its forces on the border with Belarus to prevent that destabilization.

Russia carried out offensive actions along the entire eastern front line Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“The battles are tough. The occupiers are trying with all their might to stop our guys. The assaults are very fierce,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.

Zelensky listed the cities of Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Marinka and Avdiivka — which dot the eastern front from north to south — as among the most contested frontline areas. He said fighting is also heavy on the southern front.

Ukrainian commander Maksym Zhorin said Thursday that “extremely difficult daily battles are taking place near Bakhmut,” adding that experienced Russian units are being sent there to stop the Ukrainian advance.

Zhorin said Russia still considers the battered eastern city an important area that “can be used to launch an offensive.”  

Iranian drones: Zelensky also said Russia has attacked Ukraine with a total of 1,961 Iranian-made drones since Moscow invaded his country in February 2022, adding that “a significant number of them have been shot down.”

In late July, US intelligence officials warned that Russia is building a drone-manufacturing facility in the country with Iran’s help that could have a significant impact on the war once completed.

A week after US officials said Ukraine was deploying extra troops to its counteroffensive, movement is limited on the southern front lines with fighting concentrated in two parts of Zaporizhzhia region, according to available videos and statements from official sources.

At the same time, Ukrainian officials continue to cool expectations for the progress of the operation, while Russian-appointed officials in the occupied south claimed that Ukrainian attempts to break through Russian military lines have been defeated.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels have posted images and video of destroyed Ukrainian armor, though it’s unclear when and exactly where the equipment was struck.

But Ukrainian forces have struggled to breach layers of Russian defenses as tank traps and minefields slow their advance. One Ukrainian official described the density of mines as “insane” on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian military said one Russian position in the Zaporizhzhia sector had been eliminated, along with an ammunition depot.

Around the Bakhmut area, the Ukrainians have not reported any further progress but have posted video of the targeting of Russian positions.

The Ukrainians have also posted video of additional Zuzana self-propelled artillery systems provided by Slovakia.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, posted on Telegram that a “gradual advance continues” in the Bakhmut area. 

At the same time, Russian military bloggers have posted video of Ukrainian infantry vehicles being struck. One of the bloggers (Readovka) said “the Russian army continues to repel the attacks of the AFU northwest of the city [of Bakhmut]. The fiercest fighting is now taking place near Klishchiivka,” a village south of Bakhmut that the Ukrainians have been trying to capture for several weeks.

Read more here.

A satellite image shows black smoke still rising from the site of a purported Russian drone strike on port infrastructure in southwestern Ukraine, more than 24 hours after Ukrainian authorities reported the attack.

The image, taken Thursday morning by the company BlackSky, shows the smoke rising in a port area along the Danube River in the city of Izmail, near the border with Romania. It appears four large tanks were hit.

Ukraine’s defense ministry said Wednesday that overnight drone strikes were responsible for damage to the port. It’s located near the larger port city of Odesa, which has been pummeled by Russian attacks after Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said recent strikes on the Odesa region’s port infrastructure are an attack on “global food security” and has called on the international community to intervene.

The Danube port attack also earned strong condemnation from the Romanian president, given its proximity to his country’s territory. Romania is part of NATO.