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August 18, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news
By Tara Subramaniam, Amy Woodyatt, Hannah Strange, Leinz Vales, Adrienne Vogt and Elise Hammond, CNN
Updated 9:39 p.m. ET, August 18, 2023
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6 people killed in explosions across Russian-occupied Donetsk region, local official says
From CNN's Josh Pennington & Maija Ehlinger
Three people are dead and one person was injured after an explosion in the urban center of Donetsk on Friday, according to the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin.
They were employees of a public utility company in Donetsk's Kievsky District and were killed "as a result of the detonation of a previously unexploded cluster submunition," Pushilin said in a post to Telegram.
Hours later, a separate "unidentified explosive device" detonated at a construction site in the Voroshilovskyi district of Donetsk and killed three construction workers and left five more injured, according to officials from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Joint Center for Command and Control.
Pushilin added that four more people in the cities of Donetsk, Makiivka, Vasilievka and Nikolske were wounded after a day of heavy shelling on Friday.
"Today, the enemy shelled the territory of the Republic 34 times, firing 115 rocket and barrel artillery shells," Pushilin added.
CNN cannot independently verify these claims.
Ukrainian pilots will start F-16 training this month after US hands over materials. Here's what to know
From CNN staff
Ukrainian pilots will start training on how to operate F-16 fighter jets later this month in Denmark, the country's defense ministry said. The United States approved giving instructional materials on the jets, which contain information about sensitive US technology, to Ukraine, officials said.
Russia has barred dozens of British government ministers and journalists from entering the country
Here's what to know:
- F-16 transfers: Ukrainian pilots will begin training on F-16 fighter jets in Denmark later in August, the Danish defense ministry said Friday. The US has approved transferring instructional materials on the jets to Ukraine — a critical step to begin the training, a Biden administration official said. The US has already committed to approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine as soon as training is complete, according to a US official.
- How training will work: Ukrainian pilots will get language instruction in the United Kingdom since all of the materials and the instruments in the jet itself are in English before they start flying training aircraft. They will then train on propellor aircraft and fly in a different jet trainer used by the French, the commander of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa said. This isn't likely to be completed before the end of the year, according to Gen. James Hecker.
- Attempted attacks on Moscow: Russia blamed Ukraine for Friday’s attempted drone strike on Moscow, which forced authorities to suspend traffic to four major airports in the Russian capital. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that Russian air defenses shot down a drone over the capital city overnight.
- Russian shelling: Some 14,000 people in the frontline region of Donetsk have been left without power after Russian shelling affected generation at a thermal powerplant, according to Ukraine's grid operator Ukrenergo. The operator also said that months after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in June, around 11,000 people were still without power in the Kherson region.
- Russian sanctions list: Moscow has barred 54 more British citizens from entering the country, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The government accused the individuals and entities of involvement in "propaganda support of the activities of the [Ukrainian] Zelensky regime." The sanctions list includes several government ministers as well as journalists.
- Global support: US President Joe Biden said the consequences of the war in Ukraine "extend well beyond Europe." After a trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, the US president commended the Japanese leader on his response to the invasion.
Biden: Consequences of war in Ukraine "extend well beyond Europe"
In remarks after a trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, US President Joe Biden commended the Japanese leader on his response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Answering questions from a Japanese reporter at Camp David in Maryland, Biden said Japan has "showed strong leadership through the G7 as well and contributed to a significant amount of financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine as well as nonlethal military equipment. And they've joined so many other nations in holding Russia accountable through international sanctions."
Biden said when he called up Kishida about Ukraine, he didn't have to convince him "of anything."
Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin's rationale over the invasion "ridiculous," Biden said, "Imagine if we'd done nothing. And the point was immediately recognized if I'm not mistaken by you, Mr. Prime Minister, that we're in a situation where it could happen anywhere. If we stood still, what statement would that send to China about Taiwan? What signal would that send around the world?"
"Russia has already lost. It cannot meet its original objective which it stated. It's not possible. ... Japan's leadership from day one, it has been critical making it clear that the consequences for war extend well beyond Europe," he said.
The invasion is not "only a European problem; there hasn't been that kind of invasion since World War II," Biden added.
Russia bars dozens of British citizens from entering the country, including journalists and ministers
From CNN's Katharina Krebs and Lauren Kent
Russia has barred 54 more British citizens from entering the country, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the latest update to its sanctions policy, Russia accused the individuals and entities of involvement in "propaganda support of the activities of the [Ukrainian] Zelensky regime" and of being "Russophobic."
The sanctions list includes several government ministers as well as journalists from public broadcaster the BBC, the Guardian newspaper and the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"We would like to emphasize again that any efforts by London to further spin the anti-Russian sanctions flywheel will inevitably receive a decisive response from our side," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. "Work on expanding the Russian 'stop list' in response to the actions of the British authorities will continue."
The updated list includes British cabinet minister Lucy Frazer, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Russian authorities claimed that Frazer is "actively lobbying for the international sports isolation of Russia."
Earlier this year, Frazer said in a social media post that she asked sponsors of the Olympic Games "to join 35 like-minded nations and press the IOC for a continued ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes competing in international sporting competitions," adding that "we must continue to ensure that Russia and Belarus cannot use sport for their propaganda purposes."
The new sanctions also include a Minister of State at the British Ministry of Defence, Baroness Goldie DL, who Russia has accused of being "responsible for the supply of weapons to Ukraine, including depleted uranium shells."
British prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan KC, who is an elected official on the International Criminal Court, will also be barred from Russia due to his involvement "in issuing a warrant for the arrest of the Russian leadership," according to the Russian foreign ministry statement.
In February, Khan submitted applications to the ICC for warrants of arrest for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova.
Kherson region village on Dnipro River cleared of Ukrainian troops, Russian-appointed head says
From CNN's Josh Pennington
The village of Kozachi Laheri, which is on the east bank of the Dnipro River, has been cleared of all Ukrainian forces, the Russian-appointed head of the occupied areas of the southern Kherson region claimed on Friday.
"Assault units of the Dnipro group of troops have completely cleared the area on the left bank of the Dnipro River near the village of Kozachi Laheri in the Alyoshkin district of Kherson Region," Vladimir Saldo claimed in a post on Telegram.
Saldo claimed that despite Ukrainian forces continuing to return fire from the right bank of the Dnipro River, the village is under full Russian control.
"Our forces are suppressing firing points and enemy concentrations on the right bank. ... The situation there remains difficult but fully under the control of the Russian military," the post said.
Earlier this month: On August 9, Russian state media and military bloggers said Ukrainian forces conducted a raid across the Dnipro River and attempted to land near the village.
Natalia Humeniuk, head of the United Coordinating Press Center of Security and Defense Forces of South of Ukraine, dismissed the claims, telling CNN that Russia was "trying to create artificial hype and panic."
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar also said the reported raid was “not confirmed” by the military’s general staff at the time.
Remember: Ukraine controls the west bank of the Dnipro River and the city of Kherson after its counteroffensive last year, while Russian troops remain on the east bank in the larger Kherson region.
Exiled Russian dissident journalist who covered Ukraine war describes suspected poisoning attempt
From CNN's Sophie Tanno and Benjamin Brown
Russian dissident journalist Elena Kostyuchenko has revealed how she was traveling to Berlin by train last autumn when she abruptly fell ill, a case that has led German authorities to investigate a suspected poisoning attempt.
Kostyuchenko was living in exile at the time in the German capital after being warned of Russian plans to assassinate her. She was on her way back from a trip to Munich to apply for a Ukrainian visa when she suddenly found herself drenched in strange-smelling sweat and experiencing cognitive difficulties, she wrote in the Russian-language publication Meduza this week. A long and mysterious illness then ensued, from which she has yet to completely recover, the journalist said.
An initial investigation by Berlin authorities into a suspected poisoning was closed in May due to lack of evidence, but has now been reopened after further consideration.
“I can confirm that the Berlin prosecutor is investigating against an unknown perpetrator. The case is being treated as attempted murder,” German public prosecutor spokesperson Sebastian Büchner told CNN. “The case was initially closed in May but reopened in July. This was due to new considerations rather than new evidence.”
Kostyuchenko had been working for the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta for 17 years when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. The paper sent her on assignment to Ukraine at the start of the war.
In March 2022, she said she was tipped off by a source in Ukrainian military reconnaissance about Russian plans to assassinate her. She was told she must leave Ukraine immediately and could not return to Russia.
Kostyuchenko eventually fled to Germany, where she rented an apartment in Berlin and began working for Meduza on September 29. After agreeing to a reporting trip to Iran for the publication, she said she was asked to submit paperwork for a Ukrainian visa before she left – requiring her to make the trip to Munich.
In an ordeal outlined in an article written by Kostyuchenko and published in Meduza and US publication n+1, she described how she first began to sweat profusely after leaving the Ukrainian embassy on October 18, 2022.
“I was covered in sweat. The sweat smelled strong and strange, like rotten fruit,” she said.
After leaving the train, she said she struggled to remember the way to her apartment.
Her condition deteriorated rapidly over the next days. She developed symptoms including a sharp stomach pain, nausea, shortness of breath and swelling.
US has given Denmark approval for F-16 instructional materials for Ukraine
From CNN's Natasha Bertrand, Oren Liebermann and Jennifer Hansler
The US has approved the transfer of F-16 instructional materials to Ukraine, according to a Biden administration official and a US official, as the program to train Ukrainian pilots on the American jets is set to begin.
“We can confirm the Department has recently approved a request from F-16 training partner Denmark related to their effort to stand up pilot and maintenance training programs,” said the official in President Joe Biden's administration.
The approval includes training modules, documentation, and classroom training materials, the official said, which contains information about sensitive US technology.
The approval of the third-party transfer request from Denmark was one of the critical steps before Ukrainian fighter pilots could begin training to fly the fourth-generation jets, which Kyiv has requested for months. Earlier Friday, the Danish defense ministry said Ukrainian pilots would begin training on F-16 jets later this month, part of a coalition of 11 countries that will be involved in the training program.
On Thursday, the US said it had committed to approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as soon as training is complete.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent letters to his counterparts in Denmark and the Netherlands assuring them that the transfer of the jets would have the “full support” of the Biden administration and would move quickly when training on the advanced aircraft is complete.
“You have my assurances that we will expedite approval of the requisite Third Party Transfer requests in time to enable delivery when the training is completed, including required notification to our Congress,” wrote Blinken in the letters.
Training will take time: On Friday, the commander of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa said the Ukrainian pilots who will learn to fly the F-16 fighter jet are getting language instruction in the United Kingdom, since all of the materials and the instruments in the jet itself are in English, before they start flying training aircraft.
“They’re going to get a little bit more training on (propellor aircraft) and then go down to France and fly in the Alpha jet for a little bit,” said Gen. James Hecker, speaking to a roundtable of reporters as part of the Defense Writers Group. The Alpha jet used by the French is an advanced jet trainer.
“That all is going to take time, and that’s probably not going to happen before the end of the year, so that takes a while to make that happen,” Hecker said. “So that’s why it’s going to be at least until next year until you see F-16s in Ukraine.”
Hecker said the Ukrainian pilots taking part in the F-16 training program are younger pilots who “barely have any hours at all” and are not currently taking part in the war.
The Ukrainians also said on Wednesday that they didn’t expect to receive the F-16s until next year.
Ukrainian pilots will start F-16 training in Denmark later this month
From CNN’s Sarah Dean in London
Ukrainian pilots will begin training on F-16 fighter jets in Denmark later in August, the Danish defense ministry said Friday.
A coalition of 11 countries will be involved in the training, it added.
Some background: CNN reported Thursday that the US has committed to approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine as soon as training is complete, according to a US official.
Denmark and the Netherlands have taken the lead in preparing a program to train Ukrainian pilots on the American jet, but the US is still working with other countries to see who may provide F-16s to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Ukraine said Wednesday that it didn’t expect to receive F-16s until some time next year.
CNN's Oren Liebermann and Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.
