March 10, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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

Russia has launched nearly 100 missiles of various types over the past day, the Ukrainian military said Friday.

Much attention has been focused on several launches of Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, which are especially difficult to stop. Ukrainian officials have acknowledged their defense systems are not holding up well enough.

Here’s what to know:

There’s a petition on the Ukrainian presidential office’s website to posthumously award Oleksandr Matsiyevsky with Hero of Ukraine honors after a video of his execution spurred outrage throughout the country.

The Ukrainian military confirmed Matsiyevsky was the prisoner of war who shouted, “Glory to Ukraine!” before he was executed by Russian forces in the clip, according to the petition, which was posted on a government website. The petition is an online form for the public to petition the president.

Earlier this week, there were differing reports on the identity of the service member, whose execution was shared widely on social media.

On Wednesday, reports emerged that the POW could be Matsiyevsky, a soldier with the 163rd Battalion of the 119th Separate Tank Brigade of the northern Chernihiv region.

His mother, Paraska Mikhailovna Demchuk, his son Mykhailo and the soldiers of his unit recognized him in the footage and confirmed his identity, according to a post by the Ukrainian military’s northern Regional Territorial Defense Force Facebook page.

“On December 30, 2022, on the outskirts of Soledar, he and four other servicemen were engaged in a counterattack with superior enemy forces while moving. At about 12 p.m., visual contact and communication with them was lost. Reinforcements could not break through to their position due to continuous mortar fire and heavy small arms fire,” the unit wrote.

The post said the full details of the battle are still unknown and that the military does not have information on how Matsiyevsky was taken prisoner.

“There were no witnesses left — all are dead or missing,” the statement reads.

The service member’s commander told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne Wednesday that he’s sure the soldier shown in the video was Matsiyevsky, citing factors ranging from his mannerisms to his voice and a characteristic eyebrow wound.

Matsiyevsky’s mother told Suspilne that the recording of her son’s execution haunts her, but she said she feels a strong sense of pride in his actions.

“I didn’t sleep the entire night. It kept flickering before my eyes,” she told the broadcaster. “But I felt some kind of lightness and some kind of ray of light when I saw how my son died.”

“It’s so hard, but I really felt like I saw my son’s character — so resilient, so unbreakable,” she continued. “Because he said: ‘Mom, I will never surrender to captivity.’ I kept hearing him repeat ‘Glory to Ukraine’ throughout the night. He was such a warrior, so brave and fearless, you wouldn’t even imagine.”

US President Joe Biden and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine, among other topics, during a meeting at the White House Friday. The United States and European Union pledged “security, economic, and humanitarian support” to Ukraine for as long as it needs, the two leaders said.

“We remain committed to providing and mobilizing international support,” including from the private sector, to ensure Ukraine’s economic stability, Biden and von der Leyen said in a joint statement. They added that military aid and training will also continue.

The leaders outlined initiatives aimed at helping Ukraine rebuild and highlighted efforts — including sanctions — to “further degrade Russia’s capacity to wage its illegal war and its military-industrial system,” according to the statement.

The statement touted the success of a US and EU partnership put in place a year ago to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian fuel, something the leaders said they continue doing.

“Putin thought that he would divide us, and yet we are more united than ever. We stand together in our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes,” the statement said.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley defended United States support of Ukraine at an event in Iowa Friday after she was interrupted by someone in the crowd arguing Ukraine isn’t an ally of the US. 

“Ukraine’s not our ally, why are we doing this?” an audience member at a foreign policy forum hosted by the Bastion Institute shouted out as Haley was speaking.

Haley responded that although Ukraine is not a direct ally, “we had no better ally at the United Nations than Ukraine,” and argued losing the war in Ukraine could lead to a world war.

Haley argued how the US response to the war in Ukraine could impact how other international situations play out, namely concerns about tension between China and Taiwan.

“China’s watching what we do with Ukraine. They’re watching who we’ve sanctioned. They’re watching what other countries are joining us. If they see us stay true on Ukraine with our allies, they will hold off on Taiwan. That’s the big issue of why this all matters,” she said.

The US will have committed more than $32 billion to Ukraine since the start of the war more than one year ago. The latest package worth about $400 million was announced by officials last Friday. 

Some context: The moment highlights a divide within the Republican party over the level of involvement the US should have in Ukraine, now more than a year since the war started.

There is a split among possible GOP 2024 hopefuls on the issue, with some, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, arguing the US is too involved in supporting Ukraine’s efforts and others, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, arguing the US should be doing as much as possible to aid the nation.

Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, are bitterly divided on Capitol Hill over whether to continue sending weapons and aid to the nation. 

Russia launched a total of 95 missiles of various types over the past day — 34 of which were intercepted — the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a morning update on Friday, as well as a number of Iranian-made Shahed drones.

Nearly half a million people are without power in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, following the latest barrage of strikes, according to the regional governor.

And there are concerns about how effectively Ukraine can stand up to such bombardments.

But aerial strikes like these are not going to win Russia the war, Western experts say.

“There is a long history of nations trying to win wars through strategic bombardment, to break the will or capacity of an opposing state to resist,” Justin Bronk, senior research fellow for airpower and technology at the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, told CNN. “It has an incredibly poor record of success.”

Russia’s limited stockpiles mean it’s unlikely they will force a major breakthrough in the war through the skies, so long as its air force is unable to gain supremacy above Ukraine.

New strategy?: The use of so many different weapons systems in one night has increasingly become Russia’s preferred method of striking through the skies, but with larger gaps between the raids, Bronk said.

The use of hypersonic missiles in particular follows the Kremlin’s years-long push to equip its military with such weaponry – a move that the United States and the West has been less keen to adopt, given the trade-offs in pursuing hypersonic capabilities.

“What you get is a missile that is much harder to intercept and gives your opponent much less warning. What you lose is that it’s much more expensive, and often can only be carried by a much more limited number of platforms,” Bronk explained.

How Ukraine’s defenses held up: “They are not coping well enough,” an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The Kinzhal missiles are a specific challenge: They are immune to Ukraine’s air defenses. An air-launched variant of the Iskander short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) which has also, more frequently, been used in Ukraine, the Kinzhal was unveiled by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 as a cornerstone of a modernized Russian arsenal.

Future attacks?: While Russia has deployed a handful of missiles that Ukraine is currently unable to stop, it appears unlikely that such attacks will become a regular or decisive feature of the conflict – because, by most Western assessments, Russia is running low on supplies.

Read more here.

The recruitment of prisoners serving sentences in Russian correctional facilities by the Russian private military company Wagner is “alarming,” a group of UN experts said in a joint statement released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday. 

Members of the Wagner group are reportedly “offering pardons for criminal sentences” and “a monthly payment” to the prisoners’ relatives of those who agree to join, the experts said.

Wagner has allegedly recruited both Russian and foreign nationals serving sentences in correctional facilities, they said, adding that in some cases, Wagner used threats, intimidation and pressure tactics to recruit.

Recruited prisoners “have been involved in a range of activities – including providing military services, rebuilding infrastructure, and taking direct part in hostilities on the side of the Russian forces,” the statement added.

The experts say they “have information that several recruits have been executed for attempting to escape and, in other cases, seriously injured in public as a warning to other recruits. Such tactics constitute human rights violations and may amount to war crimes.”

The group has expressed its concerns to the Wagner Group and the Russian government. It has also urged Moscow to protect detainees from “violence, exploitation and intimidation,” according to the statement.

Power has been restored to 65% of consumers in the city of Kharkiv and to 90% of consumers in the larger Kharkiv region, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said in an update on Telegram Friday.

“We continue to work on restoring power supply and eliminating the consequences of a massive Russian missile strike on the critical infrastructure of the region,” he said. 

“In Kharkiv, power has been fully restored to critical infrastructure facilities, including the water utility, sewage treatment systems and heating networks,” he added. 

Russia has launched a total of 95 missiles of various types over the past day, the Ukrainian military said Friday. While Ukraine’s defenses knocked down 34 of the strikes, dozens of missiles pounded infrastructure targets, further battering the country’s fragile energy systems.

Earlier Friday, Syniehubov said nearly half a million people lost power in the city of Kharkiv following the barrage.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is still “the hottest spot on the front line” and continues to be the target of some of the heaviest direct Russian fire, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military told CNN.

“Bakhmut is still the hottest spot on the front line, with 20 of the 188 attacks of the entire Bakhmut direction this day coming directly at the town of Bakhmut,” said Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Cherevatyi also said a third wave of fighters from the Wagner private military company fighting in the area are being replaced by Russia’s regular army.

“The first wave, which began last February, consisted of professional military, people associated with the FSB and the Interior Ministry. The second wave of Wagner consisted of those mobilized from prisons, who were almost all wiped out during the so-called ‘meat assaults,’ when Wagner tried to break through the defenses with live fire,” he said. 

“Now we see the replacement of Wagner’s group by the regular army. This is probably due to Prigozhin’s conflict with the leadership of the Russian army,” he added. 

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has publicly attacked the Russian Defense Ministry, blaming it for not supplying his fighters with enough ammunition to prevent their deaths.

Cherevatyi also said he cannot confirm the status of the village of Dubovo-Vasilyevka, located north of Bakhmut, which Prigozhin claimed to have been captured by his fighters on Wednesday.  

Prigozhin’s Telegram post was accompanied by a video that purported to show several Wagner fighters standing next to the group’s flag, one of them playing an accordion.

CNN is not able to independently verify Prigozhin’s claims. 

Russian shelling wounded at least six people Friday in a city in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the region’s military administration.

The shelling on Kostyantynivka, an industrial town north of Donetsk city, also hit private houses and damaged a gas pipeline, Kyrylenko said in a Telegram post.

According to preliminary information, Russian forces used Uragan (or Hurricane) multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) in the attack, the Ukrainian official said. Russia has used Uragan MLRS to shell the area relatively frequently.

“Rescuers and police are working at the scene,” Kyrylenko said. 

The US intelligence community believes that individuals with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in Moldova to try to foment a manufactured insurrection against the Moldovan government, with the ultimate goal of seeing a more pro-Russia administration installed there, White House officials said Friday.

The US believes that Russia is working to weaken the Moldovan government, the officials said, which is seeking closer ties with the European Union. The US is also seeing signs that Russian government-linked actors could provide training to anti-government demonstrators in Moldova. Chisinau has been rocked by anti-government protests in recent weeks, largely organized by Moldova’s Russia-friendly Shor Party. 

The US also believes that Moscow is working to sow disinformation about Moldova’s overall stability. One example was the Russian Ministry of Defense’s claim last month that Ukraine has been planning to invade Transnistria, Moldova’s Moscow-backed separatist region.

US officials said those allegations are “unfounded, false, and create baseless alarm.” 

Moldova’s President, Maia Sandu, said publicly last month that she believes the Russian government was planning “a series of actions involving saboteurs who have undergone military training and are disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and hostage-taking.”

Moldova has been a flashpoint on the periphery of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the past year, with Russian missiles crossing into Moldovan airspace on several occasions, including this past February.

The Biden administration sees no immediate military threat to Moldova, officials said. But the US has been watching Russia’s activities in Moldova closely, wary of Russia’s ongoing efforts to destabilize Europe. President Joe Biden met with Sandu last month in Warsaw, where they discussed Russian malign influence activities. 

The US Treasury sanctioned nine individuals and 12 entities in October that the US believed to be involved in working to destabilize Moldova. 

CNN’s Rob Picheta contributed to this post.

The head of Wagner private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Friday the opening of dozens of new “recruitment centers” across Russia, according to a statement published by his holding company, Concord.

“Wagner group recruitment centers have opened in 42 cities of the Russian Federation,” Prigozhin is quoted as saying in the statement. “New fighters will be coming there, who will go with us side by side to defend their country and their families. To create our common future and protect the memory of the past.” 

“Despite the colossal resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, we will move forward. Despite the sticks that are stuck in our wheels at every step, we will overcome this together,” he added. 

In addition to the statement by Prigozhin, the Concord press service also published a document that includes a list with the addresses and telephone numbers of the alleged recruitment centers.

The majority of those recruitment centers appear to be gyms and sports centers, according to the names listed in the document. 

Many of the alleged recruitment centers are in Moscow, where the document claims eight such centers will be opened. Saint Petersburg has the second-largest number of centers, with five, according to the document.

Other cities where alleged recruitment centers will be opened include Krasnodar, Kaliningrad, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Murmansk. 

CNN in unable to independently verify Prigozhin’s claims about the opening and operations of the alleged centers. 

The Wagner group has been active throughout the war in Ukraine, and Prigozhin has recently been outspoken about ammunition issues, placing the blame for his fighters’ deaths on Russia’s defense ministry.

When Russia launched a total of 95 missiles at major cities across Ukraine on Thursday morning, it included six Kinzhal ballistic missiles that eluded Kyiv’s air defenses, the Ukrainian military said.

“The attack is really large-scale and for the first time using such different types of missiles. We see that this time as many as six Kinzhal were used. This is an attack like I don’t remember seeing before,” Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for the Air Force Command of Ukraine, said on Ukrainian television Thursday.

“So far, we have no capabilities to counter these weapons,” he added, referring to the Kinzhals, plus six X-22 air-launched cruise missiles that were also launched by Russian forces.

Russia used the nuclear-capable Kinzhal missile, which it has described as a hypersonic weapon, on a few occasions in the first weeks of its invasion last year. But the powerful weapon has rarely been seen over the country’s skies. Its first known use was last March, and then in May, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The use of such a wide and unpredictable array of weaponry seemingly marks a shift in the Kremlin’s strategy.

About the Kinzhal: It is an air-launched variant of the Iskander short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) which has also, more frequently, been used in Ukraine, and was unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 as a cornerstone of a modernized Russian arsenal.

Like virtually all ballistic missiles it is hypersonic, which means they travel at least five times the speed of sound, but it is also particularly difficult to detect because it can be launched from MiG-31 fighter jets, giving it a longer range and the ability to attack from multiple directions.

Ukraine’s strong reputation for medical courses and affordable tuition had attracted more than 70,000 international students to the country. But as they fled the country at the onset of Russia’s invasion, many say they faced segregation and racism at Ukraine’s borders

One African medical student told CNN at the time that she and other foreigners were ordered off a public transit bus at a border checkpoint between Ukraine and Poland and asked to stand aside as the bus drove off with only Ukrainian nationals on board. The Border Guard Service of Ukraine told CNN at the time that the claims were untrue.

One year on, some of the students tell CNN they are in limbo:

Facing deportation: While hundreds of students were evacuated from Ukraine by their own countries, some stayed in the bordering European nations to which they had fled. Many are yet to be granted refugee status, said Korrine Sky, 26, a British-Zimbabwean citizen, adding that she has been in contact with some foreign students.

“Some were given between six months to one-year visas. As of February and March, a lot of the visas that they were granted at the start of the war, will be running out. So, they’ll be facing deportation. A lot of them have decided to go back to Ukraine,” Sky told CNN in a phone call from her home in Leicester, England.

“There’s also a large portion of students who’ve now gone back to Ukraine because their universities weren’t offering transcripts unless they return,” she added.

CNN has contacted the Ministry of Education and the minister for comment.

Unable to continue education: After fleeing the conflict, Sky said she hoped to complete her education at other European universities that had offered a place to international students displaced by the Russian war. However, her hopes were soon dashed after she discovered the scholarship opportunities were reserved mainly for Ukrainian students.

“That’s the same sentiments we’d had when we were trying to get on the buses and the trains (while fleeing the war) … It was Ukrainians only. No one seems to even have a single bit of empathy that our lives have been completely disrupted,” she said. “There’s a lot going on in the world at the moment… so we are lower down in the list of priorities.”

Mandatory exams in Ukraine: Some Ukrainian universities are mandating that students return in March to complete exams in order to graduate.

Students are protesting, writing in a statement that organizers are aware of the risks of traveling to Ukraine, with no insurance or direct flights available. CNN reviewed a consent form issued by Kyiv Medical University to students, stating that students take responsibility for all risks involved in traveling to Ukraine. CNN has contacted Kyiv Medical University for comment.

The Dean of International Students Faculty at the Ternopil National Medical University said its exams for students is currently being organized by the health ministry, and that the university will arrange another round of exams for international students who are unable to come. No timeline was provided for facilitating the exam outside Ukraine. CNN has contacted Ukraine’s ministry of health for further comments.

Graduates are also facing issues: Nigerian student Adetomiwa Adeniyi, 25, only had a few months of studies remaining when the war broke out. So he says he was able to finish the education online and receive a degree. Now, Adeniyi is unable to practice as a doctor, because Nigeria’s medical council (MDCN) does not recognize medical degrees acquired digitally.

He says he might be forced to repeat his final year in a Nigerian university or find a country abroad that will allow him to practice.

Costs put everything on hold: For fourth-year medical student Oyindamola Morenikeji from Nigeria, “everything is just at a standstill,” as she told CNN of her failed attempts to transfer to another European school, after her family already had a tough time funding her $4,000 per year education in Ukraine.

Morenikeji says she is considering applying to a Nigerian nursing school and starting all over again but is worried about the financial toll on her family. “It feels like when they were close to the final point, everything came crashing,” she told CNN.

Thousands protested in Tbilisi for two nights, prompting Georgia’s parliament to formally revoked a controversial “foreign influence” bill on Friday. There were concerns that it resembled Russian laws used to stifle political dissent.

Here’s what you need to know:

Bills spark protest: Lawmakers were discussing two bills, according to Giorgi Gogia, associate director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.

The first bill would have required organizations including non-governmental groups and print, online and broadcast media to register as “foreign agents” if they receive 20% or more of their annual income from abroad. The second expanded the scope of “agents of foreign influence” to include individuals and increases the penalties for failure to comply from fines to up to five years in prison.

Advocates of the laws said they would help root out those working against Georgia’s interests, Reuters reported. Human Rights Watch’s Gogia said the bills would “threaten to marginalize and discredit critical voices in the country.”

Russia-aligned Belarus has had a citizenship law in place since 2002 that has a similar impact.

The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, posted a video message on Facebook, expressing concerns that the bills could impede the country’s hopes of closer ties with the European Union. She threw her support behind the protesters and pledged to veto.

Protests erupt: Thousands of protesters could be seen outside the parliament building on for two nights, holding not just the Georgian flag but also European Union flags.

Some threw stones and petrol bombs, as security forces responded with tear gas and water cannon. Video posted on social media also showed protesters storming a barricade at the entrance to the parliament building and tearing it down. At least 76 people have been arrested in connection to the protests.

Protesters’ chants, with insults aimed at both Georgian politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin, underline fears that the bill follows the model of a controversial law in neighboring Russia that has already imposed draconian restrictions and requirements on organizations and individuals with foreign ties.

Georgia was part of Soviet Union and today, it hopes to integrate with the EU: Georgia won its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and has since sought to strike a diplomatic balance between its citizens’ pro-European stance and the geopolitical ambitions of its powerful neighbor, Russia.

Georgia applied for EU membership in March 2022. Though it was not granted candidacy status, the European Council has expressed readiness to grant that status if Georgia implements certain reforms.

Comparisons with Ukraine: The think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) drew comparisons between the situation in Georgia and Russia’s invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in 2011 that had Russia not invaded Georgia in 2008, NATO would have expanded into Georgia.

The 2008 conflict centered on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which are two provinces that are officially part of Georgia, but they have separate governments propped up by Russia and unrecognized by most countries.

The 2008 invasion of Georgia only lasted days, but it appeared to have the same revanchist ambitions that drove Putin’s invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and last year, writes the ECFR.

Where things stand now: Georgian lawmakers voted against the bill in its second reading by a margin of 35 to one, according to Georgia’s public broadcaster First Channel, and this formally revoked the controversial bill that sparked the protests.

CNN’s Katharina Krebs, Jorge Engels, Rhea Mogul, Sophie Tanno, Niamh Kennedy, Hannah Ritchie and Sana Noor Haq contributed reporting.

Thousands of people have been gathering in downtown Kyiv for the funeral of a decorated young Ukrainian military commander known as “Da Vinci,” who was killed this week in Bakhmut.

Military and civilian mourners gathered at the golden-domed St. Michael’s Monastery, many of them bringing flowers to pay their last respects to Dmytro Kotsiubaylo, who died at the age of 27.

The Orthodox church reached full capacity, so hundreds of people listened in to the ceremony from the courtyard outside.

After the funeral, a military procession carried Kotsiubaylo’s casket to the Maidan (Independence Square) for a larger public memorial.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Kotsiubaylo with top military honors the Order of the Golden Star and the title “Hero of Ukraine” last year.

 Zelensky announced Kotsiubaylo’s death in his nightly address on Tuesday, calling him a “man of courage.”

He was well-known in Ukraine, having taken up arms against Russia in 2014, when he was just 18.

In 2016, Kotsiubaylo became the youngest battalion commander in the history of the Ukrainian Army.

“One of the youngest heroes of Ukraine. One of those whose personal history, character, and courage have forever become the history, character, and courage of Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

Chinese state-owned defense firms have maintained trade relationships with sanctioned Russian defense companies during the past year, even as many of the world’s leading economies cut ties with Moscow and the companies driving its continued assault on Ukraine.

Customs records reviewed by CNN show that throughout 2022, through at least mid-November, Beijing-based defense contractor Poly Technologies sent at least a dozen shipments – including helicopter parts and air-to-ground radio equipment – to a state-backed Russian firm sanctioned by the US for its connection to leader Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Poly Technology’s long-term trade partner – Ulan Ude Aviation Plant, a purveyor of military-grade helicopters – also continued to send parts and several helicopters to the Beijing-based company last year, trade data show.

Most of the helicopter parts included in the shipments to Russia were labeled for use in the multipurpose Mi-171E helicopter, designed for transport and search and rescue. China began importing this model of chopper from Russia more than 10 years ago, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Three shipments from Poly Technologies were labeled as including products for the operation or service of the Russian-made Mi-171SH, a military transport helicopter that can be equipped with weapons and has been used in Moscow’s operations in Ukraine.

The customs records came from two data sets. The first was provided by trade data firm Import Genius, whose information is collated by secondary sources from official Russian customs and shipment records. Washington-based think tank C4ADS, which collates official customs records aggregated from multiple third-party providers, provided the second set.

CNN has not independently verified the data, which may provide a partial but not complete picture of the trade.

Read more here.

Russia has been capturing some of the US and NATO-provided weapons and equipment left on the battlefield in Ukraine and sending them to Iran, where the US believes Tehran will try to reverse-engineer the systems, four sources familiar with the matter told CNN. 

Over the last year, US, NATO and other Western officials have seen several instances of Russian forces seizing smaller, shoulder-fired weapons equipment, including Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft systems that Ukrainian forces have at times been forced to leave behind on the battlefield, the sources told CNN.

In many of those cases, Russia has then flown the equipment to Iran to dismantle and analyze, likely so the Iranian military can attempt to make their own version of the weapons, sources said. Russia believes that continuing to provide captured Western weapons to Iran will incentivize Tehran to maintain its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, the sources said. 

US officials don’t believe that the issue is widespread or systematic, and the Ukrainian military has made it a habit since the beginning of the war to report to the Pentagon any losses of US-provided equipment to Russian forces, officials said. Still, US officials acknowledge that the issue is difficult to track. 

It’s not clear if Iran has successfully reverse-engineered any US weapons taken in Ukraine, but Tehran has proven highly adept at developing weapons systems based on US equipment seized in the past.

A key weapon in Iran’s inventory, the Toophan anti-tank guided missile, was reverse engineered from the American BGM-71 TOW missile in the 1970s. The Iranians also intercepted a US-made drone in 2011, a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 “Sentinel,” and reverse-engineered it to create a new drone that crossed into Israeli airspace in 2018 before being shot down.  

The coordination is yet another example of Moscow’s growing defense partnership with Tehran, which has intensified over the last year as Russia has become increasingly desperate for external military support for its war against Ukraine. The partnership is not only further destabilizing Ukraine, but it could also threaten Iran’s neighbors in the Middle East, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said last month.

CNN has reached out to the Russian embassy in Washington and the Iranian UN mission for comment.

Nearly half a million people are without power in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, after Thursday’s Russian missile strike, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.

“The power supply is still cut off to 470,000 consumers in Kharkiv city and 50,000 in the region,” said Syniehubov in a Telegram post Friday.

However “critical infrastructure and some consumers have been powered,” he added.

In the wider Kharkiv region, more than 90% of consumers have had their electricity supply restored, Syniehubov said.

Some context: Russia has launched a total of 95 missiles of various types over the past day, and 34 of them were intercepted, the Ukrainian military said on Friday.

Russia launched a total of 95 missiles of various types over the past day – and 34 of them were intercepted, the Ukrainian military said on Friday.

“The enemy also carried out 31 air strikes, in particular, using eight Shahed-136 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles or drones), half of which were shot down,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a morning update.

It added that Russia had “fired 65 times from multiple launch rocket systems.”

Kyiv’s power and water supplies were restored on Friday morning following a barrage of Russian missile attacks on Thursday, according to Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv city military administration.

“There are no power outages. Water supply is in regular mode. Heat supply is being restored,” he said.
“As of 7:50 a.m., 30% of consumers are without heat. The restoration work lasted all night and continues now.”

Some context: On Thursday, Russia launched one of its biggest aerial assaults with more than 80 missiles targeted at Ukrainian infrastructure. President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was a difficult night, with six people killed directly in the strikes.

Following the strikes, 15% of the capital went without electricity temporarily, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said earlier on Telegram. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said six people were killed in a wave of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine on Thursday. Earlier, regional authorities said 11 people were killed in the Russian attacks, which included those who died in shelling and other kinds of attacks.

While energy has been restored to most of the country, Russian forces are keeping up their assaults near the invasion’s eastern front, especially around the strategic city of Bakhmut.

Here are the headlines to know:

The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency said the loss of power at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant should serve as another reminder of the perilous situation facing the site and surrounding area.

“If we allow this to continue time after time, then one day our luck will run out,” said Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The plant lost all off-site power due to Russian missile attacks Thursday, according to Ukrainian officials. Grossi said it was the first time the plant had lost all power since November 23, 2022.

“I am astonished by the complacency – yes, the complacency. What are we doing to prevent this from happening? We are the IAEA, we are meant to care about nuclear safety,” Grossi said. 

“This is the largest nuclear power station in Europe. … What are we doing?” Grossi asked. “How can we sit here in this room this morning and allow this to happen? This cannot go on.”

“I call on everyone in this room today and elsewhere – we must commit to protect the safety and security of the plant. And we need to commit now. What we need is action,” Grossi said.

Some background: The plant has been under Russian control since March last year, but is still mostly operated by Ukrainian workers.

Attacks at the complex have sparked concerns about the specter of a nuclear disaster, and IAEA staff have been visiting the site to assess the damage. Recently, the UN nuclear agency said it has been unable to rotate teams at the plant because of increased volatility in the area.

The IAEA head has assured Ukraine his agency will never recognize Russia as the owner of the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Grossi has also pledged a continuous IAEA presence at all of Ukraine’s nuclear plants.

Watch Grossi’s impassioned remarks Thursday here:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said work to restore power to parts of the country hit by a wave of Russian strikes Thursday is still underway, but efforts will continue “for as long as necessary.”

The president said the situation in Kharkiv and the Zhytomyr region has been the most difficult.

“Another attempt by the terrorist state to wage war against civilization has led to temporary power, heat and water outages in some of our regions and cities,” Zelensky said.

Critically, power has already been restored to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The plant is under Russian control, but it is being operated mostly by Ukrainians. It was running on emergency mode after the shelling, according to the national energy company.

Nearly a dozen people were killed in the attacks, officials said. Zelensky expressed condolences to those families.

Ukraine’s air defense systems didn’t withstand some of Russia’s Kinzhal missiles, according to an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, following a widespread attack from Moscow on Thursday.

A total of 84 missiles were fired on Ukrainian infrastructure, including six Kinzhal ballistic missiles that have the ability to elude Kyiv’s air defenses, the Ukrainian military said.

“They are using hypersonic missiles. They are using new types of weapons, and they are seeing how our air defense systems can cope with it,” said Alexander Rodnyansky, an economic adviser to Zelensky. “They are not coping well enough.”

Rodnyansky outlined what he saw as the Kremlin’s tactical, economic and political objectives for Thursday’s strikes, including what he described as “economic terrorism.” 

“They’re sending a very strong signal to everyone in Ukraine — and to perhaps some of our refugees outside of Ukraine — that life is very far from returning to normal despite the fact that over recent weeks there was more quiet,” he said.

This could cause refugees to stay away and businesses to withhold investing in the country, Rodnyansky said.

“It is a question of managing expectations and showing this is a long game and that they are trying to plan this war for years,” Rodnyansky added.

What else to know: Russia used the Kinzhal missile, which it has described as a hypersonic weapon, on a few occasions in the first weeks of its invasion last year. But the powerful weapon has rarely been seen over the country’s skies.

Its first known use was last March, and then again in May, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Ukrainian military shared updates Thursday from multiple fronts in its defense against Russia’s invasion.

The battle for Bakhmut: Russian forces are still working to encircle the eastern city of Bakhmut, “with further access to the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.

The military said it “repelled numerous attacks” surrounding the city, saying more than half a dozen villages northwest, west and southwest of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region have recently taken enemy fire.

Elsewhere on the eastern front: North of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, Russian forces are trying to break through Ukraine’s defenses in Kupyansk and Lyman, according to the General Staff.

South of Bakhmut, Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensives on several towns near the eastern cities of Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk, Ukraine’s military said.

In southern Ukraine: Russian forces are on the defensive in the southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to Ukraine.

The General Staff claimed that in some Russian-occupied settlements of Kherson, “Russian invaders have intensified looting,” using ammunition delivery trucks to smuggle out household appliances and other property.

CNN is unable to verify Ukraine’s claim.

Ukrainian strikes: Over the last 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have carried out seven strikes on areas where Russian personnel and military equipment are gathered.

Missile troops and artillery units hit a Russian command post, six areas where Moscow’s troops were concentrated, two logistics centers, three ammunition depots, an electronic warfare station and an anti-aircraft missile system, the General Staff said. 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday signed a law introducing the death penalty for “state treason” committed by government and military officials, state news agency Belta reported. 

Additionally, the law introduces criminal liability for “propaganda” of terrorism, discrediting of the country’s armed forces, other troops and military formations, paramilitary organizations, and violation of requirements for the protection of state secrets.

Belarus’ parliament last year passed a bill that would impose the death penalty for “high treason, in order to prevent” possible actions by “destructive elements” in the country, which Lukashenko signed into law on Thursday.

Human rights group Amnesty last year called the law the “latest display of Belarusian authorities’ profound disregard for human rights.”

Belarus’ role in the Ukraine war: Lukashenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in February that “there is no way we are going to send our troops to Ukraine unless you are going to commit aggression against Belarus.”

“But don’t forget Russia is our ally — legally, morally and politically,” he added.

Lukashenko’s government has claimed on numerous occasions that Ukrainian drones and missiles have entered its territory, sometimes without providing evidence.

Belarus helped Russia launch its initial invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing the Kremlin’s troops to enter the country through the Ukrainian-Belarusian border north of Kyiv.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the latest Russian missile barrage on Ukraine during a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a tweet, von der Leyen said “Russia’s deliberate targeting of civilians and energy grid is a war crime.”

Zelensky said that during the call, “we welcomed the new package of EU sanctions and agreed on further pressure on the aggressor. We also discussed in detail Ukraine’s progress in implementing the recommendations of the European Commission to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession this year.”

Russia launched one of its biggest aerial assaults of the year on Thursday, with 84 missiles targeted at Ukrainian infrastructure across the country. 

This included six Kinzhal ballistic missiles that eluded Kyiv’s air defenses, the Ukrainian military said. At least 11 people were killed.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Thursday the barrage of missile strikes launched on Ukraine Thursday was retaliation for what the ministry called “terrorist actions” organized by Kyiv in Russia’s Bryansk region last week.

“High-precision long-range air, sea and land-based weapons, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, hit key elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure, military-industrial complex enterprises, as well as energy facilities that serve them,” the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed in a statement.

It claimed that the target was reached and “all assigned objects have been hit.”

“Unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed, the transfer of reserves and railway transportation of foreign weapons was disrupted, and production facilities for the repair of military equipment and the production of ammunition were disabled,” the ministry said in the statement. 

Ukrainian authorities said Russia fired 84 missiles into multiple Ukrainian regions, including the nation’s capital overnight into Thursday. At least 11 people were killed in attacks across the country, including the shelling, according to regional authorities.

Here’s what happened in Bryansk: Russian security officials claimed a small Ukrainian armed group had crossed the Russian border last week into the southern Bryansk region. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said the agency was carrying out operations following “armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border.” Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incident as a “terrorist attack.” A local official said two civilians were killed.

An adviser in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said the alleged raid was either a Russian provocation or the work of local partisans taking a stand against the Kremlin, denying any Ukrainian involvement.

CNN cannot independently verify the Russian claims, and local media have not carried any images of the supposed incidents, any type of confrontation or an alleged raid reported by Russian authorities.

Ukraine rejects Russia’s narrative: Kyiv responded dismissively to Moscow’s claim the overnight assault on “peaceful cities and villages of Ukraine” was retaliatory. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense issued a statement likening the Kremlin’s narrative to Nazi propaganda that sought to justify attacks on British civilians during WWII.

CNN’s Olga Voitovych, Vasco Cotovio, Nathan Hodge and Rob Picheta contributed to this post.

Ukraine is becoming a “battle lab” for testing Iranian weapons outside of the Middle East, a senior US defense official said Thursday.

This comes ahead of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s visit to Israel where Iranian-Russian military cooperation will be on the agenda.

“Everyone should be preparing for what the threat scenarios look like when Iran takes the tactics, techniques and procedures it learned in Ukraine and starts to use those coercive tactics here,” the official said in reference to the Middle East.

The official added that Russia is willing to transfer advanced technology to Iran in order to receive Iranian “lethal aid.”  

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called on Western allies to supply more weapons to Ukraine and impose more sanctions on Russia, following recent Russian attacks that killed nearly a dozen people across the country.

“Residential buildings have been hit. There are casualties. We need more weapons and more sanctions to stop the aggressor,” he said in a series of Twitter posts.

Noting that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was also impacted by the strikes — the sixth time since Russia launched its invasion — Shmyhal urged the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to “take decisive action” to stop Russia’s “nuclear terrorism.”

Power to the plant has since been restored, but it was operating on emergency mode after the shelling, according to the national energy company.

“Russia is deliberately creating such critical situations at our nuclear facilities,” Ukrianian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.

The importance of Ukraine holding on to the eastern city of Bakhmut is “constantly growing,” as every day of sustained resistance allows Kyiv’s forces to chip away at Russia’s offensive capabilities, one of Ukraine’s top military leaders said Thursday.

“The importance of holding Bakhmut is constantly growing. Every day of the city’s defense allows us to gain time to prepare reserves and to prepare for future offensive operations,” Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s land forces, said in a statement.

“In the battles for this fortress, the enemy loses the most trained and combat-ready part of its army, the Wagner (private military company) assault units,” said Syrskyi, who is Ukraine’s second highest-ranking general.

According to the Ukrainian commander, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has said if Bakhmut is captured by his fighters, Russia will be able to launch a “large-scale offensive” using army and airborne units.

“This once again proves the very important role of Bakhmut in the overall defense system of our grouping,” Syrskyi said. “Thousands of enemies who died during the assault on the town are a vivid confirmation of this.”

“Fighting in the Bakhmut sector continues,” he said. “I am proud of the courage and heroism of our soldiers who are disrupting the aggressor’s plans with their resilience.”

The latest from the front: Russian forces have kept up their assaults near the invasion’s eastern front in Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Thursday.

Ukraine’s military said its forces had recently repelled attacks in the villages of Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Dubovo-Vasylivka to the northwest of Bakhmut, in Ivanivske to the west of the city and in Oleksandro-Shultine to the southwest.

“The enemy continues to violate the norms of International Humanitarian Law, continues to carry out strikes, shell civilian objects and civilian homes, and tries to destroy the critical infrastructure of our country,” the General Staff said.