May 9, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday criticized “protectionist measures” from neighboring countries which limit imports of Ukrainian grain, saying they are “absolutely unacceptable.” 

The EU last week adopted a temporary measure that bans wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed originating in Ukraine from being exported to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, after those countries raised concerns over local farmers being undercut by a bottleneck of cheap Ukrainian grain. 

Addressing Zelensky's concerns, von der Leyen described the grain topic as a "challenging situation" and vowed to set up a joint "coordination platform" to get grain exports "fully functioning again.”

"The immediate priority now is that the grain transit goes seamlessly and at the lowest possible cost outside of Ukraine towards the European Union,” she said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that Russia is seeking to destroy values of freedom in Ukraine because it is afraid of the country’s path to the European Union.

"We Europeans cherish our liberty, our democracy, our freedom of thought and speech," von der Leyen said alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kyiv to mark Europe Day. 

"They are afraid of the success you represent and the example you show, and they are afraid of your path to the European Union," she said.

Von der Leyen added that Russia has "dramatically failed," and Ukraine is "fighting back successfully."

Russia has failed to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut before the May 9 deadline — a day when Russia marks the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky said Tuesday

“Unfortunately, the city does not exist anymore. Everything is fully destroyed," he added.

Zelensky urges more ammo: The Ukrainian president also said ammunition the European Union has pledged to deliver to Ukraine is already needed on the battlefield, calling for faster deliveries. 

"Ukraine daily demonstrates efficiency of our defense against Russian aggression. Every intercepted terrorists' missile, every success of our warriors in defeating Russian attacks, these are the proofs that we can win over this aggressor," Zelensky said.

"The main thing is the proportionality of our abilities to the abilities that the aggressor has. And in this context, I have thanked Ursula for the readiness of the European Union to provide Ukraine this badly needed ammunition, one billion artillery shells, and we have also discussed the key issues, the speed of the procurement and delivery of this ammunition, because they are needed on the battlefield already now," he said. 

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin marked May 9 with the annual Victory Day parade and launched yet another scathing attack on the West, accusing it of holding Ukraine hostage to its anti-Russian plans. He also claimed that “real war” has been unleashed against Russia. 

Russia held its annual celebration to mark the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II. In past years, tens of tanks have streamed across Red Square as jets have ripped through the skies in a flex of Russia’s military might. But this year’s parade was a quieter affair: A single T-34 tank – a relic from the Soviet era – led out this year’s mechanized column, and the flypast was canceled.

Here are the latest developments:

Wagner founder and financier Yevgeny Prigozhin has criticized the Russian military’s focus on the Victory Day parade in Moscow, which comes just as Ukraine is about to launch a counteroffensive.

In the latest in a series of rants directed at Russia's military leadership in Moscow, Prigozhin claimed Ukrainian forces were on Tuesday "tearing up the flanks" in the direction of Bakhmut and "regrouping at Zaporizhzhia."

"And a counteroffensive is about to begin,” he said during a long stream on his social media accounts on Tuesday.

Prigozhin claimed that Russians should pay more attention to unfolding events in Ukraine, rather than the televised Victory Day parade.

“They absolutely, clearly say that the counteroffensive will be on the ground, not on TV. In our country everybody thinks that we should do everything on TV and celebrate the Victory Day,” he added.

The Wagner founder went on to say Victory Day belonged to a previous generation.

“Victory Day is the victory of our grandfathers,” he said. “We haven't earned that victory one millimeter.”

Wagner head Yevgeniy Prigozhin has criticized the Russian military leadership for their lack of support for his fighters and for failing to hold the lines near Bakhmut, in a long stream posted on his social media accounts.

“Today [Tuesday], one of the units of the Ministry of Defense fled from one of our flanks, abandoning their positions. They all fled and left a front nearly two kilometers wide and 500 meters deep. Good thing we blocked it somehow,” Prigozhin said.

Prigozhin went on to say his fighters would be able to take the city if they were supplied with enough ammunition — but that Moscow had backtracked from its initial promises.

“We were promised on May 7 that we would be given ammunition,” he explained. 

In the morning of May 8, Prigozhin said that Moscow gave an order to provide Wagner with “everything” they wanted. However, they were subsequently only provided with “10% of what was requested,” he claimed.

"We were simply blatantly lied to,” Prigozhin said.

The Wagner founder went on to say the Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov was to blame for the decision.

“If all the tasks are performed in order to deceive the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, either the Supreme Commander-in-Chief will tear you’re a** up or the Russian people, who will be very upset if the war is lost,” Prigozhin added.

The Wagner founder added that his fighters would not leave Bakhmut and that they would “insist for a few more days.”

Some context: This rant is just the latest in the ongoing spat between Prigozhin’s private mercenary group and Moscow’s military leadership. Last week, Prigozhin launched an explosive tirade against Russia’s defense ministry, accusing them of sitting like “fat cats” while his men died in Bakhmut. He threatened to withdraw completely from the embattled Ukrainian city, which Russia has for months failed to capture.

However, Prigozhin appeared to change his mind Sunday, after securing concessions from the government. He announced his forces would stay in Bakhmut because Moscow promised “to give us ammunition and weapons, as much as we need to continue further actions.”

But this latest rant shows the dispute between Prigozhin and Moscow is far from settled.

CNN's Christian Edwards in London contributed to this post.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Europe to not be intimidated by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “show of force,” during a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

“In Moscow, 2,200 kilometers (more than 1300 miles) northeast of here, Putin is today deploying his soldiers, tanks and missiles. Let us not be intimidated by such show of force,“ Scholz said, referring to Russia's Victory Day parade.

Scholz continued to say that Ukrainians were “paying with their lives” for the “delusion of their powerful neighboring state,” reiterating his support for Ukraine.

Scholz also warned in a news conference with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, Europe's next round of sanctions on Russia will “not be the last” and that the bloc will be on track to discuss further improvements.

One tank. Some very young soldiers. And a distinctly warped message.

The display on Red Square for May 9, for decades a moment when Russia’s staggering sacrifice in the Great Patriotic War was sombrely honored, rang hollow. In 2023, it became a backdrop for the Kremlin head’s poor decision-making.

Putin’s speech was littered with references to Russia being sinned against — to his wider narrative that the invasion and war he started in Ukraine was foisted upon him by NATO. It is odd to hear as Russia gathers to honor the millions of Soviet citizens who died fighting the Nazis. The key question will be how many in the crowd felt that dissonance too.

The substance of the parade itself was also telling. There was only one tank: a T-34, a model made 89 years ago, before Putin was even born, raising the question of why they decided to include any tanks at all.

The level of hardware on display seemed thin: understandable perhaps for a military being mauled on a wide and relentless frontline. But again, it raises the enduring bind for the Kremlin.

They keep having to prove their strength, their might, yet have little actual might left to do it with. The exercise ends up being one of revealing weakness.

No jets flew by. The Kremlin itself had — according to its own press release —  come under drone attack just days earlier. All incompatible with Putin’s unique sales point —  that under him Russia is impregnable and respected again.

In the background too lurks the real war’s progress. The constant side drama with Russia’s most prominent military figure — the Wagner mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin — continued to play out. He threatened to leave the key city of Bakhmut unless he got more artillery shells, then said he was definitely leaving tomorrow, then said he would stay. He chose the moment of the parade to release a statement saying in fact Russian MoD troops had abandoned positions around Bakhmut and he had been threatened with treason charges if he left. This is not a message of unity.

And secondly, Russia’s wrath appears neutered. For yet another night, a wave of drone and missile attacks was thwarted by Ukraine’s air defenses. Over the past week, lives have been lost and civilians injured by debris from destroyed drones or missiles that have got through.

But above all, Ukraine's air defense has proven potent — and Moscow less so.

It raises again the long-term question of this war: Is a weak Russia dangerous or just weak?

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia is considering the United States' request for consular access to detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Russia's state news agency Ria Novosti reported Tuesday.

RIA Novosti adds Moscow has seen only “attempts of pressure and threats from Washington on the subject.”

The US State Department has yet to comment.

Some background: Gershkovich, a US citizen, was arrested in Russia in March on espionage charges, in a sign of the Kremlin’s crackdown on foreign media news outlets since it invaded Ukraine last year.

The Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied the spying accusations against Gershkovich.

Gerschkovich is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center at the notorious Lefortovo prison in Moscow until May 29. Last month, he appeared in Moscow City Court – where he was pictured standing in a glass cage – to ask that his pre-trial detention be under house arrest rather than jail. His appeal was denied.

US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said last month that Washington was “deeply disappointed” that Moscow had rejected their request to visit Gershkovich. 

Moscow’s initial rejection was in retaliation to Washington’s failure to provide visas to Russian journalists from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s pool when he visited the United Nations in April.