May 25, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The head of the Russian paramilitary company Yevgeny Prigozhin told CNN Thursday that he has handed the body of a retired US Army Special Forces soldier who was killed in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut over to Ukraine. 

In a response to CNN asking if Wagner had returned the body of Retired Army Staff Sgt. Nicholas Maimer as promised by Prigozhin last week, Prigozhin said in an audio recording: “Today at 1500 hours we handed over the body of the American Nicholas Maimer to the Ukrainian side.” 

In a video shared with CNN by Prigozhin’s press service, the Wagner boss stands next to two coffins, one draped with an American flag and one with a Turkish flag, and says: “The American died in battle in the 'nest'” — one of the last contested areas in west Bakhmut — and added that the second coffin contained the body of a Turkish citizen who was in Bakhmut with his female partner. 

CNN cannot independently verify the location in the video or the date it was filmed. 

Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed to CNN that Maimer’s body, along with the body of a Turkish citizen, had been returned to Ukraine on Thursday during a POW exchange. A video shared by the group showed a coffin covered with an American flag which matched the coffin seen in the video with Prigozhin. 

CNN is unable to independently confirm that the coffin contains Maimer’s body, or the circumstances in which he died.

Maimer's decades in uniform: According to Maimer’s service record provided to CNN, he served more than 20 years in uniform before retiring in 2018, according to his service record provided to CNN.

He served more than two years in the active-duty Army, leaving in December 1998; he then joined the National Guard in November 2000, and served about 18 years between three different Guard units before retiring in December 2018.

Among his awards and decorations are the Special Forces Tab, Army Commendation Medal and four Army Achievement Medals.

His uncle Paul Maimer told the Idaho Statesman his nephew had gone to Ukraine “as a humanitarian trying to do good for this world” and that the family wanted to bring him home for a “proper burial.”

“I think he’s deserving to be put to rest in a veterans cemetery,” he told the Statesman. “He might not have been fighting for our country, but he was fighting for the right reasons.”

CNN's Josh Pennington, Sandi Sidhu, Jennifer Hansler, Haley Britzky and Alex Marquardt contributed to this post.

Italian manager Roberto De Zerbi was almost a year into his managerial reign at the Ukrainian club when war broke out. Now, he has guided Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion to a historic first.

After its 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Wednesday, Brighton mathematically secured its place in the Europa League group stages for next season – the first time the club has ever qualified for European competition.

The 43-year-old joined Brighton in September after being forced to leave Shakhtar Donetsk a few months earlier. De Zerbi admitted to being scared when the war began, but it didn’t throw him off his journey to becoming one of the most exciting emerging coaches in the world. And despite his ascendency with Brighton, he says a piece of his heart still remains in Ukraine.

Read the full story here.

Five foreigners who fought for Ukraine are to stand trial in absentia in Russia, according to state media. 

They will stand trial at a court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on May 31 at 10 a.m. local time, according to RIA Novosti, citing the court’s press service. 

 The group all fought for Ukraine in the defense of the southern city of Mariupol. 

Swedish citizen Matthias Gustavsson, Croatian citizen Vekoslav Prebeg, and British citizen John Harding have been charged with “forcible seizure or forcible retention of power” and “mercenary participation in an armed conflict or hostilities.”

Another two British citizens, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy, were charged with "participating as a mercenary in armed conflict or hostilities" and "aiding and abetting in the recruitment of mercenaries for use in armed conflict,” respectively. 

The three British citizens — Harding, Hill and Healy — were all released as part of a prisoner swap in September 2022, according to the UK government. 

Sweden’s foreign ministry said Thursday that it's not aware of a Swedish citizen going on trial in absentia in Russia for their alleged involvement in Ukraine.

CNN has contacted the governments of the UK and Croatia for a response.

CNN's Mick Krever, Arnaud Siad, Vasco Cotovio and Olga Voitovych contributed to this report.

European trade ministers agreed to extend the temporary measures that suspend customs duties and quotas on Ukrainian imports to the European Union for another year, until June 2024.

The temporary easing of trade regulations between Ukraine and the EU went into force in June 2022.

“By renewing these measures the EU is continuing to demonstrate its unwavering political and economic support for Ukraine,” the European Council, which met in Brussels Thursday, said in a press release.

The European Commission, which proposed the extension in February, said the continued lifting of restrictions will help “alleviate the difficult situation faced by Ukrainian producers and exporters" amid Russia's invasion.

More than 100 Ukrainians who fought in the Bakhmut area and were captured as prisoners of war have been released in a prisoner swap, Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said Thursday.

Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said three bodies were also repatriated — two foreigners and a Ukrainian woman — during the exchange.

“All of the released defenders defended our country in Bakhmut direction; 68 of them were considered missing,” the coordination group said. 

The group said 98 of the POWs were from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including 21 from Ukraine’s Territorial Defense. Seven border guards and one serviceman of the State Special Transport Service were also released, it said.

“At least seven of the rescued defenders sustained various injuries: bullet and shrapnel wounds, burns and fractures, and [had] exacerbated chronic diseases. The oldest of the rescued soldiers is 59 years old, the youngest is 21 years old,” it added. 

In total, 2,430 people have been returned home as a result of exchanges, the group said, adding among that figure are 139 civilians.

Some context: Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin announced his fighters are withdrawing from the eastern Ukrainian city and will be replaced by Russian soldiers.

Ukrainian officials on Tuesday said part of the city remains under Ukrainian control. “If they [Russians] believe they have taken Bakhmut, I can say that this is not true. As of today, part of Bakhmut is under our control,” Ukrainian national security adviser Oleksiy Danilov told CNN.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has said his fighters have begun to pull out of Bakhmut, handing the devastated Ukrainan city over to Russia’s military after a months-long slog to capture it.

Here are today's major developments:

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia knew “right away that the Kyiv regime” was behind the drone attack launched against the Kremlin on May 3.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Peskov said “in the end, it does not make much difference which of the units of the Kyiv regime."

Two drones struck the Kremlin on May 3 — just days ahead of the May 9 Victory Day celebrations. 

Kyiv has denied involvement in the alleged attack. At the time, a spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "We do not have information on so called night attacks on Kremlin, as President Zelensky has stated numerous times before, Ukraine uses all means at its disposal to free its own territory, not to attack others."

US intelligence: US officials have picked up chatter amongst Ukrainian officials blaming each other for the drone attack earlier this month, contributing to a US assessment that a Ukrainian group may have been responsible, sources familiar with the intelligence told CNN.

The intercepts include some members of Ukraine’s military and intelligence bureaucracy speculating that Ukrainian special operations forces conducted the operation.

The chatter, combined with other intercepted communications of Russian officials blaming Ukraine for the attack and wondering how it happened, has led US officials to consider the possibility that a Ukrainian group was behind the incident on May 3.

Ukraine's anticipated spring offensive won't be marked by a “single event,” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Head of the Presidential Office, said in a Twitter post Thursday.

"This is not a 'single event' that will begin at a specific hour of a specific day with a solemn cutting of the red ribbon," Podolyak said.

Podolyak added that “intensive destruction of enemy logistics is also a counteroffensive.”

Ukraine’s counteroffensive: A series of cross-border drone attacks, intensified fighting in Zaporizhzhia, deploying Storm Shadow missiles, the destruction of Russian fuel depots and infrastructure — amid this recent flurry of activity, many have speculated whether Ukraine’s long-anticipated counteroffensive had already begun.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy has repeatedly stressed that Ukraine needs “more time” before launching the full attack.

But Podolyak’s comments are a reminder that the beginning of the counteroffensive will not be marked by any ceremony. Indeed, much of the confusion surrounding Ukraine’s counteroffensive may be part of the plan.

Soldiers from the Russian mercenary organization Wagner are being “replaced” by regular Russian troops on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut but, as of Thursday, Wagner fighters remain in the city itself, according to Hanna Mailar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister.

Mailar added that Russian forces are trying to stop the gains made on the flanks by Ukrainian troops over the last week with artillery shelling, and the Russians are reinforcing in those areas.

She maintained that Ukrainian forces still “control the outskirts of the city in the southwestern part of the 'Airplane' area.”

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said earlier that the withdrawal of his fighters from Bakhmut had begun and would last until June 1.

On Saturday, Prigozhin claimed to have captured the city and announced that he would hand control of it over to the Russian Ministry of Defense.