May 26, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. You can read more about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here, or scroll through the updates below.

It’s past midnight in Kyiv, and news was dominated today by the fallout from a devastating Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

Friday also brought reports of explosions on Russian soil and in territories it currently occupies in Ukraine, along with developments in a diplomatic row about foreign fighters.

If you’re just catching up on the day’s news, here’s what you need to know:

Ukrainian armed forces hit Mariupol on Friday with two long-range missiles, according to the occupied city’s Russian-installed mayor, Oleg Morgun.

In a Telegram post, Morgun said emergency services were at the scene but there were no deaths, injuries or damage to the city’s infrastructure, according to preliminary reports.

Officials with the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic had earlier said explosions in the city Friday were due to a Ukrainian rocket attack, and social media videos showed images which CNN geolocated to the site of the Azovstal steel plant, the infamous site of a weeks-long siege in the early months of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

What Ukrainian officials are saying: Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the city’s Ukrainian mayor, chimed in about Friday’s blast in a series of Telegram posts.

He said Russian forces have set up checkpoints blocking a bridge near the Azovstal plant, and described a scene of confusion, with Russian emergency workers at the scene of the strike.

The Ukrainian official said Russian forces set up an ammunition depot near the plant. CNN cannot independently verify this claim.

“The hit was on the territory of Azovstal,” Andriushchenko said. “Remember we said that they were setting up a base there to avoid strikes? Well, they set it up along with the ammo depot.”

Andriushchenko went on to mock the Russian-backed officials’ handling of the strikes.

“Buses with workers are being sent to Azovstal to clear the rubble,” he said. “The official version is that they are looking for ‘workers.’ Why on earth would you need workers in the middle of the night is clear to everyone … we can conclude that everything is bad at Azovstal.”

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the strike.

The US Defense Department has a new cyberspace strategy that draws lessons from Russia’s war on Ukraine and aims to use cyber operations to deter and “frustrate” US adversaries, according to a summary released by the Pentagon on Friday. 

The new strategy, which could define how the United States military approaches a crucial domain in cyberspace, singles out China as the “pacing challenge in the cyber domain.”

The Chinese government “has made significant investments in military cyber capabilities and empowered a number of proxy organizations to pursue malicious cyber activities against the United States,” the summary of the new Defense Department strategy says. The department sent the classified strategy to Congress this week, according to the summary. 

Russia, meanwhile, “poses an acute threat in cyberspace,” the summary says, “evidenced by its malign influence efforts against the United States and repeated cyber attacks against Ukrainian civilian critical infrastructure.” 

An example of how US military hackers look to “frustrate” their adversaries came in 2018, when Cyber Command temporarily knocked offline a Russian troll farm spouting disinformation during the 2018 election.

Some context: In the five years since the last Pentagon cyber strategy, the US military has been more public about its willingness to use offensive and defense cyber operations to defend US interests. And Cyber Command, the military unit responsible for hacking operations, has taken on a greater role in defending US critical infrastructure, including elections, from cyber threats. 

The command has also conducted an increasing number of so-called “hunt forward” missions in which officials travel to allied countries and, with permission, investigate hacking threats from Russia or other countries.

Employees are in shock after digging animals out from the rubble of a veterinary clinic that was hit by a Russian rocket in the city of Dnipro Friday, according to the clinic’s owner.

Ukrainian officials say strikes on the city, which also hit a hospital and damaged surrounding buildings, killed two people and wounded at least 31 others, including two young children.

A rocket hit the vet clinic around 10:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET), causing a fire, according to clinic owner Dr. Andrii Malyshko.

“All the employees are in a state of shock,” Malyshko told Ukrainian TV. “All the animals were saved from the burning building.”

The clinic had numerous dogs and some cats, which were all transferred to clinics nearby, according to Malyshko.

Local dog owners have launched a campaign to gather donations for Malyshko and his clinic. A woman named Yulia Honcharova said her dog Leia is from the clinic. She called on pet owners who Malyshko has helped in the past to now support him.

“Together it will be easier to bear,” Honcharova said.

Explosions were reported in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol Friday evening, according to social media video and officials on both the Ukrainian and Russian-backed sides. It is unclear exactly what caused the explosions. 

The deposed Mariupol City Council said in a post on Telegram that there were strikes at the steel plant Azovstal that is now under Russian control.

“We are waiting for some good news,” the council said in the social media post.

Meanwhile, there was shelling coming from the Ukrainian-held side Friday evening, according to the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) Joint Center for Control and Coordination.

The center said Ukraine’s military launched two long-range rockets at Mariupol from the northwest around 8:10 p.m. (1:10 p.m. ET).

Social media videos posted by unofficial accounts show a smoke plume seen above Mariupol. A local Mariupol Telegram channel posted an image of a strike on Mariupol, which CNN has geolocated to the site of the Azovstal steel plant.

Mariupol has become an important staging point for Russian forces in southern Ukraine, and Russian military convoys frequently pass through.

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed reporting to this post.

The number of people injured in Friday’s attack on the city of Dnipro has risen to 31 people, including eight doctors and two children, according to the head of Dnipro’s regional council, Mykola Lukashuk.

Among the injured, 16 people were taken to hospitals and the others are receiving outpatient treatment, Lukashuk said in a Telegram post. 

“Two of the injured are in serious condition, 12 people are in moderate condition, and the rest have minor injuries,” Lukashuk added. 

It was a ballistic missile that hit Dnipropetrovsk City Hospital No. 14, which was partially destroyed, Lukashuk said. The blast set the second floor on fire.

A one-story business nearby also caught fire, but firefighters extinguished the blaze, the official said. A sports complex, school, surrounding homes and cars were also damaged.

Russia’s attack on a hospital in Dnipro city was a “deliberate strike on a civilian object,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said, adding that it proves Russia is targeting civilians.

“This is absolutely clear evidence that Russia has in principle changed the tactics of its rocket attacks. Now it is mainly strikes on civilians — deliberately on facilities such as the hospital in Dnipro, with the intention to inflict a psychological (blow) and obviously kill as many people as possible,” Podolyak said in an interview with CNN’s senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen.

The hospital attack Friday morning killed two people and wounded at least 30, including young children, local officials say.

Podolyak said similar strikes have hit residential areas and places like hospitals and schools in the last few months. Specifically in the southern Kherson and eastern Kharkiv regions, Podolyak said Russia destroys “residential areas every day with artillery, in the same way.”

“It seems to me that it’s time to stop expecting Russia to behave conventionally, as a country that follows some rules imposed by international law or some conventions. No, it wages war against the civilian population as demonstratively as possible,” Podolyak said.

The presidential adviser said attacks on Ukraine’s civilian population constitute war crimes. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the Dnipro attack in his daily address Friday: “It is a pure atrocity: a Russian missile, ballistics – against a hospital and a veterinary clinic. Absolutely sick creatures.” 

CNN’s Yulia Kesaieva in Kyiv contributed to this report. 

The European Union is condemning the agreement between Moscow and Minsk to deploy Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, calling it “a step which will lead to further extremely dangerous escalation,” the bloc said Friday. 

“The Belarusian regime is an accomplice in Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine,” the European External Action Service said in a statement, calling on Belarus to “reverse decisions that can only contribute to heightening tensions in the region, and undermine Belarus’ sovereignty.” 

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that the transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus has begun, according to state news agency Belta. 

There have been more than 900 attacks on health care in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization. 

Of the 967 total attacks, 868 of them impacted medical facilities, WHO data shows. In total, strikes on health care in Ukraine have resulted in at least 97 deaths and 126 injuries since February 25, 2022. 

Russia’s attack on a medical facility in Dnipro city on Friday is not yet included in the WHO data or death toll, given that the organization’s process for verifying attacks takes some time. The most recent attack on health care in Ukraine that is recorded by WHO occurred on May 7, 2023, and impacted a mobile clinic.

“WHO condemns all acts of violence against healthcare. These attacks not only kill and maim but also deprive people of urgently needed care, endanger healthcare providers, and undermine health systems,” WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said in a statement to CNN. 

“Attacks on health care workers, patients, transport, supplies, and health facilities are a flagrant violation of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law and must stop now,” Harris added. “We call for an immediate cessation of all activities that endanger the lives of health care workers and patients or impede delivery of essential health services.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has rejected an invitation from his counterpart Vladimir Putin to visit Russia, he said Friday. Lula said Putin invited him over the phone to visit the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. 

“I replied I cannot go to Russia right now, but I repeated Brazil’s availability to, along with India, Indonesia and China, to talk with both sides of the conflict in search for peace,” Lula tweeted.

In turn, Putin said Russia is open “to dialogue on the political and diplomatic track, which is still blocked by Kiev and its Western sponsors,” the Kremlin said in a statement Friday, adding the phone call was initiated by the Brazilian side.

The two heads of state also talked about the recent Group of Seven meeting, and about Russian-Brazilian cooperation.

The Kremlin did not mention an invitation to St. Petersburg.

On Thursday, Lula also tweeted he talked on the phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the “need for peace in Ukraine.”

Some background: Lula has been trying to position himself as a possible mediating force in the conflict for months now.

The Brazilian president has proposed creating “a G20 for peace” — a group of countries strong enough to be respected at the negotiating table, but that are still considered by some as neutral in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Indonesia, India, and China would play a crucial role in his vision, but Latin American countries are also invited to join the apparent initiative. He also revealed that during his talks with Xi in April, they discussed forming a group of like-minded leaders on Ukraine.

Lula has struggled to make his proposals widely persuasive. One controversial idea that he floated would see Ukraine cede Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, in exchange for peace — a concession Kyiv has ruled out and which the White House described as “simply misguided.”

CNN’s Julia Jones contributed to this post.

Despite leading a new coalition to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 fighter jet, the Dutch prime minister was guarded Friday on committing to actually sending the aircraft to Ukraine.

“The decision to deliver F-16s, that has not yet been made,” Mark Rutte told journalists during a news conference. “Again, American permission first applies for this. If you’re going to train, it’s obvious that you would seriously think about it. But it has not yet been decided.”

President Joe Biden informed G7 leaders last week that the US will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation aircraft — a modern class of fighters that includes F-16s. The Biden administration has also signaled it would not block the planes’ export, sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.

The Netherlands is leading the joint training mission, together with Belgium and the United Kingdom, Rutte said. There are additional European countries who have told the Dutch government they are interested in helping, he added.

Rutte said starting the training mission was important, but the discussion on actually sending planes should happen separately. 

Rutte did acknowledge the Netherlands has a fleet of F-16s that it will no longer need, as it transitions to the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet. But when pressed by a journalist, he refused to comment on any Dutch desire to send those planes to Ukraine.

“The Netherlands really does play, I think, a role that’s important at this moment in the whole question about Ukraine and weapons deliveries,” Rutte said. “But we are not so big that we can afford to put out all kinds of releases through the media that might give other partners the feeling that, ‘Hey, we’re now being pressured through the media.’ That’s why we never say anything about it until it’s over.”

France condemned Russia’s strikes on Ukraine, including on a Dnipro hospital Friday morning, calling them “war crimes” that “cannot go unpunished,” according to a statement from the French Foreign Ministry. 

The missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine “once again deliberately targeted civilian sites,” the ministry said, “in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”

Where things stand: At least two people are dead and at least 30 people, including two children are among the injured, according to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region military administration. Rescuers are searching for survivors in the rubble of a clinic. Officials said authorities still can’t reach three people who may have been at the facility at the time of the attack. 

CNN’s Maria Kostenko in Kyiv contributed to this post.

The number of people injured in Friday’s attack on the city of Dnipro has risen to 30 people, including two children, according to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region military administration.

The search for three people who could have been at the facility at the time of the attack is still ongoing, regional military administration head Serhii Lysak said in a Telegram post on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration confirmed that two people died in the rocket strike.

Meanwhile, Dnipro Mayor Boris Filatov told journalists that a change of shifts for doctors was ongoing when the attack occurred at the Dnipropetrovsk City Hospital No. 14 — meaning fewer people were working at the facility at the time.

A fire caused by the rocket has been extinguished, he added.

Any conflict would end with negotiations, but as long as the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in power, no talks would be possible, Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, said Friday during a visit to Vietnam, according to state news agency TASS. 

“As long as the current regime and clown Zelensky are in power in Kiev, talks will be impossible,” Medvedev said, adding that at some point an agreement would have to be negotiated.

“Everything always ends in negotiations. This is inevitable, but as long as these people are in power, the situation for Russia will not change in terms of negotiations,” Medvedev said.

Medvedev went on to say that it is worth weighing all proposals for peace in Ukraine offered by various countries.

“As for peace plans being proposed, all of them should be considered,” Medvedev said, commenting on the peace plans proposed by China and other countries.

Some context: China’s peace plan and claim for neutrality have been undermined by Beijing’s refusal to acknowledge the nature of the conflict, as well as its diplomatic and economic support for Moscow. Its officials have repeatedly said that the “legitimate” security concerns of all countries must be taken into account and accused NATO and the US of fueling the conflict.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called on senior US diplomats on Friday to express “strong protest” over US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s remarks about Ukrainian strikes on Crimea, after he said the US has not placed limitations on Kyiv to hit its territory.

The ministry called Sullivan’s remarks in an interview with CNN on Sunday “unacceptable.”

Sullivan also said that Washington will not enable Ukraine with Western systems to attack Russian territory, which includes Crimea.

A statement by the ministry said: “It was emphasized that the assurances of American officials that the United States does not encourage such attacks on Russia are hypocritical and false, given the direct material evidence of the use of weapons and equipment supplied for the needs of the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] by the Pentagon to prepare and carry out terrorist acts by Ukrainian militants.”

“The hostile actions of the United States, which has long been a party to the conflict, plunged Russian-American relations into a deep and dangerous crisis, fraught with unpredictable consequences,” the ministry added. 

“It is time for Washington to learn that any form of aggression against Russia will continue to meet the strongest resistance.”

Some context: Diplomatic relations between Western allies of Kyiv and the Kremlin further deteriorated after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) damaged buildings in Krasnodar on Friday, after local media reported that an explosion was heard in the southern Russian city.

The governor of Krasnodar Veniamin Kondratiev said no major infrastructure was impacted, and said there were no casualties following the incident.

On Friday morning, videos geo-located by CNN showed what appeared to be a UAV in the sky followed by the sound of an explosion. Other social media images show smoke rising from the building, and another image shows the building damaged.

State news agency TASS reported that the city’s emergency call center was alerted to an explosion on Morskaya Street early Friday.

“Emergency services were sent to the scene. No casualties have been reported. There was damage to the building’s roof and windows, but no fire,” according to TASS.

At least two people were killed and over a dozen more injured in Dnipro, after a shower of Russian strikes hit the central Ukrainian city on Friday.

Here are the latest developments:

At least two people have died and 23 people left injured following an attack on a medical facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday.

A 69-year-old man “was just passing by when the rocket struck the city” and the body of another man “was pulled out of the rubble,” said Serhii Lysak, head of the regional military administration.

He said that 23 people were wounded in the bombardment, with 21 of them hospitalized and three in a critical condition.

At least four people are missing following the attack in Dnipro, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office.

The fire covered 1,000 square meters of the medical facility, where a three-story building was partially destroyed, Lysak added.

He added that rescue workers are searching for people under the rubble.

CNN geolocated the attack to Dnipropetrovsk City Hospital No. 14 and a veterinary clinic in an industrial district north of the Dnipro river in Dnipro. 

The Kremlin demanded that the United Kingdom and other countries unfreeze Russian foreign assets without any conditions, as Western allies of Ukraine load economic pressure onto Moscow over the conflict.

“Britain and other countries that encroached on Russian assets are obliged to unfreeze them immediately without any conditions,” Moscow spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

“Otherwise, they violate all the norms and rules of both their domestic legislation and international law,” he added.

Some background: The United States and its allies have blocked or seized $58 billion worth of assets owned or controlled by sanctioned Russians in the past year, in an effort to crunch Russia’s economy amid the war.

The Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force said in March that they will “redouble” their efforts to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates.

REPO is a joint effort between the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, the UK and the European Commission. It was established last year in order to monitor sanctions evasion.

CNN’s Sam Fossum contributed reporting.

Sweden will “try to accommodate” instructing Ukrainian pilots on Gripen fighter jets if Ukraine makes the request, Sweden’s defense minister told CNN, as Kyiv ramps up pleas to Western allies about the procurement of fighter aircraft.

“We are eager to support Ukraine in all ways possible and if they want their pilots to evaluate Gripen, we will try to accommodate that, although some decision remains on both sides,” Sweden’s Defense Minister Pal Jonson said.

He was responding to a question about a Thursday report from Swedish public broadcaster SVT that said Ukrainian pilots will be trained on the jets.

He added that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has requested a “limited operational evaluation” of the Swedish Gripen Fighter system. “We are currently working to meet the criterias of this request.”

While Jonson indicated Sweden is willing to train Ukrainian pilots, he also told CNN that Stockholm will not be supplying Ukraine with Gripen fighter aircraft “at this stage.”

“We exclude nothing when it comes to supporting Ukraine,” Jonson reflected. “However, at this stage we will not at be able to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Swedish Gripen Fighters.”

Jonson met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday.

Last week, US President Joe Biden told G7 leaders that the US will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on US-made F-16 aircraft. The United Kingdom and the Netherlands have both stated that they intend to provide Ukraine with these F-16 jets.

Lawyers for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich have appealed the latest extension of his pre-trial detention, after a court in Moscow prolonged it by three months on Tuesday.

The decision on the extension of the US journalist’s detention to August 30 was appealed on Thursday, according to the Lefortovo court website.

Gershkovich was arrested in Russia in March, in a sign of the Kremlin’s clampdown on foreign media outlets since it invaded Ukraine last year.

He is being held in a pre-trial detention center at the notorious Lefortovo prison, where he faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges.

The Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied the spying accusations against Gershkovich, who has been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department.

CNN’s Stephanie Halasz and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting.

Two children aged 3 and 6 are among those injured in the attack on a medical clinic in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, the head of the regional military administration has said.

Regional head Serhii Lysak said two adults were hospitalized with “heavy” injuries.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office has raised the number of injured to 16, adding that the strike hit a medical and veterinary facility in the city and that “a fire broke out as a result.” 

In a short statement on Telegram the prosecutors office added that “the number of injured is being established. Private houses, multi-apartment buildings have been damaged.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that one person had died and 15 had been left injured after the bombardment.

Scenes emerged of fires ripping through one of the buildings of the medical facility. The video, posted by a regional military official, also showed smoke billowing out of windows and a totally collapsed roof.

The international medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières tweeted it was “supporting” Ukrainian emergency services at the scene of the strike.

One of Russia’s top universities has announced it will fund education for veterans of the war in Ukraine and their families.

Nikita Anisimov, the head of the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow, said the institution “will train participants of the special military operation” — the Kremlin’s euphemism for the invasion.

Anisimov added that the university will offer “main educational programs” to the children and close relatives of those who served in the war “at the expense of the university.”

The scheme comes on top of the presidential decree that previously introduced a particular quota, reserving 10% of admission places for the children of war participants, according to the statement.

The HSE’s decision also allows students from other state universities to transfer, provided they bridge any gaps in academic programs.

In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing a fund to provide financial, legal, medical and other aid to soldiers fighting in Ukraine and their families.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that one person has died and 15 are wounded following an attack on a medical clinic in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

Zelensky said: “Russian terrorists once again confirm their status of fighters against everything humane and honest.”

He added “the shelling aftermath is being eliminated and the victims are being rescued. All necessary services are involved.”

Earlier, the head of the regional military administration, Serhii Lysak, wrote on Telegram that Russian forces “have struck a medical facility. There are casualties.”

The United States Treasury has sanctioned the head of the Wagner private military group in Mali, Ivan Maslov, as part of its pushback on Wagner expansionism in Africa supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to a press release published Thursday.

The Treasury also confirmed the findings of a CNN investigation into Wagner’s support for the Sudan paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the current war devastating the country.

“The Wagner Group may be attempting to obscure its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, including by working through Mali and other countries where it has a foothold. The United States opposes efforts by any country to assist Russia through the Wagner Group,” the release said.  

A US official, citing US intelligence, told CNN earlier this month that the Biden administration had been informed that Wagner had been trying to ship equipment for use in Ukraine through Mali and falsifying paperwork for the transactions.

The official said at the time that there were no signs yet that Wagner had successfully procured the equipment, but the group had continued working to procure mines, drones, radar and counter-battery systems from contacts in Mali for use in Ukraine.

Maslov is a senior Wagner Group security official who was tasked by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitriy Valeryevich Utkin to lead the Wagner Group’s mercenary units in Mali, according to the Treasury press release. 

Both Prigozhin and Utkin have been sanctioned by the US, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Canada.  

The press release added that Wagner has meddled in and destabilized countries in Africa, committed widespread human rights abuses and appropriated natural resources.  

A medical facility has been hit in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the head of the regional military administration said Friday.

Serhii Lysak wrote on Telegram that Russian forces “have struck a medical facility. There are casualties.” No further details have been given.

Strikes overnight: A series of drone and missile strikes rained down across Ukraine  — in particular the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions — overnight Thursday into Friday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

The attacks began at 10 p.m. Thursday night and the last one was reported at 5 a.m. the following morning, the Air Force said.

In the city of Dnipro, Lysak said five cruise missiles and six “Shahed” drones were downed by Ukrainian forces.

Lysak said a fire had broken out in a private household and two private enterprises, but were extinguished, while a transportation company, two houses and a car were damaged. A gas station was also affected and an injured employee had received medical treatment.

Graivoron in Russia’s Belgorod region was shelled overnight, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

The area is one of those that has been attacked by anti-Putin Russian nationals, who are aligned with the Ukrainian army, in recent days. Belgorod borders northeastern Ukraine.

Gladkov did not report any casualties, but said a gas pipeline and a power transmission line were damaged by shells, as were several households and a shop.

He added that emergency services were on the scene.

A series of drone and missile strikes rained down across Ukraine — and in particular the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions — overnight Thursday into Friday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

The attacks began at 10 p.m. Thursday night and the last one was reported at 5 a.m. the following morning, the Air Force said.

The command reported 17 cruise missiles and 31 “attack drones” and noted that there were strikes in Dnipro and Kharkiv regions using S-300/S-400 missile systems.

In the city of Dnipro, the head of the regional military administration Serhii Lysak said five cruise missiles and six “Shahed” drones were downed by Ukrainian forces.

On the damage caused, Lysak said a fire had broken out in a private household and two private enterprises, but were extinguished, while a transportation company, two houses and a car were damaged. A gas station was also affected and an injured employee had received medical treatment.

Kyiv also saw some air attacks across the city. Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, posted on Telegram that Tu-95MS strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea area, presumably with Kh-101/Kh-555 missiles, had targeted the city, but all were “detected and destroyed.”

He said in another post shortly after that there was some damage due to falling debris in the Obolon and Shevchenkivskyi districts of the city, but did not cite any casualties.

Some context: The latest round of attacks come as Ukraine has been facing an intensified aerial assault from Russian forces – providing a key test for its air defense systems.

Russia would launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike if the West provided Ukraine with nuclear weapons, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday.

Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev saying that “in case the West provides Ukraine with the nuclear weapon, we will have to make a pre-emptive strike.”

“The more destructive the weapons supplied to Kiev, the more likely a nuclear apocalypse scenario,” Medvedev added in comments made to reporters while on a trip to Vietnam.

Russian state media outlet Tass cited Medvedev as saying “the Anglo-Saxons are not fully aware of this and believe that it will not come to this,” adding that “it will come, under certain conditions.”

The TASS article stated that Medvedev was commenting on the expanding range of weapons that NATO countries have pledged to send to Ukraine, when he said “maybe they will give nuclear weapons.”

He then warned, “but then it will mean that a missile with a nuclear charge will arrive at them.”

Some context: The US and its allies have not suggested they would provide nuclear weapons to Ukraine. NATO has decried Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear rhetoric and warned of “severe consequences for Russia” if any such weapons were used.

An explosion was heard in the Russian city of Krasnodar on Friday morning, state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported.

Citing the operational headquarters of Krasnodar territory, the news agencies said the roof and windows of a building on Morskaya Street had been damaged. No casualties have been reported so far.

Social media videos geolocated by CNN to Morskaya Street show what appears to be an unmanned aerial vehicle in the sky, followed by the sound of an explosion. Other social media images show smoke rising from the building, and another image shows the building damaged.

“According to information coming to the city’s emergency call center, at 04:17 a.m. in the city of Krasnodar, an explosion was heard in the area of a building on Morskaya Street, 54/2,” Tass said.

“Emergency services were sent to the scene. No casualties have been reported. There was damage to the building’s roof and windows, but no fire,” the report said.

The waters of the Caspian Sea appear deceptively calm. But this sea route – which provides a direct path between Iran and Russia – is increasingly busy with cargo traffic, including suspected weapons transfers from Tehran to Moscow.

As cooperation between the two countries deepens, the Caspian Sea route is being used to move drones, bullets, and mortar shells that the Russian government has purchased from the Iranian regime to bolster its war effort in Ukraine, according to experts. Tracking data shows that vessels in the region are increasingly going “dark” – suggesting growing intent to obfuscate the movement of goods.

Last year, data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence revealed a September spike in the number of gaps in vessels tracking data in the Caspian. That’s shortly after the United States and Ukrainian governments say Moscow acquired drones from Tehran last summer. Russia’s use of Iranian drones increased in the fall, including against critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

And analysts say that Ukraine’s Western allies would have little power to stop such arms deliveries.

“There is no risk to Iranian exports in the Caspian Sea because of the bordering countries – they don’t have the capability or motive to interdict in these sorts of exchanges,” said Martin Kelly, lead intelligence analyst at security company EOS Risk Group.

Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, all former Soviet republics, are the other nations with ports on the Caspian Sea.

It’s a “perfect environment for this trade to go unopposed,” Kelly added.

Read the full story here.

Above Tbilisi’s Old Town stands the Mother of Georgia statue, like a less imposing Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. “Kartlis Deda,” as she is known to Georgians, holds a wine cup in her left hand and a sword in her right. She offers a choice to new arrivals. Come as a friend, you are our guest. Come as an enemy, you are not welcome.

Tbilisi, an ancient Silk Road city, is no stranger to foreigners turning up on its streets. But the arrival of more than 100,000 Russians in the country since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year has left Georgians uncertain whether to welcome them as friends or shun them as foes.

The government’s recent attempt to force through what critics see as a Kremlin-style “foreign agent” law, and the huge protests which prevented this, have not helped émigrés to settle in or locals to feel at ease alongside the new arrivals.

Many in Georgia fear what they see as the creeping Russification of their country – a story they know all too well.

On the streets of Tbilisi, the reception for Russian émigrés has also been mixed. “It’s a whole range of attitudes,” said Ivan, a 20-something IT consultant from a city in Russia’s far east. CNN is withholding Ivan’s real name, to protect him from retribution should he ever return to Russia.

Some Georgians are “warm and welcoming” and treat Russians as their “brothers,” Ivan told CNN. Others tell them to “get out.” The key difference is age, he has found.

Read the full story here.

The Russian reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs was seemingly hit by an unmanned surface vessel in the Black Sea, new video shows, disputing Moscow’s claim it had been able to thwart a Ukrainian attack on the craft.

Footage shared by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on social media Thursday and analyzed by CNN appeared to show the moments just before the impact. 

Here are other headlines you should know:

Bakhmut developments: Ukraine’s number of clashes with Wagner mercenaries in and around Bakhmut has been decreasing over the past few days, according to the spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Meanwhile, more than 100 Ukrainians who fought in the Bakhmut area and were captured by Russian troops have been released in a prisoner swap, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office said Thursday. And the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, told CNN he has handed over to Ukrainian authorities the body of a retired US Army Special Forces soldier who died fighting for Bakhmut.

Elsewhere in Ukraine: Russian officials in the occupied southern city of Berdiansk said Ukrainian forces have struck the city with a missile. A member of Russia’s local administration in Zaporizhzhia said he still did not have information on casualties, adding that response teams were on site. And in the eastern Donetsk region, an official has accused Russian forces of destroying a dam and endangering nearby residents.

Military equipment: Finland on Thursday pledged to send additional military equipment to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus has begun, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday, according to state news agency BelTA.

Tariff and quota suspension: 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.

Foreign fighters on trial: Five foreigners who fought for Ukraine are to stand trial in absentia in Russia, according to state media. The group all fought for Ukraine in the defense of the southern city of Mariupol. 

US President Joe Biden’s administration has reiterated in conversations with Ukraine that it does not support attacks on Russian soil, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN Thursday.

“We have again made it very clear to the Ukrainians what our expectations are about attacking Russia — we don’t want to encourage or enable that, we certainly don’t want any US-made equipment used to attack Russian soil,” Kirby told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

“And we have gotten assurances from the Ukrainians that they will respect those wishes … we have been very clear that we want Ukraine to be able to defend its own soil, its own territory. They have been attacked. They have been invaded. They have a right to defend themselves,” he continued. “But, we’ve also been clear, well, that we don’t want to see this war escalate beyond this, the devastation and the violence that is already visited on the Ukrainian people.” 

The conversations with Ukraine didn’t involve “outlining consequences” but were “simply a reaffirmation,” Kirby told CNN. He added that these discussions have happened “as recently as over just the last day or so.”

Some context: Kirby’s comments come on the heels of a CNN report that anti-Putin Russian fighters, fighting alongside Ukrainian armed forces, conducted a raid inside Russian territory. 

In an interview with CNN’s Sam Kiley, one of the Russian nationals said the raid was conducted using American-manufactured equipment purchased on the open market. Kirby said Thursday that he could not confirm that.

He instead said the US is providing equipment “to be used to defend Ukrainian soil.”

The Russian reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs was seemingly hit by an unmanned surface vessel in the Black Sea, new video shows, disputing a claim by Moscow, which said on Wednesday it had been able to thwart a Ukrainian attack on the craft.

Footage shared by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on social media Thursday and analyzed by CNN appeared to show the moments just before the impact. 

The video is filmed from a camera placed on the surface vessel. It shows the vessel as it approaches a larger ship at high speed.  

CNN analysis determined the ship is likely to be the Ivan Khurs. It also shows the tip of the unmanned surface vessel, similar to the unmanned surface vessels seen in video posted by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Thursday.

The feed cuts as the vessel comes within a few yards of  the ship. 

“When the Russian reconnaissance ship ‘Ivan Khurs’ met a Ukrainian drone,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said in a tweet. “Indeed, a perfect match!”

More background: On Wednesday, the Russian defense ministry acknowledged the attack on the Ivan Khurs but said all the surface vessels had failed to hit the ship. 

“Today at 5:30 a.m., the armed forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the Ivan Khurs ship of the Black Sea Fleet with three unmanned speedboats,” said the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov. “All enemy boats were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of a Russian ship 140 kilometers northeast of the Bosphorus.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense also shared footage that appears to show one of the surface vessels exploding as it is hit by gunfire. 

“The ship ‘Ivan Khurs’ of the Black Sea Fleet continues to fulfill its tasks,” Konashenkov added. 

It is unclear what happened after the surface vessel seemingly hit the Ivan Khurs and how damaged the reconnaissance ship may have been during the attack.

CNN has reached out to Ukrainian sources for additional details but has yet to hear back. 

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. 

“They were found under the ruins of a building, or more accurately he and his documents. When the Ukrainians withdrew they blew up the building, and they died under the destroyed building. We weren’t able to get her out, but we got him out and will return to his motherland,” Prigozhin says of the Turkish citizens.

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.

The transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus has begun, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday, according to state news agency BelTA.

“It was necessary to prepare storage sites, and so on. We did all this. Therefore, the movement of nuclear weapons began,” Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko also promised the safety of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying: “Don’t worry about nuclear weapons. We are responsible for this. These are serious issues. Everything will be all right here.”

Some background: This comes after Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement on deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, one of Russia’s neighbors and most loyal allies. Lukashenko raised the possibility of Russia placing strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus during a national address in March, while baselessly accusing Western countries of “preparing to invade” Belarus and “destroy” it.

Finland on Thursday pledged to send additional military equipment to Ukraine.

Finland’s 16th defense package to Ukraine will include anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition and will be worth 109 million euros (about $117 million), a Finnish defense ministry spokesperson told CNN.

That brings the total defense aid from Finland to Ukraine since Russian invasion began last year to 1.1 billion euros (about $1.18 billion).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Finnish government for the aid in a tweet:

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.

Russian officials in occupied Berdiansk said Ukrainian forces have struck the city with a missile.

Ukraine’s military “launched a massive strike” on the city, Vladimir Rogov, a member of Russia’s local administration in Zaporizhzhia, posted on Telegram on Thursday. 

Rogov said he still did not have information on casualties, adding that response teams were on site.

“It’s not yet known whether British Storm Shadow missiles or something else was used,” Rogov added.

If Ukraine was behind the alleged strike, the use of Storm Shadow missiles are a likely option, given Berdiansk is deep in Russian-controlled territory, around 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) from the front line. 

About the missiles: The Storm Shadow is a long-range cruise missile with stealth capabilities, jointly developed by the UK and France, which is typically launched from the air. With a firing range in excess of 250 kilometers, or 155 miles, it is just short of the 185-mile range capability of the US-made surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, that Ukraine has long asked for. The United Kingdom said it delivered multiple of the Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine earlier in May.