July 24, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Lithuania’s State Defence Council approved a military assistance plan to Ukraine, worth 200 million euros ($221 million), the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

“The Assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine Plan the State Defence Council has approved for 2024-2026 will be worth approx. EUR 200 million,” the ministry’s statement read, adding that the package covers acquisition of lethal and non-lethal aid, military training, repair of military equipment in Lithuania and personnel training.

Read the full statement here.

Col. Yevgeny Vashunin, a Russian commander, was killed on the battlefield in Ukraine, the Russian state news agency TASS said Monday. 

Vashunin was a commander of the “Leningrad Regiment,” which consists of mobilized residents of St. Petersburg and the northwest regions of Russia, according to TASS. 

He “died after a serious injury sustained while performing his duty in the special military operation,” the news agency said.

Alexander Belsky, chairman of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, said that while on the battlefield, Vashunin decided to come to the aid of the Russian Storm detachment that was encircled by Ukrainian forces, TASS reported. 

During the fight with Ukrainians, he was “cut off from fellow soldiers and seriously wounded,” Belsky said, according to TASS. “Despite self-help measures, he died.”

Vashunin was ”posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia,” Belsky said. 

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says that Ukraine will continue carrying out attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the Kerch Bridge that connects it to the Russian mainland, while also admitting that Ukraine’s plan for its sluggish counteroffensive is behind schedule.

As Russia has pummeled the southern port city of Odesa and the surrounding region over the past week, Ukraine has continued to carry out strikes inside Crimea. On Tuesday, Ukrainian drones hit an ammunition depot, just a week after seaborne drones struck the Kerch Bridge.

Asked if Ukraine’s goal is to permanently disable the bridge, Reznikov responded: “It’s normal tactics to ruin the logistic lines of your enemy to stop the options to get more ammunition, to get more fuel, to get more food, etcetera. That’s why we will use these tactics against them.”

Reznikov also accused Russia of operating as “a terrorist state.”

The fifth night of Russian strikes in Odesa badly damaged more than two dozen landmarks in the historic city center. Drones meanwhile pounded the region’s port infrastructure, targeting crucial grain stocks days.

Read more here

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discovered mines at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) site, agency chief Rafael Grossi said Monday —after previous claims by Kyiv that it had been mined.   

“IAEA experts have observed directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery of the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia NPP,” Grossi said in a statement, adding that the mines were spotted during a walkdown on Sunday.  

Zaporizhzhia NPP is currently occupied by Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on world leaders to put pressure on Russia to hand the station over to the IAEA and for Russian fighters to leave the territory of the station.  

Grossi added that the IAEA team has been aware of the previous placement of mines outside and inside of the plant and they have been told that it was “a military decision, and in an area controlled by military.” 

“IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers,” Grossi said, noting that the mines were “situated in a restricted area that operating plant personnel cannot access and were facing away from the site.”  

Grossi called having explosives on the site “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance.”  

Ukrainian air defenses are at work in the Kyiv region on the outskirts of the capital, according to Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv city military administration.

Ukraine’s Air Force said there is a threat of Russian UAV attacks in the area.

The Kyiv city military administration also said there were air raid sirens in the country’s capital early Tuesday.

Progress is slow in Ukraine’s counteroffensive efforts, officials said, pointing to several variables that are impeding progress on the front lines.

Ukraine has claimed responsibility for drone strikes that hit Moscow and Crimea.

Here are the top headlines:

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is partly struggling because of Russian ability to jam drones, according to military officials.

Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Ukrainian forces in the south, said heavy losses were being inflicted on the Russians, but it’s clear that progress is slow.

One reason, according to Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuri Inhat, is that Russia has a major advantage in electronic warfare. 

“Regrettably, the occupiers have gone far ahead of us in this regard. You don’t have to shoot down a drone with anti-aircraft missiles or anti-aircraft guns. You can simply force it to land, intercept it with electronic warfare,” he said on Ukrainian television.
“Russia today has powerful systems that interfere with the work of our defense forces. It has enough of these systems. Ukraine has made progress in electronic warfare, but we started late, we should have developed [this area] earlier,” Inhat added.

Ukrainian forces say they are making modest progress in the east and south, as well as restraining Russian efforts to move forward in the Donetsk region, but overall there appears to have been little change on the front lines.

Ukrainian military officials said Russian minefields and electronic warfare capabilities are impeding progress.

Here’s where things stand:

In the south: Oleksandr Kurbatov, with the Dnipro city territorial defense, said Monday that Ukrainian units were working hard to move forward in an area known as the Vremivskyi Ledge. 

He said that Russian forces were bringing in new units of “highly qualified military” who are using the cover of darkness and carefully designed corridors through the minefields to attack Ukrainian positions.

Valerii Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukrainian forces in the south, acknowledged that progress was slow, saying that “strike units had partial success and advanced into enemy territory from 350 meters up to 1.4 kms.” 

Near Melitopol: The general staff of the Ukrainian military said that offensive operations continued in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, and units were consolidating their positions.

Russia carried out 58 air strikes over the past day — higher than the recent average, the general staff said. Some came near the town of Kupyansk in Kharkiv, which was liberated by the Ukrainians last September and has been a target of Russian attacks. But Ukrainian officials say the Russians are being held east of the Oskil River. 

Bakhmut and the East: In the Bakhmut area, there have been efforts by the Russians to retake recently lost ground, but the general staff said a number of attacks had been repelled. 

Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian military, said that the defense forces “are gradually liberating Ukrainian land. Hundreds of meters every day, kilometers every week.”

But he said that fierce Russian resistance continued, with seven battles over the past day alone in which he claimed “94 occupiers were killed and 152 were wounded.”

CNN cannot verify Ukrainian claims of advances on the battlefield or of casualty numbers.

The Biden administration on Monday imposed sanctions against three Malian officials accused of facilitating the Wagner Group’s presence in that country.

The action comes weeks after Wagner chief Yevegny Prigozhin led an unsuccessful revolt against the Russian government. The Wagner Group is deeply entrenched in Mali and is accused of committing atrocities there.

“Since the arrival of the Wagner Group in Mali in December 2021, the number of civilian casualties in that country have surged by 278 percent,” the Treasury Department said in a news release Monday. “Many of those civilian deaths were the result of operations conducted by Malian Armed Forces alongside members of the Wagner Group.”

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mali’s Minister of Defense Col. Sadio Camara, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Col. Alou Boi Diarra, and Malian Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Adama Bagayoko for their roles in supporting the Russian mercenary group.

According to the news release from the Treasury Department, “Camara planned and organized the deployment of the Wagner Group in Mali,” and in 2021, “Camara made several trips to Russia to solidify the agreement between the Wagner Group and the Malian transition government to deploy the Wagner Group to Mali.”

Diarra accompanied Camara on several of his trips to Russia, the Treasury Department said, and “in his previous role as Air Logistics Chief, Diarra significantly contributed to the logistical movement of Russian entities in Mali.”

“Together, Camara and Diarra formulated and executed the plan that ultimately ushered the Wagner Group into Mali,” the agency said.

“Bagayoko serves as an advocate for the Wagner Group to the Burkinabe transition government, working to secure the Wagner Group’s deployment to Burkina Faso,” the Treasury said. “Additionally, Bagayoko is also reportedly seeking to facilitate the Wagner Group’s access to gold mining in Mali.”

An Agence France-Presse journalist was wounded in a Russian drone attack while reporting from a Ukrainian position near Bakhmut on Monday, according to AFP reporters who witnessed the attack.

Dylan Collins, a US citizen on assignment in Ukraine, sustained multiple shrapnel injuries in the attack in a forested area while reporting at a Ukrainian artillery position.

The video journalist was evacuated to a nearby hospital where he is being treated. Doctors say his condition is not life-threatening.

Collins, 35, is conscious, according to the international news agency.

“We are investigating the full circumstances behind this incident. Our thoughts are with Dylan and his loved ones,” AFP’s Europe Director Christine Buhagiar said in a statement.

Since the start of a counteroffensive in June, Ukrainian forces have been advancing slowly to the north and south of Bakhmut in an attempt to surround Russian forces and eventually re-take the city.

Collins has been working for AFP since 2018 and has reported from Middle East conflict zones. He also covered the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for AFP.

AFP video journalist Arman Soldin was killed by Russian rocket fire near Bakhmut in May.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleskii Reznikov admitted that Kyiv’s counteroffensive is behind schedule, but insisted he is “not worried” because it is going according to plan, adding that it was a “misconception that every counteroffensive should be quick.”

Reznikov listed a few reasons why the counteroffensive may be slower than anticipated, including ammunition, artillery shells and artillery systems. “It’s a question of air defense. It’s a question that we have a very long battlefield line also. And we have against us big quantity of enemies. So it’s war, it’s not a computer game,” the defense minister said in an interview with CNN over the weekend in Kyiv.

The official said, “our generals, our commanders, they see the real situation on the battlefield. And again, I have to repeat the main value for us is the life of for our soldiers.” 

The situation on the southern front in Ukraine has been slowed largely due to intricate minefields laid by Russian forces who were given time to build up defenses. Ukrainian forces have had to resort to clearing, by hand, paths through the fields, Reznikov said.

The minister said the Russians have “serious security zones with the mines” and that it “very difficult to break through.”

“We need to use our soldiers, sappers, deminers very slowly, and very slowly preparing the corridors for the real offensive movement,” Reznikov said, adding this activity in different places would confuse Russians on the main direction that Ukraine would take.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he believes the start of a power “transition moment” is underway in Moscow after the failed Wagner rebellion last month.

“This coup d’état is a real illustration that regime in the Kremlin became weaker. It means they are not so strong as they were the year before. I think we will see the continuing of this so called conflict,” he told CNN. 

In late June, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin led an armed rebellion, and while it failed, it posed questions about the performance, willingness and even the loyalty of some Russian units.

Asked if he was witnessing those around Russian President Vladimir Putin jockeying for position to replace him, Reznikov said, “I think the conflict among them started.”

More background: Prigozhin’s whereabouts have been unknown since the failed mutiny but a video emerged last week that appears to show him greeting his fighters in Belarus, in what would be his first public appearance since he led an armed rebellion in Russia last month. The video is grainy and filmed in low light so CNN cannot definitively say the speaker is Prigozhin or when it was filmed.

CIA Director Bill Burns also said last week that he believes Prigozhin is currently in Minsk, Belarus, and predicted that the Wagner leader would eventually face “retribution” from Putin.

With Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea at severe risk, President Volodymyr Zelensky is arguing for a lifting of European restrictions on exports via land.

The restrictions were introduced in five European states bordering Ukraine in May to protect their markets against being flooded with cheaper Ukrainian grain. They are due to expire in September. 

The European Commission stated when it introduced the measures: “Wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed originating in Ukraine can continue to be released for free circulation in all the Member States of the European Union other than the five frontline Member States: Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The products can continue to circulate in or transit via these five Member States by means of a common customs transit procedure or go to a country or territory outside the EU.”

The European Commission introduced the relief “given the exceptional circumstances of serious logistical bottlenecks experienced in five Member States.”

The restrictions have made it more difficult for Ukraine to export its grain using overland routes.

Zelensky said Monday: “We believe in the agreement with the European Commission, but we are preparing for any scenario. Our position is clear: blocking exports by land after September 15, when the relevant restrictions expire, is unacceptable in any form. We are in touch with all stakeholders to find a solution that suits everyone.”

Some context: Zelensky’s remarks come as Russia has repeatedly struck the southern port city of Odesa, damaging grain warehouses and further threatening Ukraine’s ability to export food after the Black Sea grain deal collapsed.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told CNN that he thinks Russia’s targeting of the Ukrainian port city of Odesa is an “absurd” approach and claimed the attacks were “new evidence they are a terrorist state.”

Speaking before the attack on the cathedral in Odesa over the weekend, Reznikov said in a wide-ranging interview with CNN senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt that he was not surprised by the ferocity of the attacks, saying that “honestly, after February of last year, it is very difficult to surprise me.”

When asked if he felt the attacks were a response to Ukraine’s admitted attack on the Kerch Bridge on July 17, Reznikov said that Moscow “tried to explain that it’s a response for some explosions in their territories, but they are fighting with the civilians. That’s why I call them looters, rapists and murderers.”  

Last week, a CNN team in Odesa witnessed four consecutive nights of attacks against the port city. The attacks came as Russia withdrew from the crucial Black Sea grain initiative. Odesa had been one of the key ports that exported Ukrainian grain to the world under a wartime agreement.

On Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative, Reznikov said “You know, that is why I have a saying, the sign of Russian signature on the paper, costs less than the price of this piece of paper.”

Ukraine will respond if attacked in the Black Sea, Reznikov told CNN.

The defense minister said “we have capacity” and “if they threaten us in the Black Sea we’ll have to respond.”

Reznikov used the example of the Russian cruiser ship The Moskva, which sank after being targeted by Ukrainian naval forces in the Black Sea. 

Last week CNN reported US officials were worried Russia may target civilian ships in the Black Sea and “blame Ukraine.” CIA director Bill Burns said “false flag” attacks by Russia in the body of water could be being prepared.

Authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa say that part of the city’s cathedral is structurally unsound after the building was hit Sunday by a Russian missile.

Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said that one of the walls at the Transfiguration Cathedral “is in an unstable position and a sudden uncontrollable collapse may occur.”

Trukhanov said emergency work was required to dismantle the dangerous section of the wall and a temporary roof was needed. 

He thanked volunteers for helping to remove rubble, but added: “We need to understand that there are dangerous areas that can pose a threat.”

Some more context: The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Monday with Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu about “collective security and unwavering support for Ukraine and Moldova, global food security, and cooperation on Black Sea security,” according to a readout from State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Their call comes in the wake of an overnight Russian strike on a Ukrainian port on the Danube River near Romania.

As CNN reported earlier, this is believed to be the closest to NATO territory a Russian-fired weapon has landed since the war began.

Wheat prices rose sharply on international markets following the strike by a Russian drone against a Ukrainian port on the Danube River.

One grain silo at the port of Reni was hit and substantially damaged, according to geolocated images and video. 

At 9 a.m. ET, the price of wheat for September delivery on the Chicago exchange was nearly 6% higher than the previous close.

Markets are concerned about a tightening supply situation following the collapse of the Black Sea grain initiative last week and a sequence of Russian drone attacks against Ukrainian port infrastructure.  

The Russian foreign ministry has issued a statement calling on international organizations to condemn the recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and Crimea. 

“We regard what happened as another use of terrorist methods by the military-political leadership of Ukraine, intimidation of the civilian population. These attacks had no military meaning,” the foreign ministry said in an official statement published Monday. 

“We strongly condemn this yet another crime of the Kyiv regime. We call on international organizations to give it a proper assessment,” it added.

The ministry blamed the West for exacerbating the situation, stating that the actions of Kyiv were influenced by the West’s focus on further escalating tensions.

“The Russian side reserves the right to take tough retaliatory measures,” the ministry said, adding that the Investigative Committee of Russia has opened criminal cases in response to these incidents, assuring that all those responsible will be identified and brought to justice.

Some context: The reported attacks come after Russian missiles badly damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, sparking outrage and prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to vow retaliation.

The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.

Ukrainian intelligence claimed responsibility for a targeted drone attack on Moscow early Monday, according to an official, as the Kremlin launched a barrage of strikes on the southern port city of Odesa amid intensified cross-border attacks from Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Here are the latest developments:

Here’s the latest map of control:

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Monday that raises the age limit by five years for certain categories of citizens to remain in Russia’s military reserve, as Moscow intensifies attacks on Ukraine.

The amendments to the Federal Law “On military duty and military service,” published on the official portal of legal information, increases the age limits for various categories of servicemen, including soldiers, sailors, sergeants, foremen, warrant officers and midshipmen.

For soldiers, sailors and sergeants, the age limit increases from 35 to 40 years. For foremen and warrant officers, it increases from 45 to 50 years, and for midshipmen, it increases from 50 to 55 years.

Additionally, the law extends the maximum age limit for those in the mobilization reserve.

The new rules will take effect on January 1, 2024, with a transitional period until January 1, 2028 when citizens in the reserve will be gradually transferred to retirement.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has criticized Moscow’s strikes on Ukraine’s river port infrastructure, calling them an “escalation” in the war.

“I strongly condemn the recent Russian attacks against the Ukrainian civilian infrastructure on Danube, very close to Romania,” Iohannis tweeted on Monday.

Romania, a NATO country, shares a border with Ukraine along the Danube River. The Danube, near the area that was struck overnight, is less that one kilometer wide.

“This recent escalation pose[s] serious risks to the security in the Black Sea,” he added. “It also affects further [Ukrainian] grain transit [and] thus the global food security.”

Russia targeted Ukrainian grain stocks overnight, the Ukrainian Army said earlier, days after Moscow withdrew from a crucial grain deal that allowed for the safe export of Ukrainian wheat to international markets — worsening a global food crisis.

Images shared with CNN by a witness on the Romanian side of the Danube show damage to the Ukrainian port of Reni, just across the river. The damage matches images shared by Ukrainian authorities earlier on Monday. In this area, the Danube River is less than 500 meters wide (1,640 feet). 

Why this matters: From all available information, CNN believes this to be the closest to NATO territory a Russian-fired weapon has landed since the war began. In March 2022, an attack on the Yavoriv military base – which killed dozens – struck roughly ten miles from the Polish border.

In November last year, two people were killed when a Ukrainian S-300 air defense missile landed in Poland.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, an arm of the Ministry of Defense, says it carried out a drone attack on Moscow early Monday morning, a Defense Intelligence official has told CNN.

The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because they had not received authorization to talk publicly about the incident.

Russian authorities said that Ukrainian drones hit two non-residential buildings in Moscow, calling the incident a “thwarted” attack. The Kremlin said later that all the drones targeting the Russian capital had been neutralized.

Russian air defenses successfully neutralized all drones that targeted Moscow on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“All the drones have been neutralized today, and measures are being taken,” Peskov said. “As for the development of the defense system, ensuring its more intensive work, this is a question for the Ministry of Defense.”

When asked about potential retaliation for the strike, Peskov reiterated Moscow will carry on with what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

“The special military operation is ongoing, it will continue, and its goals must be accomplished,” he added.

A Ukrainian security official has claimed Kyiv’s responsibility for the drone strikes that hit the Russian capital of Moscow and Crimea overnight.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) claims remnants of explosives were found aboard a bulk carrier crossing the Black Sea, which had made a stop at a Ukrainian river port earlier this year.

“On July 22, in the hold of a foreign dry cargo ship en route from Turkey to the port of Rostov-on-Don to load grain crops, traces of explosives – dinitrotoluene and tetryl were found,” the FSB said on Monday, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

“Signs of third-party interference in the structural parts of the dry cargo ship were also revealed.”

The vessel allegedly visited the Ukrainian river port of Kiliya, on the Danube River, and in July its 12-sailor Ukrainian crew was swapped out and the name of the vessel changed, the FSB claimed, according to TASS.

“These circumstances may indicate the possibility of using a foreign civilian ship to deliver explosives to the territory of Ukraine,” the FSB added.

The port of Kiliya was not part of the now defunct UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, which included the ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi, with a much larger export capacity. Moscow announced last week it was pulling out of the grain deal.

The expired grain deal allowed for the safe shipment of grain from docks in southern Ukraine, after Russia barricaded ports and exacerbated a global food crisis.

Russian drone strikes have ramped up in the region along the Danube port, amid threats from Moscow against civilian ships crossing the Black Sea.

Overnight, Russia launched what Ukrainian authorities on Monday described as “4-hour-long attack by Shahed-136 drones” directed at its port infrastructure on the Danube. The attacks hit infrastructure used to export grain, but it was not immediately clear which port was hit.

Three drones were destroyed by air defense forces, although “some got through,” according to military officials in Odesa.

One of the drones spotted in Moscow on Monday was brought down near a Russian Ministry of Defense complex. Social media footage of the aftermath, verified by CNN, showed damage to one of its buildings.

One of the buildings seen damaged in footage geolocated by CNN houses the Russian Ministry of Defense military orchestra. It was not immediately clear if the damage had been caused by the drones.

The area also houses the Russian Foreign Military Intelligence, known as GRU, 26165 unit, which carries out cyber activities, according to multiple Western sources. It’s also in the vicinity of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s National Defense Management Center.

Drones struck two non-residential buildings in Moscow in the early hours of Monday morning and were “suppressed” by defenses there, Russian authorities said, describing the incident a “thwarted” attack.

A Ukrainian security official has claimed Kyiv’s responsibility for the drone strikes that hit the Russian capital of Moscow and Crimea overnight.

“Drones attacked the orc capital and Crimea last night. Electronic warfare and air defense are becoming less and less capable of protecting the occupiers’ skies,” said Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian minister of digital transformation, in a Telegram post on Monday.
“Whatever happens, there will be more of it,” he added. 

Fedorov’s ministry is in charge of the Ukrainian “Army of Drones” initiative, the government’s drone procurement plan. 

Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks that have taken place on Russian soil or in Russian-occupied territories during the course of the war, but has recently admitted its role in the huge explosion of the Crimean bridge in October.

What happened? The Russian Ministry of Defense says Ukraine launched 17 drones toward Crimea overnight through Monday, referring to strikes on the peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russian forces in 2014, as a “terrorist attack.”

A Russian ammunition depot was hit by the Ukrainian drone attack in Crimea.

Meanwhile in Russia, Ukrainian drones struck two non-residential buildings in Moscow in the early hours of Monday morning and were “suppressed” by defenses there, Russian authorities said, describing the incident a “thwarted” attack.

The Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said he will share a report with the United States about the use of US supplied cluster munitions in Ukraine this week.

The minister, speaking to CNN’s Alex Marquardt in Kyiv over the weekend, said he is awaiting the report which he will then pass on to the Pentagon “probably Monday or Tuesday,” meaning July 24 or 25.

Reznikov, speaking exclusively to CNN added, “we’ll report about the consequences of this using [cluster munitions] so I think that next week I would have first report and I will share with my partners in Pentagon this reports. I hope that they will be more efficient than normal ammunition.” 

On Thursday the White House’s John Kirby said that Ukrainian forces are using US-provided cluster munitions against Russia “appropriately” and “effectively” in combat.”

“They are using them appropriately. They’re using them effectively and they are actually having an impact on Russia’s defensive formations and Russia’s defensive maneuvering,” Kirby told reporters. 

Reznikov wouldn’t offer detail before the report comes but said he expects them to be most effective “especially against the artillery systems, especially during the counter battery fighting and also they will be efficient against the armored personnel carriers, for the infantry fighting vehicles, they will also be good against their infantry in the fields.”

The sharing of the report is part of the deal with the Pentagon to obtain the cluster munitions, called DPICMS, Reznikov said. 

The US has said the decision to provide Ukraine with DPICMs is due to a low supply of the standard unitary 155mm artillery round. The supply of clusters is “temporary,” according to US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

CNN was first to report that the US clusters had arrived in Ukraine.

Why is it controversial? Cluster munitions scatter “bomblets” across large areas, which would allow Ukrainian forces to target larger concentrations of Russian forces and equipment with fewer rounds of ammunition.

But the bomblets can also fail to explode on impact, and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines.

The UK, France, Germany and other key US allies have outlawed the munitions under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the US and Ukraine are not signatories to the ban.

The Russian Ministry of Defense says Ukraine launched 17 drones toward Crimea overnight, referring to strikes on the peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russian forces in 2014, as a “terrorist attack.”

The ministry said 14 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) “were suppressed by means of radio-electronic warfare”.

Three of the drones were shot down by Russian air defenses, three fell into the Crimean peninsula and 11 of the drones fell into the Black Sea, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

“There were no casualties,” the MOD added.

Some context: Earlier on Monday, Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed governor of Crimea had said an ammunition depot and a house had been destroyed in strikes hitting Crimea overnight into Monday. He also said road and rail traffic had been suspended in certain areas of the peninsula. 

Traffic on the railroad and highways of parts of Crimea have been suspended “for safety reasons” following drone attacks on transport infrastructure, Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed governor of the annexed region said on Monday.

The northern part of the occupied Crimean peninsula were heavily affected, with the railroads of the Dzhankoi district and the Dzhankoi-Simferopol highway closed off, according to Aksyonov.

He added that residents within a 5 kilometer (3 mile) radius from the site of the accident in Dzhankoi district “would be evacuated to temporary accommodation centers.”

There were no reported casualties in the attack, he added.

Aksyonov earlier said that Ukrainian strikes hit Crimea overnight into Monday, damaging an ammunition depot in the peninsula.

CNN has not independently verified the reports of the attacks.

An ammunition depot and a house were destroyed in strikes hitting Crimea overnight into Monday, according to Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of the occupied region. 

Aksyonov said in a statement that “eleven enemy UAVs were shot down by air defense forces and suppressed by electronic warfare equipment in the skies over Crimea.”

CNN has not independently verified reports of the attacks.

This comes after Ukrainian forces hit an ammunition dump in Crimea on Saturday, forcing an evacuation of the area and canceling train services, Russian-backed authorities in the annexed peninsula say.

Russian drones have attacked Ukraine’s port infrastructure on the Danube river overnight, targeting Ukrainian grain stocks, the Ukrainian Army said in separate statements. 

The attack was carried out by Iranian-made Shahed drones and lasted for 4 hours, Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command posted on Facebook.

There are three main Danube ports in Ukraine — Izmail, Reni and Ust-Dunaiskyi but the post did not specify which were hit.

The statement added that three drones were destroyed by Ukrainian air defense forces, although “some got through,” according to a separate statement by Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the Odesa regional military administration.

Six people have been injured in the attack, Oleh Kiper, the head of Odesa’s regional military administration said on Telegram. He said three of those injured were hospitalized with light shrapnel wounds and bruises.

Grain hanger damaged: The Ukrainian Army said a hangar with grain was destroyed while storage tanks for other types of cargo also were damaged in the attack. The army said a fire broke out in one of the production facilities but was quickly extinguished.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow withdrew from a vital Black Sea grain deal intended to stabilize global food prices and bring relief to developing countries because it “failed” to ensure the delivery of grain.

The deal struck a year ago allowed Ukraine to export grain by sea, with ships bypassing a Russian blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports and navigating safe passage through the waterway to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait in order to reach global markets.

Vessels were inspected before they arrived in Ukraine by Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials, to ensure weapons were not being smuggled into Ukraine.

The impact of the war on global food markets was immediate and extremely painful, especially because Ukraine is a major supplier of grain to the World Food Programme (WFP).

Since quitting the deal, Russia has continually attacked the southern city of Odesa, a key Ukrainian food-exporting port.

In a self-penned article published Monday on the Kremlin’s website ahead of a Russia-Africa summit scheduled to take place later this week, Putin claimed Moscow could make up the shortfall in Ukrainian grain.

“I want to give assurances that our country is capable of replacing the Ukrainian grain both on a commercial and free-of-charge basis, especially as we expect another record harvest this year,” Putin wrote. 

“Notwithstanding the sanctions, Russia will continue its energetic efforts to provide supplies of grain, food products, fertilizers and other goods to Africa,” he added. 

Putin claimed the grain deal had been used for the “enrichment of large US and European businesses” and that “barriers have been mounted” to Russia’s own attempts to supply mineral fertilizers to countries in need – an effort that, in his opinion, “should be exempt from any sanctions.” 

“Considering all these facts, there is no longer any use in continuing the “grain deal” as it has failed to serve its original humanitarian purpose,” Putin concluded. 

Food security threats: Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after Russia pulled out of the grain deal.

“This is another attempt by Russia to weaponize hunger and destabilize the global food market,” Zelensky said in a post on his Telegram page last Monday.

According to the European Commission, Ukraine accounts for 10% of the world wheat market, 15% of the corn market, and 13% of the barley market. It is also a key global player in the market of sunflower oil.

Prior to Russia’s withdrawal, the deal had allowed for the export of almost 33 million metric tons of food through Ukrainian ports, according to data from the United Nations. 

Another round of Russian attacks on the port city of Odesa killed at least one person and wounded 19 others overnight into Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials.

Kyiv’s air defense systems are struggling to fend off the assaults because they’re ill-equipped to knock down certain types of missiles, the defense ministry said.

Within Russia, drones strikes hit two non-residential buildings in the capital Moscow at early Monday morning, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.

Here’s what you need to know:

Drones struck two non-residential buildings in Moscow in the early hours of Monday morning and were “suppressed” by defenses there, Russian authorities said, describing the incident a “thwarted” attack.

The strikes caused no serious damage or casualties, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram Monday.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense blamed Ukraine, describing the strike as a “terrorist attack of the Kiev regime” and that the two drones were “suppressed” and crashed in Moscow.

According to Russian state media outlet, TASS, a drone hit a high-rise business center on Likhacheva Avenue in Moscow.

TASS reported drone debris was found on Komsomolsky Avenue in Moscow on Monday morning.

Traffic on Komsomolsky Avenue from the center of Moscow towards the region has been blocked off, TASS reported citing the Department of Transportation and Road Infrastructure Development of Moscow.

CNN could not independently verify the reports.

Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks which have taken place on Russian soil during the course of the war which Moscow began when it invaded in February last year.

Some context: The reported attack comes after Russian missiles badly damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, sparking outrage and prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to vow retaliation.

The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.

Those include a drone attack on Moscow in May, which damaged two buildings and and injured two people for which Ukraine denied direct involvement.

Earlier this month, Russia said it “destroyed or neutralized” five Ukrainian drones in what it described as a “terrorist” attack.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots will begin in August.

Reznikov, speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN over the weekend, added that the training will take “a minimum of 6 months” and that Ukraine still needs to add some infrastructure for the fighter jets.

The defense minister said he thought, optimistically, pilots could be operating F-16s in the skies of Ukraine by spring of next year.

Speaking to CNN’s Alex Marquardt in the Ukrainian capital, Reznikov, a lawyer turned defense official, did concede that if Ukraine had these fighter jets now they would “certainly” have helped Ukraine make more progress in the ongoing counteroffensive.

“If you have more sophisticated, more modern weaponry will be more efficient,” he said.

The training — which Reznikov said will likely be held in Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as possibly in the United Kingdom or Poland — will also include intensive sessions for technicians. The defense minister said the maintenance of the jets is a “serious task”.

He said the trainings may be split between countries, but the final plans were still being finalized.

The minister joked that the group of 11 nations that have committed to helping Ukraine train pilots on the F16s are called “Ocean’s 11,” after the popular film.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Sunday that the NATO-Ukraine Council will meet Wednesday.

The news comes one day after Zelensky urgently called for a meeting with the military alliance, saying the council should convene to discuss the crisis caused by Russia pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal. The Ukrainian leader said the council needs to decide on steps “to unblock and ensure the stable operation of the grain corridor.”

The meeting will also come on the heels of several consecutive nights of Russian strikes on the southern port city of Odesa, which has further threatened Kyiv’s ability to export food.

About the council: The NATO-Ukraine Council is the joint body where Zelensky formally meets with leaders from the alliance for crisis consultation, input on key issues and updates on Ukraine’s ongoing membership efforts.

The council was created at the 2023 NATO summit as part of a package of support and assurances bringing Ukraine closer to the alliance.

CNN’s Mariya Knight contributed to this report.

Ukraine’s defense minister says he is eyeing next year’s NATO summit as possible timing for Ukraine to be admitted to the alliance. 

Oleskii Reznikov noted that next July’s summit in Washington, DC, will be the 75th anniversary of the alliance. 

The United States and other NATO countries have said it is impossible to admit Ukraine now because of the ongoing war. The alliance’s Article 5 says allies will come to the aid of a member if attacked.

Reznikov acknowledged that Ukraine will only be able to join the alliance once the war is over, referencing Article 5 and saying “we have no options to have a unanimous vote” while the conflict is ongoing.

When asked if he thought the war would be over by next summer he quickly answered, “Yes. We will win this war.” 

Reznikov downplayed the Biden administration’s refusal to commit to Ukraine getting admitted immediately after the war’s end.

“I think it’s not necessary,” he said. Ukraine will have a streamlined admission process and in the meantime will continue to work on the necessary reforms, Reznikov added.

The defense minister emphasized that the benefits of admitting Ukraine to the alliance have only grown given its fight against Russia.

“After the victory, after then, it will be in the interest of NATO because we became a real eastern shield of NATO or eastern shield of Europe,” he said. Ukraine has gained “real combat experience — how to deter Russians, to defeat them, to beat them with using NATO standard weaponry,” he added.

Russian missiles badly damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, sparking outrage and prompting President Zelensky to vow retaliation.

The strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on Odesa. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.

The Transfiguration Cathedral is Odesa’s largest church building. It was consecrated in 1809, destroyed during the Soviet era in 1936 before being rebuilt when Ukraine became an independent nation.

The cathedral lies in Odesa’s city center, which UNESCO named a World Heritage Site amid the threat of Russia’s invasion.

Video showed the inside of the cathedral strewn with debris. Ukrainian officials said the icon of the patroness of the city had been retrieved from under the rubble.

Odesa is a key cultural center, and has long links with Russia. It was founded under Catherine the Great and was once Russia’s second most important port.

Ukraine’s Operational Command said on Telegram “dozens of cars were damaged, facades and roofs of many buildings in the city were damaged and windows were blown out” in the strikes.

“Several craters have been formed in the city. There are power outages, which may hamper traffic and the route of public transport may be changed.”

Russia’s denial: The Russian Ministry of Defense denied targeting the cathedral and said it carried out attacks on where “terrorist acts” were being prepared. “All targets scheduled for attack were destroyed,” a statement added.

Wave of Russian strikes: Ukraine has been struggling in the past week to repel a wave of Russian strikes against Odesa – its air defenses unable to cope with the types of missiles that Moscow has used to pummel the region.

In a statement on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Moscow latest attack.

“Missiles against peaceful cities, against residential buildings, a cathedral… There can be no excuse for Russian evil,” Zelensky said.
“As always, this evil will lose and there will definitely be a retaliation to Russian terrorists for Odesa. They will feel this retaliation,” he said.

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday the Wagner mercenaries in his country have begun to “stress” him, because they want to “go to the West” on “an excursion.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have said it, but I will. The Wagnerites began to stress us. ‘We want to go to the West. Let us,’ they tell us,” Lukashenko told Putin during a meeting in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. 

“Why do you need to go to the West? ‘Well, go on an excursion to Warsaw, to Rzeszow,’” Lukashenko said. “I keep them in the center, as agreed, of Belarus.” 

Lukashenko is a close ally of Putin and he was apparently joking with him. A video showed Putin smiling at the comments.

Key context: The Wagner private military group is in Belarus after Lukashenko helped broker a deal to end the group’s short-lived rebellion against Moscow. Ukraine says as many as 5,000 fighters are already in the country.

This week, Belarus announced its forces will hold exercises with Wagner fighters near the border with Poland, raising tensions.

On Friday, Putin, without providing any proof, accused NATO member Poland of wanting to annex parts of Belarus, saying any aggression would be met with “all the means at our disposal.”

Western allies have responded in kind, with Germany publicly pledging that NATO will defend its alliance member Poland if there is an attack on its eastern flank from the Wagner troops in Belarus.