July 25, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Russian forces south of the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut have taken heavy losses and appear to have fallen back amid intense artillery fire from the Ukrainian side, according to official and unofficial Ukrainian accounts, as well as reports from Russian military bloggers.

Ukraine has been trying to break Russian resistance here for several weeks. Ukrainian advances near Andriivka are part of a plan to encircle Bakhmut and drive out Russian forces, the spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhii Cherevatyi, said on Tuesday.

Why this matters: At stake are a string of villages that are important in safeguarding Russian resupply routes into the ruined city of Bakhmut, which fell to the Russians in the spring. Control of this area would also enable Ukrainian forces to hit Russian targets in and around the city from higher ground. 

Both Russian and Ukrainian sources have reported heavy fighting around the village of Klishchiivka, with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming on Monday that Ukrainian attacks near the village had been repelled. However, Ukrainian progress towards the nearby village of Andriivka makes Russian positions in Klishchiivka more vulnerable.

In the Bakhmut sector, Russian losses have outnumbered those of Ukraine by a ratio of eight or nine to one, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar claimed Tuesday. “And the question should be asked not about the number of kilometers passed, but about the fact whether we are moving forward or not.”

US intelligence officials have warned Russia is building a drone-manufacturing facility in the country with Iran's help that could have a significant impact on the war in Ukraine once it is completed.

Analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency told a small group of reporters during a briefing on Friday that the drone-manufacturing facility now under construction is expected to provide Russia with a new drone stockpile that is "orders of magnitude larger" than what it has been able to procure from Iran to date.

When the facility is completed, likely by early next year, the new drones could have a significant impact on the conflict, the analysts warned. In April, the US released a satellite image of the planned location of the purported drone manufacturing plant, inside Russia's Alabuga Special Economic Zone about 600 miles east of Moscow. The analysts said Iran has regularly been ferrying equipment to Russia to help with the facility's construction.

They added that to date, it is believed that Iran has provided Russia with more than 400 Shahed-131, 136 and Mohajer drones — a stockpile that Russia has almost completely depleted, they said.

Russia is primarily using the drones to attack critical Ukrainian infrastructure and stretch Ukraine's air defenses, a senior DIA official said. Iran has been using the Caspian Sea to move drones, bullets and mortar shells to Russia, often using vessels that are "dark," or have turned off their tracking data to disguise their movements, CNN has reported.

The US obtained and analyzed several of the drones downed in Ukraine, and officials say there is "undeniable evidence" that the drones are Iranian, despite repeated denials from Tehran that it is providing the equipment to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The DIA analysts showcased debris from drones recovered in Ukraine in 2022 during the briefing on Friday, comparing them side-by-side with Iranian-made drones found in Iraq last year. 

One of the drones recovered in Ukraine had only its wings and engine partially intact. But judging by its shape and size, it appeared to be a Shahed-131, the same model as an Iranian-made drone found in Iraq. The analysts removed components from one and easily slid them onto the other, showing that they are virtually "indistinguishable" in their design.

Read more about this here.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has declared the TV channel Rain (Dozhd) as an “undesirable organization,” which means penalties, including jail time, for anyone in Russia who donates to or cooperates with the channel.  

Latvia-based TV Rain is devoted to covering events in Russia. TVR Studios B.V. of the Netherlands has also been designated as "undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the official statement on Telegram read.

To justify the designation, the office made the following claims about TV Rain:

The official statement cited that these organizations discredit Russian government bodies, spread false information about Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, and provide support to registered foreign agents. 

In response to the designation, TV Rain released a statement on Telegram, saying it intended to take appropriate steps, including legal action. The channel announced it had suspended the collection of donations from Russia, canceled existing subscriptions from Russian viewers, and urged those who remain in the country not to share links to their materials due to safety concerns.

The UK believes that Russia could target civilian ships in the Black Sea, following the Kremlin’s decision to leave the Black Sea Grain Initiative, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday. 

Russia could target civilian ships in the Black Sea and blame Ukraine, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council said last week. 

Russia has also laid additional sea mines in the approach to Ukrainian ports, NSC spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement Wednesday. Earlier that day, Russia’s defense ministry said any ship sailing toward a Ukrainian port would be considered a potential carrier of military cargo. 

Repeating the warning from the NSC, the director of the CIA said on Thursday that Russia could be preparing a false-flag operation attacking a ship in the Black Sea.

Russia's Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said on Thursday that attempts to attribute to Russia the preparation of attacks on civilian vessels are "pure fabrication" and "completely contradicts our approaches."

UK PM on Russian grain threats: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said any Russian attempt to stop grain exports from leaving Ukraine would be completely “unacceptable.”  

Sunak said in a tweet that he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Tuesday “and made it clear that any Russian attempt to stop grain leaving Ukraine is completely unacceptable. We must continue to stand with Ukraine.”

CNN’s Oren Liebermann, Radina Gigova and Mick Krever contributed reporting to this post.

The Russian state Duma has passed an amendment extending the military call-up age to include citizens from 18 to 30 years. 

Previously, military service was compulsory for Russian citizens aged 18 to 27 years.

The new bill will now be forwarded to the Federation Council for further consideration before the law can be signed by President Vladimir Putin.

The senators of the Federation Council will support the law, said Valentina Matvienko, the speaker of the upper house, adding that there is “no reason for excessive resonance” regarding these changes, according to state news RIA Novosti.

The Kremlin said it is “impossible” for Russia to return to the expired Black Sea Grain Initiative until all conditions are met, snubbing suggestions by UN Secretary General António Guterres to rejoin the crucial deal.

“Mr. Guterres' letter [to Russian President Vladimir Putin] once again outlined a certain plan of action and a promise that one day it would be possible to fulfil the Russian part of these agreements,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Moscow has repeatedly insisted that the agreement in place does not allow for Russia to adequately export its own foodstuffs.

Commenting on the Kremlin’s attitude to the proposal of the Kyiv authorities to export grain through the ports of the Baltic, Peskov said: “It is the sovereign right of these states."

Moscow will fight attempts to use any supply channels of Ukrainian grain for “military purposes and terrorist attacks” against Russia, Peskov added.

Some background: The Black Sea grain deal, first brokered last summer, allowed for the safe export of Ukrainian wheat from ports after Russia initially barricaded docks in the southern region and exacerbated a global food crisis.

Western allies of Kyiv have accused Russia of weaponizing the deal, the collapse of which prompted a rapid increase in global wheat prices and threatened food security in Global South countries that rely on Ukrainian grain.

One fighter was shot twice, sent from the hospital back to the front, where he drank melted snow to live. Forced to assault Ukrainian positions repeatedly, until a grenade blinded him. Saved from the trenches by a doctor who made him a hospital orderly.

Another was jailed at 20 for minor drugs charges, sent to the front aged 23. Given almost no training, he was dead three weeks later — among likely 60 Russians killed in an assault on the very day Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated the defeat of the Nazis in Red Square.

These two stories, of remarkable survival and premature death, epitomize the squalid and exhausting loss of life in Russia’s trenches. Yet there is one distinction: the dead are prisoners, promised respite from their jail terms if they join so-called Storm-Z battalions run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Life expectancy is short, conditions themselves tough to survive, and convicts describe being used as cannon fodder. Tens of thousands of convicts have been recruited to serve at the front line, at first by the mercenary group Wagner — a scheme then taken over by the defense ministry.

CNN spoke to the mother of one convict, Andrei, who was jailed aged 20 on drug charges and sent to the front line as part of the Russian military’s recruitment program. The mother provided extensive video, documentation and chat messages to verify her son’s story, and his early death, just three weeks after deployment.

CNN also spoke to a rare survivor of the Storm-Z units, Sergei — who was first interviewed by phone in a military hospital months earlier and last week recounted the savage and deteriorating life in the Russian trenches.

While the appalling fighting conditions are well known, much Russian testimony is from prisoners of war, and provided through Ukrainian facilitators. These two stories represent rare testimony delivered directly from Russians. CNN has changed the names and removed key details from these two accounts for the safety of the interviewees.

Read their stories here.

Kyiv reported new advances in the south, as Ukrainian forces struggle to puncture Moscow's tight defense lines amid a sweeping counteroffensive operation focusing on the southeastern regions.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukrainian forces have made gains along the southern front, according to Kyiv military officials and battlefield reports.

Andrii Kovalov, spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's general staff said Tuesday that Kyiv's forces “had success in the direction of Staromaiorske,” in the Berdiansk front, south of Velyka Novosilka.

Ukrainian forces are "entrenching themselves in the reached positions,” he said, adding that Russian troops were "resisting strongly."

In an update Tuesday, the general staff said Russian forces continued to focus on preventing Ukraine’s advances along the southern front, indicating stiff resistance. 

Some of those offensive operations toward Melitopol are taking place just south of the town of Orikhiv, with some advances reported over the past 24 hours. 

Battlefield reports: The Institute for the Study of War said Ukraine was reportedly able to advance 1.7 kilometers (just over a mile) toward the northeastern outskirts of the village of Robotyne.

The advancement was documented by several Russian military bloggers. 

Some reported Ukraine had shifted the vector of its attack in the area by going around Russian fortifications with the support of its artillery, driving Moscow’s troops back.

The Melitopol axis was one of the main thrusts of the early stages of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, where Kyiv first employed some of the Western equipment it received specifically for the push forward — meeting with notorious Russian resistance.

In the east: Ukrainian forces drove back the Russians near Andriivka, just south of the embattled city of Bakhmut, spokesperson Kovalov also claimed. The advance comes as Ukrainian troops continue offensive operations north and south of Bakhmut, he said.

Ukrainian advances near Andriivka are part of a plan to encircle Bakhmut and drive out Russian forces, the spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhii Cherevatyi, said on Tuesday.

Cherevatyi acknowledged the situation was more difficult north of the city. 

“The enemy is better prepared there (north of Bakhmut). There are also certain natural obstacles there, including water obstacles,” he explained. “But the work there is also ongoing and will be visible over time, despite the fact that the enemy is preparing everything to complicate our movement.”