August 4, 2022 Brittney Griner verdict and Russia-Ukraine news

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

The Phoenix Mercury, Brittney Griner’s WNBA team, held a 42-second moment of silence before their game on Thursday night. The number of seconds signifies Griner’s jersey number, 42.

“We are steadfastly committed to keeping her top-of-mind publicly until she’s safely back on American soil,” the announcer said in a video of the moment posted on Twitter.

Players from the Mercury and the Connecticut Sun gathered in a circle in the middle of the court. Towards the end of the video some people in the arena started chanting “bring her home.”

Griner was convicted of deliberately smuggling drugs into Russia and sentenced to nine years of jail time Thursday.

The verdict comes about six months after the 31-year-old was arrested at a Moscow airport and accused by Russian prosecutors of trying to smuggle less than 1 gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist pleaded guilty to drug charges last month and said she accidentally packed the drugs while in a hurry.

Watch the moment:

WNBA Phoenix Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard told CNN’s Carolyn Manno that the guilty verdict and nine year sentence levied on the Mercury’s Brittney Griner is “unacceptable.”

Ahead of the Mercury’s game against the Connecticut Sun on Thursday night, Nygaard said, “We have carried this weight all year. To have this happen right now before a game. It’s really challenging.

“There are a lot of people in the room that are close to BG. It’s just heartbreaking. We know this verdict is unacceptable. But that doesn’t make it sound any better. To hear her words and her apologies. Just trying to send love, prayers and strength to her. I was really amazed by her courage and her strength as I was listening to it today… She was so courageous,” Nygaard said.

The US believes Russia is planning to falsify evidence to frame the Ukrainian armed forces for the Olenivka prison attack on July 29, John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, confirmed.

“We anticipate that Russian officials will try to frame the Ukrainian Armed Forces in anticipation of journalists and potential investigators visiting the site of the attack. In fact, we’ve already seen some spurious press reports to this effect, where they have planted evidence. We have reason to believe that Russia would go so far as to make it appear that Ukrainian HIMARS — the high mobility advanced rocket systems that have been so much in the news lately — were to blame. And to do that before journalists arrived on site, and again, we’re beginning to even start to see some press reporting to that effect,” Kirby told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond when asked for further information on the reported plan to falsify evidence. 

CNN reported Wednesday that the White House believes Russia will falsify evidence ahead of visits to the prison by outside parties. 

On the detention of WNBA star Brittney Griner, Kirby elaborated further on what US President Joe Biden has been doing.

“When I say personally involved, I mean, he’s, he’s in constant touch with all the members of his team that are working on Brittney’s case and it’s not just Secretary of State Blinken. [It’s] Jake Sullivan, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, the deputy Homeland Security adviser Josh Geltzer. I mean there’s a lot of people involved in here and he’s driving a process of continual updates that he can get from his team. He’s offering guidance to them as needed,” Kirby told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, adding, “You’ve seen that he has talked to Mrs. Griner herself, and I certainly would expect that he’s going to continue to have those kinds of conversations going forward. He’s staying focused on this.”

Asked by CNN’s Diamond if Biden would be willing to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Griner’s Case, he said that they had no calls to readout or preview. 

And on the decision to make the deal public, Kirby said, “Can we say that making it public had a direct line to bringing them home? Not yet, but we hope it will. We hope it will. We felt, we felt it was important to make sure the American people knew, but as well as people around the world, how seriously we’re taking these two cases. And that, so seriously, in fact, that that we had made a proposal that we believe the Russians ought to accept and you will notice that the day after we did that the Russians started talking, even publicly. So I’ll leave it at that.” 

And asked about CNN’s reporting that the Department of Homeland Security is going to stop wiping mobile devices of high level officials and political appointees without backing them up first, Kirby declined to comment further.  

The Ukrainian government and the Turkish Defense Ministry say three more ships are expected to leave Ukrainian ports Friday laden with grain.

Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister, said on Facebook that “from 5 to 8 in the morning, two ships are expected to depart from the port of Chornomorsk, as well as one from the port of Odesa. After that, a caravan will be formed, which, together with the leading ship, will go to the ports of destination.”

He said the three bulk carriers will together carry more than 50 thousand tonnes of Ukrainian corn

“We hope for the professionalism of all those involved,” Kubrakov said.

The Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, confirmed the three ships would be sailing under the auspices of the agreement signed by Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine on July 22.

“As a result of the intense work and coordination at the [Joint Coordination] center, 3 ships are planned to set sail from Ukrainian ports… In addition, an empty ship is expected to move to Ukraine after being inspected in Istanbul,” Akar said.

National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said that it’s “up to the Russian side” on whether the conviction of WNBA star Brittney Griner opens new doors for negotiations of a prisoner swap between the US and Russia. 

“That’s really up to the Russian side. We’re still open to having our proposal seriously and positively considered and if on the Russian side, that means they feel like they’re more empowered to do that, then so be it,” Kirby said when asked by reporters in Thursday’s White House briefing. 

Kirby reiterated the US’s position remains that they want Russia to “take the deal on the table because it’s a good one, it’s a fair one, and it’ll help bring Paul (Whelan) and Brittney home,” Kirby said, also referring to Paul Whelan. 

“If this is what’s gonna take to get them to yes — than ok, let’s get to yes. Let’s get them home,” Kirby added.  

Asked if the Russians were sending a message to the US by giving Griner so severe a sentence, Kirby suggested that may not be the case, noting similar extreme sentences for foreign nationals in Russia. 

“Your question presupposes that it’s a message sending exercise, maybe it is, maybe it’s not. As I said, historically what we’ve seen is foreign born citizens that are arrested and convicted of drug charges tend to get — just historically, anecdotally speaking — tend to get higher sentences, almost to the max,” Kirby said, comparing those people to Russian born citizens.

“I wish I could get into the judge’s head. I can’t do it. So I cant define why he chose 9 years. As I said to Nancy it’s a reprehensible sentence. She shouldn’t have been on trial to begin with,” Kirby said. 

WNBA star Brittney Griner’s lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, said that Griner’s defense team has 10 days to appeal the court’s decision, which found Griner guilty of drug smuggling and sentenced her to nine years of jail time.

Earlier today in a written statement following the court’s decision, both of Griner’s lawyers, Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, said they would appeal.

Later, speaking to journalists outside the Khimki court near Moscow region, Boykov said that the average time in jail for this type of crime is five years, adding that almost a third of those convicted get a parole.

Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm, told journalists that Griner “is not doing fine today.”

Boykov added that the WNBA star passed through her lawyers a message for her family that is not to become public. Griner’s defense team is hopeful that she will be able to talk to her family next week.

Blagovolina added that Griner will return to the detention center she is currently kept at. Both lawyers agreed that Griner has been treated fine so far.

Asked about the prisoner swap offer by the US, Griner’s lawyers said they had no information.

“Unfortunately, we are not involved in the process,” Blagovolina said, responding to a question by CNN outside the court.

WNBA star Brittney Griner’s sentencing by a Russian court to nine years in prison with a fine of 1 million rubles, which is about $16,400 USD, “for nothing more than an unintentional oversight” is a “miscarriage of justice,” Charge d’Affaires of the US embassy in Russia Elizabeth Rood said Wednesday outside the court in Khimki, near Moscow.

“The US Department of State has determined that miss Griner is wrongfully detained. Nothing in today’s decision changes that determination,” Rood said.

Rood, who attended every session of Griner’s trial, said she will continue to be closely engaged and will remain in frequent contact with Griner and her lawyers.

“Secretary of State Blinken, President Biden’s national security team, and the entire American government remain committed to bringing miss Griner home safely to her family, friends and loved ones,” Rood added.

Rood said she had “no higher priority” than the safety and wellbeing of Griner and other US citizens detained in Russia.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued a joint statement following a Russian court sentencing basketball player Brittney Griner to nine years of jail time, saying they are still hoping for her safe return.

“Today’s verdict and sentencing is unjustified and unfortunate, but not unexpected and Brittney Griner remains wrongly detained. The WNBA and NBA’s commitment to her safe return has not wavered and it is our hope that we are near the end of this process of finally bringing BG home to the United States,” the statement said.

Brittney Griner’s WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury, released the following statement on Thursday:

“While we knew it was never the legal process that was going to bring our friend home, today’s verdict is a sobering milestone in the 168-day nightmare being endured by our sister, BG. We remain heartbroken for her, as we have every day for nearly six months. We remain grateful to and confident in the public servants working every day to return her to her family and us. We remain faithful the Administration will do what it takes to end her wrongful detention. We are inspired every day by BG’s strength and we are steadfastly committed to keeping her top-of-mind publicly until she is safely back on American soil. We will not allow her to be forgotten. We are BG.”

Other WNBA players and coaches in the sports world are also reacting, tweeting their support.

University of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said in a tweet, “#FreeBrittneyGriner we will not stop advocating for you release. Hold on to God unchanging hand. We love you, BG!”

Connecticut Sun guard Dijonai Carrington said, “praying so hard for BG man.”

Others, including Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson and University of Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers, tweeted “Free BG,” standing for Brittney Griner.

US National Security Council Director for Strategic Communications John Kirby echoed President Joe Biden’s comments Thursday, calling for Brittney Griner’s immediate release.

“This sentence, this trial just reaffirms what we have been saying all along: Brittney has been wrongfully detained and she needs to be immediately released by Russian authorities so she can be home with her wife, her teammates, and her friends and family and the President is going to stay 100% committed to achieving that outcome,” Kirby said during an appearance on MSNBC. 

He pointed to the United States’ “serious proposal” for a prisoner swap with the Russians. 

“We urge the Russians, again, to seriously consider that proposal, to act on it. And let’s get these two Americans home where they belong,” Kirby said, later calling their counteroffer a “bad faith attempt … just to cloud up the waters, make things muddy, and to avoid having to make what is a consequential and serious decision.” 

Although Kirby indicated that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would “buttonhole” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the proposal while they are both in Cambodia, a senior State Department official said the two diplomats did not speak while they both attended a dinner at the ASEAN meetings Thursday.

State Department officials have repeatedly said there are no plans for Blinken to meet with his Russian counterpart, with whom he spoke by phone last Friday.

And following the sentencing, Kirby said that the US would push for consular access to Griner. 

“We’re going to continue to insist — as we must — to have consular access to Mrs. Griner so that we can make sure we can keep that communication going and we can make sure that we can continue to make sure that she’s being well treated,” he said. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Brittney Griner’s nine-year sentence, saying it “further compounds the injustice of her wrongful detention” and “puts a spotlight on our significant concerns with Russia’s legal system and the Russian government’s use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda, using individuals as political pawns.” 

“Nothing about today’s decision changes our determination that Brittney Griner is wrongfully detained, and we will continue working to bring Brittney and fellow wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan home,” Blinken said in a statement Thursday. “This is an absolute priority of mine and the Department’s.”

Blinken said the US would “also continue to press for fair and transparent treatment for all U.S. citizen detainees in Russia.”

The lawyers of WNBA star Brittney Griner, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, said in a written statement following the verdict announcement that the court ignored all the evidence they presented and that they will appeal the decision.

“We are very disappointed by the verdict. As legal professionals, we believe that the court should be fair to everyone regardless of nationality. The court completely ignored all the evidence of the defense, and most importantly, the guilty plea,” they said in the statement.

“This contradicts the existing legal practice. Taking into account the amount of the substance (not to mention the defects of the expertise) and the plea, the verdict is absolutely unreasonable. We will certainly file an appeal,” they added.

Blagovolina is a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm.

US President Joe Biden reacted Thursday to a Russian court finding WNBA star Brittney Griner guilty of drug smuggling, calling her sentence of nine years in prison “unacceptable.”

“Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney. It’s unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates,” Biden said in a statement.

He continued: “My administration will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible.” 

The Russian court said that Griner committed the crime deliberately and sentenced her to nine years of jail time and a fine of 1 million rubles (roughly $16,400). Griner was arrested with less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on Feb. 17, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine.

The sentencing came as CNN has reported that the US has made a “substantial offer” with Russia of a proposed prisoner swap for Griner and Paul Whelan with convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.

After a Russian court found Brittney Griner guilty of drug smuggling and sentenced her to 9 years of jail time, US officials say that they believe the state of play on trying to get Griner out of Russia remains the same for now.

The US made what the administration has described as a “substantial offer” to Russia to exchange both Griner and Paul Whelan for convicted Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout. The administration will continue to try to move forward on those negotiations and press Russia to accept that offer, officials said Thursday. 

But, as one official pointed out, this process expected to continue to take some time — and it is ultimately up to Russia how quickly it wants to move. 

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been sentenced by a Russian court to 9 years of jail time with a fine of 1 million rubles (roughly $16,400), Judge Anna Sotnikova of the Khimki city court said Thursday. 

The court said it took into account her partial admission of guilt, remorse for the deed, state of health and charitable activities.

Griner was found guilty of drug smuggling, a crime the judge said she committed deliberately. Griner was arrested with less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on Feb. 17. 

She said it was “an honest mistake” due to packing in a hurry. 

Her lawyers argued that if Griner ever used medical marijuana, it was only at home back in Arizona, where it is legal, very rarely, in the short periods between competitions and on vacation, only on the prescription of a doctor for her severe pain from sports injuries.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist apologized in her final statement in court Thursday and asked for the court’s leniency, explaining that she had no intent to break any Russian laws.

A Russian court has found Brittney Griner guilty of drug smuggling with criminal intent.

The judge at Khimki court in the Moscow region is still reading out the verdict. The judge is now going through the facts of the case, the witnesses called and their testimonies.

Some background: The 31-year-old Olympic gold medalist was arrested at a Moscow airport and accused by Russian prosecutors of trying to smuggle less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage.

“I never meant to hurt anybody, I never meant to put in jeopardy the Russian population, I never meant to break any laws here,” Griner said in the Khimki city courthouse on Thursday. “I made an honest mistake and I hope that in your ruling that it doesn’t end my life here. I know everybody keeps talking about political pawn and politics, but I hope that that is far from this courtroom.”

“I had no intent on breaking any Russian laws,” she said.

She pleaded guilty to drug charges last month in what her lawyers say was an attempt to take responsibility and receive leniency.

In closing arguments Thursday, a prosecutor asked for 9.5 years of jail time for Griner, according to defense lawyer Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm.

Blagovolina argued that Griner never used marijuana in Russia and that she never had the intention of doing so. She had no need to bring the vape cartridges to Russia, the lawyer added.

WNBA star Brittney Griner is now back inside a Russian courtroom for her verdict announcement, which is expected to be delivered shortly.

White House officials believe Russia is preparing to falsify evidence to blame Ukrainian forces for the deadly blast at the Olenivka prison ahead of visits to the site by outside parties.

An administration official told CNN they expect Russia will falsify evidence, blame Ukrainian forces and even have “reason to believe that Russia would go so far as to make it appear that Ukrainian HIMARS were to blame before journalists arrive.”

The US supplied Ukraine with the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system earlier this year. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the attack on the prison, which is in separatist-held eastern Ukraine, was “a deliberate war crime by the Russians.”

Russia has previously blamed Ukraine for the attack.

UN mission: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a Wednesday news conference that the UN is seeking to establish a fact-finding team to study the attack on the detention facility that resulted in at least 50 deaths and dozens of injuries of Ukrainian prisoners of war. 

Russia and Ukraine both requested an investigation into the attack, Guterres told reporters in New York. He added that the terms of reference for the panel would need to be accepted by Russia and Ukraine before the fact-finding mission would begin. 

Ukraine blames mercenary group: The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Intelligence department claimed Wednesday that the detonation of the building where Ukrainian soldiers were held “was carried out by the fighters of the ‘Wagner’ military command center using a highly flammable substance, which led to the rapid spread of the fire in the premises.”

Wagner is a private military contractor whose fighters have been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as other conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. 

CNN is unable to verify the claim by the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence department, which provided no evidence to support its allegation.

What Russia is saying: The Russian government has rejected accusations from the White House that it is falsifying evidence.

“One thing can be said here, which is absolutely obvious and absolutely proven about what happened in Olenivka. People, namely the Ukrainian prisoners of war, who were kept there, they died at the hands of the Ukrainian military,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists in a call on Thursday. 

“Ukraine killed its soldiers who were in captivity. Many wounded. Therefore, there is hard evidence here and there is nothing to hide,” Peskov said. 

In Thursday’s call, Peskov said Russia had invited the UN and the ICRC to visit the site. However, in a statement issued on Wednesday, the ICRC said it still had not been given access to the site.

CNN’s Uliana Pavlova contributed reporting to this post.

The village of Ivanivka in southern Ukraine has been recaptured from Russian forces following a two-week artillery battle.

It remains deserted. A commander of Ukraine’s Air Force reconnaissance unit joins CNN on the ground to show what’s left behind.

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Ukrainian authorities said eight people were killed Thursday by Russian shelling in the town of Toretsk in the Donetsk region.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, said four others had been injured, three of them children. He said a shell had hit a transportation stop.

Toretsk is south of the town of Bakhmut and is frequently hit by shelling.

Repeating the government’s appeal for people to evacuate the region, Kyrylenko said: “All those who still remain in Donetsk region are putting themselves in mortal danger. … Do not turn yourself into a Russian target!”

A visibly emotional Brittney Griner told the Khimki court near Moscow that she wanted to apologize to her Russian team, to her fans and to her family, for the “embarrassment she caused them.”

Griner said that had no intention to break the Russian law and that she made a mistake.

“That’s why I pled guilty to my charges. I understand everything that’s been said against me, the charges that are against me and that is why I pled guilty, but I had no intent to break any Russian laws,” she said.

The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist pleaded guilty to drug charges last month in what her lawyers say was an attempt to take responsibility and receive leniency if she is ultimately convicted and sentenced. 

“I made an honest mistake, and I hope that in your ruling, that it doesn’t end my life here,” Griner said.

The judge, Anna Sotnikova, before going to deliberate, said the court will reconvene at 17:45 p.m. local time (which is 10:45 a.m. ET) today, when a verdict will be announced. 

Defense lawyer Maria Blagovolina — partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners law firm — said in her closing statement at the Khimki court near Moscow that WNBA star Brittney Griner never used marijuana in Russia and that she never had the intention of doing so.

Griner had no need to bring the vape cartridges to Russia, the lawyer added. All this confirms the complete absence of intent in her actions, Blagovolina argued.

Even if Griner ever used medical marijuana, it was only at home back in Arizona, where it is legal, very rarely, in the short periods between competitions and on vacation, only on the prescription of a doctor, the lawyer added.

Griner couldn’t have known how strict the laws were in Russia, Blagovolina said.

Another Griner lawyer, Alexander Boykov, argued in the court that the WNBA star had no opportunity to properly examine the court documents.

Boykov said that the Russian constitution guarantees everyone the right to use their native language and the free choice of the language of communication. 

The lawyer said each person involved in court proceedings must be guaranteed the right to be provided with explanations and use the services of an interpreter for free.

Boykov cited an instance when a language interpreter provided to Griner told her, “basically, it means that you are guilty,” after flipping through a lengthy document offered by the investigator for translation.

Griner said in a brief remark during the hearing that she agreed with everything her lawyers said to the court in her defense. 

Russia is facing personnel shortages as it continues its offensive in Ukraine — and the country has had to find not only alternative recruiting methods but also to adapt the way it is fighting, according to Western officials.

“We do think that they have recruited from prisons, and they are obviously also working with private military companies to increase their resourcing levels,” Western officials said on Thursday.

“Fatalities and the wounded are obviously incredibly high,” officials said, adding that it’s not “something Russians anticipated at all.”

The officials estimate Russia has been deprived of around 75,000 service members from its fighting force, including up to 20,000 dead and 55,000 injured.

“They have been having real problems filling personnel gaps; they are trying to raise, essentially a third echelon,” the Western officials said. “Most of the [newer] recruits are still coming from rural areas rather than the urban cities and that’s what we think is deliberate, but they have been having real problems filling personnel gaps.”

“They’re having huge personnel challenges. That’s why they’re starting to reach for alternative mechanisms of recruitment,” the officials added. 

The Western officials said Moscow was also changing the way its forces operate on the battlefield. 

“Russia has changed the way it’s fighting to adapt to reduction in personnel and skilled personnel, so they’re fighting in smaller formations, company level rather than battalion or brigade level,” the officials said. “And that makes it easier for them to operate in some regards, but it also been limits the amount of progress they can make.”

Western officials say the situation in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is not as dire as has been portrayed after concerns were raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi told the AP new agency that the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP was “completely out of control.” 

“Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated” at the plant, he said in the exclusive interview published on Tuesday. “What is at stake is extremely serious and extremely grave and dangerous.”

CNN has reached out to the IAEA independently for comment has not heard back.

Western officials have downplayed the actual danger, saying that, although they understand some of the IAEA’s concerns, they “don’t think [the situation] is as dire as it is necessarily been painted in in the media at the moment.”

“We agree that for the IAEA to monitor that plant, it’s really challenging and it is difficult for the IAEA to fulfil its mission,” the officials said. “But actually in terms of the safety and security of that site at the moment, whilst it is degraded in terms of like normal operating levels, it is still functioning and functioning effectively.”

The officials added that Ukraine would be careful not to strike the plant, even if Russia uses it as a launching platform for artillery strikes.

“Russia might use the site as a safe zone, from which to carry out defensive operations. Ukraine will consider very carefully how to avoid taking major risks around the site,” the officials said.

“Bear in mind that nuclear power plants are designed to withstand terrorist attacks including aircraft hitting reactors, etc,” the officials added. “So please don’t think that we’re looking at Chernobyl like situation that’s not the case.”

The prosecutor is seeking 9.5 years of jail time for WNBA star Brittney Griner, her attorney Maria Blagovolina, partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners law firm, said in a statement to media. 

CNN’s team also heard the prosecutor’s demand on an audio feed of the trial. 

WNBA star Brittney Griner has arrived at Khimki court in the Moscow region for her eighth hearing as her drug-smuggling trial continues Thursday. The court is hearing closing arguments in the case. 

The verdict in Griner’s case is expected to be announced by Thursday evening local time, her attorney Maria Blagovolina, partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners law firm, said in statement provided to media including CNN. 

From inside the courtroom cell, Griner held up a photo of her teammates from UMMC Ekaterinburg, the Russia basketball team she played for during WNBA offseason. 

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February and accused by Russian prosecutors of trying to smuggle less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. She faces up to 10 years in prison. 

The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist pleaded guilty to drug charges last month in what her lawyers say was an attempt to take responsibility and receive leniency if she is ultimately convicted and sentenced. 

Authorities in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine said five civilians have been killed in Ukrainian shelling of the Donetsk city center on Thursday.

The Territorial Defense of the DPR said that the Ukrainian shelling was designed “to inflict maximum damage on the civilian population, including the leadership of the Republic.” 

The shelling took place close to a theater where the leaders of the DPR were attending a memorial service.

“As a result of the shelling of residential areas in the Voroshilovskyi district, five civilians were killed, six people were injured, residential buildings, a hotel, and civilian infrastructure were destroyed,” the Territorial Defense said.

There’s been no word from the Ukrainian side on the strike. But the city, which is only 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the front lines, has come under fire by Ukrainian artillery and rockets since the Russian invasion began.

A Syrian-registered ship accused by Ukraine of carrying stolen grain has been allowed to leave Lebanon by authorities, Lebanese state-run news agency NNA said on Thursday.

“The Syrian ship, LAODICEA, is now outside Lebanese territorial waters,” Lebanon’s caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamie said on Twitter.

Ukraine said the ship, which was previously docking in the port of Tripoli in Lebanon, is transporting tons of agricultural products stolen by Russia.

The vessel belongs to the Syrian state shipping company SYRIAMAR and was photographed passing through the Bosphorus strait onto the Mediterranean on July 23.

“The Syrian ship, LAODICEA, coming from the Russian Federation, passing through Lebanon to Syria, was granted permission to leave by the Tripoli Port Authority, in accordance with the Lebanese legal principles, based on our sovereignty over our land, sea and air,” NNA quoted Hamie as saying.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was “disappointed” by the decision to allow the ship to leave, warning that Lebanon was endangering economic relations with Ukraine.

“This decision actually encourages Russia to continue thefts in the temporarily occupied southern Ukraine with a sense of impunity. In addition, with such a decision, Lebanon actually undermines its own food security, pushing Ukraine away as its reliable partner,” the statement said. 

The Russian Embassy in Lebanon had denied the grain is stolen, according to a statement on Facebook last week.

Western officials have told CNN they estimate that up to 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since Moscow began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24. 

They added 55,000 Russian soldiers have been wounded, saying that between the dead and injured, Moscow suffered around 75,000 casualties in total.

“The course of the battle has slowed down and so the statistics have slowed down as well,” the officials told CNN on Thursday.

“We are still up to 20,000 Russian soldiers dead and then, in terms of the 75,000 number in (total) casualties, that would sound right to us.”

“That’s broadly our understanding,” the officials added. “But certainly the battle has slowed.”

Elizabeth Rood, charge d’affaires of the US embassy in Russia, has arrived at Khimki court in the Moscow region for WNBA star Brittney Griner’s eighth hearing as her trial continues Thursday.

The court is expected to hear closing arguments in the case. Griner hadn’t arrived at the court at the time of this post.

The court hearing comes six months after Griner, 31, was arrested at a Moscow airport and accused by Russian prosecutors of trying to smuggle less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. She faces up to 10 years in prison.

The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist, who also plays for a Russian team in the WNBA offseason, pleaded guilty to drug charges last month in what her lawyers say was an attempt to take responsibility and receive leniency if she is ultimately convicted and sentenced. 

The previous hearing on August 2 ended without a verdict, with an expert called by her defense team testifying that the initial examination of the substance contained in Griner’s vape cartridges did not comply with Russian law.

Ukraine is seeking an opportunity to speak “directly” with China about its ongoing war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

“I would like to talk directly. I had one conversation with [President] Xi Jinping that was a year ago,” Zelensky told SCMP in an exclusive interview published on Thursday.

Zelensky said Ukraine has officially asked for a conversation with China after the Russian invasion began in late February.

“But we (haven’t had) any conversation with China even though I believe that would be helpful,” he said. 

When asked whether China has replied to Zelensky’s request for a meeting, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday that “China maintains close communication with Ukraine through diplomatic channels, and this communication has never been broken.”

Zelensky said that because China is “a very powerful state” and “a powerful economy,” it “can politically, economically influence Russia.”

He said that he believed China had an economic leverage to pressure Russia, according to SCMP, but added that he understood China wished to maintain a “balanced” attitude towards the war in Ukraine but urged China to review its attitude toward Russia.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said the military alliance “cannot be indifferent” to the “brutal war of aggression” Russia is inflicting on Ukraine.

“We are seeing acts of war, attacks on civilians and destruction not seen since World War II,” he said in a speech in Norway on Thursday.

Stoltenberg said NATO will keep supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and praised the alliance for charging ahead with accepting Finland and Sweden as its new members.

“A few hours ago, the US Senate ratified the accession protocols. This brings to 23 the number of Allies which have now ratified Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO … so far, this has been the fastest accession process in NATO’s modern history,” he said.

He also acknowledged NATO’s support for Ukraine comes at a cost.

“We pay a price for our support to Ukraine. For the military, humanitarian and financial support. For the sanctions, which have resulted in increased inflation and higher prices in our countries,” he said, adding:

But remember – the price we pay may be measured in money. The price Ukraine pays is measured in human lives. Hundreds killed or wounded every day.

Stoltenberg said NATO cannot allow Russia to succeed in Ukraine:

A world where the lesson for Putin is that he gets what he wants by using military force is also a more dangerous world for us. If Russia wins this war, he will have confirmation that violence works. Then other neighboring countries may be next.

Ukrainian forces have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, as they try to repel the Russian invasion that began in February, Amnesty International said in a statement on Thursday.

It said that such tactics violate international humanitarian law and endanger civilians, as they turn civilian objects into military targets. 

“We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law.”

Not every Russian attack documented by Amnesty International followed this pattern, the statement added, saying:

In certain other locations in which Amnesty International concluded that Russia had committed war crimes, including in some areas of the city of Kharkiv, the organization did not find evidence of Ukrainian forces located in the civilian areas unlawfully targeted by the Russian military. Between April and July, Amnesty International researchers spent several weeks investigating Russian strikes in the Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv regions.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak criticized the Amnesty report, accusing Moscow of trying to “discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the eyes of Western societies.” It was, he added in a tweet, “a shame that the organization like Amnesty is participating in this disinformation and propaganda campaign.”

“The only thing that poses a threat to Ukrainians is (Russian) army of executioners and rapists coming to (Ukraine) to commit genocide,” he said in the tweet.

Amnesty said that throughout the investigations, researchers found evidence of Ukrainian forces launching strikes from within populated residential areas as well as basing themselves in civilian buildings in 19 towns and villages in the regions.

Most residential areas where soldiers located themselves were kilometers away from front lines, according to the statement.

Amnesty International said viable alternatives were available that would not endanger civilians – such as military bases or densely wooded areas nearby, or other structures further away from residential areas.

It also said that on the cases it documented, Amnesty International was not aware that the Ukrainian military who located themselves in civilian structures in residential areas asked or assisted civilians to evacuate nearby buildings which amounts to a failure to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians.

Podolyak said protecting civilians is the priority of Ukrainian forces. “Our defenders protect their nation and families. People’s lives are the priority for Ukraine, that is why we are evacuating residents of front-line cities,” he said.

“Ukraine strictly adheres to all laws of warfare and international humanitarian law,” Podolyak also said in a statement. “The absolute priority for the Armed Forces of Ukraine is to preserve the life and health of every citizen under condition of Russian barbaric aggression. Therefore, we are consistently taking all measures to help Ukrainians move from the zone of active hostilities to safer areas.”

Podolyak said Russia is the main offender. Experts have found that patterns of violent acts by Russian forces in Ukraine meet the qualification of crimes against humanity.

“Russia adheres to the tactics of total terror and ignores any rules and laws, trying to destroy civilian infrastructure and civilians as much as possible. There is no and cannot be any justification for this,” he said. “We regularly see how the Russian army shells residential areas 500+ km from the front, deliberately killing civilians and children.”

CNN’s Olga Voitovych contributed reporting to this post.

Over 6.6 million people have been internally displaced in Ukraine because of the hostilities, the International Organization for Migration said Wednesday.

A survey conducted by the IOM last month showed that 15% of Ukraine’s population has been displaced.

At the same time, 5.5 million people who were previously displaced have returned home, most to Kyiv city and region, as well as Kharkiv, Odesa and Chernihiv regions.

The organization said many of the people who have been displaced are facing economic hardship. It said that 60% of those who were employed before displacement have lost their jobs and as many as 9% have had no income since the outbreak of the full-scale war in late February.

With the approaching colder months, many are worried about their living conditions, the IOM said. As many as 44% said they needed help with repairs and more than one fourth feared needing to leave their current accommodation due to insufficient heating ahead of winter.

Residents of the tiny village of Dniprovske near Ukraine’s border with Belarus feel betrayed by their neighbors.

Belarus, a key Russian ally, continues to allow Moscow to launch missile and rocket attacks on Ukraine from its territory. 

“We expected such an attack from Putin … but we did not expect this from the Belarusians,” 40-year-old Svitlana Slyvka told CNN.

“This is treason. We are relatives, we are neighbors. … It’s a stab in the back that no one expected. They are worse than Russia.”  

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko remains one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies and has played a significant role in the invasion of Ukraine. 

He allowed Russian troops to cross the Belarusian border into Ukraine at the start of the conflict.

Ukrainian border guard Andrii Kazatskiy said the local residents can hear the missiles coming from Belarus. “[They] can hear not only how the missiles were launched, but also how they flew by,” he told CNN.

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Russian officials say their air defense systems repelled another attempt by the Ukrainian military to strike the Antonovsky bridge, a key structure that crosses the Dnieper river into the occupied city of Kherson.

“There were no strikes on the bridge. There were attempts, but everything was repelled by the air defense system. Nothing flew on the bridge at all, these are all fakes,” Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the region’s civil military administration, told Russian state news agency TASS. 

Ukraine has been conducting strikes on bridges in the area for several weeks now, hoping to cut off supplies to Russian troops in Kherson ahead of an announced counteroffensive. 

Traffic across the Antonovsky bridge was stopped altogether on July 27, according to TASS.

Over the past week, Russian state media and social media footage showed Moscow’s forces transporting people across the Dnieper river in makeshift pontoon ferries, circumventing the disabled bridges. 

The Ukrainian military says Russian forces are maintaining their offensive in the country’s east — but that Ukraine has been able to repel their advance. 

“The enemy used barrel and rocket artillery in the areas of Yakovlivka, Travneve, Kodema, Pokrovske, Rozdolivka, Kurdiumivka, Zaitseve, Bakhmut and Soledar settlements. There were airstrikes near Yakovlivka, Soledar and Kodema,” the military’s General Staff said in a morning update on Thursday.

It said Russian forces “tried to improve the tactical position” in a number of directions, but “had no success … and retreated.”

Russia continues to conduct “offensive operations in the direction of Novoluhanske - Kodema, hostilities continue,” the General Staff added.

Eastern front line: Ukrainian authorities reported intense shelling across most of the eastern battlefield. 

Near Kharkiv, Russian forces tried to make a push towards Bairak–Husarivka, the Ukrainian military said.

Russian forces had largely abandoned Kharkiv as a target, as they focused on the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, it added.

Fighting in the south: Meanwhile In Ukraine’s southern flank, Russian forces relied mostly on artillery, shelling more than 25 settlements in and around Mykolaiv. The city has faced intense shelling throughout the week, with a Ukrainian grain mogul and his wife killed last Saturday in an attack.

Residents there told CNN it was the heaviest shelling in the city since the start of the war.

Ukraine has been trying to mount a counteroffensive in this area, and Ukrainian officials have said Moscow is using artillery to defend and hold onto the territory it controls. 

Nearly 6,000 people trying to leave Russian-occupied territories for the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia have become stuck due to flooding on the route, according to Ukrainian officials.

“There are more than 1,200 cars at the checkpoint in Vasylivka, that’s almost 6,000 of our citizens waiting in line to leave to the city of Zaporizhzhia,” Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov told Ukrainian television on Thursday.
“The waiting time there is up to seven days. But the situation has become more complicated in the last few days, because there is heavy rain in the Zaporizhzhia region, and the dirt road, which is in the gray zone, is now impassable.”

The route to Zaporizhzhia through Vasylivka is one of the few “green corridors,” which allow civilians to escape Russian-occupied territories to safer, Ukrainian-controlled parts of the country. The route has been flooded for the past few days.

“The enemy is deliberately blocking this path now, because they are deliberately releasing our citizens, who will then get stuck on this dirt road,” Fedorov added. “Therefore, evacuation is possible as of today, but it is very painful and takes quite a lot of time.”

On Wednesday, officials said the number of Ukrainian refugees trying to travel through the road had increased because of Ukraine’s counteroffensive toward the occupied city of Kherson. 

No grain shipments are expected to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Thursday, according to the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul.

On Monday, the M/V Razoni carried the first shipment of grain from Ukraine since Russia began its invasion. After being delayed due to bad weather, it arrived in Istanbul Tuesday evening, and is heading to the port of Tripoli in Lebanon next.

The shipment was finally allowed to leave the port of Odesa under a UN-brokered export deal, after Russia’s months-long blockade of Ukrainian ports worsened a global food supply crisis.

An additional 17 vessels are loaded and awaiting permission to leave Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.

Closing arguments are expected Thursday in WNBA star Brittney Griner’s drug-smuggling trial in Russia, amid concerns that she is being used as a political pawn in the country’s war on Ukraine.

The court hearing in the Khimki city courthouse comes six months after Griner, 31, was arrested at a Moscow airport and accused by Russian prosecutors of trying to smuggle less than 1 gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. She faces up to 10 years in prison.

The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist, who also plays for a Russian team in the WNBA offseason, pleaded guilty to drug charges last month in what her lawyers say was an attempt to take responsibility and receive leniency if she is ultimately convicted and sentenced.

“Considering the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and (Griner’s) personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence,” her legal team said last month.

Prisoner swap: The US State Department maintains Griner is wrongfully detained, and her supporters have called for her release and asked the US to take further steps to try to free her from the country, perhaps as part of a proposed prisoner swap.

“She’s still focused, and she’s still nervous. And she still knows that the end is near, and of course she heard the news so she’s hoping that sometime she could be coming home, and we hope, too,” said Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin & Partners law firm and a member of Griner’s defense team.

She added the verdict in the case will come “very soon,” potentially Thursday.

Read more here.

The US Senate voted on Wednesday to approve a resolution to ratify membership for Sweden and Finland in NATO, a historic vote aimed at strengthening the defense bloc amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

NATO formalized its invitation to Sweden and Finland to join the alliance at the end of June and the decision must go to the 30 member states’ parliaments and legislatures for final ratification.

President Joe Biden sent the protocols for ratification to the Senate in July, paving the way for the vote, which needed to be approved by two-thirds of the Senate to succeed. The final tally of the Senate vote was 95 to 1, with GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri voting in opposition and GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voting present.

Read more here.

Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom said the delivery of a pipeline turbine from Germany to Russia is “impossible,” despite German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying earlier on Wednesday that it was ready to go. 

In a statement on Telegram, Gazprom said “the sanctions regimes of Canada, the EU, the UK and the inconsistency of the current situation with the current contractual obligations on the part of Siemens make the delivery of the 073 engine to the Portovaya CS impossible.”

Gazprom has consistently blamed reduced gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Europe on technical issues relating to the turbine. It was recently under repairs in Canada and then shipped to a Siemens Energy plant in Germany. 

In a visit to inspect the turbine in the German city of Mülheim, the chancellor said, “It is clear and simple: the turbine is there. It can be delivered. All someone has to do is say, ‘I want it.’ Then it will be there very quickly.”

Scholz said there were no legal or technical reasons or sanctions preventing the export of the turbine to Russia.

The Ukrainian government has raised its forecast for this year’s harvests of grain and oilseeds crops.

A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was told this year’s harvest is expected to be larger than was initially predicted — 65 to 67 million metric tons instead of the 60 million metric tons previously forecast.

Shymal said that “despite all the troubles, the harvest continues. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, during the harvest period, crop harvesting was carried out on an area of 3.5 million hectares, in fact, 12 million tons of grain of the new crop were collected,” Shmyhal said.

“In June we exported 3.2 million [metric] tons out of the 5 million that were needed. Exports are gradually increasing by rail, road, and through the Danube ports. Seaports will significantly expand these capacities and farmers will get new opportunities to sell their products.”

First grain ship: Shmyal’s remarks came as the first ship to leave a Black Sea port laden with grain passed through the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul.

Shmyhal said the government was working to improve participation in state credits for farmers, many of whom have had their equipment and storage destroyed or are unable to get their produce to market economically.

Denys Marchuk, deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, told a news conference Wednesday that 16 more ships are waiting for their turn to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports after being stranded there since February.

He said the first task was to begin shifting the 20 million metric tons stored by agricultural producers from the last harvest.

He also said that government ministries were discussing with the Coordination Council in Istanbul the possibility of including ports in the Mykolaiv region in the deal to export Ukrainian crops