August 13, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Ukraine called Russia’s boarding of a cargo vessel in the Black Sea on Sunday “a deliberate attack” and “an act of piracy,” marking the latest flare-up over the sea’s shipping lanes since a key grain deal collapsed last month. 

Moscow has said it stopped the vessel, a Palau-flagged dry cargo ship called the Sukra Okan, to ensure it was not carrying “prohibited goods” to Ukraine.

Ukraine called for the international community to recognize Russia’s actions as a crime.

“Today’s deliberate attack and forced inspection by Russia of Sukru Okan international civilian bulk carrier, which was en route to the Ukrainian port of Izmail, is a clear violation of international law of the sea, an act of piracy and a crime against civilian vessels of a third country in the waters of other states,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Podolyak called on all those involved in the incident to be identified and for the international community to recognize the “fact of the crime.”

“Ukraine will draw all the necessary conclusions and choose the best possible response,” he said.

Some context: In the weeks since Moscow pulled out of a deal that allowed for the safe passage of Ukrainian grain exports in the Black Sea, both Russia and Ukraine have launched attacks on shipping and port targets.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian sea drones attacked a major naval base in Russia. Hours later, Kyiv followed up with a strike on one of Russia’s biggest oil tankers.

For its part, Moscow has pummeled key port infrastructure with strikes in southern Ukraine, further limiting its ability to make exports.

Russia’s defense ministry has warned that ships sailing to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports will be viewed as military targets, while Ukraine has said any attacks of Russian targets on the sea will be justified because they occur in Kyiv’s territorial waters.

Russia’s defense ministry reported another drone attack Sunday on its western Belgorod region, as well as shelling on the northern Kursk region, both of which border Ukraine.

The latest drone attack occurred around 10 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET), when a Ukrainian craft tried to strike a target on Russian soil but was “foiled,” Moscow said.

The defense ministry said the drone “was detected and destroyed by Russian air defense means over the territory of Belgorod region,” adding that there were no casualties or damage following the attack.   

This comes after local officials reported three other drones being intercepted over the same region earlier in the day. 

Shelling on Russian territory: Separately, Russia says that shells fired by Ukraine hit a residential building in the village of Volfino in the northern Kursk region, wounding three people, according to Roman Starovoyt, the regional governor.

“10 incoming strikes were recorded,” Starovoyt said. 

“Unfortunately, three civilians suffered shrapnel wounds of moderate severity, they are taken to the central district hospital,” he added.

The Russian village of Volfino is located just across the border from Ukraine’s Sumy region, which is subjected to regular Russian attacks.

Reported shelling and drone attacks by Ukrainian forces have occurred with increasing frequency in recent months. Kyiv rarely takes direct credit for such attacks, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the war is “gradually returning” to Russian soil.

A rescue worker died on Sunday from injuries sustained in a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on August 7, raising the death toll to 10, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. 

The heart of Vitaly Kints, a colonel of the Civil Protection Service, has “stopped forever,” the State Emergency Service said in a Facebook post on Sunday. 

Kints was “seriously wounded during the repeated shelling” of Pokrovsk and died in hospital in the early hours of Sunday. 

The State Emergency Service described Kints as “an outgoing person, a brave and humane leader, a true professional in his field, who devoted a significant part of his life to the service and put his soul into it.” 

Some background: Russia struck Pokrovsk with two missiles on August 7, and claimed to have targeted a military command post of the “united group of Ukrainian troops Khortitsa.” 

The next day, Serhii Cherevatyi, a deputy commander in Ukraine’s military, told the publication Ukrainska Pravda that Russia’s claim was “false propaganda.”

Cherevatyi said that it was the “third or fourth time” already that Russia claimed to destroy that particular military command post. 

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, at least 78 rescuers have been killed and 280 wounded in Ukraine while responding to missile strikes. 

Russian defenses intercepted a Ukrainian drone over the western city of Belgorod on Sunday, Mayor Valentin Demidov said in a statement.

No one was wounded or killed, the mayor said in a post on Telegram, but fragments from the drone damaged the windows and facade of an apartment building on the city’s Yesenin Street. It also damaged 15 cars parked nearby, according to the mayor.

Crews will begin repairing the building Monday, he said.

Some background: The Russian mayor did not comment on where the unmanned aerial vehicle came from, but the reported attack comes a day after Russia’s defense ministry said it intercepted a Ukrainian drone elsewhere in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.

Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia have become an increasingly common feature of the war, with Kyiv warning that more will come.

A string of drone strikes has peppered Russian cities, including the capital of Moscow, throughout the summer. Belgorod and other cities along the border are also frequent targets.

CNN’s Rob Picheta contributed to this report.

Thirty-six children have been evacuated from settlements around the northeastern city of Kupiansk over the last 24 hours, according to a local official.

“One hundred eleven people have been evacuated from Kupiansk district over the past 24 hours, including 36 children and four people with disabilities,” said Oleh Syniehubov, the head of Kharkiv region military administration.

Local authorities issued evacuation orders on August 9. Since then, 204 people have been relocated, including 71 children, Syniehubov said.

“All evacuees are receiving the necessary assistance: free accommodation, humanitarian aid, medical support, assistance in obtaining IDP certificates and relevant financial aid from the government and international organizations,” he said.

Some background: Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region, particularly near Kupiansk, has intensified over the last week as Moscow’s forces step up their efforts to capture the city for a second time.

Authorities said last week that an estimated 12,000 people need to leave the city, including more than 600 children, in one of Ukraine’s largest scale evacuations of the war.

A 23-day-old baby girl named Sofia was among the seven killed in Russian shelling on Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson on Sunday, a regional leader said.

“Today, the Kherson region has been shaken by terrible news.. Little Sofia was only 23 days old, her brother Artem was 12 years old. Today, they were killed by Russia along with their father and mother,” said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson region military administration on Telegram. 

In the village of Stanislav, strikes killed two, including a Christian pastor. 

“The pastor of the Christian church Mykola Tachyshvili and his fellow villager were killed by an enemy strike. The believers remember him as a kind and bright man,” Prokudin said.

“Historical justice” has been restored on the strategic Snake Island — which was destroyed during Russian occupation — now that Ukrainian border guards have replaced the border marker, Kyiv said Sunday.

The island is one of the most potent symbols of Ukrainian resistance. The small but strategic territory was the scene of one of the opening salvos of the war in Ukraine, with demands from a Russian warship calling for the Ukrainian defenders to surrender. They boldly replied with, “Russian warship, go f**k yourself.” The Russian navy captured the island at the start of the full-scale invasion, but Ukraine was able take back the island in June 2022.

Here are the latest headlines in Russia’s war on Ukraine:

A Russian warship fired warning shots and boarded a cargo ship it claims was headed to Ukraine in the Black Sea on Sunday, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence. 

Russia said the warship fired warning shots when the captain of the Palau-flagged dry cargo ship failed to respond to “the request to stop for inspection for the carriage of prohibited goods.” The incident took place in southwestern Black Sea, the ministry said. 

“The Russian warship opened warning fire from automatic small arms fire to forcefully stop the vessel,” the statement said. 

The ministry claimed the ship named Sukra Okan was headed to the Ukrainian port of Izmail. Marine traffic websites currently shows the cargo vessel’s destination as the Romanian port of Sulina, which is close to Izmail. 

Kyiv did not immediately comment on whether or not the ship was headed to a Ukrainian port. 

“In order to inspect the bulk cargo ship, a Ka-29 helicopter with a group of Russian servicemen was hoisted from the patrol ship Vasily Bykov,” the ministry said. “Following radio conversations, the ship stopped its course and the boarding team landed on the bulk cargo ship,” the statement said. 

Some context: Russia pulled out of a UN and Turkish brokered deal in July that allowed Ukraine to move its grain via the Black Sea and warned that any ships headed to Ukraine would be treated as potentially carrying weapons. 

On Thursday, the Ukrainian navy issued an order declaring “temporary corridors” for merchant ships sailing to and from Ukrainian ports. Although, it admitted that the military threat and mine danger from Russia remained along all routes.

Late last week, imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was handed a harsh judgment: After a court hit him with a new 19-year sentence in a penal colony, he was sent immediately to a punishment cell.

It was a stark contrast to the fate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Back in June, Prigozhin led the abortive mutiny that presented the biggest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in over two decades of rule. While Prigozhin’s troops stopped short of Moscow, a furious Putin said in a televised speech that those on the “path of treason” would face punishment. Almost two months later, in the case of the Wagner chief, this simply hasn’t happened.

Clearly, the price for confronting Putin is not fixed. Perhaps more surprisingly, Prigozhin hasn’t even kept a low profile since the June uprising.

Just weeks after the insurrection, Prigozhin popped up on the sidelines of the recent Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, shaking hands with a dignitary from the Central African Republic (CAR).

To be sure, the mercenary boss was not striking a martial pose: While subscribers to his Telegram channel have become accustomed to seeing him in camouflage and tactical gear, Prigozhin was spotted in a polo shirt and mom jeans, cutting a seemingly more mild-mannered figure than in months past.

But pity the poor Russian diplomat who has to explain why Prigozhin – whose forces shot down Russian military aircraft and killed Russian military servicemembers on their march toward the capital – remains at large.

Read the full story here.

Seven people were killed in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region as a result of Russian attacks on Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials. 

Four people were killed, including a child under the age of 2, in the village of Shyroka Balka, according to Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s Office of the President.

A 12-year-old child with critical injuries died in hospital, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. “The whole family from Shyroka Balka died,” he said.

Two people were killed and one person was injured in the village of Stanislav, which was hit 12 times, according to Klymenko. 

Both villages were previously occupied by Russia but have been under Ukrainian control since November 2022.

Some context: The Ukrainian military is ramping up activity in the southern Kherson region amid a sweeping counteroffensive.

This week Russian state media reported that Ukrainian forces conducted a raid across the Dnipro River in region in an attempt to land near a Russian-occupied village.

In a symbolic move, Ukrainian border guards have replaced a border marker on the strategic Snake Island which was destroyed during the Russian occupation. 

“A border marker was installed on Snake Island. The previous one, which stood there before the full-scale invasion, was brazenly destroyed by the Russian occupiers,” State Border Guard Service Head Serhii Deineko said in the video standing next to the yellow- and blue-colored border marker. “Historical justice was restored,” he said.

Dmytro Usov from Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said: “We remember everyone who liberated Snake Island. We remember everyone who liberated every piece of our land. And we will certainly return all our territory.” 

Some context: Snake Island lies around 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the coast of Ukraine and is close to the sea lanes leading to the Bosphorus and Mediterranean.

The Russian Navy captured the island at the start of the full-scale invasion but Ukraine was able take back the island in June 2022.

The island is one of the most potent symbols of Ukrainian resistance. The small but strategic territory was the scene of one of the opening salvos of the war in Ukraine, with demands from a Russian warship calling for the Ukrainian defenders to surrender. They boldly replied with “Russian warship, go f**k yourself.”

Russia intercepted three more Ukrainian drone attacks on Sunday, two over the western border region of Belgorod and one over the western Kursk region, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence. 

The first drone was thwarted in the early hours of Sunday morning over Belgorod.

“At about 4 a.m. this morning, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using a single unmanned aerial vehicle against facilities in the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted,” the ministry said.  

“Russian air defense equipment detected and destroyed the unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of Belgorod Oblast,” it added. 

The second attack on the region was thwarted around 11 a.m. local time. A third drone attack over the Kursk region was then obstructed around 11:30 a.m.

No casualties or damage were reported, the ministry said. 

Russia had already “foiled” a Ukrainian drone attack over the Belgorod region on Saturday, according to the ministry.

Some background: Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia have become an increasingly common feature of the war, with Kyiv warning that more will come.

Belgorod and other western border regions in Russia are frequent targets.

After an attack on Moscow in July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “the war is gradually returning to Russia’s territory.”

Two ammunition depots were destroyed in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region shortly after midnight, according to Vladislav Nazarov, the spokesman for the Operational Command “South”.

“In temporarily occupied Oleshky, 2 ammo depots were destroyed after midnight,” Nazarov said on Telegram. 

He said there were strikes on concentrations of Russian personnel. 

Ukraine has been escalating its targeting of Russian infrastructure and territory.

Earlier this month, explosions hit critical road bridges linking occupied Crimea with parts of Russian-controlled areas in the Kherson region, Russian authorities said, claiming that the bridges were hit by air-launched long-range missile supplied to Ukraine by the UK.

More Ukrainian missiles were shot down in the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea on Saturday.

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) said in a statement there was a “realistic possibility” that Russia no longer funds the activities of the mercenary Wagner Group.

In a series of tweets on the social platform “X”, formerly known as Twitter, the defence ministry said that the Russian state “acted against some other business interests of Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin” after he led a failed mutiny against the Russian army’s top brass in June 2023.

“If the Russian state no longer pays Wagner, the second most plausible paymasters are the Belarusian authorities,” the British Defence Ministry said.

“However, the sizable force would be a significant and potentially unwelcome drain on modest Belarusian resources,” the UK MOD added.

The defence ministry went on to suggest that as a consequence, the Wagner Group would likely move towards “a down-sizing and reconfiguration process, largely to save on staff salary expenses at a time of financial pressure.”

Some context: The Wagner group’s short-lived rebellion presented the biggest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in over two decades of rule.

Under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Wagner fighters have since relocated to Belarus where their presence has alarmed neighboring Poland.

Prigozhin himself remains at large and was pictured in Russia last month, suggesting he retains some power.

One civilian was killed and six were wounded as a result of shelling on various areas of the Donetsk region Saturday, according to Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of occupied Donetsk.  

“One civilian was killed in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk. Six people were wounded in Makiivka, the Petrovsky district of Donetsk and Svitlodarsk, including a twelve-year-old girl,” Pushilin said in a Telegram post.

According to Pushilin, Ukraine inflicted strikes on the Petrovsky, Kirovsky, Kuibyshevsky and Kyivsky districts of the city of Donetsk, as well as the cities of Svitlodarsk, Makiivka and Yasynuvata. 

Additionally, six residential buildings and one civilian infrastructure facility were damaged in the Kuibyshevsky and Petrovsky districts of the city of Donetsk, Pushilin said. 

On Wednesday, Ukraine claimed “partial success” in the village of Urozhaine, near where Russians made “unsuccessful attempts” to regain lost ground, in the Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian officials.

European officials took some small comfort when China attended a summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last weekend. The meeting aimed to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine.

While Beijing didn’t budge from its stated position of impartiality, China’s mere presence at a meeting to which Russia says it was not invited has, some sources claim, sent a message to the international community that it’s not willing openly to pick Russia’s side against the West.

It might be a very small victory, but in the diplomatic world of zero-sum games, Russian President Vladimir Putin not getting exactly what he wants is something to celebrate.

“We never expected China to move fully to the Western position, but supporting this meeting will be a major disappointment to Russia,” a senior EU official told CNN.

“From our point of view, China is visibly engaging with the West, talking to the Ukrainians, and pushing back on Russia. We really welcome that,” the official said. Multiple European sources have echoed this view.

However, while China’s engagement with the international community might be a blow for Russia, it’s still being viewed with suspicion by Western allies, not least because of the continued economic, diplomatic and security ties the countries share.

Read the full story here.

Russian defenses intercepted a Ukrainian drone over the western border region of Belgorod on Saturday, Russia’s defense ministry said.

The attempted attack happened around 5:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), but it was “foiled,” the ministry said in a post on Telegram. Nothing was damaged in the incident and no one was wounded or killed, the post added.

The defense ministry did not name a potential target of the attack, saying simply that it was an assault on “facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Some background: Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia have become an increasingly common feature of the war, with Kyiv warning that more will come.

A string of drone strikes has peppered Russian cities, including the capital of Moscow, throughout the summer. Belgorod and other western border regions are also frequent targets.

CNN’s Rob Picheta contributed to this report.

Ukraine claimed “partial success” near the village of Robotyne along the southern Zaporizhzhia front after weeks of fighting in the area, as Russia continues offensive efforts near Kupiansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region that borders Russia. 

Ukraine’s drive to push down to the Sea of Azov and through to the Melitopol and Berdiansk areas continues, with fierce fighting along the front lines in that southern direction, officials say.

On Friday, social media video and images showed Ukrainian troops had entered Robotyne — a location that has seen heavy battles for several weeks. According to the Institute for the Study of War, even marginal gains by Ukraine in this area are significant.

In the Donetsk region: Meanwhile, Russians made “unsuccessful attempts” to regain lost ground near the village of Urozhaine in the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said. On Thursday, Ukraine also claimed “partial success” in gaining positions in the area near the recently retaken village of Staromaiorske. 

Russian forces are trying to “escalate and take over the initiative” in the east in an effort to “pull” Ukrainian troops from other areas of the front lines, according to a regional military official. 

In the Kharkiv region: In the Lyman-Kupiansk direction in the northeastern Kharkiv region, “the enemy is trying escalate and take over the initiative at this direction and attacking our positions,” said Serhii Cherevatyi, the deputy commander of strategic communications for the eastern military grouping. 

Russian forces attempted offensives near Kupiansk, which were repelled in a number of settlements in the area, according to the daily update from the General Staff.

With the upcoming anniversary of Ukraine’s September 2022 lightning offensive, Cherevatyi said on national television Saturday that Russian forces are looking to make gains there and “want to pull our forces and resources away from the Bakhmut area at all costs.” Ukraine has bolstered its defensive positions since last fall, according to the spokesperson.

Remember: A mandatory evacuation was ordered for Kupiansk and surrounding areas as Russia intensified shelling of the area and claimed to have captured some Ukrainian positions near the northeastern city that lies close to the Russian border. Kupiansk fell to Moscow’s forces within the first week of their invasion in February last year, but was then taken back last September.