August 14, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Russian air defense systems detected and destroyed multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, over the territory of the Belgorod region, the defense ministry said Monday.

There were no casualties or damage, it added.

“On August 14, at about 12:15 Moscow time and 12:45 Moscow time, attempts by the Kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks by aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles against objects on the territory of the Russian Federation were thwarted,” the defense ministry said in a statement. 

Belgorod, a city within the Belgorod region, sits near the Russia-Ukraine border just 80 kilometers from Kharkiv, Ukraine. In recent months, drone attacks or attempted drone attacks on Belgorod have become an almost daily occurrence. 

A deadly Russian missile attack hit Zaporizhzhia on Sunday, while Ukrainian forces thwarted airstrikes in Odesa overnight.

Here are the latest developments:

Russian shelling in the Ukrainian town of Kozacha Lopan in the Kharkiv region on Monday killed a 50-year-old man, according to officials.

Two other men were also injured in the attack, the Kharkiv region military administration said on Telegram.

Further east, a separate Russian attack on the village of Podoly also resulted in two civilian injuries, officials said. 

"In addition, in the morning, a 42-year-old woman was admitted to a hospital in Izium with a mine-blast injury. She was wounded during the shelling around 1 a.m. (6 p.m. ET). The victim's house was also damaged," the regional military administration added.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to respond with "completely fair retaliation" amid a spate of Russian strikes on civilian targets.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States and European Union accelerated their pivot towards Serbia. Rather than juggling the contradictory demands of pluralistic and fractious Balkan states, Western capitals focused the bulk of their efforts on a singular target.

Their policies had two aims. First, to bring Serbia into the Western fold, away from Russia. Second, to allow their respective administrations to focus more fully on supporting Ukraine.

Traditionally one of Moscow’s closest allies in Europe, Belgrade has long tried to tread the line between its historical ties to Russia and a potential future of closer European integration. Western diplomats have sought to pull Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic from the orbit of his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, by pledging a swifter path to EU membership while simultaneously warning of isolation if they break rank.

But, 18 months on, some observers say the current approach has been all carrot and no stick, and as a result is failing to achieve both of its aims.

Serbia has refused to participate in all rounds of EU sanctions against Putin. And Serbia has continued to pursue its own interests in the region with diminishing accountability, stirring conflicts abroad to distract from discontent at home, safe in the knowledge they will not be rebuked in the West.

Read the full story:

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The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has placed three Ukrainian generals on its criminal wanted list on charges related to historic attacks in the Donbas region, an eastern Ukrainian flank that has remained the front line of the conflict since 2014.

According to Russian state news agency TASS on Monday, citing the ministry's database, the three Ukrainian officials on the list are:

The Russian Investigative Committee indicted the three generals in absentia at the end of July, according to TASS.

According to the committee, they commanded Ukrainian Armed Forces units that shelled Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republic settlements in 2016, 2017, and 2019.

Some background: The sprawling Donbas has been devastated by years of fighting between Moscow and Kyiv, after Russian-backed rebels occupied parts of region in 2014.

The Ukrainian government asserts that the two separatist-controlled areas -- Luhansk and the Donetsk People's Republic -- are temporarily Russian-occupied. The two territories have not been recognized by any governments, other than Russia and its ally Syria.

Since the Kremlin launched its invasion on Ukraine in February 2022, the fight for control of the Donbas has further intensified.

CNN's Kostan Nechyporenko and Rob Picheta contributed reporting.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said he will collaborate with his counterpart in Kyiv to bolster the Ukrainian economy, as Western allies support efforts to rebuild the country amid the conflict.

Linder arrived in Kyiv by train on Monday for his first trip to Ukraine since the start of the war, according to the German Finance Ministry press office.

He said it was “a special and moving moment" to be back in Kyiv.

“I was last there in early 2020 and got to know a country that had opted for democracy and a market economy,” Linder said, adding that he is “more convinced than ever that Ukraine was attacked by Russia because of this.”

Lindner said he would meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Serhii Marchenko, to provide “concrete support.” Lindner explained that the German Federal Ministry of Finance wanted to help Ukraine's finance ministry and make the country more attractive to foreign direct investment.

Germany has already provided around 1.5 billion euros ($1.64 billion) of aid to Ukraine since the war began, Lindner said. In July 2022, Germany and other creditors also announced that they would give Ukraine a reprieve on debt repayments.

The Sukru Okan cargo ship is now nearing the Romanian port of Sulina, a day after a Russian warship fired warning shots and boarded the barge in the latest escalation in the sea's shipping lanes.

The Russian defense ministry claimed over the weekend that the ship was headed to the Ukrainian port of Izmail in the Black Sea.

Moscow has said it stopped the Turkish-owned, Palau-flagged dry cargo ship on Sunday to ensure it was not carrying "prohibited goods" to Ukraine. 

On Monday, data from public ship traffic website MarineTraffic showed the vessel's new location near Sulina as of 12:25 p.m. (5:25 a.m. ET).

The Romanian port is a city at the mouth of the Danube River. The Ukrainian port of Izmail is located nearby, along the Danube. 

In new video of the incident obtained by CNN on Monday, a helicopter can be seen approaching the vessel that Russia said contained servicemen, who then boarded the ship. The video, which was provided by the ship’s owner, also showed the crew sat on deck as an hour-long inspection was conducted before the barge was able to continue on its way.

How we got here: Russia pulled out of a UN and Turkish-brokered deal in July that allowed Kyiv to move its grain via the Black Sea. At the time, it warned that any ships headed to Ukraine would be treated as potentially carrying weapons. Ukraine made a similar threat to ships traveling to Russian ports.

Poland’s military is making final preparations for the country’s Army Day on Tuesday, held this year against the backdrop of tensions on the border with Kremlin ally Belarus.

The event — held annually on August 15 — commemorates the anniversary of the 1920 victory over Soviet Russia at the Battle of Warsaw, locally known as the “Miracle on the Vistula.”

Video shared by the Polish army on Sunday showed dozens of tanks and military vehicles taking part in a nighttime rehearsal in Warsaw.

Diplomatic ties between Poland, a NATO member country, and key Kremlin ally Belarus have ruptured in recent weeks amid increased military activity along the border.

Earlier this year, troops from the Russian military group Wagner were stationed in Belarus after a failed mutiny against Moscow. Their increased presence in the region prompted Warsaw to deploy more troops at the border.

What's happening? Tuesday's parade will start at 2 p.m. (8 a.m. ET) along Wisłostrada — a highway that runs past the Vistula River in the capital, according to the Polish Ministry of Defense’s website.

The ministry added that it will present “200 units of Polish and foreign military equipment and 92 aircraft accompanied by 2,000 soldiers.”

The parade will include foreign equipment, including US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks, South Korean K2 tanks and K9 self-propelled howitzers, HIMARS rocket launchers, Krab self-propelled howitzers, as well as Patriot air defense systems, part of the Polish “WISŁA” system, according to the ministry's website.

The equipment of Polish production will include, among others: new Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles, Rosomak armored personnel carriers, and Rak self-propelled mortars, as well as Baobab-K mine-laying vehicles and Żmija light reconnaissance vehicles, the ministry added.

The military said it would also host nearly 70 “military picnics” from Saturday to Tuesday throughout Poland. At the picnics, people are able to talk to crews and have "the opportunity to learn about the construction of combat vehicles,” or try “the military pea soup with bread” while watching military films.

Russia is equipping its new Yasen-class nuclear submarines with hypersonic Zircon missiles, according to Alexey Rakhmanov, the head of Russia's largest shipbuilder. 

"Work in this direction is already underway," Rakhmanov told the RIA Novosti state news agency in an interview published on Monday.

Zircon hypersonic missiles are long-range weapons that travel more than five times the speed of sound and are harder to detect and intercept.

“The armament of serial frigates with this system will be carried out in accordance with the plan of the Russian Ministry of Defense during their construction and operation,” Rakhmanov added.

The Yasen-M multi-purpose nuclear submarines, also known as Project 885M, are a modernized version of Project 885. The Russian Navy now has one Project 885 and two 885M submarines, according to RIA Novosti.