Ukraine is "moving forward" in counteroffensive, foreign minister tells CNN
From CNN’s Catherine Nicholls and Zoe Cantley
Ukraine is “not failing” but “moving forward” in its counteroffensive, the country’s foreign minister told CNN on Friday.
“If Ukraine was failing, I would probably be the first one just to speak the truth. But we are not failing — we are moving forward,” Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour in Kyiv.
The foreign minister added that those criticizing the speed of Ukraine’s counteroffensive should consider the soldiers fighting at the heart of it.
“How does it feel when you come back from your mission and you take back your phone, you open it, and you start reading all the smart people saying how slow you are and that you're not doing well enough?” Kuleba said. “You just lost two of your buddies. You were almost killed. You crawled one kilometer on your belly demining the field. You sacrificed yourself - you took the damn Russian trench in a fierce fight. And then you read someone saying ‘Oh guys, you're too slow’?”
“Our partners who are helping us, including the United States, they understand that things are moving in the right direction. And they understand that there's no tragedy or no kind of slow down,” Kuleba continued. “It's just happening because it's tough. It's a tough fight.”
Most recently, Ukrainian forces said they had penetrated the “first line” of Russian strongholds in the Zaporizhzhia region, in a sign that Kyiv is edging closer to Moscow’s sprawling network of fortified trenches along the southern front.
Watch a clip of the interview here:
11:16 a.m. ET, September 1, 2023
"Barbie" has unofficially reached Russia's cinemas, despite Western studios pulling out of country during the war
From CNN's Radina Gigova and Katharina Krebs
Margot Robbie as Barbie in Warner Bros. Pictures' "Barbie". Warner Bros. Pictures
This summer’s blockbuster “Barbie” has made it to Russia — despite not being officially released there due to the war in Ukraine — and it seems Barbiemania has infatuated many Russians even as the movie draws condemnation from officials.
“Barbie” distributor Warner Bros., which is owned by CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, was among the Western studios to pull out of Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. Since spring 2022, not a single movie from the company has been released in Russia.
Russia’s Ministry of Culture said it hasn’t received an application to release “Barbie,” and authorities denied reports that a dubbing studio had started working on Russian voiceovers for the movie, according to state news agency TASS. When approached by CNN, Warner Bros. Discovery had no further comment on the story.
While several Russian cinema networks have said they won’t be showing “Barbie” without a proper license and have stayed away from pirated copies, some smaller theaters have chosen to hold screenings of lower-quality pirated versions due to the high demand.
Nearly 90 people showed up to watch an improvised screening of the movie in the Siberian city of Tyumen earlier this month, according to state news outlet RIA Novosti. The organizers told the outlet they had found a good adapted version with proper voiceovers.
Similar screenings with Russian voiceovers have also been promised at several cinemas in the capital of Moscow. A “Barbie House” photo zone was also set to open in Moscow last week, and Russian clothing brands have launched pink Barbie-themed collections.
Barbiemania has taken over social media as well, with numerous Russian influencers and celebrities posting Barbie-related images and videos and highlighting their own Barbie-themed looks.
Russian officials are not (publicly) fans of "Barbie world": Despite the enthusiasm, a number of Russian officials and lawmakers have slammed the iconic doll, made by US toy manufacturer Mattel, and the movie for promoting what they consider to be morally degraded Western values. Commentaries in state media have linked the movie and the doll to the United States’ “downhill” culture and geopolitical aims.
Former spy-turned-lawmaker Maria Butina told state outlet Duma TV that images of Barbie dolls should be removed, because they promote “the LGBT theme.”
Even though the movie largely lampoons Barbie’s body standards, long-criticized as unrealistic, Butina’s position is echoed by a number of Russian officials, who maintain that both the doll and the movie could have a negative influence on young girls. It’s unclear if any of those officials have even seen the movie.
“If you take the dimensions of Barbie and put them on a real person, then this is a waist of 35 centimeters, it’s very hard to imagine a girl with a waist of 35 centimeters,” said Tatyana Butskaya, deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, speaking at a press conference in Moscow on the influence of toys on the child psyche.
It's afternoon in Kyiv. Catch up on the latest headlines here
From CNN staff
Ukrainian officials say they are consolidating their positions on the southern front and have claimed to launch drone strikes from inside Russian territory.
Here's what you need to know on Friday.
Ukraine targets Russian cities: Ukrainian drones again targeted Russia's capital and a southwestern region bordering Ukraine, Russian officials said Friday. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said air defenses downed a drone approaching the capital overnight, and flights there were disrupted. Officials in other cities around the country also reported attacks.
Attacks "launched inside Russia:" The head of Ukrainian Defense Intelligence said that separate drone attacks earlier this week, which hit a Russian air base in Pskov, were launched from within Russian territory. Kyrylo Budanov told the online publication WarZone: "We are operating from Russian territory; four Russian IL-76 military transport planes were hit as a result of the attack."
The southern front: The Ukrainian military says its units on the southern Zaporizhzhia front are consolidating their positions after making some progress. The General Staff said Friday that forces were pushing toward the village of Novoprokopivka, adding: "They have been successful, are consolidating their positions, inflicting artillery fire on the identified enemy targets, and conducting counter-battery operations."
Russia arrests blogger: Andrey Kurshin, who ran an influential Russian military Telegram channel, was arrested in Moscow, state news reported. An ultra-nationalist, Kurshin had been critical of how the Kremlin had managed the war in Ukraine.
Thousands of inquests opened: Ukrainian prosecutors say they have opened more than 3,000 cases of alleged Russian crimes against children, including murder, torture and sexual violence. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Ukrainian authorities, rights groups, international bodies and news organizations have documented an overwhelming body of evidence of alleged Russian war crimes and human rights abuses.
Grain deal: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Monday, the Kremlin has confirmed. The meeting comes after Russia's foreign minister said it is willing to rejoin the Black Sea grain deal once it sees guarantees that promised benefits will be implemented. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres later presented “a set of concrete proposals.”
7:22 a.m. ET, September 1, 2023
Kremlin confirms Putin will meet Turkish president as Black Sea grain deal negotiations continue
From CNN’s Anna Chernova
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Monday, the Kremlin confirmed.
“Indeed, the negotiations will take place on Monday in Sochi,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists Friday.
The meeting is to be held against the backdrop of Ankara’s efforts to convince Moscow to reconsider its withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal. Russia withdrew from the initiative in July, nearly a year after it was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to guarantee safe passage of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea and help facilitate Russian exports of grain and fertilizer.
Following bilateral talks in Moscow with his Turkish counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Thursday that Russia will be ready to rejoin the Black Sea initiative as soon as it sees guarantees that benefits promised to Russia will be implemented.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres later Thursday presented “a set of concrete proposals” in order to renew the deal in a letter to Lavrov.
Ukrainian intelligence official says drone attacks against Russian airbase were launched from inside Russia
From CNN's Tim Lister and Olga Voitovych
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the dual military-civilian use Princess Olga Pskov International Airport in Pskov, Russia, on August 31. Planet Labs PBC/AP
The head of Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said that drone attacks earlier this week on a Russian air base in Pskov were launched from within Russian territory.
Budanov told the online publication WarZone: "We are operating from Russian territory; four Russian IL-76 military transport planes were hit as a result of the attack."
"Two were destroyed and two were seriously damaged," Budanov said.
Satellite imagery shows that two Il-76s — the aircraft that forms the backbone of Russian military airlift — were destroyed, and two appear to have damaged fuselages.
"The fuel tanks and an important part of the wing spar located in the upper part of the IL-76 were targeted," Budanov said.
However, he declined to tell WarZone what type of drones and how many were used in what was one of Ukraine's most ambitious aerial attacks inside Russia.
Pskov is about 800 kilometers (roughly 500 miles) from the Ukrainian border in northwestern Russia near Estonia.
The Kremlin declined to comment on the claim Friday, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov deferring questions to the Russian defense ministry.
CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed reporting to this post.
5:36 a.m. ET, September 1, 2023
Ukrainian troops consolidate on southern front after some gains, officials say
From CNN's Tim Lister and Olga Voitovych
Ukrainian servicemen fire small multiple launch rocket systems towards Russian troops near a front line in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on August 19. Viacheslav Ratynsky/Reuters
The Ukrainian military says its units on the southern Zaporizhzhia front are consolidating their positions after making some progress.
The General Staff said Friday that forces were pushing towards the village of Novoprokopivka. "They have been successful, are consolidating their positions, inflicting artillery fire on the identified enemy targets, and conducting counter-battery operations."
However, the Russian military blogger WarGonzo reported that Russian forces had counterattacked near the village of Verbove in the same sector.
Ukrainian soldiers have said they expect battles for control of high ground to the south and east of the village as they approach the next layer of Russian defenses. The goal of Ukrainian forces in this area is to punch a hole through the multi-layered Russian defensive fortifications and approach the strategic hub of Tokmak.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported Thursday that Russian forces repelled five Ukrainian assaults near Verbove.
CNN is unable to verify independently the battlefield claims of either side.
The Ukrainians also claim to have reached "parity" with the Russians in terms of artillery range. Brigadier General Serhiy Baranov told Ukrainian media Thursday that the Ukrainians are benefiting from the longer range of field artillery provided by NATO states.
He said that while Russian artillery had an average range of 24 kilometers, weapons provided to Ukraine could fire between 30 and 40 kilometers.
"This made it possible to destroy or damage the enemy's guns, as well as to move the enemy's artillery from the front line into the depths and prevent counter-battery warfare against our artillery and influence our infantry," Baranov said.
6:55 a.m. ET, September 1, 2023
Ultra-nationalist military blogger arrested in Moscow
From CNN's Tim Lister and Anna Chernova
A Russian military blogger who has frequently been critical of the way the campaign in Ukraine has been conducted has been arrested in Moscow, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.
"A criminal case was opened against the administrator of the Moscow Calling telegram channel Andrey Kurshin for fake news about the Russian army," RIA Novosti said.
Moscow imposed harsh penalties on spreading "fake news" about the military shortly after it invaded Ukraine, amid a brutal crackdown on dissent.
"While he is being held as a suspect, the case is being investigated by Moscow investigators," the agency said, citing law enforcement agencies.
The Telegram channel of Moscow Calling has some 87,000 subscribers.
The Institute for the Study of War notes that Kurshin is not a mainstream blogger but an ultra-nationalist who "commonly attacks many aspects of Russia’s military conduct of the war in Ukraine while supporting the ultranationalist goals underpinning the war itself."
ISW said that "the wider Russian ultranationalist information space welcomed Kurshin’s arrest and noted that he routinely discredited the Russian military."
"We do whatever we can now to resist": Christiane Amanpour meets the Ukrainians training as drone pilots
By Christiane Amanpour and Maddie Araujo
As drones increasingly become a weapon of choice for both Russia and Ukraine, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour was able to witness Ukrainians training to become drone pilots.
At a sprawling field at an undisclosed location, the Victory Drones charity initiative is teaching both military personnel and civilians how to fly first-person view (FPV) civilian drones. These devices can be bought off a store shelf for as little as $500, but once weaponized they can take out entire tanks in the battlefield.
Some of the trainees have strapped water bottles full of sand to their drones as mock rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) so they can practice munition drops around an obstacle course.
“We do whatever we can now to resist because [the] Russians want to kill all of us,” 40-year-old Yuliia tells Amanpour. She used to be a writer and film director before the war.
Just this week, Ukraine launched the largest drone assault on Russian territory since the beginning of the invasion, striking at at least six regions across the country. It is unclear what types of drones were used for that attack.
Software engineer Lyuba Shipovich co-founded Victory Drones. She calls FPVs “the most cost-effective weapon” because they also have the advantage of being used for reconnaissance purposes. “If you seethe enemy you can hit the enemy, you can hide,” she explains.
The school, which trains both men and women, is working in conjunction with Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
“We are trying to fight this myth that women cannot fight,” Shipovich tells Amanpour. “If you have hands, fingers you can operate drones.”
CNN's Victoria Butenko, Olha Konovalova and Mark Phillips also contributed reporting.
WATCH THE FULL REPORT HERE:
2:33 a.m. ET, September 1, 2023
Murder, torture, sexual violence among thousands of Russian crimes against children, Ukraine says
From CNN's Mariya Knight and Helen Regan
Shards of window glass are seen in the kindergarten at the scene where a helicopter crashed on civil infrastructure in Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 18. Daniel Cole/AP/File
Ukraine has opened more than 3,000 criminal cases over Russia’s alleged crimes against children in the country, including dozens of torture cases, Ukrainian prosecutors said Thursday.
The allegations include “murders, mutilations, abduction of children, forced displacement, deportation, sexual violence against children and kidnapping,” Yulia Usenko, head of the Department for the Protection of Children’s Interests and Combating Violence of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, told Interfax-Ukraine.
Usenko said these alleged crimes are “often combined with torture and illegal deprivation of liberty” and “pretrial investigation bodies and prosecutors document such crimes in more than 3,200 criminal proceedings.”
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Ukrainian authorities, rights groups, international bodies and news organizations have documented an overwhelming body of evidence of alleged Russian war crimes and human rights abuses.
Russia has repeatedly denied these accusations of torture and human rights abuses.
According to Usenko, prosecutors documented 75 children who suffered various forms of torture at the hands of Russian forces.
She said 69 of them were located in the village of Yahidne, in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region. The children were held in the basement of a school together with adults and their conditions and treatment, “is equated to torture,” Usenko said.
Isolated cases of child torture were also documented in the southern Kherson and northeastern Kharkiv regions, where children were “deprived of their freedom and subjected to physical torture,” Usenko said.
