September 14, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

US President Joe Biden plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week around the UN General Assembly meetings, according to multiple officials familiar with the plans.

It remained unclear whether the meeting would occur in New York or later in the week at the White House. One source familiar with the matter told CNN that Zelensky is expected to travel to Washington, DC, after his stop in New York.

Biden and Zelensky are both scheduled to address the assembly on Tuesday.

Zelensky is planning to use an in-person appearance at the annual meeting to appeal for more support for Ukraine as it continues to wage a counteroffensive against Russia. Aside from an address to the assembly, he plans several meetings with other world leaders in New York, according to people familiar with the plans.

Among his objectives will be trying to persuade nations that haven’t taken a firm stance against the war to be more forceful in their condemnation of Russia.

Among his meetings will be with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government announced Thursday.

Past Biden-Zelensky meetings: Biden last met Zelensky on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Lithuania in July. Before that, the men sat for talks in May at the G7 summit in Japan. Despite support from the United States for an appearance at last week’s G20 summit in India, Zelensky wasn’t extended an invitation by the hosts. 

He last traveled to the United States in December, his first time leaving Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in February of 2022.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council declined to comment.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Zelensky in Kyiv last week as part of a trip aimed in part at aligning the US and Ukraine ahead of the diplomatic gathering. The top US diplomat told the Ukrainian president that the US is "determined to continue to walk side-by-side” with Ukraine.

The national security advisors of the United States, South Korea, and Japan jointly issued a stern warning regarding potential violations of international sanctions by North Korea and Russia, according to a statement released by South Korea’s presidential office. 

They convened to discuss the recent North Korea-Russia summit and the regional security landscape during a phone call Thursday evening local time, the statement said. 

They advisors emphasized that both North Korea and Russia are obligated to adhere to the UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions, particularly those pertaining to arms trade and military cooperation. They underscored that there would be "clear consequences" if either country were to breach these obligations.

Additionally, the security chiefs highlighted Russia's greater responsibility as a permanent member of the Security Council to comply with its resolutions, the statement said. 

All three countries expressed grave concerns over the discussions between President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, which included topics related to military cooperation, including the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, despite repeated warnings from the international community, according to the statement.

The advisors also reached a consensus on the need for enhanced solidarity among their respective countries to monitor arms trade and military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, develop countermeasures, and strengthen international cooperation in this regard, the statement concluded. 

Putin met his North Korean counterpart Wednesday in Russia's Far East, but it is unclear if they struck an agreement.

More than 100 participants in what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine won in local elections in Russia as well as in occupied territories, a Russian state news agency reported.

Among the winners "representing the category of special military operation participants" are combat veterans, said Andrey Turchak, the First Deputy Speaker of Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, according to RIA Novosti.  

Also on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the participation of "heroes of a special military operation" in local elections in Russia this year "deserves the highest praise." 

“This is absolutely normal. Such civic activity of these citizens, these heroes, certainly deserves the highest praise,” Peskov said during a daily call with journalists. 

Peskov also added that it's difficult to make forecasts on whether this trend of "special military operation" participants holding positions in local government offices would influence the work of the local authorities. 

Some background: September 8 to 10 were dubbed so-called "Unified Voting Days" in Russia and the occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea. Ukrainian officials and the international community have denounced those so-called votes as a propaganda move. 

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said the so-called elections further violated Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The Ukrainian military has seen "some success" on the front lines near Bakhmut, but fighting continues south of the city, in the area of the village of Andriivka, according to a defense official.

"There has been some success" in the village, but "heavy fighting" is still ongoing, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in a post on social media on Thursday.

Both the Ukrainian and Russian sides have said that some of the most intense battles in the Bakhmut direction are happening south of the city in the Andriivka area. Both sides are striving to mark tangible progress. 

Ukraine's 3rd assault brigade, which has been fighting in the Bakhmut sector, also reported "serious and heavy fighting" in the areas of Andriivka and the village of Klishchiivka nearby. In an update on social media, the brigade said that it is still "unsound and premature" to talk about victory in Andriivka.

Earlier Thursday, Maliar said "very active battles" are also raging along the southern front, where "the situation is very dynamic."

"The enemy does not want to leave the settlements that have already been liberated. And they continue to fight," Maliar said in a television interview. CNN is unable to verify most of the claims made by either side.

Maliar said the Ukrainian military is also "gradually advancing" in the Melitopol direction. 

Ukraine's strategy to regain control of Crimea is focusing on three main "tasks" that include attacking "occupation military objects," Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said Thursday.

Earlier Thursday, a Ukrainian security source said Ukraine had destroyed a Russian air defense complex Triumph near the town of Yevpatoria in the annexed Crimea in an overnight attack.  

"Secondly: we need to stop the large-scale continuous supply of resources and reserves into the area of active hostilities," Podolyak went on to say. "For this purpose transport logistics, including illegal objects like bridges in Kerch Strait, are being destroyed."

"Thirdly: we need to chase away remnants of the Russian Black Sea fleet from the Crimean territorial waters and beyond and reinstate the status of the Black Sea as the sea of external jurisdiction," he said. "For this purpose repairs infrastructure and Russian warships are being destroyed," he added. 

Podolyak's words also reflect some of the other attacks Ukraine has conducted in recent days. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian air defenses shot down 11 Ukrainian drones over Crimea early Thursday morning. The Crimean Bridge was also closed to traffic early Thursday, but has since reopened.

On Wednesday, two Russian warships were damaged in a Ukrainian attack on a ship repair base in Sevastopol, in what appears to be the most ambitious strike on the port since the start of war. 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened a field office in Kyiv to help it investigate war crimes in Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Announcing the move in the Ukrainian capital Thursday, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said the war was a moment of huge responsibility for the Court which required perseverance and endurance. 

“We need to show that basic standards of humanity mean something,” he said.

Khan was speaking alongside Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin whose office says it has compiled evidence pertaining to more than 100,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression committed by Russian soldiers. The two men also said they were looking to add cyberattacks and environmental crimes to their war crimes case load, which Kostin said was something “never done before.”

In March, the ICC issued war crimes arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, in connection with the alleged forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, but there is no expectation the Court will be able to take on anything other than a fraction of the total number of cases.

The Biden administration Thursday announced its latest tranche of sanctions against the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine in a move that targets Russian elites profiting off the war as well as sectors critical to Moscow’s military effort.

The step by the US Treasury and US State departments to sanction individuals and entities involved in Russia’s industrial base, maritime sector, technology suppliers, and facilities producing and repairing Russian weapons systems comes as the Kremlin seeks to deepen its military cooperation with North Korea. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the country’s far east on Wednesday as the international pariahs consider further military cooperation and a potential arms deal that US officials have said they are “actively advancing.” The potential deal would see North Korea provide Russia weapons for its faltering war in Ukraine in exchange for ballistic missile technology. 

As part of Thursday’s move, the Biden administration is also targeting elites and families involved in the deepening relations between Russia and North Korea, including the wife of Russian Deputy Defense Minister Aleksei Yurievich Krivoruchko — who has been a key player in the negotiations between Pyongyang and Moscow. 

The US has been working to continue its pressure on Moscow through further sanctions as cracks emerged this summer in Russia’s economy and society because of the war and unprecedented sanctions regime from the US and its Western allies. 

Those included in the sanctions: Among the newly sanctioned entities are Russian firms that supply military equipment such as weapons, radar systems and vehicle parts such as Transmashholding and its CEO Andrei Removich Bokarev and his wife, who are also accused of having “personal ties” to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The new sanctions also target Russian companies that supply aerospace and aviation equipment to the Russian military, as well as others that supply weapons and ammunition.

The US also sanctioned two Turkish firms for sending tools and components that could be used in Russian drones to Russian companies, as well as French national Gabriel Temin and an Estonian national Catherine Esther Temin and their Finland-based firms Siberica and Luminor for exporting electronics used in Russian military drones to Russian companies.

The sanctions also target companies across Russia’s economy, including automotive manufacturers and construction companies, as well as Russian banks and financial firms.

The Ukrainian military has shelled the Russia's Belgorod region nearly 100 times over the past 24 hours, the region's Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said Thursday.

Ukrainian forces fired artillery shells as well as munitions from drones on several villages in the region, Gladkov said in a Telegram post, adding that no casualties or major damage were reported.

The Belgorod region lies on the Russia-Ukraine border. This is not the first time Russia has accused Ukraine of an attack in the region. Regional leaders have reported attacks in the border region earlier this year.

Ukraine launched an extensive assault on a Russian naval repair base in occupied Crimea early Wednesday morning, damaging two Russian warships and injuring 24 people – in what was Kyiv’s most ambitious strike on the Sevastopol port since the war began.

The next night, Russian air defenses shot down 11 Ukrainian drones over Crimea and had to close the Kerch Bridge, which links the peninsula to the Russian mainland.

The attacks are just the latest to hit Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Ukraine says it ultimately aims to reclaim the region.

Strategic importance: Many of these strikes have sought to damage Russia’s naval vessels and bases stationed in Crimea. Since Russia allowed the grain deal to lapse in July, its Black Sea Fleet has been used to blockade Ukraine’s ports, preventing grain shipments. 

The fleet has also been used to strike Ukrainian territory from the sea – particularly in its bombardment of Ukrainian grain storage facilities and port infrastructure in Odesa.

By launching its own strikes on Russia’s warships and naval bases in Sevastopol, Ukraine has sought to limit the Russian navy’s operational potential.

Symbolic importance: But the strikes on Crimea also have symbolic value and are intended to damage Russian President Vladimir Putin’s prestige. Putin has made it clear that he intends to “reunite” Russia and Ukraine, which he sees as one country.

The Kerch Bridge is a physical expression of this objective. Putin built the 12-mile bridge – the longest in Europe – at a cost of around $3.7 billion. The day it opened in 2018, Putin led a convoy over the bridge in a triumphant display of Russian patriotism.

Ukraine has long reviled the bridge and has targeted it during the war. On October 8 last year, the day after Putin turned 70, the bridge was partially destroyed when a fuel tanker exploded and damaged a large section of the road. Ukrainian officials responded to the attack by posting a video of the burning bridge alongside a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mr President.”

Ukraine used experimental sea drones to launch a second successful attack on the bridge in July this year, demonstrating again how hard it is to defend the only independent Russian link to the peninsula.

The uptick in strikes on Crimea has also forced many Russian tourists to avoid the peninsula, which has long been a favorite vacation destination.