Russia’s war in Ukraine

Our live coverage of the war in Ukraine has ended for the day. Catch up on the latest in the posts below.

As the battle for the fiercely contested eastern city of Bakhmut remains a focus for both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries, this map shows the territory that each side controls:

More than 40 missiles have hit the northeastern city of Kharkiv since the beginning of the year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday.

“Only since the beginning of this year – in less than two-and-a-half months – over 40 enemy missiles have already struck Kharkiv,” Zelensky said, calling the resulting “ruins, debris, shell holes in the ground” a self-portrait of Russia.

Oleh Synehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said Saturday that engineers were working to restore power to thousands of customers in the region following Thursday’s massive Russian attack.

Zelensky also talked about the shelling of other areas in Ukraine. He said three people who were killed in Russian shelling in the city of Kherson “simply went to a store to buy groceries.”

The attack happened on the Mykolaiv highway, injuring two others, according to a Telegram post earlier on Saturday from Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson region’s military administration.

Zelensky said that “in Zaporizhzhia, a Russian missile hit the city’s life support facility.”

“In the border areas, the occupier fired at villages to intimidate people, to drive people away,” he added.

The Ukrainian president announced “a new sanctioning step against individuals and legal entities” associated with Russia.

“The relevant decree has been published,” he said. “These are more than 280 companies and 120 people who, through gambling business schemes, worked against Ukraine, withdrew funds from our state and financed various Russian schemes.”

The decree “closes schemes worth tens of billions,” Zelensky said. 

As battles grind on between Ukrainian and Russian forces for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukraine’s Border Guard Service released details Saturday about some encounters between Ukrainian troops and fighters from the Russian private military company Wagner. 

Industrial plants in Bakhmut are shown in a video published on the Border Guard website. CNN was unable to specifically geolocate the video but doesn’t have a reason to believe the footage is not from Bakhmut. 

“The other day, the border unit of the Luhansk detachment conducted a positional battle with enemy forces in the area of one of the industrial enterprises,” the Border Guard said in a statement. “The day before, the Ukrainian defenders withstood several assault attacks of the invaders.” 
“To continue the offensive, the Russian mercenaries entrenched themselves in one of the workshops and gathered strength,” the Border Guard said, adding that at this point the guards launched a counterattack.

A Ukrainian grenade unit was able to take down the machine gunner who was covering the entrance to the building. Then, a ground reconnaissance group of border guards were able to move in and “eliminated the Wagnerites,” the Border Guard said.

CNN is unable to independently verify how the events unfolded. The Border Guard doesn’t say what day the video was recorded. 

“To destroy the enemy’s reserve, the border guards set up an ambush. With the onset of darkness, a surprise awaited the attack squads who were approaching the front line. Border snipers neutralized six invaders,” the Border Guard said. 

Part of the video appears to show the moment described in the statement. The video also features a few comments from one of the Ukrainian soldiers. 

“About the situation in Bakhmut — they have already entered the industrial zone. We try to kick them out of there. They strengthened their positions there last night. My reconnaissance group entered their location this morning and is trying to attack their positions,” the soldier said. 

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on national television Saturday that over the last 24 hours, more than 20 combat engagements between Ukrainian and Russian forces have taken place within the territory of the city itself. 

Cherevatyi also said most of the Russian assault groups consist of Wagner fighters who are reinforced by Russian paratroopers.

Most of the power supply in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was restored Saturday after a barrage of Russian drones and missiles targeted critical infrastructure and plunged the city into darkness yet again Thursday.

Miris, an 18-year-old resident of the city, says “spring brings hope” after a dark winter.

She smiled as she froths a cappuccino in a coffee shop with no generator.

“I was depressed because the blackouts meant I couldn’t do the things I normally do,” Miris told CNN. But she’s learned to adapt, and when there’s no electricity, she trades in her favorite TV show for a book.

Natalia Abramova, 53, lost her father two days ago but was unable to call her siblings or relatives with the news because of the power outage.

“His heart gave way,” Abramova told CNN. “Not just because of the disease he was fighting, but all the worrying weighed it down.”  

Despite the pain, Abramova remains defiant.

“The Russians failed because these strikes have only made people angrier, and we are now waiting for victory,” she said.

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Day and night, Ukrainian drone hunters are scanning the sky to spot and shoot down Russian missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

CNN’s Melissa Bell visited a team of Ukrainian servicemen who knock down the Russian attacks using a machine gun mounted on an armored vehicle, maximizing their agility at the expense of the comfort of more permanent setups.

An influx of Western equipment to aid in Ukraine’s defense has been making an impact. When Russia launched one of its biggest aerial assaults of the conflict this week, Ukraine’s military was able to intercept around a third of the 95 missiles fired.

Officials are putting extra security and defense measures in place across Ukraine to protect critical infrastructure and residential areas from another potential country-wide Russian attack, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on national television Saturday.

“I can say that we are always ready for the so-called ‘retaliatory strikes’ (missile attacks) when the enemy insidiously destroys not only critical infrastructure facilities but also residential buildings,” he said. 

“I would like to remind you that since the beginning of the large-scale invasion, more than 40,500 such strikes have been carried out on the territory of our country. About 152,000 residential buildings and about 400,000 public infrastructure facilities have been destroyed,” he added.

Klymenko said he could not elaborate on the details of the extra security measures but said authorities are trying to help residents feel safe, especially in the cities where the biggest attacks occurred. Officials are securing the centers where people can find shelter, warm up and charge their devices, and are conducting “intensified patrols,” he said.  

On Thursday, Russia launched a widespread attack on Ukraine using an array of 95 missiles, including six Kinzhal ballistic missiles that have the ability to elude Kyiv’s air defenses, the Ukrainian military said.

This map shows the regions that were affected:

Wagner private military company chief Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed his fighters have made further advancements toward the embattled city of Bakhmut, posting a video Saturday in which he claims to be standing about 1.2 kilometers (less than a mile) away from the administrative center of the city.

“That’s about a five-story building where the smoke comes from — the building of the city administration, the administrative center of the city. It’s one kilometer and 200 meters away,” Prigozhin said in the video as he pointed in that direction. 

CNN has geolocated the video, and it appears to show the area where Prigozhin said he was at the time. 

“This is the place where the Armed Forces of Ukraine will conduct a counteroffensive from the north, it is important for us that the warriors cover our flanks,” he said. 
“If the flanks are covered, then everything is in order, if not, then PMC Wagner will be surrounded, along with the Ukrainians who are inside Bakhmut,” he added. 

The eastern city, located in Donetsk region, continues to be the site of some of the fiercest fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces. 

What Ukraine says: Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on national television Saturday that over the last 24 hours, more than 20 combat engagements between Ukrainian and Russian forces have taken place within the territory of the city itself. 

Cherevatyi also said most of the Russian assault groups consist of Wagner fighters who are reinforced by Russian paratroopers. 

According to the UK Defence Ministry, forces fighting for the Russian government have now taken control of most of the eastern part of the city, and the river in the city center now marks the front line. But it added that Ukrainian forces still hold the west of Bakhmut and have made it difficult for Russian-aligned troops to move forward — even turning one strip of open ground into a “killing zone.”

As Russian attacks on the eastern city of Bakhmut continue, there have been more than 50 combat engagements between Ukrainian and Russian forces over the last 24 hours in the area, according to a Ukrainian military spokesperson.

“The enemy was actively conducting combat operations all week, just like the previous week. Yesterday was no exception,” said Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, on national television Saturday. “Over the last 24 hours, the enemy attacked our positions in the Bakhmut sector 157 times with artillery and multiple rocket launchers.”

Cherevatyi said Bakhmut itself was attacked 16 times, and 23 combat engagements took place within the city itself.

When asked which Russian units are leading the attacks on Bakhmut, and whether the tactics of the Russian forces have changed, Cherevatyi said most of the assault groups consist of Wagner fighters who are reinforced by Russian paratroopers. 

“The Wagner PMC has not been destroyed, we are only on the way to (achieving that),” he said. 

On Friday, Cherevatyi said a third wave of fighters from the Wagner private military company fighting in the area are being replaced by Russia’s regular army.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin for the defense support packages her country is providing to Ukraine, as well as for its “participation in the tank coalition,” according to a statement released by his office Friday. 

Marin was in Kyiv that day, where she held talks with Zelensky and Ukrainian officials, visited wounded soldiers and attended the farewell ceremony for a celebrated Ukrainian commander killed in Bakhmut, Dmytro Kotsiubaylo, whose call sign was “Da Vinci.” 

The talks between the two leaders focused on defense and security, his office said. 

“I am sure we will further strengthen this area of our cooperation for the sake of both our nations, our independence and sovereignty – of Ukraine, Finland and our European neighbors,” Zelensky said, calling Marin “a true friend of Ukraine, a defender of a free Europe.”

According to the statement, Marin said, “I am very pleased to meet with Mr. President Zelenskyy in person today in Kyiv. You are a symbol of courage, bravery and the prospect of a better future for Europe.”

“We support President Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula and want this plan to start working. It is only lasting peace that can give our family of European countries, the Euro-Atlantic family, calm and prosperity. We want Ukraine to join NATO as one of the allies,” she continued, according to the statement.

The leaders also discussed increasing sanctions pressure on Russia, Ukraine’s reconstruction, as well as the establishment of a special tribunal for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. 

On Friday, Zelensky also held talks with Norway’s Minister of Defense Bjørn Arild Gram, who was on a visit to Kyiv as well. 

Three people were killed and two others were wounded by Russian shelling in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine Saturday, a regional leader said.

The attack happened on the Mykolaiv highway, according to a Telegram post from Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson region’s military administration.

Fragments of Russian ammunition apparently hit a car on the road, Prokudin said. Rescuers, medics and police were working at the scene.

egeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, said in a video published Saturday that his fighters have one “simple” goal – not to allow the “disgrace” of Russia at the hands of Western governments.

“What is our goal? Why are we fighting? The goal is simple. To not disgrace Russian weapons, to not disgrace Russia,” Prigozhin said in the video message published on Telegram. “Not to bring Russia to the point where it collapses itself.”
Progozhin continued:
“Most likely this is the goal of the American, British intelligence services, which work for the long haul and work to destroy Russia, in which the ruler must continue losing ratings, the army must become weaker and weaker until the Russians say: ‘what the heck is our self-consciousness?’ Let us be ruled,” he said.

Though Prigozhin was a shadowy figure before Russia’s war in Ukraine, he has become an increasingly public presence as Wagner forces have gotten more involved in the conflict.

After Russia’s military suffered humiliating setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine, Prigozhin – a canny political entrepreneur without any official government position – began openly taking credit for Wagner’s efforts to secure some territorial gains, particularly in the battles raging around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

His unexpected rise prompted speculation about possible elite infighting in Moscow as Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine sputtered.

Engineers in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region continue to work on restoring the power system damaged by Thursday’s massive Russian attack, Oleh Synehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said Saturday.

Power was restored Friday night to all private households in the city Kharkiv, and work is underway to fix the city’s electric public transportation system, according to Synehubov.

Synehubov said 15,000 customers in Vovchansk, Stary Saltiv, and Slatyne in the region of Kharkiv are still without electricity, but “power companies will restore the power supply there in the near future.”

On Friday, Synehubov said nearly half a million consumers were without power in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. 

National energy company Ukrenergo said Saturday that the entire power system in the city of Kharkiv is still being restored. One of the thermal power plants in Kharkiv has been partially restored after emergency repairs, and one of the trunk power grid facilities of Ukrenergo is back online, the company said.

Ukrenergo did not disclose how many households remain without power, but it said the city’s critical infrastructure is fully powered. Work continues to restore the full power supply to the city and the region, the company said.

Russia has for months been trying to cripple Ukraine’s power network, but as we have previously reported, the efforts have failed.

Russia’s overnight missile attack on Thursday showered Ukraine with an array of missiles, in one of Moscow’s biggest aerial assaults for months.

Russia launched a total of 95 missiles of various types over the past day, 34 of which were intercepted, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a morning update on Friday, as well as a number of Iranian-made Shahed drones.

That array included cruise missiles that were launched from both the sea and the air; six different kinds were used in the early hours of Thursday morning, according to Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander in chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Much attention has been focused on the six launches of Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, which are especially difficult to stop.

The powerful weapon has rarely been seen over the country’s skies. Its first known use in Ukraine was last March and occasionally used since, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Read more about the missile here:

KYIV, UKRAINE - MARCH 9, 2023 - A plume of smoke rises above an infrastructure facility in the Holosiivskyi district during Russia's mass missile attack on Ukraine, Kyiv, capital of Ukraine. (Photo credit should read Eugen Kotenko / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Related article Russia tests Ukraine's defenses with a rarely-used missile | CNN

Forces fighting for the Russian government have now taken control of most of the eastern part of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, where intense fighting has raged for months, according to the latest intelligence update from the UK Defense Ministry posted on Twitter.

The ministry said the river in the town center now marks the front line of the conflict.

Ukrainian forces still hold the west of Bakhmut. By demolishing key bridges and taking firing positions in fortified buildings, Ukraine’s military has made it difficult for Russian-aligned troops to move forward — even turning one strip of open ground into a “killing zone,” the ministry said.

However, the British assessment said Ukrainian supply lines still remain vulnerable to attacks.

A change of tactics: Mykhailo Podolyak, a key aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia appears to be changing tactics in Bakhmut.

Russia “has converged on Bakhmut with a large part of its trained military personnel, the remnants of its professional army, as well as the private companies,” Podolyak told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper

Troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner have been heavily involved in the fight for Bakhmut.

Podolyak said Kyiv is fighting in Bakhmut, a city largely already abandoned and destroyed, to eliminate and bog down Russian troops.

Reuters contributed to this post.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated to whom Mykhailo Podolyak serves as an aide. It is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine’s presidential office released a petition Friday on its website to posthumously award Oleksandr Matsiyevsky, a Ukrainian prisoner of war who shouted, “Glory to Ukraine!” before he was executed on camera by Russian forces, as a Hero of Ukraine.

Earlier this week there were differing reports of the identity of the serviceman whose execution was shared widely on social media, but Matsiyevsky’s identity was confirmed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine Regional Territorial Defense “North” in a post on its Facebook page. The post said that Matsiyevsky was identified by his family and soldiers in his unit. The soldier’s commander told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne he has “no doubt” the man executed in the video is Matsiyevsky.

The capture: Matsiyevsky was believed to have been captured on December 30, when he and four other servicemen were engaged in a counterattack against enemy forces. Ukrainian authorities said, however, they do not have the “full details of that battle,” nor do they know who died or how Matsiyevsky was captured.

Matsiyevsky’s mother told the broadcaster Suspilne said watching the video has left her traumatized but proud of her son’s resilience.

“I didn’t sleep the entire night,” she said.

She continued:

“But I felt some kind of lightness and some kind of ray of light when I saw how my son died. And it’s so hard, but I really felt like I saw my son’s character, so resilient, so unbreakable, because he said, mom, I will never surrender to captivity. I kept hearing him repeat Glory to Ukraine throughout the night. He was such a warrior, so brave and fearless, you wouldn’t even imagine.”

Russia has been capturing some of the US and NATO-provided weapons and equipment left on the battlefield in Ukraine and sending them to Iran, where the US believes Tehran will try to reverse-engineer the systems, four sources familiar with the matter told CNN. 

Over the last year, US, NATO and other Western officials have seen several instances of Russian forces seizing smaller, shoulder-fired weapons equipment, including Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft systems that Ukrainian forces have at times been forced to leave behind on the battlefield, the sources told CNN.

In many of those cases, Russia has then flown the equipment to Iran to dismantle and analyze, likely so the Iranian military can attempt to make their own version of the weapons, sources said. Russia believes that continuing to provide captured Western weapons to Iran will incentivize Tehran to maintain its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, the sources said. 

US officials don’t believe that the issue is widespread or systematic, and the Ukrainian military has made it a habit since the beginning of the war to report to the Pentagon any losses of US-provided equipment to Russian forces, officials said. Still, US officials acknowledge that the issue is difficult to track.