August 10, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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Shelling in the Kharkiv region and in Zaporizhzhia killed two people and injured several on Thursday, according to officials.

In the Zaporizhzhia hotel attack at least 16 people — including four children — were injured, according to Yurii Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia region military administration. 

Among the injured children is a 3-year-old girl, said Anatolii Kurtev, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, in a Telegram message. Authorities have said one person was killed in the attack. 

Meanwhile, in the Kharkiv region, a woman was killed and two men were injured after Russian shelling in villages, said Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, in a Thursday Telegram post. 

Russian shelling in Kharkiv region has intensified as Russian forces try to reclaim territory. Authorities have issued a mandatory evacuation order for residents in the city of Kupyansk and surrounding areas due to the intense Russian shelling. 

Here are the latest developments:

The hotel hit by Russian missiles in Zaporizhzhia on Thursday is the site of a children’s day camp that finished its daily operations about an hour before the attack, Ukraine’s defense ministry said.

The hotel was also frequently used by UN personnel and members of other humanitarian organizations helping residents in the area. 

The number of injured in the Zaporizhzhia hotel attack has increased to at least 16 people, including four children, according to Yurii Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia region military administration. 

Among the injured children is a 3-year-old girl, said Anatolii Kurtev, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, in a Telegram message. 

Authorities have said one person was killed in the attack. 

People stand near the site of a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, August 10, 2023.

Two people killed in a Russian missile strike on Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday were young women who gave concerts to raise money for Ukrainian troops, according to officials.

Lina Fesenko, a spokesperson for a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, told CNN that the missile attack — which happened just before 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday — killed the two women soon after they’d given an impromptu performance in the square where the missile landed.

Kristina Spitsyna was 21-years-old.  She was the daughter of a National Guardsman, Oleksandr Spitsyn, who volunteered soon after the Russian invasion began, according to Fesenko.

Fesenko said that Kristina and her friend Svitlana Semeikina, 19, had just finished performing a street concert for local residents and had raised money to support the military.

Semeikina was killed instantly; Kristina succumbed to her injuries in hospital Thursday morning.

The two friends had formed a duo called “Similar Girl”, and their songs included a tribute to the National Guard on Father’s Day.

The video of the song has received about one and a half million views on various social networks.

A woman was killed and two men were injured after Russian shelling in villages in the Kharkiv region, said Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, in a Thursday Telegram post. 

He said a residential building was hit in the village of Podoly in the Kupyansk district.

“Unfortunately, a woman died. A man was injured. Emergency services are working at the scene,” Syniehubov said. 

In addition, a 73-year-old man was injured in the village of Vovchanski Khutroy, he said.  

Russian shelling in Kharkiv region has intensified as Russian forces try to reclaim territory. Authorities have issued a mandatory evacuation order for residents in the city of Kupyansk and surrounding areas due to the intense Russian shelling. 

Arkady Volozh gives a speech in Moscow on November 9, 2019.

The founder and former CEO of Russia’s largest internet company, Arkady Volozh, criticized President Vladimir Putin’s “barbaric” invasion of Ukraine, becoming one of the most prominent Russian businessmen to express criticism of what Russia still calls euphemistically its “special military operation.” 

“I’ve been asked a lot of questions over the past year, and especially a lot of them came up this week. I would like to clarify my position,” Volozh said in a statement released to the media. 

“I am totally against Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine, where I, like many, have friends and relatives. I am horrified by the fact that every day bombs fly into the homes of Ukrainians,” said Volozh, describing himself “as a “Kazakhstan-born, Israeli tech entrepreneur, computer scientist, investor, and philanthropist.”

In June 2022, Volozh quit as CEO of Yandex, which also operates Russia’s most popular search engine, after he was sanctioned by the European Union over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. 

“Volozh is a leading businessperson involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine,” the EU said. “Yandex is also responsible for promoting State media and narratives in its search results, and de-ranking and removing content critical of the Kremlin, such as content related to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

In his statement, Volozh said after moving to Israel in 2014, he has been working on developing Yandex’s international projects. “But in February 2022, the world changed, and I realized that my story with Yandex was over.”

“After the outbreak of the war, I focused on supporting talented Russian engineers who decided to leave the country and start a new life. It turned out to be a difficult task that required a lot of effort, attention and caution,” he said. 

Read more about Volozh’s comments here.

President Joe Biden is asking Congress for more than $24 billion for Ukraine and other international needs as he works to sustain support for the war amid signs of softening support among Americans.

The request — which includes more than $13 billion in security assistance and $7.3 billion for economic and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine — sets up a potential battle with Republicans in Congress, some of whom voice skepticism about providing Ukraine any more money.

As a counteroffensive wears on and prospects of the war concluding soon appear slim, the funding will act as evidence of whether US support for Ukraine can be sustained. 

The new funding request, which will be unveiled later Thursday, will be paired with a $12 billion request for new funding for disaster relief, potentially sweetening the package for skeptical Republicans who have voiced concern about approving more Ukraine aid.

It also includes $3.3 billion meant to fund infrastructure in countries affected by the Russian invasion, an attempt at preventing coercive Chinese lending from taking hold in those nations. And it includes $4 billion in funding for border security.

In total, the supplemental request adds up to roughly $40 billion.

How long US support for Ukraine can continue has been a pressing and open question among the global coalition that’s rallied behind the country since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Biden has promised support will last “as long as it takes,” but an increasingly skeptical Republican Party has cast doubt on US commitment to the battle.

Firefighters have extinguished the blaze at a hotel in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko. The fire broke out at the Reikartz hotel Thursday after it was hit by Russian missiles.

Klymenko said crews are rescuing people who remained in the building while the fire was raging.

“Together with the police, the rescuers are inspecting the premises and helping people get out of the damaged building. We continue to work and rescue,” Klymenko added.

At least one person was killed and at least nine others have been wounded in Thursday’s strikes, according to Anatolii Kurtev, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council.

It’s the second consecutive day that Russia has launched a deadly attack on the key Ukrainian city.

Damages are seen at the site of a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia on Thursday.

Russia continued its deadly strikes on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, causing new casualties and hitting civilian infrastructure, according to authorities.

At least one person has been killed and at least nine have been injured, Anatolii Kurtev, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, said on Telegram. 

A fire broke out at a building after it was hit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram post. 

Missiles hit the Reikartz hotel in Zaporizhzhia, according to the local military press office. 

The hotel was hit with two missiles around 7:20 p.m. local time (12:20 p.m. ET) on Thursday, according to Yurii Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia region military administration. One of the injured is in “severe condition,” he said.

“The damage is quite significant,” Malashko said, adding emergency teams are searching the building and checking all rooms.

“This facility is in the populated area. According to the information, there were people inside. Luckily, after the air raid some went to the shelters,” he said. 

On Wednesday, two people were killed and seven were injured in an attack on the city, officials said. 

The Ukrainian navy has announced temporary corridors for civilian shipping in the Black Sea following the suspension of the Grain Initiative.

Russia withdrew from the arrangement last month.

The Ukrainian navy issued an order declaring “temporary corridors for merchant ships sailing to/from Ukrainian ports.”

“At the same time, it is reported that the military threat and mine danger from the Russian Federation remains along all routes,” it said.

Currently, merchant ships are not traveling to and from the Ukrainian port of Odesa or neighboring harbors, crippling the export of grain from those ports. The last ship with grain on board left Odesa on July 16. 

It’s unclear that the Ukrainian order will have much impact on the willingness of merchant shipping to travel much beyond the Danube ports in the western Black Sea.

The Ukrainian navy said the routes it had announced “will primarily be used to allow civilian vessels that have been in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Yuzhnyi since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022 to leave.”

Ukrainian officials have ordered that the Kupyansk area be evacuated amid intense Russian shelling of the area. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed earlier that its forces have captured Ukrainian positions around Kupyansk in Kharkiv region – a city Ukraine had managed to liberate in September last year, but on which Russian forces are again now advancing.

Meanwhile, Poland has claimed that it will greatly bolster the number of its troops stationed on its eastern border.

Here are the latest developments:

Smoke and flames rise in the town of Kupyansk in eastern Kharkiv, Ukraine, in this image released on August 5, and obtained from the Ukrainian President's Telegram account.

Ukrainian officials say that substantial Russian reinforcements have turned the northern front in the eastern Kharkiv region into the “epicenter” of hostilities, but that Ukrainian defenses are holding.

Ruslan Muzychuk, the National Guard spokesman, told Ukrainian television Thursday that “the Kupyansk direction remains the epicenter of hostilities, where the enemy is concentrating its main efforts.”

Muzychuk said the Russians had brought in airborne assault units “and they have been reinforced by tank units, which, with the support of aviation and artillery, are attempting to assault the positions of Ukrainian defenders.”

The Russian offensive was designed to draw more Ukrainian units into the area, Muzychuk said, but he did not rule out an attempt to capture the city of Kupyansk itself.

Russia trying to “seize the initiative”: Another National Guard official, Mykola Urshalovych, said that Ukrainian units had managed to hold the dominant heights around Vilshana and Novoselivske, two villages east of Kupyansk where the Russians claim to have made some advances.

Serhii Cherevatyi, Deputy Commander of the Eastern Military Group, said that the “Kupyansk direction remains one of those where the enemy is trying to seize the initiative.”

Cherevatyi said defenses “have been strengthened, and strike capabilities have been enhanced. So the situation is difficult but under control.”

He added that in a single day, the Russians had used artillery 559 times in addition to air raids.

The Ukrainian State Emergency Service said that on Thursday morning the city of Kupyansk had been shelled again, setting off a fire but causing no casualties.

Following the announcement of a mandatory evacuation for civilians in Kupyansk, Andriy Kanashevych, the acting Head of Kupyansk district military administration, said that “Russian terrorists are becoming even more cynical and completely indifferent to human life. As a result, almost every day we have dead and wounded among the civilian population.”

Ukrainian soldiers prepare their tank at the frontline in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on August 8.

Reports from both sides indicate that heavy combat is continuing in the south of Ukraine, with artillery, missile forces and combat planes all engaged – but little territory has changed hands.

Pro-Russian officials in occupied Zaporizhzhia say the Russian air force has carried out “massive” strikes against Ukrainian front line positions.

Rogov said guided bombs (FAB-250M62) had been fired at Ukrainian manpower and ammunition supplies near Orikhiv and Huliapole, both towns in Ukraine’s rear echelon in the south.

A prominent Russian military blogger, WarGonzo, said that the Ukrainians continued offensive operations near Verbove in an effort to break through Russian lines. 

He said Russian forces had hit Ukrainian troops at various points on or immediately behind the front lines, around Lobkove, Platykhatky and Novodanlivka.

Yevgeniy Balitskyi, the Russian-appointed acting head of the Zaporizhzhia region military administration said that the situation at the line of contact “remains tense. We see the enemy has very heavy losses.”

Balitsky said the Ukrainians had shelled occupied settlements more than 50 times over the past 24 hours. He said a Ukrainian missile attack Wednesday on the town of Trudove, well behind Russian front lines, had killed five people at a factory and injured seven more.

The Ukrainian mayor of the southern city of Melitpol, Ivan Fedorov, say that Russian reinforcements are being brought through the city from Crimea, while damaged equipment is being withdrawn by rail.

An unofficial Telegram channel, RIA Melitopol, claimed that “Since yesterday, the transfer of military equipment through Melitopol has intensified. The enemy is pulling cannons, tanks and armored personnel carriers to the Zaporizhzhia direction from the Crimea.”

Local authorities around the Ukrainian city of Kupyansk in Kharkiv region have issued a mandatory evacuation order for the city and surrounding areas due to intense Russian shelling of the area.

Kupyansk was one of several cities and towns liberated last September in a lightning Ukrainian offensive, but in recent weeks Russia has stepped up its efforts to capture the city for a second time.

The order says that the mandatory evacuation has been announced for the residents of the city, as well as of Zaoskilya, which lies on the east bank of the Oskil River.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have intensified attempts to break through Ukrainian front lines east of the Oskil river and have increased the frequency of air strikes and artillery barrages against settlements on both sides of the river.

The order says that “taking into account the constant shelling…and the security situation in the territory of Kupyan district,” mandatory evacuation is also required of a number of settlements to the north and east of the city where some civilians are still living.

A rescuer with a dog works at the site of a blast at the Zagorsk Optical-Mechanical Plant in Sergiev Posad in the Moscow Region, Russia on August 9, in this still image taken from video.

The Russian Investigative Committee detained the technical director of the Piro-Ross company on Thursday, after a massive explosion at the company’s plant in Sergiev Posad on Wednesday.

Investigators also searched the premises of the Piro-Ross company.

“Documents relevant to the investigation, including job descriptions of employees, were confiscated,” the statement said.

As of Thursday morning, 12 people remain missing, 60 victims have been treated, and one woman died in hospital, according to authorities. Rescuers are continuing to search the rubble.

“Thus, at the moment, the fate of 12 people who are considered missing is being established,” according to an official of the Investigative Committee, Olga Vradiy.

Moscow region authorities have rejected suggestions that a drone attack was responsible for the explosion.

The plant is a developer and manufacturer for optical and optoelectronic devices for the Russian military, law enforcement agencies, industry and healthcare.

Anti-tank obstacles are pictured by the metal wall constructed at the Polish Belarussian border on July 9, in Krynki, Poland.

Poland is planning to move around 10,000 troops to the border with Belarus to support the border guard, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said.

In an interview on Polish National Radio, Blaszczak said whilst 10,000 soldiers will be on the border, four thousand will directly support the border guard and the remaining 6,000 will be in reserve.

“Everything that is happening in Belarus is coordinated with the actions of Russia,” said Blaszczak.

Some background: Tensions have been mounting on the Belarus-Poland border since a number of Wagner fighters were stationed in Belarus following the fallout from Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted mutiny in June.

Belarus’ Defense Ministry announced last month that its forces will hold joint military exercises with Wagner fighters near the border with Poland, a NATO member.

Last week, Poland accused Belarus of violating its airspace, after two Belarusian helicopters allegedly crossed into Polish territory during training exercises. The Belarusian defense ministry denied the accusation.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has also discussed plans for Russia to build up forces on its western borders, citing Poland’s decision.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed its forces have captured Ukrainian positions and observation points around the village of Vilshana, north-east of Kupyansk in Kharkiv region.

It said that assault groups of the 6th Combined Arms Army defeated up to a platoon of infantry in the area (between 20-50 soldiers), where Russian forces have been trying to take ground for several weeks.

The Defense Ministry said Ukrainian counterattacks had been rebuffed.

It also claimed that a Ukrainian attack further south, in Novoselivske, had been thwarted and that Ukrainian mortar positions and other equipment had been destroyed.

CNN is unable to confirm the majority of battlefield reports from either side.

A contested region: Kupyansk was captured by Russia in the early stages of its invasion but was liberated last September.

In July a Ukrainian official said Russia had amassed tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks in the area.

Two civilians were injured overnight following Russian shelling in a village north of Kupyansk, a Ukrainian military official said Thursday, as Moscow’s forces intensify attacks in the area.

Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said the casualties were reported in the village of Kindrashivka.

Meanwhile, the city council building in Kupyansk was hit in an airstrike, he said.

Ukrainian defenses repelled Russian attacks in the areas of Sinkivka and Ivanivka, northeast of Kupyansk, he added.

Some context: Ukrainian authorities this week urged Kupyansk residents to evacuate children and those with limited mobility following a recent escalation of Russian attacks in the area. At least three civilians were killed and nine others injured Tuesday after Russian missiles hit a village near the city in the Kharkiv region, which was liberated by Ukrainian forces last year.

Destruction in Zaporizhzhia following a Russian missile strike on August 9.

The death toll from a Russian strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia Wednesday has risen to three, Ukrainian National Police said Thursday.

Nine people were injured in the attack, including an 11-month-old child, said Yurii Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia region military administration. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday reiterated his call for more air defenses following the attack, adding he would continue to work with allies on Kyiv’s repeated request for US-made F-16 fighter jets.