June 15, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Vladimir Saldo attends a meeting in Moscow on December 22, 2022.

Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed governor of the Russian-occupied Kherson region, claims Ukraine tried to assassinate him last week.

Ukrainian forces launched more than 10 “high precision” missiles at his “supposed location” in the southern region, Saldo claimed in a post on his official Telegram channel.

The June 9 strike on Arabat Spit ended up badly damaging a temporary accommodation center and left one person dead, Saldo told Russian state news agency TASS.

CNN cannot independently confirm the veracity of Saldo’s accusation. The Ukrainian military has not yet commented on the report.

Other attacks in southern Ukraine: Russia-backed officials have accused Ukraine of making several recent assassination attempts in southern Ukraine.

In May, a Moscow-appointed court chairman was targeted in an attack, according to the Russian-installed governor of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region. That attack was one in a string of alleged assassination attempts in the occupied city of Melitopol.

And earlier this month, a deadly car bombing targeted “Kremlin collaborators” in a town just outside Melitopol, according to the city’s Ukrainian mayor.

Ukraine’s deputy defense minister says Russia is “putting up a strong resistance” to Kyiv’s counteroffensive efforts — but Ukrainian officials are claiming successes in places like Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia.

A Ukraine commander said his soldiers successfully intercepted six of Russia’s toughest weapons using the United States Patriot air defense system last month. Now, the US and other countries are announcing a new shipment of air defense equipment.

Here’s what else to know:

Here’s a closer look at the front lines:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seen on screens addressing Swiss parliament via video in Bern, Switzerland, on June 15.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Swiss lawmakers to export weapons to Ukraine Thursday to make the country “a territory of peace again.”

Switzerland has been a neutral country since 1815, with its legal framework ensuring it does not send weapons directly or indirectly to belligerent states.

Since Russia’s war in Ukraine began, the country has faced increasing pressure from its European neighbors to approve the re-exportation of weapons to Ukraine.

Zelensky told Swiss parliament that Ukraine is “not a source of aggression, not a territory of war, and not some kind of conflict zone.”

“We are a country that has always valued and will always value peace. Our peace can only withstand such aggression by force of arms,” he added. 

More background: On June 1, the lower house of the Swiss Parliament — the National Council — rejected a bill known as “Lex Ukraine” that would have allowed third-party countries to transfer Swiss-made arms to Ukraine. 

A plan to allow buyers of Swiss arms to re-export them to third countries under certain conditions was backed by the upper house of Switzerland’s parliament — the Council of States — on June 7. However, that plan has further legislative hurdles to take.

During his video address to parliament, Zelensky said: “Any unbiased view will show one thing, if (the) war had not been brought from Russia to our peaceful Ukrainian land, there would have been no war. The source of evil and death is beyond our borders. By supporting us, the world supports protection from war.”

He appealed to lawmakers to imagine what it is like to fall asleep checking to see if there are warnings of Russian bombers “on the verge of launching missiles” or to imagine living in communities that border Russia.

In April, Switzerland’s President Alain Berset said Switzerland “cannot be asked to break our own laws,” when discussing whether Swiss weapons could be re-exported to Ukraine. Berset was addressing the issue of neutrality at a joint press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. 

Berset said that, while discussions are ongoing regarding whether the country “should, must or could develop” its stance on re-exporting weapons to Ukraine, it is currently out of the question, with Swiss law “clear on that.”

So far, for example, Switzerland has prohibited Germany from transferring Swiss-made ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft systems Berlin provided to Ukraine.  

Switzerland did, however, break its neutrality status quo shortly after the war began by adopting European Union sanctions in March 2022. Berset said Switzerland is taking the implementation of these sanctions seriously and is “doing everything that can be done in order to enforce them.”

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, visits the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on June 15.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on Thursday to assess the situation after the Nova Kakhovka dam collapse.

In a statement published on social media, Rafael Grossi said it is essential that the water stays at the same level for the plant’s safety.

“The plant is going to be working to replenish the water so that the safety functions can continue normally,” Grossi said, adding they will be monitoring it closely.

The plant is held by Russian forces and not far from where a Ukrainian offensive in the south is evolving. This is Grossi’s third visit to the nuclear power plant since last September. 

Watch the official’s update from the plant:

Smoke over the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka in the Belgorod region of Russia on June 4.

Two residents evacuated from a Russian village that borders Ukraine in the Belgorod region have alleged to authorities that Russian soldiers looted their homes.

In public comments to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the two residents said that the Russian military sent to guard their village of Novaya Tavolzhanka had instead robbed their houses.

Several thousand people were evacuated from the area when Russian volunteers opposed to the rule of President Vladimir Putin launched cross-border raids late in May.

One of the residents, Natalya Chemerchenko, told the governor in a post Thursday on the VK social media site: “Military personnel of the Russian Federation break into many houses (although the state of emergency has not been introduced and they do not have the right to enter private homes).” 

“We do not want our houses, which have already suffered from the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to be now still a haven for the outrages of our defenders!” she added.

Vladimir Zhdanov, the head of the administration of the Shebekino district, told Chemerchenko in a reply that her “appeal has been forwarded to the Security Council.”

Another comment, which was written Wednesday, claimed that Russian soldiers were living in a home that a family had fled.

“Two houses were broken into, one door was broken with a crowbar, windows were broken,” according to a comment from local resident Danil Bilych.

Other comments in response to the governor have focused on an alleged lack of social support that had been pledged to residents who were evacuated.

“We are located outside the Belgorod region, in the city of Zelenograd. For a week I have been trying to get answers, how can we receive the payment? We have two children, we do not live, we survive! Thanks to the volunteers from Moscow, at least they bring food!” according to one comment.

CNN has reached out to Russia’s Ministry of Defense for comment.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gives a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 15.

As Ukraine’s counteroffensive begins, Kyiv has the ability to recover and repair its damaged equipment and get it “back into the fight,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Thursday after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, Belgium.

The top US general, Mark Milley, said Kyiv is “making steady progress” in its counteroffensive, but outlined some of the difficulties in the effort.

The US defense secretary note that “there will continue to be battle damage” but that the Ukrainian forces “still have a lot of combat capability, combat power.” 

More background: Earlier this week CNN reported that Ukraine has lost 16 US-supplied armored vehicles in the past several days, according to open-source intelligence analysis, as the country’s military announced its forces had captured three villages from Russia in an offensive in the eastern Donetsk region.

The 16 US Bradley infantry fighting vehicles either destroyed or damaged and abandoned in recent days represent almost 15% of the 109 that Washington has given Kyiv, according to Jakub Janovsky of the Dutch open-source intelligence website Oryx, which has been collecting visual evidence of military equipment losses in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on February 24, 2022.

A Ukrainian military commander has detailed how he says his brigade shot down one of Russia’s most modern ballistic missiles using a US Patriot air defense system.

Ukraine says its defenses successfully intercepted six of the Russian Kinzhal missiles on May 16.

Commander Serhii Yaremenko and his 96th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Air Command Center were at the heart of the defense, though they didn’t realize until later they had defeated one of Russia’s toughest weapons, he said in an interview Thursday.

“Frankly speaking, I realized that we had shot down the Kinzhal only after expert analysts examined the wreckage,” Yaremenko told Army Inform, a Ukrainian defense ministry website.

When Russia launched its assault, “Sixteen ballistic targets flew from different directions, most of them aimed at the Patriot system,” the commander said, referring to the powerful US-provided missile defense system.

“They did not panic for a second, acted in a coordinated and organized manner, shared targets across sectors, and ensured their destruction at a minimum range, high enough to reduce the likelihood of damage to infrastructure.”

Yaremenko said the Ukrainian fighters were emotional when all the targets had finally been destroyed and the airspace declared clear. Later they learned there were six Kinzhals among the assault.

The grueling defense proves the Patriot system’s value to Ukraine, holding its own even against weapons Moscow has positioned as impossible to combat, Yaremenko said.

More on the Russian missiles: The Kinzhal, or Kh-47, has been touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military as an example of Moscow’s modernized missile arsenal, claiming that its hypersonic speed makes it extremely difficult to intercept. An air-launched ballistic missile, the Kh-47 has a range of some 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), so it can be fired far from the battlefield.

It travels at about 10 times the speed of sound and is derived from the shorter-range Iskander ballistic missile, which is ground-launched. It carries a warhead of nearly 500 kilograms (about 1,100 pounds).

Attack on the Patriot: The Russian Ministry of Defense claims it destroyed a US-made Patriot air defense system in Kyiv during the May 16 assault, despite Ukraine saying it destroyed all Russian missiles in the early morning attack.

US officials inspected the system and said damage was “minimal,” CNN reported. It was not clear whether the system was damaged by an actual missile strike or falling debris. 

The Patriot has a powerful radar to detect incoming targets at long range, making it a potent air defense platform capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and more. But the radar emission necessary to spot threats at a distance also makes it possible for the enemy to detect the Patriot battery and figure out its location.

CNN’s Tim Lister, Natasha Bertrand, Oren Liebermann and Jim Sciutto contributed to this report.

The United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Denmark will deliver “high priority” air defense equipment to Ukraine, the nations announced in a joint statement on Thursday.

Hundreds of short- and medium-range air defense missiles and associated systems are included in the initiative, according to the statement. 

Delivery of the equipment has begun and “should be complete within several weeks,” it added.

The aid was announced ahead of the meeting of the US-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, Belgium.

More than 100 square kilometers of territory have been liberated “in the Zaporizhzhia direction” over the last week in southeast Ukraine, a senior figure in Kyiv’s military has claimed.

He echoed other Ukrainian officials who claim that seven settlements in the area have been retaken — most of the settlements are small villages. 

The Russian Defense Ministry says that its Vostok group of forces in the area had used “air strikes, artillery fire and heavy flamethrower systems” to repel two attacks in the area. 

Meanwhile, Russia is attempting to advance in other areas, with assault operations in the Kharkiv region and along parts of the Donetsk front, but it is on the back foot around Bakhmut, Hromov said. His comments are consistent with claims made by other Ukrainian officials.

On the Donetsk front, Ukraine’s Tavria group of forces claimed to have advanced by up to 1 kilometer (less than a mile) in an effort to improve their tactical position near the town of Vuhledar, which has been on the frontlines since the invasion began, Hromov said.

Following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric dam last week, Russian forces are “focusing on equipping new defensive lines,” Hromov said.

Russia had attacked Ukrainian infrastructure with more than 140 missiles and 250 drones in the first two weeks of June, “focusing on targets related to logistics, industrial facilities, as well as oil and gas supply,” he added.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the latest round of missile attacks early Thursday had targeted drone production sites.

Since the beginning of June, Ukrainian air defense forces had shot down 74% of the cruise missiles used by Russia and almost 60% of the attack UAVs, Hromov claimed, adding that there is a growing missile threat because the Russians had moved a missile division closer to Ukraine’s northern border. CNN is unable to verify the claim.

As NATO’s defense ministers are set to meet in Belgium to discuss how to step up support for Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces may be gaining small amounts of progress on the fluid front lines of its counteroffensive.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar says Kyiv’s military offensive is continuing in several areas and is making what she called gradual progress.

Maliar told a briefing in Kyiv that on the southern front – which many expect to be the main focus of Ukraine’s counteroffensive – the “offensive continues in several directions, and the armed forces are also gradually but surely advancing there.”

But she cautioned that “the enemy is putting up strong resistance.”

The minister said that “all defense forces are engaged in both offensive and defensive operations. That is, today we are conducting an offensive in several areas, and defense, because the enemy is also carrying out offensive actions.”

She also appealed for what she called “information discipline” to “give our soldiers the opportunity to deliver unpleasant surprises to the enemy.” 

Maliar said the Russians were bringing additional reserves into the Bakhmut area, trying to prevent the advance of Ukrainian forces.

But she said the Russians had been unable to take more ground, and claimed Ukrainian forces had advanced three kilometers (almost two miles) in the Bakhmut area over the last ten days.

The proposed new Russian embassy site, in Canberra, Australia, on June 15.

The Kremlin has condemned Australia’s decision to cancel the lease agreement for the construction of a new building for the Russian embassy in capital Canberra.

Speaking to journalists Thursday, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, labeled the move as another “unfriendly” move from Australia, characterized by hostility and Russophobia.

Peskov said the Kremlin sees Australia’s decision to cancel the lease agreement as an attempt to align with the “Russophobic hysteria” prevailing in some Western countries.

The Russian Embassy in Australia issued a statement Thursday condemning the action as a deliberate “step towards undermining relations with Moscow,” according to a statement reported by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Some background: The Australian government is introducing legislation to terminate the lease of a new Russian embassy near Parliament House in Canberra, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday.

Albanese said the decision was based on “very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a new Russian presence so close to Parliament House.”

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Thursday that its forces had repelled Ukrainian offensive operations in the Zaporizhzhia region.

In a video briefing, Chekhov said the group’s motorized rifle units repelled enemy attacks near Novosilka, Novodarivka, and Levadne, three areas where there has been heavy fighting in the last few days. 

He said enemy attacks were also repelled in the area around Makarivka, a village that has changed hands several times.

Fluid front lines: CNN was given unprecedented access to the frontline town of Velyka Novosilka in southeastern Ukraine, where Kyiv has been preparing part of the opening phases of its counteroffensive.

Immediately to the south of the town, Ukrainian pushing and probing has produced some success, with the liberation of multiple villages.

Ukrainian forces have been working to stabilize some of the liberated villages but when CNN visited Velyka Novosilka, the situation remained very fluid. Russia, some soldiers said, was not going down without a fight.

Read the full report here:

Ukrainian soldiers from the 68th Jaeger Brigade listen to a radio, awaiting news from the frontline.

Related article 'Our offensive does not end here': CNN visits fluid front lines as Kyiv vows to drive out Russian forces | CNN

Ukrainian service members ride a BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle near the frontline city of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine on June 9.

Ukrainian forces are claiming some success as they continue their offensive in the south and east of the country, with much of the fighting taking place near the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, an army spokesman said.

The General Staff said Russia continues to focus its primary efforts in the Donetsk region on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mariinka, with at least 49 combat engagements taking place Wednesday.

“Ukrainian defenders repelled all enemy attacks in the vicinity of the city of Mariinka,” the General Staff claimed.

In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, “fighting continues in the area of Makarivka village in the Berdiansk direction,” said the spokesman.

Fighting is also raging in the vicinity of Novodanylivka and Novopokrovka villages, he said.

Meanwhile, Russian military bloggers say that around Orikhiv, a town west of Makarivka, the fighting has been “positional” with little movement after heavy rain.

One Russian blogger claimed that Ukrainian forces on the Zaporizhzhia front were regrouping. CNN is unable to verify the state of the battlefield in the area.

To the east, in the Donetsk region, a Russian military blogger acknowledged there had been “enemy advances on [the] flank near Bakhmut,” and said “fierce fighting is ongoing.”

Both sides have reported clashes elsewhere along the Donetsk frontline, especially immediately to the west of Donetsk city.

Russian bloggers said the situation around the village of Pervomaiske was tense but denied claims by Ukrainian sources that Russian forces in the area had lost ground. 

Norway's Defence Minister Bjorn Arild Gram speaks to the media as he arrives to the donor conference for Ukraine, in Copenhagen, Denmark, on August 11.

Norway and Denmark will jointly donate an additional 9,000 rounds of artillery to Ukraine “within a short time,” the Norwegian Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. 

Norway is providing the shells, while Denmark is contributing the fuzes and propellant charges.

Acting Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen added, “Ukraine still has an urgent need for ammunition in its fight against Russia.”

Poulsen also said that Denmark itself will donate a further 1,500 complete artillery rounds and 500 shells.

Including the new donations, Norway has donated a total of 27,000 artillery rounds itself, and a further 17,000 jointly with Denmark.

“The artillery rounds can be used in several types of artillery, including the M109 that Norway previously has donated,” the Norwegian Defense Ministry said.

NATO meeting: The announcement was made ahead of a gathering of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday and Friday, coming at what the alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg has called a “critical” time in the conflict.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrives at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 15.

The United States and NATO allies will continue to provide Ukraine with the “urgent capabilities” that it needs to combat Russian aggression, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday at the NATO Defense Ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium.

“Throughout the Kremlin’s vicious war of choice, Ukrainian forces have shown outstanding bravery and skill and Ukraine’s fight is a marathon and not a sprint,” Austin said. 

Austin also thanked the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as Germany and Poland for spearheading those coalitions.

“We applaud the leadership that has gone into forging two coalitions – one dedicated to fighter aircraft training, and another to provide and sustain Leopard tanks,” Austin added.

The Netherlands and Denmark will give an update on Thursday regarding the progress of the program to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation aircraft, including F-16s, Austin said.

Germany and Poland will also brief NATO defense ministers on the next steps in sustaining Ukraine’s Leopard tanks, originally made by Germany and provided to Ukraine by various European countries.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi stands next to an armored car during his trip to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, on June 15.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi began a visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, according to Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative for international organizations in Vienna.

The plant, which is held by Russian forces and not far from where a Ukrainian offensive in the south is evolving, lies upstream from a major dam that collapsed last week.

Following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv Tuesday, Grossi said he was concerned the plant could be caught up in the counteroffensive.

Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear energy company that operated the plant before the Russian invasion, was unable to confirm that Grossi’s visit had begun. 

It would be Grossi’s third visit to the plant since last September.

Dam impact: The plant receives cooling water that’s critical for safety from a nearby thermal plant that is fed upstream from the reservoir adjacent to the destroyed Nova Kakhovka dam.

On Sunday, the IAEA said it needed access to a location near the plant to determine water levels at the reservoir to clarify a discrepancy between measurements following the dam’s collapse.

Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, on Wednesday, June 14.

NATO’s support for Ukraine is making a difference on the battlefield, the bloc’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday ahead of a key meeting in Brussels.

The gathering of NATO defense ministers in the Belgian capital on Thursday and Friday comes at a “critical” time, Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg said one of the main issues NATO ministers will address is how to step up support to Ukraine and further strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defense, ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

At the July summit, NATO “will have new regional plans, a new force model, a new force structure and also address the need to strengthen our pledge to invest more in defense,” Stoltenberg said. 

The matter of Ukrainian membership in NATO is one of several issues leaders will tackle when they meet in Vilnius. Also up for discussion are new defense spending commitments and a successor to Stoltenberg, who is planning on leaving his post in the autumn.

Russia launched fresh airstrikes across Ukraine overnight, with air defenses scrambling to respond, Ukraine’s air force said.

Moscow’s forces launched four Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles at the central city of Kryvyi Rih from the Caspian Sea, one of which was shot down, the air force said.

A 38-year-old man was wounded after two industrial sites were struck in the city, Ukrainian military officials said earlier.

Russia also launched 20 Iranian Shahed-136/131 attack drones, all of which were destroyed by the air force’s southern and eastern air commands, the air force said.