August 4, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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Ukrainian forces have advanced in the south, while Russian forces are focusing on the east, according to Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister.

CNN is not able to verify the Ukrainian claims of battlefield gains.

According to Maliar, Russians have built “concrete engineering fortifications” in the south which “complicates the movement” of Ukrainian troops.  

Maliar noted that in the south and the east, Russians are deploying their reserves which mainly consist of professional units. “We are seeing airborne assault units being thrown into battle both here and there,” she added.  

Ukrainian troops are “slowly but persistently” moving forward on Bakhmut’s southern flank, while Russia is attacking the city’s northern flank, trying to take over Ukrainian positions, according to Maliar.  

Fierce fighting continues in Avdiivka and Marinka in eastern Ukraine, she said. 

Ukrainian sea drones attacked a major naval base in Russia on Friday, leaving a damaged Russian warship tilting in the Black Sea in a brazen strike carried out hundreds of miles from Ukrainian-held territory.

A Ukrainian source told CNN that a sea drone carrying nearly 1,000 pounds of TNT hit the vessel – and claimed there were about 100 Russian service members aboard.

The incident comes against the backdrop of rising tensions in the Black Sea and stepped-up Ukrainian strikes against targets across Russia after President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to “return” the war to Russian territory.

Early Saturday, Russian media reported that a tanker was attacked in the Kerch Strait and that tugboats were at the scene to tow the vessel. Ukraine has not yet commented, and CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims.

Here are more developments:

Navalny sentencing: Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison after being found guilty on extremism charges, a court within the high-security prison where he is being held, said on Friday, according to Russian state media TASS. This latest verdict is a fresh blow to a fierce critic of Russia’s President Putin that comes amid a worsening climate triggered by the Ukraine war. According to the UN rights chief, Volker Türk, the prison sentence raises “serious concerns” about judicial harassment in Russia.

Wagner threat: Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński said “the threat is very real” from Belarus, arguing that Wagner Group soldiers have made attempts to infiltrate Polish territory. He told CNN that the government was weighing whether to close the border with Belarus, a close Russian ally.

Zaporizhzhia developments: The International Atomic Energy Agency said it has found no evidence of mines or explosives on the rooftops of reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, as had been speculated after the publication of satellite images of the plant. Russian forces have occupied the plant and the surrounding area since the early days of the invasion.

Official meetings: Saudi Arabia is set to host peace talks on Ukraine this weekend that will include the US as well as a number of Western and developing countries. Meanwhile, US Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie met with Zelensky during a trip to Ukraine on Friday. The former New Jersey governor also visited battle-torn areas of Moshchun and Bucha.

At least 200 civilians have been killed and 533 others injured by Russian cluster munitions in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said in a statement on Friday.   

According to the statement, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kherson were the most affected parts of Ukraine.

The office highlighted the April 2022 attack on a railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk as one of the worst cluster munitions cases.

The statement reiterated that the use of cluster munitions against civilians is “a gross violation of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and a number of other international treaties, as cluster munitions have an indiscriminate effect and significant destructive power.” 

Some background: Ukrainian troops have started firing the cluster munitions provided by the US as part of their counteroffensive against Russia, two US officials and another person briefed on the matter told CNN last month.

Cluster munitions scatter “bomblets” across large areas, which would allow Ukrainian forces to target larger concentrations of Russian forces and equipment with fewer rounds of ammunition.

But the bomblets can also fail to explode on impact and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines. The UK, France, Germany and other key US allies have outlawed the munitions under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the US and Ukraine are not signatories to the ban.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia has a stockpile and will consider using them against Ukraine “if they are used against us.” But Russia has already used the munitions several times in Ukraine, CNN has previously reported, including in densely populated areas.

Chinese Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui speaks at a press briefing in Beijing on June 2.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said China’s participation in the Ukraine peace meeting in Saudi Arabia this weekend is “a super breakthrough and a historic victory.”

“We want China to participate in the Peace Formula Summit,” Kuleba said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine on Friday. “The news that China is delegating Li Hui to Jeddah is a super breakthrough.” 

Li is China’s special representative on Eurasian affairs and is a former ambassador to Russia. He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials during a visit in May, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

China still has close economic ties with Russia. 

Kuleba emphasized that Saudi Arabia played an important role in China’s decision to send representation to the peace talks, as well as a phone conversation between Zelensky and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

“Saudi Arabia has attracted China, and this is a historic victory,” Kuleba said.

What else to know: The United States as well as a number of Western and developing countries are also expected to be in attendance.

While Russia will not be at the table, the question of what Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to do — and whether he would even abide by a ceasefire or peace agreement — will be top of mind, officials said.

The talks are the second in a series of meetings organized by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak. The first talks took place earlier this year in Copenhagen.

A Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait was damaged in a Ukrainian attack, according to a Russian-appointed official and a maritime rescue center cited by the Russian state news agency TASS. 

Two tugboats were working to tow the vessel, TASS reported.

Vladimir Rogov, a senior Russian-appointed official with the Zaporizhzhia military-civilian administration, claimed Ukraine used marine drones in the Kerch Strait, the narrow sea passage between Russia and occupied Crimea, and that a civilian Russian tanker SIG was damaged.

Several tanker crew members were injured but no one was killed, he said in a post on Telegram.

Ukraine has not yet commented, and CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims.

Three drones were destroyed over the Kerch Strait, the narrow sea passage between Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea, according to an official with the Zaporizhzhia military-civilian administration.

The Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, connects the two sides and is a vital artery for supplying Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine. In July, the bridge was struck in a drone attack claimed by Ukraine.

Senior Russian-appointed official, Vladimir Rogov, claimed on Telegram that Ukraine was again attacking the bridge with drones – but CNN has not seen images of this and was not able to verify the claims.

However, Oleg Kryuchkov, an advisor to the Moscow-appointed head of Crimea, said there were no attacks on the bridge and “no explosions in its area.” 

He said that the bridge was “closed due to the threat of attack for the second or third time” on Friday. 

Early Saturday, traffic was again moving on the bridge, the state news agency TASS reported.

Russian and Ukrainian social media reported a series of explosions were heard in the area of the bridge, but there was no video evidence showing the blasts.

Ukrainian officials haven’t commented on the incident so far. 

Daniel Kholodny, second from right, appears on a screen via video link during a hearing at the IK-6 penal colony in the Vladimir region, Russia, on August 4.

Daniel Kholodny, the former tech director of Alexey Navalny’s YouTube channel, has been sentenced to eight years in a penal colony, according to the Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper.

His lawyer, Svetlana Davydova, shared a letter on the Navalny team’s Telegram channel Friday:

Earlier on Friday, Russian media reported that Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison on extremism charges, a fresh blow to a fierce critic of Russia’s President Putin that comes amid an intensifying crackdown on dissent.

Navalny is already serving sentences totaling 11-and-a-half years in a maximum security facility on fraud and other charges that he says were trumped up.

Explosive devices dropped from a Ukrainian drone hit buildings in western Russia on Friday, according to the governor of the Kursk region.

The explosives fell in the city of Rylsk and no one was hurt, Roman Starovoyt said on Telegram.

“Windows were damaged in two administrative buildings, glass was broken in the Church of the Intercession. Representatives of the investigative bodies are working on the spot,” the governor said.

A wall at Poland's border with Belarus in Jurowlany, Poland, is pictured July 9.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński said “the threat is very real” from Belarus, arguing that Wagner Group soldiers have made attempts to infiltrate Polish territory.

“We are getting more and more troops deployed to this region so that we can be resilient,” Jabłoński said. He did not expand on how many troops are being deployed.

Soares also asked Jabłoński whether Poland would weigh closing its border with Belarus.

“We would like to avoid this because it is a step of last resort to some extent. But, if there will be continued attacks, continued attempts of destabilizing our country, we might have no other option,” Jabłoński added.

Some background: The Polish defense ministry said Tuesday the country will increase the number of soldiers along its eastern border after two Belarusian helicopters allegedly violated Polish airspace, which the Belarusian defense ministry denied.

It comes amid increased activity near a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, known as the Suwalki gap or corridor, which troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving toward in an apparent attempt to increase pressure on NATO and EU members.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal to cap Wagner’s failed rebellion against Moscow, after which thousands of mercenary fighters were reportedly sent to Belarus.

Satellite imagery shows a Russian naval ship after a Ukrainian drone attack on Friday.

Satellite imagery shows a Russian naval ship tilting at a Black Sea port Friday after authorities say an overnight Ukrainian assault badly damaged the vessel.

The amphibious Russian landing ship — shown in the photo above by the Earth imaging company Planet Labs PBC — had to be towed back to a base at the Russian port of Novorossiysk following the attack by Ukrainian sea drones.

The attack marks the latest development in rising tensions on the Black Sea. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky has pledged to “return” the war to Russian territory.

CNN’s Tim Lister, Victoria Butenko and Olga Voitovych contributed reporting to this post.

A photo from May 19 shows Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is set to host peace talks on Ukraine this weekend that will include the US as well as a number of Western and developing countries.

They will be aimed at developing shared principles to end the war and discussing the kind of security assistance Kyiv will need to deter Russia from ever attacking Ukraine again, US officials have said.

While Russia will not be at the table, the question of what Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to do — and whether he would even abide by a ceasefire or peace agreement — will be top of mind, officials said.

Though the idea of peace negotiations at this point in the war appear premature, US officials believe that multiple factors could impact how dug-in Putin remains on the battlefield, including pressure from the Global South. 

According to the Saudi state-run news agency SPA, the talks will take place on Saturday in Jeddah, and they are scheduled to last for just the day, a senior Saudi government official told CNN.

Who’s going: US officials said Tuesday that White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will be present on behalf of the United States.

A representative from the Chinese government will also be in attendance, the Chinese foreign ministry said Friday. Ukraine has said that other key developing nations, such as India and Brazil, will also attend.

The talks are the second in a series of meetings organized by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak. The first talks took place earlier this year in Copenhagen.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood, Natasha Bertrand, Jennifer Hansler, Kevin Liptak and Nic Robertson contributed reporting to this post

A sea drone shows the silhouette of Olenegorsky Gornyak ship near the port of Novorossiysk, Russia, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video released on Friday.

Russian commentators and military bloggers have expressed a mixture of anger and concern and suggested a number of responses about the Ukrainians’ ability to attack a Russian Black Sea port with semi-submersible drones on Friday.

The attack left a damaged Russian warship listing in the Black Sea in a brazen strike carried out hundreds of miles from Ukrainian-held territory.

Sergey Mardan, a Russian journalist and television personality, said the “attack by Ukrainian marine drones on Novorossiysk is simply a quantum leap in the geography of the conflict. It is much larger than even the drones attacking the offices of Russian government ministries.”

“Today’s attack says only one thing — we will still be forced to fight,” Mardan said. 

Another Russian Telegram channel said the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement that no damage had been done and the Ukrainian drones had been destroyed left people “perplexed.”

Another commentator who writes under the pseudonym Kapral Gashetkin on Kots’ Telegram channel, said that “apparently, the crew of the large landing ship was not prepared for the attack.

Footage from the drone, published in the Ukrainian segment of social media, shows the boat approaching the side of the ship without encountering any opposition. No one fired on the uncrewed boat, it was apparently not even noticed.”

Gashetkin noted that “Throughout the entire war, the Novorossiysk Naval Base was the rear of the Black Sea Fleet. It was thought to be relatively safe. However, it is time to realize that the enemy has a “long arm” and can reach very far with it.”

A widely-followed Telegram channel, Readovka, said the attack on Novorossiysk required an immediate response, and the only realizable solution in the short term is to create a full-fledged system for monitoring the Black Sea water area, and this can only be done from the air.

Alexei Navalny appears on a screen via video link before an external hearing of the Moscow City Court at the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo on Friday.

The prison sentence handed down for Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny on Friday raises “serious concerns” about judicial harassment in Russia, the UN rights chief, Volker Türk, said in a statement.

Türk said the Kremlin critic has been imprisoned for 19 years “based on vague and overly broad charges” of extremism.

The rights chief also highlighted how Navalny’s sentencing has occurred “amid an increasingly repressive crackdown on freedom of expression and political opposition in Russia.”

Türk also pointed to a sharp uptick in the use of espionage and treason provisions in Russia’s criminal code, arguing authorities have attempted to “convict people that were merely exercising their human rights.”

He called for a “transparent and impartial review” of these cases, demanding the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained persons in Russia.

US condemns sentence: The United States also condemned the sentencing, with State Department spokesperson Matt Miller calling it “an unjust conclusion to an unjust trial.”

“For years, the Kremlin has attempted to silence Navalny and prevent his calls for transparency and accountability from reaching the Russian people,” Miller said in a statement. “By conducting this latest trial in secret and limiting his lawyers’ access to purported evidence, Russian authorities illustrated yet again both the baselessness of their case and the lack of due process afforded to those who dare to criticize the regime.”

Navalny speaks out: Navalny said in a statement on his Telegram channel that he has effectively been sentenced to life in prison.

“Putin should not achieve his goal. Don’t lose the will to resist,” he added.

A representative from the Chinese government will travel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to attend upcoming Ukraine peace talks, according to an announcement by the Chinese foreign ministry Friday. 

What to know about the talks: Saudi Arabia is set to host Western and several developing countries for peace talks surrounding Russia’s war in Ukraine, with meetings beginning Saturday, according to Saudi state-run news agency SPA.

Ukrainian officials say the venue is a boon for them that completely destroys Russia’s narrative that Ukraine is only supported by “countries of the collective West.” They expect as many as 40 nations to be represented, including the US and India.

The talks also serve as a response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that Kyiv is the party disinterested in a path toward peace. Ukraine’s president has said he won’t negotiate with Moscow while its troops occupy his country’s territory.

The talks hosted in Saudi Arabia are the second in a series of meetings organized by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak. The first talks took place earlier this year in Copenhagen.

CNN’s Nic Robertson contributed reporting to this post.

A screen shows the already imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, second left, as he listens to his verdict over a series of extremism charges at the IK-6 penal colony in the Vladimir region, Russia, on August 4.

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been sentenced to 19 years in prison after being found guilty on extremism charges, a court within the high-security prison where he is being held, said on Friday, according to Russian state media TASS.

This latest verdict is a fresh blow to a fierce critic of Russia’s President Putin that comes amid a worsening climate triggered by the Ukraine war.

TASS said Navalny was found guilty on charges related to creating, financing, organizing and participating in “an extremist community,” as well as for public calls for extremist activities and involving minors in dangerous activities.

He will serve his sentence in a special regime colony. The Russian state media agency described the high-security prisons as containing “convicts with especially dangerous recidivism and sentenced to life imprisonment.” Navalny faces greater restrictions on how he can spend free time, communicate and move around the prison.

About Navalny: Navalny has been incarcerated in Russia since his return to the country in January 2021, on charges of violating terms of probation related to a years-old fraud case, which he dismisses as politically motivated.

There have been concerns about his well-being: Navalny lost weight and suffered stomach pain earlier this year, leading to fears among his lawyers that he had again been poisoned.

He had previously been taken from Russia to Germany in August 2020, after he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.

A joint investigation by CNN and the group Bellingcat implicated the Russian Security Service (FSB) in Navalny’s poisoning, piecing together how an elite unit at the agency had followed the opposition leader’s team throughout a trip to Siberia, when he fell ill. Russia denies involvement in Navalny’s poisoning.

Criticism of the war in Ukraine: Although the Russian authorities’ targeting of Navalny pre-dates Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the country has cracked down even more dramatically on internal opposition and free speech since launching the war.

An expanded and intentionally vague law on “foreign agents” came into effect late last year, requiring organizations and individuals engaging in political activity and receiving funding from abroad to adhere to draconian rules and restrictions.

It has also restricted social media and Western news access, clamped down on peaceful protests, and criminalized the spread of what it calls “deliberately false” information about Russia’s military.

Navalny has nonetheless been a vocal critic of the conflict. On the anniversary of the invasion in February, he called it “an unjust war of aggression against Ukraine under ridiculous pretexts.”

A Russian Navy landing ship is tugged to shore in Novorossiysk, Russia, on August 4, in this screengrab taken from a handout video.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence says that “unidentified floating objects” damaged a Russian navy landing ship at the port of Novorossiysk on Friday — without officially confirming that Ukraine was behind the attack.

“In Moscow, there are unidentified flying objects. Here we have unidentified floating objects that have obviously damaged this landing ship,” Andriy Yusov told Ukrainian television.

Geolocated social media video indicated that a Russian landing ship — the Olenegorsky Gornyak — was seriously damaged and listing heavily on Friday morning after being struck by a maritime drone.

A satellite image — recorded at 10:32 a.m. local time (3:32 a.m. ET) — also showed that a vessel closely resembling the Russian naval ship Olenengorsky Gornyak was tied up at a dock in in the port of Novorossiysk. The image showed a dark trail — possibly of oil — emerging from the hull of the ship.

Russian bloggers had said one compartment of the Olenengorsky Gornyak had been flooded in the attack.

Yusov, the Ukrainian defense intelligence spokesperson, said the attack was “a serious slap in the face” for the Kremlin. “In terms of security, of course, this is a big loss for the occupiers’ fleet. Planning further landing operations, including the use of these vessels, becomes more problematic,” Yusov said.

Ukraine said it had carried out a sea drone attack on a Russian naval base, as dramatic videos appeared to show a damaged Russian warship listing heavily in the Black Sea on Friday.

Social media images showed the ship being towed near the Novorossiysk naval base, despite earlier claims by the Russian defense ministry that the attack had been repelled.

A Ukrainian source told CNN that a sea drone with 450 kilograms of TNT had attacked the ship and claimed there were about 100 Russian servicemen aboard.

“A big navy ship Olenogorsky Gornyak was hit,” the source told CNN. “As the result of the attack, the Russian ship has received serious damage and is not able to fulfill its duties.”

Rare access to Ukraine’s sea drones: Perched on the banks of a secret lake, CNN was given exclusive access to the base where much-vaunted sea – or surface – drones are tested.

The Ukrainian-made surface drones are armed with 300 kilograms (about 660 pounds) of explosives and can hit a target 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) away.

A pilot who goes by the call sign “Shark” said the drones are easy to control and have limited the Russian navy’s movements. Equipment on Russian ships is designed to attack other ships, according to the drones’ developer, rendering the vessels’ defenses ineffective.

Naval drones were used to strike the Kerch bridge — which links Crimea to mainland Russia — earlier this month, and they could prove to be vital against Russian threats on ships after the country withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal.

Watch more from Alex Marquardt’s report here:

CNN’s Tim Lister, Victoria Butenko and Olga Voitovych contributed reporting to this post.

A view of the rooftop of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, in Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on July 5.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has found no evidence of mines or explosives on the rooftops of reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), as had been speculated after the publication of satellite images of the plant.

Russian forces have occupied the plant and the surrounding area since the early days of the invasion.

The plant is operated mostly by Ukrainian staff, who were initially forced to work at “gunpoint” by invading Russian troops, according to Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine’s nuclear power operator Energoatom.

When the war began on February 24, 2022, one of the plant’s six reactor units was closed for maintenance. After Russian forces took control of the plant, the Ukrainian workers shut down the remaining units.

IAEA experts were given “unimpeded access” to the plant Thursday, and “have observed no mines or explosives on the rooftops of Unit 3 and Unit 4 reactor buildings and the turbine halls,” said Director General Rafael Grossi.

An inspection of the perimeter at the plant showed that mines observed in July were still in place but no new mines or explosives were observed, he added, reminding about the potential nuclear safety and security risks facing the facility.

CNN’s Christian Edwards contributed reporting to this post.

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, center, speaks with activists as he visits the village of Moshchun on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 4.

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during an unannounced trip to Ukraine on Friday. 

The former New Jersey governor also visited battle-torn areas of Moshchun and Bucha. 

He told reporters traveling with him that he came to the country because he wants Americans to see what he sees so their resolve to support Ukraine continues.

The former New Jersey governor has defended US support for Ukraine, and in a CNN town hall said US support was necessary to counter the influence of adversaries like China and Russia. 

He also slammed his 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump, earlier this year for refusing to say whether Ukraine should win the war against Russia. 

Christie’s surprise visit to Ukraine comes as a new CNN poll finds that most Americans oppose Congress authorizing additional funding to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Zelensky outlines meeting: The Ukrainian president said it was very important that Christie “began his visit to Ukraine with a visit to Bucha to see with his own eyes the threat to freedom and to everyone in the world posed by Russian aggression.”

Russian forces committed widespread human rights abuses while occupying Bucha and other areas north of Kyiv.

Zelensky said that, in his meeting with Christie, “I thanked all Americans, each and every one, for their vital support.”

CNN’s Victoria Butenko contributed to this report.