August 7, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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

A priest with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been sentenced to five years in prison for a number of public statements in support of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office said on Monday.

Print and electronic materials that contained pro-Russian propaganda intended for distribution were confiscated from the computer of the priest, who was head of the Tulchyn diocese, the statement said.

Some background: The church, despite the name, had traditionally been loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader Patriarch Kiril has openly supported Moscow’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Splitting with Kiril, the leadership of the church denounced Russia’s attack, and in May 2022, declared its independence from Russia. Ukraine, however, has expressed concern about the loyalties of some of the priests.

Last month, Ukraine passed legislation moving its official Christmas holiday to December 25, further distancing itself from the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church, which celebrates the holiday on January 7.

After being held as prisoners of war, 22 Ukrainian military service members were released Monday, according to Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President.

The oldest of the soldiers is 54-years-old and the youngest is 23-years-old, Yermak said. 

“Each of the liberated soldiers will undergo physical and psychological rehabilitation, reintegration and be provided with the necessary treatment with the support of medical specialists,” he said. 

Yermak thanked the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and their team for assisting.

“We have to fulfill the President’s task and return all of our people,” he added.

Rescuers work at a residential building was damaged during a Russian missile strike in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, on Monday, August 7.

Russian shelling in parts of Donetsk region has continued for years, and every time residential buildings are hit it “hurts anew,” Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska said Monday — after Russian missiles hit residential areas in the eastern city of Pokrovsk.

What we know so far about the strikes: At least five people were killed and more than two dozen were injured in Monday’s strikes on the city, according to authorities. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched two missiles that struck the residential building in the city and he vowed to hold Russia accountable for the attack.

The Biden administration is working on a supplemental funding request for Ukraine that will likely be ready for Congress to consider by this fall, Army acquisition chief Doug Bush said on Monday. 

CNN previously reported that the White House was not planning to ask Congress for new Ukraine funding before the end of the fiscal year at the end of September, pitting administration officials against some lawmakers and congressional staffers who were concerned that the funds could run out by mid-summer.

That funding shortfall does not appear to have happened, largely because the Pentagon previously overvalued the amount it had spent on weaponry to Ukraine by $6.2 billion.

More about the US’ funding for Ukraine: In December, Congress approved the administration’s request for an additional $48 billion to help arm Ukraine and combat the Covid-19 pandemic, $36 billion of which was specifically allocated for Ukraine.

The supplemental was meant to last through September 30, 2023. The administration requested this kind of additional funding to help support Ukraine four times last year, in March, May, September and December.

At least two civilians were killed and at least five others were injured in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region after Russian missiles hit private homes, Andrii Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said Monday. 

It comes after Yermak said in an earlier post that at least five civilians were killed by Russian missile strikes in the city of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region. 

A view shows a building destroyed during a Russian missile strike in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, on August 7, 2023.

At least five people were killed and more than two dozen injured after Russian missiles struck a residential building in Pokrovsk, a city in the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said Monday. 

Among the injured are 19 police officers, five rescuers and one child, Klymenko said in a Telegram message. “The rubble is being cleared,” he added. 

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched two missiles that struck a residential building in the city. 

A video accompanying his post showed residents and emergency teams trying to clear some of the rubble. A person on a stretcher was being moved into an ambulance. 

Zelensky vowed to hold Russia accountable for the attack.

This post has been updated with the latest toll from the attack on Pokrovsk, according to Ukrainian government officials.

Representatives from China, the US, and Saudi Arabia attend talks to make a headway towards a peaceful end to Russia's war in Ukraine, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 6.

The US State Department called China’s attendance at a meeting for restoring peace in Ukraine hosted by Saudi Arabia over the weekend productive.

Miller said that Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with China’s special envoy at the meeting to deliver that message as well.

Miller also noted that there is no particular nation “leading” the talks, as Russia has yet to show interest in peace negotiations with Ukraine, but that when the Russians did, it would be Ukraine leading.

China signaled that the peace talks went well: Earlier Monday, China said the two-day meeting, which took place in the Gulf kingdom’s port sea city of Jeddah, helped “to consolidate international consensus” on finding a peaceful solution to the conflict, Reuters reported, citing a Chinese foreign ministry statement. 

The talks brought together more than 40 nations, including Ukraine, the United States, European states, and the BRICS group of countries — perhaps none as closely watched as China, Russia’s most powerful ally. Kremlin officials said Russia had not been invited to the talks but was monitoring them, state media reported. 

The first batch of Abrams tanks that the US is providing to Ukraine was approved for shipment over the weekend, and the tanks are on track to arrive in Ukraine by early fall, Army Acquisition Chief Doug Bush said on Monday. 

The US began training the Ukrainians on the tanks in May in Germany, CNN reported. The 31 tanks destined for Ukraine had been undergoing refurbishment and preparation for shipment for several months, and were officially approved to be transferred over the weekend.

The US dramatically accelerated the time it normally takes to ship the tanks by deciding earlier this year to transfer the older M1-A1 models instead of the more modern version of the tank.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media in New York on August 3.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Monday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba about “developments in Ukraine’s counteroffensive efforts, recent conversations about a just and durable peace in Ukraine held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and long-term security arrangements between the two countries,” according to a readout from spokesperson Matt Miller.

Kuleba tweeted about the call and said he emphasized Ukraine’s need for long-range missiles.

Some more context: Ukraine’s Armed Forces Chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said earlier Monday that he told his US counterpart that Ukrainian forces are step-by-step creating conditions for advancing in the south, where they have struggled to gain ground as heavy fighting continues.

Zaluzhnyi said he had told the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley that Ukraine’s defenses were steadfast and that “initiative is on our side.”

International peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, concluded this weekend without clear resolutions, but helped to “consolidate international consensus” on finding a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine, China’s foreign ministry said Monday, Reuters reported. The meetings did not include representatives from Moscow.

An alleged informant for Russia has been detained in connection to a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said Monday.

The woman’s name has not been publicly released, but according to a statement from the SBU, she is from the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv.

The SBU said the suspect had been “gathering intelligence” about Zelensky’s planned visit to Mykolaiv at the end of July, in order to plan a Russian airstrike to kill the president.

However, SBU agents prevented the attempted assassination after the agency obtained information about the “subversive activities of the suspect” and adopted additional security measures.

In monitoring the communications of the woman, the SBU established that she also had the task of identifying the location of electronic warfare systems and warehouses with ammunition of the armed forces.

She allegedly traveled around the territory of the district and filmed the locations of Ukrainian objects.

According to the investigation, the alleged informant was a resident of Ochakov in Mykolaiv region and a former salesperson in a military store.

This is not the first assassination attempt: Zelensky has faced several known attempts on his life since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of his country in February 2022. Russian special forces were tasked with eliminating the Ukrainian president at the start of the war.

In a profile published in April 2022, TIME magazine described how Russian troops had parachuted into Kyiv to kill or capture Zelensky and his family on February 24, the day after the war began.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in March of last year that Zelensky had survived more than a dozen assassination attempts.

Jeffrey Judd Jones

Jeffrey Judd Jones is one of the three Americans killed recently while fighting in Ukraine, according to a family statement provided to CNN by his father, Howard Jones.  

“Jeff’s family and friends are proud of Jeff’s contributions and sacrifice for the Ukrainian people,” the written statement read. 

The 48-year-old was killed by a mortar shell explosion on July 31, Jones said.

“Jeff had traveled to Ukraine twice to help the Ukrainian people, particularly the children. Jeff supported humanitarian efforts and then served on a volunteer medic team near the front in 2022 to add more purpose to his life,” Jones said in the written statement. 

He said his son was first injured in 2022 when an artillery round struck a building and he spent five days in a Ukrainian hospital. “Despite Jeff’s past experiences serving on the front, Jeff was determined to help the Ukrainians, so he returned to Ukraine in April 2023,” Jones said.

A resident of Perry, Georgia, Jeffrey Judd Jones served in the US Army and applied the skills he learned in the Airborne Division in Ukraine.

“Jeff’s family and friends will miss him dearly,” the statement adds.  

Apart from Jones, Andrew Webber was identified as another American killed recently while fighting in Ukraine, according to a family statement provided to CNN by his wife, DeeDee Cloyd Webber. 

A US State Department spokesperson told CNN that two Americans died in Ukraine on July 29 and another US citizen died on July 31. The State Department said it is in touch with their families and providing consular assistance. 

CNN’s Raenu Charles contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces Chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said he told his US counterpart that Ukrainian forces are step-by-step creating conditions for advancing in the south, where they have struggled to gain ground as heavy fighting continues.

Zaluzhnyi said he had told the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, the top US general, that Ukraine’s defenses were steadfast and that “initiative is on our side.”

They also discussed Ukraine’s current needs “in armament and ammunition,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with CEO of Rostec State Corporation Sergei Chemezov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on August 7.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the director general of Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, on Monday and spoke about skills shortages and rapidly rising wages among military industries, according to a Kremlin readout.

Putin said it was “necessary to increase the percentage of production of the latest types of weapons,” according to a transcript of the meeting. Chemezov said Rostec, the state-owned high-tech giant, was trying to find sufficient highly-skilled personnel.

Chemezov also spoke about the growth of wages at the company’s defense enterprises, which was 17.2% last year because many factories worked “both on weekends, and on holidays, and at night, and these days are paid, of course, at an increased rate.”

“The fulfillment of the state defense order for the last year, 2022, amounted to 99.5 percent. This figure is quite high. We have increased production volumes for all types of military products, which are massively used today in the special military operation,” Chemezov told Putin.

Putin also spoke about the need for Rostec to increase production of drones.

It was necessary to increase their production of UAVs “Kub” and “Lancet” even more, he said.

On August 3, Putin said at a meeting with industry leaders in the Kremlin that a combination of military spending and domestic demand was driving the Russian economy, with employment in manufacturing stable.

The Russian leader said that wage growth was due to labor shortages. He said Moscow needs to “attract people, to interest them in a higher level of wages. And this is already beginning to affect the position of small and medium-sized enterprises in a certain way.”

CNN’s Tim Lister and Anna Chernova contributed reporting to this post.

While Ukrainian officials have pledged to “return” the war to Russia, launching a series of strikes on Russian territory and naval assets in recent weeks, the situation on Ukraine’s southern front remains one of grueling attrition, with little territory being won or lost by either side.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Security Service revealed more information around an alleged Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Here are the latest developments:

Here’s the latest map of control:

Ukrainian service members in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on July 31.

Both Ukrainian and Russian officials have spoken of heavy clashes along the front lines in southern Ukraine, with little territory being won or lost by either side.

It appears that Ukrainian efforts to take the village of Robotyne are yet to bear fruit, after weeks of fighting in the area.

The official Russian news agency RIA Novosti said that its reporters had visited the village, “where not a single whole house remained due to the unsuccessful assaults of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the last 2 months.”

The reporters shot footage purporting to show wrecked Ukrainian armor in the immediate area.

RIA Novosti said on its Telegram channel that “every time the Russian military stops them on the approaches to [the village]. At the same time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are constantly shelling the village, where there are still civilians.”

Other Russian sources have also published images and video of the wreckage of Ukrainian armor, purportedly in the Robotyne area.

For the last few days, the Russian Defense Ministry and unofficial Russian sources have said that Ukrainian attacks on the Robotyne area have been repelled, with one Russian military blogger saying that trenches in the area that had been occupied by Ukrainian troops were subsequently retaken.

The Russian appointed head of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeny Balitsky, claimed that Russian forces had also repelled Ukrainian infantry groups that attempted to advance near Mala Tokmachka and Novopokrovka, villages a few miles southeast of the town Orikhiv.

CNN is unable to confirm the Russian claims; a scarcity of geolocated video makes independent assessment of the battlefield difficult.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that his recent remarks to The New York Times that Russia’s presidential election was not about democracy had been misinterpreted.

The New York Times published a story on Sunday quoting Peskov as saying: “Our presidential election is not really a democracy, it is costly bureaucracy,” adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will be re-elected next year with more than 90% of the vote.”

Peskov has since sought to clarify his meaning, telling the official TASS news agency: “​​The answer was the following: the level of consolidation around the president is absolutely unprecedented and it can be said already now that if he runs [for president], he will be reelected by an overwhelming majority, and the election — theoretically — only entail unnecessary spending.”

In 2020, Russian lawmakers approved changes to the constitution which made Putin eligible to serve for a further two terms, potentially allowing him to stay in power until 2036. Under the previous Russian law, Putin would have been required to step down as president in 2024, when his second consecutive term in office comes to an end.

Representatives from China, the U.S., and Saudi Arabia attend talks to make headway toward a peaceful end to Russia's war in Ukraine, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 6.

The international talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, over the weekend have helped “to consolidate international consensus” on finding a peaceful solution on the Ukraine crisis, China’s foreign ministry said on Monday, Reuters reported. 

China’s special envoy for Eurasian Affairs, Li Hui, “had extensive contact and communication with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis … listened to all sides’ opinions and proposals, and further consolidated international consensus,” the foreign ministry told Reuters in a written statement.

The statement also said China will continue to strengthen dialog based on its 12-point peace proposal, and “accumulate mutual trust,” without going into specific details, according to Reuters. 

CNN has reached out to China’s foreign ministry. 

Some background: China’s comments come amid speculation over the nature and extent of its supposed alliance with Russia.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has met his counterpart Vladimir Putin in person 40 times since coming to power in 2012 – far more than any other world leader.

In recent years, the world’s two most powerful autocratic leaders have brought their countries even closer together in an ambition to challenge what they see as a world order inflicted by “American hegemony.”

But as the devastating war drags on, Beijing’s costly alignment has been compounded by fears that the protracted conflict could ultimately destabilize Putin’s grip on power.

Additional reporting from CNN’s Nectar Gan.

Steeplejacks wave the Ukrainian flag after finishing installing the coat of arms of Ukraine on the shield of the 62 metre Motherland Monument in Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 6.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned the replacement of the “motherland” symbol on a famous Soviet-era statue in Kyiv.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian government replaced the Soviet hammer and sickle symbol with a trident – the Ukrainian coat of arms – on the shield of the monument that dominates the capital’s skyline.

Workers remove a Soviet emblem from the shield of the 'Motherland' monument in Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 1.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded on Telegram: “In Kiev, a trident was installed on the monument ‘Motherland.’

The Motherland Monument in Kyiv, Ukraine, on August 6.

The monument, a 102-meter tall (335 feet tall) statue that towers over the surrounding area, is made of steel. Its construction began in 1979. It depicted a woman holding a sword and a shield emblazoned with the Soviet hammer and sickle symbol.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky holds a press conference during a NATO leaders summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) says it has detained a Russian informant “who was preparing a Russian airstrike in the Mykolaiv region during the visit of the President of Ukraine.”

The alleged informant “on the eve of the recent trip of the President of Ukraine to Mykolaiv region, was gathering intelligence about the planned visit,” the SBU said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in the region at the end of July.

The SBU said in a statement that the alleged conspirator “tried to establish the time and list of locations of the approximate route of the Head of State in the territory of the region.”

However, SBU agents had obtained information about the “subversive activities of the suspect” and adopted additional security measures.

In monitoring the communications of the woman, the SBU had established that she also had the task of identifying the location of electronic warfare systems and warehouses with ammunition of the armed forces.

According to the investigation, the perpetrator was a resident of Ochakov, southern Ukraine, and a former saleswoman in a military store on the territory of one of the military units of the region.

She allegedly traveled around the territory of the district and filmed the locations of Ukrainian objects.

The woman has not been named.