August 29, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

The Russian defense ministry claimed that four Ukrainian military high-speed boats were destroyed in the Black Sea with personnel on board. It also said several drones were intercepted over various Russian regions in the early hours of Wednesday.

CNN has reached out to Ukrainian officials for a comment on this claim. 

The defense ministry also said three Ukrainian drones were intercepted over Bryansk region, one over Oryol region and one over Kaluga region in the early hours of Wednesday.

Sevastopol Gov. Mikhail Razvozhaev reported Russian air defense forces repelling Ukrainian drone attacks in the area of Sevastopol Bay in occupied Crimea in the early hours of Wednesday.

Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican, on Sunday, August 27, 2023.

Ukrainian officials have criticized Pope Francis’ address to Russian youth, calling it “imperialist propaganda.” 

The pontiff made a video address to the 10th All-Russian Catholic Youth Assembly in St. Petersburg on Friday during which he urged them to view themselves as descendants of the Russian empire.

On Monday, Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko called the pope’s speech “imperialist propaganda.”

The pope’s mission should be “precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the devastating course of the current Russian leadership” and instead he is promoting “Russian great-power ideas, that are, in fact, the reason for Russia’s chronic aggression,” Nikolenko said.

Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared himself to Peter the Great during an exhibition dedicated to the first Russian emperor, using the comparison to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said in a statement that Peter the Great and Catherine the Great are the “worst examples of imperialism and extreme Russian nationalism,” warning that the pope’s words “could be perceived as support for the nationalism and imperialism that has caused the war in Ukraine today.” 

“As a Church, we want to state that in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, such statements inspire the neocolonial ambitions of the aggressor country,” Shevchuk said. 

On Tuesday, the Vatican rejected the interpretation of the pope’s words as praise of imperialism. 

“The Pope intended to encourage young people to preserve and promote all that is positive in the great cultural and Russian spirituality, and certainly not to exalt imperialist logic and government personalities, cited to indicate some historical periods of reference,” the Vatican statement said.  

Russian state-controlled media released a video of Paul Whelan inside a prison. 

The sister of Paul Whelan, an American detained in Russia, spoke to CNN’s Isa Soares Tuesday, after a video of her brother inside prison was released.  

Her comments came after a video showed Whelan inside prison for the first time in more than three years that was released by the Russian state-controlled news agency Russia Today (RT).

The video includes Paul telling a reporter, “You understand when I say that I can’t do an interview, which means I can’t answer any questions.”

When asked about her personal reaction to the video, Elizabeth said it “has reinforced our determination to fight for him and to bring him home. And we just hope that he hangs in there with the strength and courage he’s been showing until we can make that happen.”

She said her brother “looks like himself” and “sounds like himself” in the video and told CNN that he had a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken a couple of weeks ago during which he received “reassurance that everything is being done that is possible at this time” to release him.

A plume of smoke is seen over Pskov after a reported drone attacks at the Pskov airport.

The airport in the Russian western city of Pskov — which is used for both civilian and military aircraft — came under drone attacks on Tuesday, according to Mikhail Vedernikov, Russian Pskov regional governor.   

“The Ministry of Defense at the Pskov airport intercepts the attack of drones,” Vedernikov said, adding that he is on the scene. “According to preliminary information, there are no victims. The scale of destruction is specified.”

No victims have been reported following the drone attacks, Vedernikov said.

Vedernikov posted a video showing what appears to be a large plume of smoke coming from behind the buildings that look like a residential area. In a video posted to Telegram in the early hours of Wednesday, a firefighter standing next to the Russian official said that the fire that broke out has been extinguished.

Russian state news agency TASS reported that “as a result of drone attacks four Il-76 aircraft were damaged” in Pskov. The news agency also said — citing emergency services — a fire broke out and two aircraft were engulfed in flames. 

Flights over Pskov and the region have been restricted, TASS added. Vedernikov said all flights in the airport are canceled until Thursday, “to clarify the nature of the possible damage to the runway.”

Yurii Malashko, head of Zaporizhzhia region military administration, said the mandatory evacuation of children from several settlements close to the front lines is underway.

In the last few weeks, CNN has reported on signs that Ukrainian forces have penetrated Russian defenses along part of the southern front lines in Zaporizhzhia region and are expanding a wedge toward the strategic town of Tokmak, while stepping up attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said there had been success in two areas — toward the village of Novoprokopivka and further east in the direction of another small settlement, Ocheretuvate.

Meanwhile, the governor of the Russian region of Bryansk said a Ukrainian cross-border rocket fire has left an unspecified number of people dead, including a child.

Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram that the Ukrainian military had fired at the village of Klimovo with the multiple launch rockets (MLRS).

“According to preliminary information, unfortunately, there are dead, including one child. As a result of the shelling, five civilians, including children, were injured,” he said, adding school buildings and several administrative buildings were damaged, and residential premises destroyed.

Here are the latest developments:

Prominent Ukrainian pilot Andrii Pilshchikov, also known by the call sign “Juice,” was laid to rest in Kyiv on Tuesday, Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a post on social media. 

“Today, loved ones, combat brothers and sisters, and Kyivans bid farewell to a legendary pilot of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Major (posthumously) Andrii Pilshchykov,” the ministry said. 

Pilshchikov died in a plane crash in the Zhytomyr region along with two other pilots on Friday.

The farewell ceremony took place Tuesday in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) in Kyiv. Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk was among the attendees.  

“Juice” was a MiG-29 pilot and part of a unit known as “Ghost of Kyiv” that defended central and northern Ukraine during the first days of the war.

In an interview last year with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “Juice” said he got his nickname during a trip to the United States. He said his friends came up with the nickname because he doesn’t drink alcohol and was always asking for juice instead.

Tuesday is also the “Day of Remembrance of the Fallen Defenders of Ukraine” for soldiers who have died since 2014, according to the ministry. 

“Thousands have given their lives so that millions could live and continue their struggle. Never forget them,” the ministry said. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference at the State Department on August 15, 2023 in Washington, DC.

The United States is providing an additional $250 million security assistance package to Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday.

Blinken said the assistance package includes air defense missiles, artillery ammunition, Javelin systems and rockets, and mine-clearing equipment

The US will also be supplying ambulances “spare parts, services, training, and transportation,” Blinken said.

“This package of weapons and equipment, which are valued at $250 million, is being executed under drawdowns previously directed for Ukraine,” he said.

A Russian network of internet trolls has begun to spread messages online blaming “enemies from the West” for the plane crash that killed Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin last week, according to two experts who monitor the activity of the trolls.

Prigozhin had previously turbo-charged the use of trolls to push messages designed to disrupt and polarize Western societies. His St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency created hundreds of fake accounts on social networks aiming to meddle in other countries’ politics, leading the United States in 2018 to sanction Prigozhin for election meddling.

It’s unclear whether the Internet Research Agency still exists, especially in the light of US sanctions and the short-lived mutiny led by Prigozhin at the end of June. But two groups of independent analysts – Bot Blocker and Chef’s Trap – have been analyzing several dozen Russian troll accounts on the social networks Vkontakte and X, formerly known as Twitter.

The creator of Bot Blocker, who does not reveal his identity for security reasons, told CNN he was “extremely convinced” that Prigozhin and his structures had remained in charge of the troll accounts up until his death.

CNN has checked the accounts from a list shared by Bot Blocker. They were united in spreading two themes: that Putin had no motive to kill Prigozhin, as the two had allegedly already resolved the issues related to Prigozhin’s rebellion, and that his presumed death was the work of the West, which opposes the Wagner mercenary group’s influence in Africa.

According to Bot Blocker, the messages carrying these narratives started to appear on August 23 around 8 p.m. Moscow time, which coincides with the time pro-Wagner Telegram channels started sharing reports of Prigozhin’s death.

Public posts available show these narratives are still being actively spread.

Read more.

Ukrainian and Russian accounts speak of heavy fighting along part of the southern front, as Kyiv’s forces try to push further toward the strategic hub of Tokmak.

Much of the combat is taking place south and east of the village of Robotyne, which the Ukrainians claimed to have secured last week.

One unofficial Ukrainian Telegram channel used by soldiers of the 46th separate airmobile brigade said the Russians were trying to counterattack and were testing Ukrainian lines.

It said that “a large number of Ukrainian and enemy units in a narrow area from Robotyne to Verbove [immediately to the east] leads to chaos in the area. There have already been moves by our groups and the enemy into each other’s rear due to a lack of understanding of the location of their own and our trenches.”

But the channel claimed Tuesday that “there is progress in the direction of Verbove. Yesterday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces took several [Russian] positions in the area.” 

However, it added that the nearby Novoprokopivka area is in the midst of counterattacks, the enemy is not going to give up their positions without a fight.”

The channel said that on Monday night “the enemy regrouped after an unsuccessful counterattack and struck harder in the Nesterianka-Novoprokopivka area. It was a heavy battle with losses on both sides.”

One soldier with the 46th told CNN that two forest plantations several kilometers long near Verbove had been taken by Ukrainian forces, but Russian units were counterattacking against the Ukrainian flanks.

Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s military in the south, said Tuesday that “there are very exhausting battles and very powerful work at the level of counter-battery and direct engagement in the Zaporizhzhia sector.”

She described the battles as “a face-to-face meeting with the enemy. ” 

“When the direct advance of troops is underway, the enemy no longer has a chance to consolidate the line of defense that was torn,” Humeniuk said.

What Russia is saying: For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said that “units of the Russian group of troops, with the support of aviation and artillery, repelled two attacks by the 46th Airmobile Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the village of Verbove.”

The ministry claimed that up to 90 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, as well as howitzers and artillery systems, had been eliminated.

CNN is unable to verify claims made by either side, but geolocated video over the past few days has shown intense shelling in the area and widespread destruction of villages.

Independent analysts and Ukrainian officials have suggested that the Russians are moving fresh reserves in the area after the Ukrainians breached part of their first line of defensive fortifications.

Ukraine’s defense and security forces lose about 40 to 45 reconnaissance drones per day on average, according to a senior official.

Yurii Shchyhol, head of the State Special Communications Service, said on Ukrainian television Tuesday that the number includes the “most basic Mavic, Matrice and large professional drones of Ukrainian and foreign production.”

“Therefore, we are doing our best to provide as many drones as possible. We buy almost everything available on the market,” he said.

“To date, more than 22,000 attack drones have been contracted, and about 15,000 have already been delivered to the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he added.

Besides government procurement, a number of other entities in Ukraine are raising money to buy hundreds of drones, many of which are supplied to the military.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Tuesday the fate of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin proves the futility of possible peace negotiations with Russia.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the plane crash that killed Prigozhin and other Wagner deputies.

While in Paris, Kuleba also met with a number of leading French military-industrial complex companies and discussed “specific Ukrainian-French cooperation and coproduction projects,” he said in a post on social media. 

Prigozhin is seen in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s funeral took place “in a closed format,” according to Concord Management, the company Prigozhin owned.

The company did not specify when the funeral took place.

“Those wishing to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoe cemetery” in St. Petersburg, Concord’s press service added.

According to Russian media outlet MSK1, Prigozhin was buried at the cemetery at about 4 p.m. local time Tuesday.

“That’s what the relatives wished,” the cemetery said in response to MSK1’s question about why the place of burial was not previously reported.

Independent Russian news outlet Agentstvo reported that about 30 people attended the funeral. CNN cannot verify the report.

Agentstvo reported there were “no people in military uniform at the ceremony,” according to an employee of the cemetery.

It quoted the employee as saying: 

Video and images show that Prigozhin appears to have been buried next to his father. Images analyzed by CNN show a headstone next to Prigozhin’s burial site that reads: “Viktor Evgenievich Prigozhin 1935-1970.” It was already known that his father died when Prigozhin was still a boy.

The cemetery is an old, small one that is partially closed on the northeast outskirts of the city.

More background: Prigozhin was confirmed dead by Russian investigators Sunday. He was among the 10 people killed when their plane crashed last week.

The crash came exactly two months after Prigozhin — who was once called President Vladimir Putin’s “personal chef” — led an armed insurrection against the Russian leader. Prigozhin, whose fighters secured rare victories for the Kremlin on the battlefield, had railed against the country’s military brass over their handling of the Ukraine war.

The Kremlin said decisions on Prigozhin’s burial would be for his family to make and that it would be a private affair. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had ruled out Putin’s attendance at Prigozhin’s funeral.

On Tuesday, a funeral service for Valeriy Chekalov, who organized Wagner’s logistics, was held at Severnoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, according to multiple media outlets. Earlier, a CNN team saw police guards and road closures near another of the city’s graveyards — the Serafimovskoye cemetery — amid speculation Prigozhin’s burial might take place there.

The governor of the Russian region of Bryansk said a Ukrainian cross-border rocket fire has left an unspecified number of people dead, including a child.

Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram that the Ukrainian military had fired at the village of Klimovo with the multiple launch rockets (MLRS).

“According to preliminary information, unfortunately, there are dead, including one child. As a result of the shelling, five civilians, including children, were injured,” he said, adding school buildings and several administrative buildings were damaged, and residential premises destroyed.

Igor Girkin sits inside a glass defendants' cage during a hearing in Moscow on Tuesday.

The Moscow City Court has upheld the detention of Igor Girkin, commonly known as pro-war blogger Igor Strelkov, until September 18. 

“The Moscow City Court upheld the ruling of the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow against Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin (known as Igor Strelkov),” according to the official statement by the court’s press service.

His background: Girkin is a prominent Russian pro-war blogger who has publicly criticized President Vladimir Putin and his alleged military’s mishaps in Ukraine.

The day after Wagner’s brief insurrection ended, on June 25, he said that if Putin “is not ready to take the leadership over the creation of war-ready conditions” in Russia, “then he really needs to transfer the powers, but legally, to someone who is capable of such hard work.” But the final straw for Putin may have come when Girkin called the president a “lowlife” and a “cowardly bum” in a blistering post on his Telegram channel.

Girkin was arrested in July and charged with public calls for extremist activities.

A former KGB officer, Girkin played a significant role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea. In 2014, Girkin led the militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and served as its minister of defense. He was convicted of mass murder in absentia for his involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17 in eastern Ukraine.

Yurii Malashko, head of Zaporizhzhia region military administration, said the mandatory evacuation of children from several settlements close to the front lines is underway.

“There are 54 children and 67 accompanying family members. That is, 121 people need to be evacuated. This includes one settlement in Vasylivka district and four settlements in Polohy district. This will be a mandatory forced evacuation,” Malashko said on the Rada parliamentary TV YouTube channel.

In the last few weeks, CNN has reported on signs that Ukrainian forces have penetrated Russian defenses along part of the southern front lines in Zaporizhzhia region and are expanding a wedge toward the strategic town of Tokmak, while stepping up attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said there had been success in two areas – toward the village of Novoprokopivka and further east in the direction of another small settlement, Ocheretuvate.

CNN’s Tim Lister, Josh Pennington, Olga Voitovych and Anna Chernova contributed to this post.

The Ukrainian military is claiming gains on a part of the southern front, as soldiers continue to push toward the strategic hub of Tokmak.

Kyiv officials also say they are resisting Moscow’s efforts to advance in other parts of the Donetsk region, where heavy fighting has continued.

Here’s a rundown of some of the latest headlines from the Russia-Ukraine war:

Law enforcement officers stand guard at the entrance to the Serafimovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

Several media outlets and Telegram channels in Russia are reporting on what they say is the funeral service of one of the Wagner deputies who died in a plane crash alongside mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin last week.

A funeral service for Valeriy Chekalov, who organized the private military group’s logistics, was held at Severnoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, according to multiple media outlets.

Earlier, a CNN team saw police guards and road closures near another of the city’s graveyards - the Serafimovskoye cemetery - amid speculation Prigozhin’s burial might take place there.

Amid questions over the service for Prigozhin, the Kremlin said decisions on his burial would be for his family to make and that it would be a private affair. Russian President Vladimir Putin is not expected at the service after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ruled out his attendance.

Prigozhin’s death last week capped a tumultuous few months for the Wagner chief, who led a failed mutiny against Putin in June in the greatest threat to his power in his decades-long tenure.

Who was Valeriy Chekalov? Chekalov was one of the Wagner boss’ deputies who had worked with him since the early 2000s, according to a report from the Dossier Center, a Russian investigative group run by exiled Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Chekalov oversaw all of Prigozhin’s “civilian” projects abroad, including geological exploration, oil production and agriculture, as well as the company’s logistics.

In July, the US State Department imposed sanctions on Chekalov for acting on Prigozhin’s behalf, noting that he had “facilitated shipments of munitions to the Russian Federation.”

The Ukrainian military says that its forces have made further progress in a part of the southern front.

The armed forces had succeeded in the Novodanylivka-Verbove direction “and [are] consolidating their positions, inflicting artillery fire on the identified enemy targets, and conducting counter-battery operations,” the General Staff said in its daily briefing.

If successful in the Verbove area, the Ukrainians would widen a wedge of territory they have taken as they push south towards the strategic hub of Tokmak, which is occupied by the Russians.

The Ukrainian military said it is continuing offensive operations south of the city of Bakhmut, consolidating their positions, while resisting Russian efforts to advance in other parts of the Donetsk region. Kyiv repelled a Russian counterattack near the village of Klishchivka, south of Bakhmut, where heavy fighting continued.

In the past 24 hours, there have been 32 battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces on the ground.

Lt. Gen. Serhii Naev, commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on Telegram that Russian forces had also strengthened their reserves in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.

The Kremlin has confirmed there are no plans for Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the funeral of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief who died in a plane crash months after he led a failed insurrection against Moscow.

Peskov cited a lack of specific details regarding the funeral arrangements, emphasizing that such decisions are entirely at the discretion of Prigozhin’s family.

“After all, the decision on this matter is made by relatives and friends, and we cannot say anything about this,” he added.

There has been no official confirmation of the date or location of Prigozhin’s funeral, despite speculation on local Telegram channels that he may be laid to rest at Serafimovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.

A CNN team on the ground saw heightened security measures near the cemetery on Tuesday.