December 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Ukraine news here or read through the updates below.

CIA Director Bill Burns testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 10, in Washington, DC.

CIA director Bill Burns said Friday he believes Russia’s attacks against Ukraine’s infrastructure will continue, although the agency does anticipate a “reduced tempo” of fighting through the winter.

For now, the CIA does not see an immediate path to negotiations to end the conflict, he said.

Putin’s punishing attacks: Since October, Russia has launched a series of strikes that have damaged the energy system and civilian infrastructure, causing power outages in the freezing winter. On Friday, missile attacks were reported across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia.

Civilians take shelter inside a metro station in Kyiv as a fresh barrage of Russian strikes hit cities across Ukraine early on Friday cutting water and electricity in major cities and piling pressure on Ukraine's grid.

Officials in Ukraine’s capital are working to get the power back to the majority of residents after the city was hit with a series of Russian missile strikes Friday, according to Mayor Vitalii Klitschko.

Only one-third of people have water and heat, and about 40% of people have power, he said in a post on Telegram. The outages are due to damaged power grids, Klitschko said.

Transportation issues: The city’s subway system has been closed and emergency power cuts are in force in the region.

“Tomorrow, additional buses will be launched in the capital to duplicate tram routes. In addition, the city will organize the movement of buses that will partially duplicate subway routes,” Klitschko said.

Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv region military administration, said one person was seriously injured in the strikes.

Rescuers continue to search for an infant boy buried in the rubble of an apartment block in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, which was struck by a Russian missile Friday, killing three people and wounding over a dozen others, according to officials. 

Among the dead were the 20-month-old boy’s parents, Kryvyi Rih’s deputy mayor Serhiy Miliutin told CNN. Their relatives have been informed of their passing, he added.

An unnamed 64-year-old woman was also killed, Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih city military administration, wrote on Telegram. He also added that the couple were in their 30’s.

Thirteen people, including four children, were injured, Vilkul added, with a seven-year-old child among three people wounded who are in a “severe condition.”

He continued that more than 100 people lived in the apartment block.

The city in southern Ukraine was among the hardest hit in the latest wave of Russian missile attacks, officials said.

“All their targets today are civilians, and these are mainly energy and heat supply facilities,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday in his nightly address.

The US Army test fires a Patriot missile in 2019. The Patriot missile defense systems are designed to counter and destroy incoming short-range ballistic missiles, advanced aircraft and cruise missiles.

The US State Department, responding to comments by the Russian government that a possible US shipment of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine would “lead to unpredictable consequences” and threaten global security, reiterated that Russia is singlehandedly responsible for provocations in Ukraine.

“The only provocative measures that have been taken over the course of this entire conflict are being made by Russia,” State Department Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a press briefing Friday. 

“The US is not now nor has it ever been at war with Russia,” Patel said.

CNN reported this week that President Joe Biden’s administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, according to two US officials and a senior administration official.

Though Patel did not announce any new US security assistance to Ukraine, he said that the US has been doing “exactly what President Biden told President [Vladimir] Putin we’d do … that if Russia attacked Ukraine, we would provide security assistance and help Ukraine defend itself and defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

Cars lined up on a street during a blackout after critical civil infrastructure was hit by Russian missile attacks in Kyiv on December 16.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal issued a dire warning at a government meeting Friday after a fresh round of Russian strikes battered the nation’s infrastructure.

The prime minister claimed that air defenses shot down 60 of the 76 missiles from the barrage. “We thank the defenders of the Ukrainian sky for this,” Shmyhal said.

But some of the missiles that did find their intended targets hit high-voltage substations and electricity generators, the prime minister said.

“Once again there is a serious shortage in the power system,” Shmyhal told attendees at the meeting. “And now emergency blackouts are applied almost throughout the country.”

Local leaders report on current energy supply: Oleh Syniehubov, a leader in the northeastern Kharkiv region, said on Telegram that engineers have started to restore electricity to Kharkiv city and more than half a dozen surrounding towns, including Izium.

Andrii Raykovych, who is head of the Kirovohrad region’s military administration in central Ukraine, said power had been restored to more than 30% of local consumers.

“First of all, critical infrastructure facilities, medical institutions are being supplied with electricity. Then — the houses,” he explained.

State power company Ukrenergo is yet to release national data on power outages Friday.

In an Instagram post announcing her departure from a medical military facility in Texas on Friday, WNBA star Brittney Griner said she plans to play basketball for the Phoenix Mercury this season after being held in Russian detention since February.

Griner played for a Russian basketball team during the WNBA offseason, and she was arrested on drug smuggling charges shortly prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 17 before being released on Dec. 9 in a prisoner exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Griner took off from Kelly Field in San Antonio Friday around 11 a.m., CNN confirmed via her agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas. 

As she boarded the plane, Griner was greeted by Phoenix Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman, Phoenix Mercury President Vince Kozar and her Mercury teammate Diana Taurasi, all of whom made a surprise appearance to welcome her home.

Griner is heading back to Arizona, though her representatives would not confirm exactly where, citing security concerns. CNN previously reported that Griner and her wife Cherelle had already made plans to move upon her return to the United States.

CNN is reaching out to the Phoenix Mercury about Griner’s intention to play on the team this season, but has not heard back yet.

While much of Ukraine has been targeted by Russian missiles Friday, the southern city of Kherson has suffered further artillery and rocket attacks.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said that shelling early Friday morning set on fire several apartments in a multi-story building. The body of a man was found in one of the apartments.

Local Telegram channels said there had also been Russian shellings Friday afternoon in Kherson and further north near Kakhovka

Friday’s shelling comes at the end of a week of persistent Russian attacks on the city and surrounding areas, which were liberated in November.

Yaroslav Yanushevych, head of Kherson region military administration said the Kherson region was shelled 30 times Thursday.

He said a total of four people were killed.

The struggle to restore basic services in Kherson continues. Ukrainian officials say almost all the water supply has been reconnected and about three-quarters of boilers for heating.

Additionally, two more Starlink Wi-Fi access points have been installed.

Food aid continues to be delivered — the regional council says there are now 23 distribution points for free food packages.

Brittney Griner hugs her wife Cherelle after arriving at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio, Texas, on December 9.

Brittney Griner departed a medical military facility in Texas on Friday, according to her Instagram feed, after arriving there one week ago following 10 months in Russian custody.

For the two-time Olympic gold medalist, who was released last week in a prisoner swap after nearly 300 days in Russian custody, the day marks another step in her reintegration into American life.

In an Instagram post, she thanked her family, the WNBA, advocates and US President Joe Biden, among others.

“I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon,” she added.

Some background: Griner’s detention, after Russian officials found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, became an international cause during a delicate time in relations between Washington and Moscow. US officials deemed it a wrongful detention.

She had traveled to Russia to play basketball in the WNBA offseason and was arrested on drug smuggling charges at an airport in the Moscow region.

Despite her testimony that she had inadvertently packed the cannabis oil in her luggage, Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in early August and was moved to a penal colony in the Mordovia republic in mid-November after losing her appeal.

The Phoenix Mercury center became a pawn in Russia’s war in Ukraine and returned to the US on Dec. 9 after a prisoner swap for notorious convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Griner had been staying at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for routine evaluation. She has been staying with her wife, Cherelle Griner, in a residential facility on the base.

Her arrest and conviction brought attention to the plight of other Americans in Russian custody, including Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed. Whelan’s release could not be secured in the latest prisoner swap, while Reed returned to the US in April after a nearly three-year ordeal.

People shelter inside a metro station during a partial power outage amid massive Russian missile attacks in Kyiv, on December 16.

In an escalated assault on Friday, Russia launched at least 76 missiles at different parts of Ukraine, including Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. If you’re just joining us, catch up on Friday’s developments in Moscow’s war on Ukraine here.

Where: After an official from the Ukrainian Presidential Office urged people to stay in shelters as air raid sirens sounded across the country on Friday, missile attacks were reported across Ukraine on Friday, including in Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Sumy.

Details on attack: Preliminary data from Friday’s wave of Russian missile attacks against Ukraine suggests at 76 missiles were fired, according to Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander in chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Of the 76 missiles, 72 were “cruise missiles” of the Kh-101, “Kalibr” and Kh-22 variety. The other four were “guided aircraft missiles,” Kh-59 and KH31P. 

Targets: Russia has waged a series strikes against Ukraine since October that have damaged the energy system and civilian infrastructure, causing power outages in the freezing winter. Friday’s strikes were in the same vein. In northeastern Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubv, head of the regional military administration, said the region had been hit “10 times” with “Russian S300” missiles and “critical infrastructure facilities” were hit in Chuhuiv district. CNN cannot independently verify the number of times Kharkiv was hit.

Defense: The country’s defenses shot down 60 of the 76 missiles from the barrage, Ukraine’s prime minister claimed at a meeting Friday. That included 37 of the 40 missiles launched at Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian capital’s city administration. Leaders said the city had “withstood one of the largest missile attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion!”

Impact: All districts of Kyiv are experiencing water supply disruptions. Railway sections in parts of the country were impacted. Additionally, nine power generation facilities have been damaged, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko has said, without specifying locations.

Energy facilities in the east and south of Ukraine have been damaged, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Telegram, and added that there will be emergency power outages in some parts of the country.

“Kharkiv city is without power,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said, but added that some centers were open where residents could warm up and recharge their phones. The strikes knocked out power on a number of railway sections, including northeastern Kharkiv and central Kirovohrad. Trains in the eastern region of Donetsk and central Dnipropetrovsk are also affected. Trains will continue to run under backup diesel locomotives, officials said.

Kryvyi Rih appears to be hit the hardest: At least two were killed and 8 were injured in Russian missile attacks in southern Ukrainian city, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih city military administration. The energy infrastructure facility was completely destroyed, and one missile had hit an apartment building, he added. There are emergency power cuts in place and rescue work is underway for people under rubble in the apartment building as well as the region’s mines.

National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby speaks at the White House, on November 28.

The Biden administration on Friday condemned the new barrage of strikes from Russia into Ukraine, with National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby saying the attacks hit “largely civilian infrastructure.”

Energy Minister of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko said that “nine power-generating facilities” were damaged in Friday’s attacks, but did not specify which locations.

He declined to announce any details on the next security assistance package for Ukraine, but said that there “will be another one” and that additional air defense capabilities should be expected. Conversations with Ukraine on needs continue “in lockstep.” 

Kirby also announced that the first tranche of $53 million in energy-related equipment “has arrived in Ukraine coming from the United States.”

“It includes the kinds of equipment that they need to make emergency repairs,” he said, adding that “there will be more coming” to fulfill the US’ $53 million pledge.

Civilians sit on an escalator while take shelter inside a metro station during an air raid alert in the centre of Kyiv on December 16.

In the aftermath of a barrage of Russian missiles targeting Kyiv on Friday, the city’s subway system has been closed for the rest of the day and emergency power cuts are in force in the region.

Oleksiy Kuleba, head of Kyiv region military administration, said in a Telegram post that “due to the massive attack, a critical infrastructure facility and 9 private houses in different districts of the region were damaged.”

He said one person had been seriously injured. 

“Emergency power cuts are in effect in the region. Hospitals and critical infrastructure are operating on generators,” he said.

In the Kyiv region, over 400 “Invincibility Points” — which provide electricity, heat, internet, tea and coffee and first aid kits — are operating around the clock.

The Kyiv city administration announced on its Telegram channel that “due to damage to the power system and emergency power outages, subway trains will not be running today until the end of the day.”

“At the same time, underground stations will operate in the shelter mode,” it added.

Preliminary data from Friday’s wave of Russian missile attacks against Ukraine suggests at 76 missiles were fired, according to Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander in chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Of the 76 missiles, 72 were “cruise missiles” of the Kh-101, “Kalibr” and Kh-22 variety. The other four were “guided aircraft missiles,” Kh-59 and KH31P. 

The origin of the missiles were from the Caspian and Black Seas. 

Ukraine’s top military chief added that 60 missiles were destroyed.

ainian officials say that the southern city of Kryvyi Rih was among the hardest hit in the latest wave of Russian missile attacks.

Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih city military administration, spoke to Ukrainian television and provided the following updates:

“The water is supplied in the city partly through generators. The gas supply system is completely supported by generators,” as were area hospitals, he said. “Half of the mobile communication base stations are already connected. The second half is running on generators.”

An Ilyushin-76 A50U and MiG-31K aircrafts were seen in the “sky of Belarus” during the air attacks on Friday in Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have said.

The MiG-31K is capable for carrying a “Kinzal” missile. The missile is hypersonic and therefore difficult to intercept. However, the statement is unclear if the “Kinzal” was used in the attacks.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces suggested that the attacks in general were “peculiar” given that the missiles were not only fired from Caspian Sea, but “also from the Saratov region, in the Engels area, where strategic bombers-missile carriers Tu-95MS are based”.

The statement continued and claimed that missiles were also launched from the Black Sea from the “Admiral Marakov” frigate of the Russian navy.

Additionally, 27 S-300s were used, it said.

There was an explosion at the Engels airbase inside the Russian Federation last week. The attack was blamed on the Ukrainians by the Russians. Ukraine has never admitted to carrying out the attack.

Earlier this week, Belarus announced snap military drills across the country and President Vladimir Putin is due to meet with Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko next week. 

A Russian citizen closely linked to the Wagner group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin has been injured in an assassination attempt in the Central African Republic, according to Prigozhin and Russian officials.

Dmitry Syty, who runs the “Russian House” in the capital of CAR, Bangui, received a package which exploded in his hands, according to the press service of Concord, Prigozhin’s holding company.

Prigozhin said that Syty’s last words before falling unconscious and taken to hospital were:

Wagner’s presence in the CAR, where it has trained and fought with the local armed forces, has been controversial. CNN investigations have linked Wagner and associated entities with the lucrative diamond trade in central Africa as well as multiple human rights abuses in the country, where the army has been fighting a number of rebel factions. 

A CNN team met with Syty in 2019, when he was involved in mediating between the CAR government and rebel groups. He was also the founder of a diamond company linked to Prigozhin’s business empire.

Prigozhin accused France of being behind the attack on Syty. 

“On February 1, 2022, the “Russian House” was opened in the Central African Republic, which for hundreds of years was oppressed by the French, who destroyed the population and plundered the wealth of the Central African Republic. It was headed by a patriot of Russia and the Central African Republic, Dmitry Syty,” he said.

“On November 11, Dmitry Syty received a package from Togo containing a photograph of his son, who lives in France. It contained a note saying that next time he would receive his son’s head if “the Russians do not get out of the African continent and open the doors for the French.” 

Prigozhin said: “Today he got another package. Despite all the instructions for observing security measures, Dmitry Syty, being in the heat of the moment and thinking that the head of his son was in the package, opened it. There was an explosion.”

CNN is unable to confirm Prigozhin’s allegations.

“I have already applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation so that it initiates the procedure for declaring France a state sponsor of terrorism, as well as conducting a thorough investigation of the terrorist methods of France and its Western allies — the United States and others.”

A Russian group in CAR associated with the Russian House in Bangui said Syty’s “condition is serious and doctors are fighting for his life.”

The official Russian news agency TASS quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying: “The assassination attempt on the head of the Russian house in the Central African Republic is an inhuman terrorist act that requires strong condemnation.”

He said: “Russia will make every effort to find the organizers of the assassination attempt on the head of the Russian House in the Central African Republic. The Russian Federation will not show fear of terrorists and will not close the Russian House in the Central African Republic.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemn[s] this criminal act, which is clearly aimed at hindering the activities of the Russia House in Bangui, and more broadly, harming the successful development of friendly relations between our two countries.”

“We hope that as a result of an operational investigation by the competent authorities of the Central African Republic, those responsible for organizing and committing this atrocity will be identified and punished,” the ministry added.

Uliana Pavlova contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko has said that “9 power generation facilities” have been damaged in Friday’s attacks.

He did not specify which locations. 

The minister said the substations were damaged and as a result this has lead to a “restrictions of electricity production at nuclear generation facilities.”

The power situation in Kharkiv “will be difficult,” he continued. The northeastern city has lost power completely, Mayor Ihor Terekhov noted on Telegram earlier. 

Halushchenko noted in his message that “electricity supply is impossible for 50% of customers.”

It comes as Ukraine’s state energy provider Ukrenergo said it had activated its “emergency mode,” following the wave of Russian attacks on Friday.

Ukrenergo said the targets included “thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants and substations of 330-750 kV main grids.”

President of FIFA Gianni Infantino, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

A request by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to share a message of world peace prior to kickoff at the World Cup final on Sunday has been rebuffed by FIFA, a source told CNN.

The source said Zelensky’s office is offering to appear in a video link to fans in the stadium in Qatar, ahead of the game and was surprised by the negative response. It’s unclear if Zelensky’s message would be live, or taped.

However, talks between Ukraine and the sport’s governing body are still underway, the source added.

CNN has reached out to FIFA for comment, but it did not immediately respond.

Related article Exclusive: FIFA rebuffs Zelensky's request to share message of peace at World Cup final | CNN

The Ukrainian capital’s city administration has claimed it shot down 37 of 40 missiles launched at Kyiv on Friday morning. 

Writing on Telegram it said “Kyiv city has withstood one of the largest missile attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion!”

The note ended by saying that only one person had been injured so far, in Dniprovskyi district, but information on casualties was being “clarified.” 

The regions reported in Kyiv as taking hits include Holosiivskyi, Dniprovskyi and Desniansky.

CNN teams in Kyiv had earlier reported hearing the air defense systems working in the Ukrainian capital as they witnessed the missiles falling.

Missile attacks have been reported across Ukraine on Friday, including in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia.

The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, described the damage to the city’s infrastructure from Friday’s missile attacks as “colossal,” saying there was currently “no electricity, no heating and no water.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, meets with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenkoi n Moscow, Russia, on February 18.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Minsk on Monday and meet with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin said Friday.

Putin and Lukashenko are planning to discuss “key issues of further development of Russian-Belarusian relations of strategic partnership and alliance with an emphasis on integration cooperation within the framework of the Union State, as well as current topics on the international and regional agenda,” according to the statement.

The two leaders will focus on strategic issues, especially in the economic sphere, Belarusian state news agency Belta reported earlier on Monday.

Russia used Belarus as a staging ground for its invasion of Ukraine in February, deploying troops and weaponry to its territory.

A CNN report published in October found that Belarus’ authoritarian government also provided medical aid to Russian military personnel, who were secretly ferried to several civilian hospitals in the southern Gomel region and treated by Belarusian doctors operating under harsh surveillance.