May 23, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his men are the strongest fighters but acknowledged that the Ukrainian army has also put up a fierce fight, particularly in Bakhmut.

Over the weekend the private military Wagner group claimed they had taken all the territories they planned on and would leave the frontline in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, leaving the fighting to the Russian Defense Ministry.

But Prigozhin said Tuesday that the Ukrainians are “highly organized, highly trained and their intelligence is on the highest level, they can operate any military system with equal success, a Soviet or a NATO one.” 

Separately, when asked about the recent cross-border incursions in Belgorod claimed by anti-Putin Russians, Prigozhin said “Russian Volunteer Corps groups are shamelessly entering Belgorod region” and Russian defense forces are “absolutely not ready to resist them in any shape or form.” 

Questions linger about the groups behind the cross-border attack that anti-Putin Russians say they launched from Ukraine, how it took place, and what it means for the war: Was this a classic piece of a military sleight-of-hand, a brief show of force meant to confuse and distract Russian commanders? Does it signal the emergence of serious armed opposition inside Russia? Or are there murkier forces at work?

Here’s what you need to know.

What has happened in Belgorod? A group of anti-Putin Russian nationals, who are aligned with the Ukrainian army, claimed responsibility for an attack in Russian’s southwestern region of Belgorod, which borders north-eastern Ukraine. Two areas of the region were then hit by unmanned aerial vehicles, according to regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, causing two houses to catch fire. One civilian from the village of Kozinka has died as a result of the cross-border fighting, Gladkov said on Tuesday. About 100 others were evacuated from the Russian border settlements of Glotovo and Kozinka in the Belgorod region, local authorities said.

What did the attackers do? The attackers appeared to have achieved surprise, apparently taking control of a border post and giving the world dramatic images of Russian nationals actively taking up arms against the Kremlin. Smoke was also seen rising from apparent explosions in the regional capital of Belgorod, where local authorities confirmed what they described as two drone strikes.

Which groups are involved? The Freedom for Russia Legion said on Telegram early on Tuesday that it and another group, the Russian Volunteer Corps, “continue to liberate the Belgorod region!” The post described the groups as “patriot volunteers” and claimed that Russia was vulnerable to attack as “Russia has no reserves to respond to military crises. All military personnel are dead, wounded or in Ukraine.”

How is the incident playing out in Russia? As Russian officials condemned the attack, analysts noted widespread confusion in Russia’s information space about how the attack was allowed to take place and how Moscow should respond. It has the potential to be embarrassing for President Vladimir Putin, who has for 15 months been leading an invasion he baselessly claimed was needed to keep Russia safe. With limited returns on the battlefield, Putin may now face discontent that the war is disrupting life at home.

Read more here

An anti-Putin Russian group, which claimed to have crossed the border from Ukraine and attacked Russia’s Belgorod region, said its goal is the “complete liberation of Russia.”

The Freedom for Russia Legion called the attack in the Belgorod region a “peacekeeping operation” on Telegram Tuesday. It said the goal was to create a “demilitarized zone between Russia and Ukraine, to destroy the security forces that serve the Putin regime and to demonstrate to the people of Russia that it is possible to create pockets of resistance and successfully fight against the Putin regime.” 

“These goals of the operation were successfully achieved,” it added.

Here are more of the latest headlines from Russia’s war in Ukraine:

An explosive device that fell from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) damaged a car in Russia’s Belgorod region late Tuesday, according to regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Denis Pushilin, Moscow-installed acting leader of the Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine's Donetsk region, meets with civilians evacuated from the salt-mining town of Soledar in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict at a temporary accommodation centre located in a local dormitory in Shakhtarsk (Shakhtyorsk), Russian-controlled Ukraine on January 14, 2023.

The acting head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic visited the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Tuesday, saying it would now be known by its former Soviet name “Artemovsk.”

The video showed Pushilin walking the streets of the heavily damaged city in military uniform and putting up the flag of the Donetsk People’s Republic on a building.

In the video, he also claimed that the capture of Bakhmut would open up a route for Russian forces to make further gains in Ukraine. 

Pushilin vowed that the “city will be renewed,” promising new homes, workplaces and schools.

Two US Air Force aircraft were intercepted by Russian jets in the Baltic Sea near the Russian border, the Russian Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. 

The Pentagon, meanwhile, downplayed the incident saying it was a “safe and professional interaction.”

“On May 23, 2023, Russian airspace control over the Baltic Sea detected two air targets approaching the State Border of the Russian Federation,” the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation said in a statement on Telegram.

The Russian MOD said the operation was carried out “in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace.”

The Pentagon confirmed that there was an “interaction” between two of its B-1 bombers and the Russian jets.

An anti-Putin Russian group, which claimed to have crossed the border from Ukraine and attacked Russia’s Belgorod region, has said its goal is the “complete liberation of Russia.”

The Freedom for Russia Legion called the attack in the Belgorod region a “peacekeeping operation” on Telegram Tuesday. It said the goal was to create a “demilitarized zone between Russia and Ukraine, to destroy the security forces that serve the Putin regime and to demonstrate to the people of Russia that it is possible to create pockets of resistance and successfully fight against the Putin regime.” 

“These goals of the operation were successfully achieved,” it added.

The Legion, which is aligned with the Ukrainian army, also claimed it had destroyed a motorized rifle company of the Russian Army on Tuesday, destroying armored vehicles. CNN has not verified this claim.

It was not immediately clear whether the Legion claimed to have struck the Russian forces inside Russian or Ukrainian-held territory.

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a second anti-Putin Russian group that has also claimed to have been involved in cross-border attacks, posted videos to Telegram on Tuesday showing their fighters inside Belgorod region. CNN cannot verify when these videos were filmed but has geolocated them to the Belgorod region.

A caption to a video purporting to show RDK fighters riding a vehicle at a border point said, “The situation on the small but now our own little piece of our homeland is still disturbing, and it wouldn’t hurt to clean it up.” 

A newly installed direction sign "Donetsk People's Republic Square" is seen in front of the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Russia on June 22, 2022.

The US embassy in Moscow said it was “deeply concerned” by a Russian court’s decision on Tuesday to extend the pre-trial detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich by three months. 

“The United States strongly objects to Russia’s ongoing denial of consular access to Mr. Gershkovich.  We reiterate that the claims against him are baseless and call for Mr. Gershkovich’s immediate release,” it added. 

The Kremlin has so far not commented on Washington alleging Moscow of denying the embassy’s consular access to Gershkovich. 

When asked by CNN about this topic during a regular briefing with journalists earlier on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “No, we are not dealing with this issue.” 

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the White House on May 16, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

The White House is reiterating that American journalist Evan Gershkovich “shouldn’t be detained at all” following news that the Wall Street Journal reporter’s pre-trial detention in Russia had been extended for three months.

John Kirby of the US National Security Council told CNN’s Kate Bolduan he was learning the news of that extension at that moment, saying, “I don’t know if I have an official reaction by the White House on this except to say that he shouldn’t be detained at all.”

The State Department called on Russia to immediately release him and the other detained American, Paul Whelan. Spokesperson Matthew Miller called the claims against Gershkovich baseless.

Kirby said the United States wants consular access to Gershkovich, which the Russians have denied two requests this month. He said these visits are important to talk to Gershkovich directly and see how he’s doing.

“It’s difficult to know exactly why they’re denying it. It could be just, you know, spitefulness over — you know, antipathy towards the United States, antipathy towards the free press, or there could be some sort of legal excuse that they’re trying to pin this on,” Kirby said.

Miller also acknowledged that Gershkovich’s parents were present in Moscow, but said the US did not help them travel to Russia, as the State Department is advising US citizens not to travel to the country.

“Personally, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to see your child detained overseas, especially to be detained wrongfully, and so I’m certainly not going to criticize any parent for wanting to see their child,” Miller said.

The counter-terrorism operation in the Russian border region of Belgorod is over, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“A decision has been made to cancel the legal regime of a counter-terrorist operation on the territory of the Belgorod region,” Gladkov said on Telegram Tuesday.

Earlier, the Belgorod governor said that there had been no new incursions by fighters crossing the Ukrainian border into the Borisovsky district of the Belgorod region.

“Reports are coming from the Borisovsky district: the village of Bogun-Gorodok, the farm Lozovaya Rudka and the village of Tsapovka. According to our information, there was shelling from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there were [strikes],” he said on Telegram. 

“Some telegram channels are starting to interpret this information as the sabotage and reconnaissance group entry and trying to make people panic. There was no entry. The FSB, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defense do not confirm this information. The military is working,” he said.

Gladkov added that one civilian died as a result of cross-border fighting in the Russian region of Belgorod.

“Unfortunately, we have losses. A civilian from the village of Kozinka died at the hands of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Gladkov said on Telegram Tuesday. “Most sincere condolences to all family and friends. I know that his wife is in our hospital with injuries.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense also said the fighters who crossed from Ukraine into Russia’s western Belgorod region on Monday have been pushed back into Ukrainian territory.

Russia repelled the attackers using air strikes, artillery fire and military units, it said, adding: “The remnants of the nationalists were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit by fire until they were completely eliminated.”

Remember: On Monday, a group of anti-Putin Russian nationals – who are aligned with the Ukrainian army – claimed responsibility for an attack in Russian’s southwestern region of Belgorod, as Moscow said it was fighting a group of saboteurs there.

In a Telegram post, groups calling themselves the “Freedom for Russia Legion” and “Russian Volunteer Corps” said they had “liberated” a settlement in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.

CNN’s Anna Chernova and Jo Shelley contributed to this post.

Evan Gershkovich stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing in Moscow on April 18, 2023.

The Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich for three months to August 30, Russian state agency RIA Novosti reported citing the court. 

Gershkovich, who has been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department, appeared in court in April to ask that his pre-trial detention be under house arrest rather than in jail. That appeal was denied, and he is being held at Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison.

The Wall Street Journal said it was “deeply disappointed” with the court’s decision.

“While we expected there would be no change to Evan’s wrongful detention, we are deeply disappointed. The accusations are demonstrably false, and we continue to demand his immediate release,” it said in a statement Tuesday.

CNN’s Sharon Braithwaite contributed reporting to this post.

Supporting Ukraine by training pilots on F-16 fighter jets “does not make NATO and NATO allies party to the conflict,” the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. 

Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of an EU defense ministers meeting, the alliance chief welcomed the decision by several NATO allies to start training Ukrainian pilots on F16 fighter jets.

Stoltenberg continued to say that “the right of self-defense is enshrined in the UN charter. We help Ukraine to uphold that right. That is our right to help them protect UN law, international law, against the war of aggression. That doesn’t make NATO and NATO allies party to the conflict, but we are supporting Ukraine to defend themselves against a war of aggression, a brutal invasion by President Putin.” 

Some background: President Joe Biden informed G7 leaders Friday that the US supports a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation aircraft, including F-16s, a senior administration official told CNN.

Following Biden’s backing of Ukrainian pilots training to fly F-16s, Russia’s deputy foreign minister warned Western countries of “enormous risks” if Ukraine is provided with F-16 fighter jets, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday.

“In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the set goals,” Alexander Grushko said.

CNN’s Darya Tarasova and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this post.

Part of the beleaguered city of Bakhmut remains under Ukrainian control, the country’s national security adviser Oleksiy Danilov told CNN on Tuesday. 

“If they [Russians] believe they have taken Bakhmut, I can say that this is not true. As of today, part of Bakhmut is under our control,” Danilov told CNN Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. “I can’t say that all of it, but part of Bakhmut is still under our fire.”

Danilov went on to defend Kyiv’s decision to hold on to the city for as long as possible.

“It was our strategic defense operation, which was successful for us, given that we held the territory for 10 months, where we were destroying them every day,” he added. “They could not take Bakhmut for 10 months. What can they boast about?”

Some background: Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed this weekend that his troops had captured “all the territories they promised to capture, to the last square centimeter.” But Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian forces still occupy “a small part of the city,” but that fighting had “decreased” on Tuesday.

On the timing of Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive, Danilov said President Volodymyr Zelensky will have the final say.

“We are working according to our plan, we have it. We are clearly aware of when, where, how and what should start,” he said. “The final decision is up to the President, meeting of (the Commander-in-Chief’s) staff.”

“When the decision is made, Russia will definitely feel it,” he concluded.

Ukraine’s top national security official told CNN that those responsible for the cross border-raid in Belgorod are Russians who want to get rid of the darkness in their country, denying any involvement from Kyiv.

“They are Russians, it is their country and they have the right to be there,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. “There are some Russians who are on the side of the light and who went to deal with the darkness that exists in Russia now.”

Danilov rejected accusations of Ukrainian involvement levied by Moscow against Kyiv and said the incident in Belgorod was solely a Russian matter.

“There are events happening there that are related to a sector that, in our opinion, should be commented on either by the supreme commander-in-chief, i.e. Putin, or by the Defense minister or someone else,” he said. “They are citizens of the Russian Federation.”

Remember: On Monday, Ukraine confirmed that the group behind the incursion was made up of Russian nationals. The attack was carried out by a group that was “part of the defense and security forces” in Ukraine but acting as “independent entities” in Russia, according to Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency.

Members of Russian Volunteer Corps pose for a picture atop an armoured vehicle at Graivoron border crossing in Kozinka, Belgorod region, Russia, in this handout picture released on May 23.

There have been no new incursions by fighters crossing the Ukrainian border into the Borisovsky district in Russia’s Belgorod region Tuesday, according to the Belgorod governor.

“Reports are coming from the Borisovsky district: the village of Bogun-Gorodok, the farm Lozovaya Rudka and the village of Tsapovka. According to our information, there was shelling from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there were [strikes],” regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

“Some telegram channels are starting to interpret this information as the sabotage and reconnaissance group entry and trying to make people panic. There was no entry. The FSB, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defense do not confirm this information. The military is working,” he said.

Some background: On Monday, a group of anti-Putin Russian nationals – who are aligned with the Ukrainian army – claimed responsibility for an attack in Russian’s southwestern region of Belgorod, as Moscow said it was fighting a group of saboteurs there.

In a Telegram post, groups calling themselves the “Freedom for Russia Legion” and “Russian Volunteer Corps” said they had “liberated” a settlement in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.

On Monday, the Freedom for Russia Legion made its most decisive move since the war began, launching a cross-border attack on the Russian region of Belgorod.

But it has been defending Ukraine from Moscow’s invading troops for months. CNN’s Sam Kiley met members of the Legion fighting in Bakhmut in December to understand more about what has led Russian nationals to fight for Ukraine in the war.

One soldier, who goes by the call-sign Caesar, told CNN that defending Bakhmut against his Russian motherland is an almost religious imperative.

“From the first day of the war, my heart – the heart of a real Russian man, a real Christian – told me that I had to be here to defend the people of Ukraine,” Caesar said.

When he sees invading Russian troops in his gunsights, he feels no ties to his countrymen.

And when the war is over, members of the Legion have more ambitious targets in sight.

His claims echoed those made by members of the legion in a video posted Monday.

Read and watch our full report here.

Around 100 civilians have been evacuated from the Russian border settlements of Glotovo and Kozinka in the Belgorod region, local authorities say. 

The regional governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on his Telegram channel:

On Monday, a group of anti-Putin nationalists claimed to have “liberated” the settlement of Kozinka, home to a crossing station close to Russia’s border with Ukraine. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Gladkov said that both Kozinka and Glotovo had come under mortar and artillery fire the previous day.

In an exclusive report, CNN joined a group of British explosives and counter-insurgency specialists as they passed on decades of bomb making know-how to frontline Ukrainian troops. But it’s not just their subversive skills and techniques that these British-Irish experts are bringing – it’s the bomb components too.

Much of the focus in recent months has been on Ukraine’s demand for heavy military hardware: tanks, jets, rocket launchers and missiles.

But sometimes the biggest help can come in the smallest packages: sophisticated switches, specialized microchips, night vision goggles, covert monitoring devices, even 3D printers.

An officer in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, known as “Skif,” told CNN this equipment is used “to produce explosive devices we can use on the ground, on the battlefield, or in the air as munition for drones.”

Watch Nic Robertson’s report here:

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02:38 • Source: CNN

Belgorod’s governor says the Russian region bordering Ukraine was hit by drone attacks overnight, following the cross-border attack launched by anti-Putin Russian nationals on Monday. Meanwhile, Ukraine says it’s still holding on to part of Bakhmut – despite Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s claims to the contrary.

Here are the latest developments: