July 24, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Lithuania’s State Defence Council approved a military assistance plan to Ukraine, worth 200 million euros ($221 million), the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Read the full statement here.

Col. Yevgeny Vashunin, a Russian commander, was killed on the battlefield in Ukraine, the Russian state news agency TASS said Monday. 

Vashunin was a commander of the “Leningrad Regiment,” which consists of mobilized residents of St. Petersburg and the northwest regions of Russia, according to TASS. 

He “died after a serious injury sustained while performing his duty in the special military operation,” the news agency said.

Alexander Belsky, chairman of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, said that while on the battlefield, Vashunin decided to come to the aid of the Russian Storm detachment that was encircled by Ukrainian forces, TASS reported. 

During the fight with Ukrainians, he was “cut off from fellow soldiers and seriously wounded,” Belsky said, according to TASS. “Despite self-help measures, he died.”

Vashunin was ”posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia,” Belsky said. 

The Kerch Bridge is pictured July 17.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says that Ukraine will continue carrying out attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the Kerch Bridge that connects it to the Russian mainland, while also admitting that Ukraine’s plan for its sluggish counteroffensive is behind schedule.

As Russia has pummeled the southern port city of Odesa and the surrounding region over the past week, Ukraine has continued to carry out strikes inside Crimea. On Tuesday, Ukrainian drones hit an ammunition depot, just a week after seaborne drones struck the Kerch Bridge.

Asked if Ukraine’s goal is to permanently disable the bridge, Reznikov responded: “It’s normal tactics to ruin the logistic lines of your enemy to stop the options to get more ammunition, to get more fuel, to get more food, etcetera. That’s why we will use these tactics against them.”

Reznikov also accused Russia of operating as “a terrorist state.”

The fifth night of Russian strikes in Odesa badly damaged more than two dozen landmarks in the historic city center. Drones meanwhile pounded the region’s port infrastructure, targeting crucial grain stocks days.

Read more here

A Russian service member stands guard at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on June 15.

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discovered mines at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) site, agency chief Rafael Grossi said Monday —after previous claims by Kyiv that it had been mined.   

Zaporizhzhia NPP is currently occupied by Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on world leaders to put pressure on Russia to hand the station over to the IAEA and for Russian fighters to leave the territory of the station.  

Grossi added that the IAEA team has been aware of the previous placement of mines outside and inside of the plant and they have been told that it was “a military decision, and in an area controlled by military.” 

“IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers,” Grossi said, noting that the mines were “situated in a restricted area that operating plant personnel cannot access and were facing away from the site.”  

Grossi called having explosives on the site “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance.”  

Ukrainian air defenses are at work in the Kyiv region on the outskirts of the capital, according to Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv city military administration.

Ukraine’s Air Force said there is a threat of Russian UAV attacks in the area.

The Kyiv city military administration also said there were air raid sirens in the country’s capital early Tuesday.

Progress is slow in Ukraine’s counteroffensive efforts, officials said, pointing to several variables that are impeding progress on the front lines.

Ukraine has claimed responsibility for drone strikes that hit Moscow and Crimea.

Here are the top headlines:

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is partly struggling because of Russian ability to jam drones, according to military officials.

Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Ukrainian forces in the south, said heavy losses were being inflicted on the Russians, but it’s clear that progress is slow.

One reason, according to Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuri Inhat, is that Russia has a major advantage in electronic warfare. 

A Ukrainian service member prepares to fire a mortar near the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region on July 13, 2023.

Ukrainian forces say they are making modest progress in the east and south, as well as restraining Russian efforts to move forward in the Donetsk region, but overall there appears to have been little change on the front lines.

Ukrainian military officials said Russian minefields and electronic warfare capabilities are impeding progress.

Here’s where things stand:

In the south: Oleksandr Kurbatov, with the Dnipro city territorial defense, said Monday that Ukrainian units were working hard to move forward in an area known as the Vremivskyi Ledge. 

He said that Russian forces were bringing in new units of “highly qualified military” who are using the cover of darkness and carefully designed corridors through the minefields to attack Ukrainian positions.

Valerii Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukrainian forces in the south, acknowledged that progress was slow, saying that “strike units had partial success and advanced into enemy territory from 350 meters up to 1.4 kms.” 

Near Melitopol: The general staff of the Ukrainian military said that offensive operations continued in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, and units were consolidating their positions.

Russia carried out 58 air strikes over the past day — higher than the recent average, the general staff said. Some came near the town of Kupyansk in Kharkiv, which was liberated by the Ukrainians last September and has been a target of Russian attacks. But Ukrainian officials say the Russians are being held east of the Oskil River. 

Bakhmut and the East: In the Bakhmut area, there have been efforts by the Russians to retake recently lost ground, but the general staff said a number of attacks had been repelled. 

Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian military, said that the defense forces “are gradually liberating Ukrainian land. Hundreds of meters every day, kilometers every week.”

But he said that fierce Russian resistance continued, with seven battles over the past day alone in which he claimed “94 occupiers were killed and 152 were wounded.”

CNN cannot verify Ukrainian claims of advances on the battlefield or of casualty numbers.

The Biden administration on Monday imposed sanctions against three Malian officials accused of facilitating the Wagner Group’s presence in that country.

The action comes weeks after Wagner chief Yevegny Prigozhin led an unsuccessful revolt against the Russian government. The Wagner Group is deeply entrenched in Mali and is accused of committing atrocities there.

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mali’s Minister of Defense Col. Sadio Camara, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Col. Alou Boi Diarra, and Malian Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Adama Bagayoko for their roles in supporting the Russian mercenary group.

According to the news release from the Treasury Department, “Camara planned and organized the deployment of the Wagner Group in Mali,” and in 2021, “Camara made several trips to Russia to solidify the agreement between the Wagner Group and the Malian transition government to deploy the Wagner Group to Mali.”

Diarra accompanied Camara on several of his trips to Russia, the Treasury Department said, and “in his previous role as Air Logistics Chief, Diarra significantly contributed to the logistical movement of Russian entities in Mali.”

“Together, Camara and Diarra formulated and executed the plan that ultimately ushered the Wagner Group into Mali,” the agency said.

“Bagayoko serves as an advocate for the Wagner Group to the Burkinabe transition government, working to secure the Wagner Group’s deployment to Burkina Faso,” the Treasury said. “Additionally, Bagayoko is also reportedly seeking to facilitate the Wagner Group’s access to gold mining in Mali.”

An Agence France-Presse journalist was wounded in a Russian drone attack while reporting from a Ukrainian position near Bakhmut on Monday, according to AFP reporters who witnessed the attack.

Dylan Collins, a US citizen on assignment in Ukraine, sustained multiple shrapnel injuries in the attack in a forested area while reporting at a Ukrainian artillery position.

The video journalist was evacuated to a nearby hospital where he is being treated. Doctors say his condition is not life-threatening.

Collins, 35, is conscious, according to the international news agency.

Since the start of a counteroffensive in June, Ukrainian forces have been advancing slowly to the north and south of Bakhmut in an attempt to surround Russian forces and eventually re-take the city.

Collins has been working for AFP since 2018 and has reported from Middle East conflict zones. He also covered the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for AFP.

AFP video journalist Arman Soldin was killed by Russian rocket fire near Bakhmut in May.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleskii Reznikov admitted that Kyiv’s counteroffensive is behind schedule, but insisted he is “not worried” because it is going according to plan, adding that it was a “misconception that every counteroffensive should be quick.”

The official said, “our generals, our commanders, they see the real situation on the battlefield. And again, I have to repeat the main value for us is the life of for our soldiers.” 

The situation on the southern front in Ukraine has been slowed largely due to intricate minefields laid by Russian forces who were given time to build up defenses. Ukrainian forces have had to resort to clearing, by hand, paths through the fields, Reznikov said.

The minister said the Russians have “serious security zones with the mines” and that it “very difficult to break through.”

“We need to use our soldiers, sappers, deminers very slowly, and very slowly preparing the corridors for the real offensive movement,” Reznikov said, adding this activity in different places would confuse Russians on the main direction that Ukraine would take.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he believes the start of a power “transition moment” is underway in Moscow after the failed Wagner rebellion last month.

“This coup d’état is a real illustration that regime in the Kremlin became weaker. It means they are not so strong as they were the year before. I think we will see the continuing of this so called conflict,” he told CNN. 

In late June, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin led an armed rebellion, and while it failed, it posed questions about the performance, willingness and even the loyalty of some Russian units.

Asked if he was witnessing those around Russian President Vladimir Putin jockeying for position to replace him, Reznikov said, “I think the conflict among them started.”

More background: Prigozhin’s whereabouts have been unknown since the failed mutiny but a video emerged last week that appears to show him greeting his fighters in Belarus, in what would be his first public appearance since he led an armed rebellion in Russia last month. The video is grainy and filmed in low light so CNN cannot definitively say the speaker is Prigozhin or when it was filmed.

CIA Director Bill Burns also said last week that he believes Prigozhin is currently in Minsk, Belarus, and predicted that the Wagner leader would eventually face “retribution” from Putin.

With Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea at severe risk, President Volodymyr Zelensky is arguing for a lifting of European restrictions on exports via land.

The restrictions were introduced in five European states bordering Ukraine in May to protect their markets against being flooded with cheaper Ukrainian grain. They are due to expire in September. 

The European Commission stated when it introduced the measures: “Wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed originating in Ukraine can continue to be released for free circulation in all the Member States of the European Union other than the five frontline Member States: Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The products can continue to circulate in or transit via these five Member States by means of a common customs transit procedure or go to a country or territory outside the EU.”

The European Commission introduced the relief “given the exceptional circumstances of serious logistical bottlenecks experienced in five Member States.”

The restrictions have made it more difficult for Ukraine to export its grain using overland routes.

Zelensky said Monday: “We believe in the agreement with the European Commission, but we are preparing for any scenario. Our position is clear: blocking exports by land after September 15, when the relevant restrictions expire, is unacceptable in any form. We are in touch with all stakeholders to find a solution that suits everyone.”

Some context: Zelensky’s remarks come as Russia has repeatedly struck the southern port city of Odesa, damaging grain warehouses and further threatening Ukraine’s ability to export food after the Black Sea grain deal collapsed.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a grain warehouse destroyed by a Russian drone strike is seen in a sea port in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 24.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told CNN that he thinks Russia’s targeting of the Ukrainian port city of Odesa is an “absurd” approach and claimed the attacks were “new evidence they are a terrorist state.”

Speaking before the attack on the cathedral in Odesa over the weekend, Reznikov said in a wide-ranging interview with CNN senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt that he was not surprised by the ferocity of the attacks, saying that “honestly, after February of last year, it is very difficult to surprise me.”

When asked if he felt the attacks were a response to Ukraine’s admitted attack on the Kerch Bridge on July 17, Reznikov said that Moscow “tried to explain that it’s a response for some explosions in their territories, but they are fighting with the civilians. That’s why I call them looters, rapists and murderers.”  

Last week, a CNN team in Odesa witnessed four consecutive nights of attacks against the port city. The attacks came as Russia withdrew from the crucial Black Sea grain initiative. Odesa had been one of the key ports that exported Ukrainian grain to the world under a wartime agreement.

On Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative, Reznikov said “You know, that is why I have a saying, the sign of Russian signature on the paper, costs less than the price of this piece of paper.”

Ukraine will respond if attacked in the Black Sea, Reznikov told CNN.

The defense minister said “we have capacity” and “if they threaten us in the Black Sea we’ll have to respond.”

Reznikov used the example of the Russian cruiser ship The Moskva, which sank after being targeted by Ukrainian naval forces in the Black Sea. 

Last week CNN reported US officials were worried Russia may target civilian ships in the Black Sea and “blame Ukraine.” CIA director Bill Burns said “false flag” attacks by Russia in the body of water could be being prepared.

Authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa say that part of the city’s cathedral is structurally unsound after the building was hit Sunday by a Russian missile.

Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said that one of the walls at the Transfiguration Cathedral “is in an unstable position and a sudden uncontrollable collapse may occur.”

Trukhanov said emergency work was required to dismantle the dangerous section of the wall and a temporary roof was needed. 

He thanked volunteers for helping to remove rubble, but added: “We need to understand that there are dangerous areas that can pose a threat.”

Some more context: The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks to reporters in the press briefing room at the State Department Harry S. Truman headquarters building on July 17, 2023 in Washington, DC.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Monday with Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu about “collective security and unwavering support for Ukraine and Moldova, global food security, and cooperation on Black Sea security,” according to a readout from State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Their call comes in the wake of an overnight Russian strike on a Ukrainian port on the Danube River near Romania.

As CNN reported earlier, this is believed to be the closest to NATO territory a Russian-fired weapon has landed since the war began.

Wheat prices rose sharply on international markets following the strike by a Russian drone against a Ukrainian port on the Danube River.

One grain silo at the port of Reni was hit and substantially damaged, according to geolocated images and video. 

At 9 a.m. ET, the price of wheat for September delivery on the Chicago exchange was nearly 6% higher than the previous close.

Markets are concerned about a tightening supply situation following the collapse of the Black Sea grain initiative last week and a sequence of Russian drone attacks against Ukrainian port infrastructure.  

Members of the security services investigate the site of a damaged building following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, on July 24.

The Russian foreign ministry has issued a statement calling on international organizations to condemn the recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and Crimea. 

“We strongly condemn this yet another crime of the Kyiv regime. We call on international organizations to give it a proper assessment,” it added.

The ministry blamed the West for exacerbating the situation, stating that the actions of Kyiv were influenced by the West’s focus on further escalating tensions.

“The Russian side reserves the right to take tough retaliatory measures,” the ministry said, adding that the Investigative Committee of Russia has opened criminal cases in response to these incidents, assuring that all those responsible will be identified and brought to justice.

Some context: The reported attacks come after Russian missiles badly damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, sparking outrage and prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to vow retaliation.

The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.

Members of the security services collect debris as they investigate near the site of a damaged building following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, on Monday, July 24.

Ukrainian intelligence claimed responsibility for a targeted drone attack on Moscow early Monday, according to an official, as the Kremlin launched a barrage of strikes on the southern port city of Odesa amid intensified cross-border attacks from Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Here are the latest developments:

Here’s the latest map of control: