August 15, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Ukrainian security services (SBU) have released exclusive footage to CNN showing the moment in July when they used an experimental sea drone to attack Russia’s bridge to annexed Crimea, providing new details on the attack and warning more such assaults will follow.

It’s the first time the SBU have openly claimed responsibility for the operation.

The attack on July 17 caused damage to the road lanes of the bridge, and, according to Russian officials, killed two civilians. It was the second attack on the vital crossing and showed how hard it is to defend the only independent Russian link to the peninsula.

The bridge was opened with much fanfare by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 and is symbolic of his desire to take over Ukraine and bind it to Russia forever. It’s also a vital supply link for Russia’s military operation in Crimea.

The head of the SBU, Vasyl Maliuk, told CNN the drone used — called a “Sea Baby”— was the result of months of development that began just after the invasion.

Maliuk was referring to the SIG oil tanker hit in the Black Sea which Ukrainian officials say was carrying fuel for the Russian military. The strike on the Russian assault ship demonstrated a longer range for the Ukrainian military, hitting a vessel with a possible 100 personnel on board, in the Russian naval port of Novorossisk on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.

The SBU provided CNN video of the July attack, which showed the pilot’s screen in the moments before the Sea Baby delivered up to 850 kilograms of explosives to one of the bridge’s concrete support pillars.

Sources in the service also supplied two CCTV videos to CNN that showed the moment of impact of one drone on the road section of the bridge, and then another drone blast hitting the railway section about five minutes later, from the opposing direction.

Ukraine has been coy about the attacks, confirming their involvement through anonymous statements and vague references to “unidentified floating objects,” and Maliuk’s direct claim of responsibility marks a usually direct bid to alert Moscow to the threat these new drones pose.

Maliuk also claimed responsibility for the first Ukrainian attack on the bridge, on October 8, but declined to provide details. The circumstances of the attack, which CCTV appeared to show was caused by a blast emanating from a moving truck on the bridge, remain unclear.

Read more on the July drone attack.

A Republican-aligned group is making a new push to turn the tide of GOP opinion on US aid for Ukraine as Congress gears up for what could be a major spending fight when it returns from recess next month.

“Republicans for Ukraine,” a project of the conservative non-profit Defending Democracy Together, is launching a $2 million campaign that will include an ad airing nationally on Fox News during next week’s Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the first time GOP candidates will face off.

Nearly 18 months since Russia’s invasion, polls indicate waning support among Americans for the US to continue funding Ukraine’s war effort. Since the invasion began, the Biden administration has committed some $43 billion in US security aid for Ukraine.

President Joe Biden has cast support for Ukraine as imperative to protecting the world’s democracies. But not all Republicans agree, and neither does a growing portion of the American public.

In a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, 55% of respondents say the US Congress should not authorize additional funding to support Ukraine, including 71% of Republicans. And 51% say that the US has already done enough to help Ukraine, including 59% of Republicans. A poll conducted in the early days of the Russian invasion in late February 2022 found 62% of Americans felt the US should have been doing more.

Read more details

Rescuers work at the site of a residential building destroyed during a Russian missile attack, in Lviv, on August 15.

At least 19 people were wounded after Russia launched a barrage of missiles in Ukraine’s western Lviv region overnight.

The attacks — which happen in the west less often than on the front lines in the east and south — also resulted in the hospitalization of five people, according to the head of the Lviv regional military administration.

Kyiv’s air defenses shot down one of the Russian cruise missiles launched at the western region, Maksym Kozytskyi,  head of the Lviv regional military administration, wrote on Telegram Tuesday. Six other missiles were not intercepted.

Here are other headlines you should know:

The road to victory for Ukraine will be “long and difficult,” said Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, looking at a long fight ahead.

“‘Two-three weeks’, ‘by the end of the year’, ‘next spring’ — all this is not true,” Vereshchuk said Tuesday in a Telegram post. Ukraine has “to get ready for a long fight,” she added.

The Ukrainian people should work toward victory “where they belong,” Vereshchuk said.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is moving slower than expected. Ukrainian officials have said that efforts are focused on destroying Russia’s capabilities and disrupting its logistics.

Volodymyr Zelensky visits the frontline near the city of Soledar, Donetsk region, on Monday.

Ukrainian officials are slamming comments made by Stian Jenssen, the director of the Private Office of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General, who said in published remarks that ceding territory to Russia could be a way for Kyiv to achieve peace and join the military alliance. 

Jenssen, who has been in his current NATO role since 2017, made his comments in an interview with the Norwegian newspaper, Verdens Gang.

Oleg Nikolenko, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, also criticized the remarks.

Nikolenko added that the “conscious or unconscious involvement of NATO officials in shaping the narrative” surrounding Ukraine potentially ceding territories “plays into Russia’s hands.” Rather, he said, “It is in the interests of Euro-Atlantic security to discuss ways to accelerate Ukraine’s victory and its full membership in NATO.”

The Ukrainian government has allocated over 1.2 billion in Ukranian hryvnias (UAH), which is about around $32 million, to build up fortifications in the northeastern regions of the country, prime minister Denys Shmyhal announced Tuesday.

“At the request of the Kharkiv and Chernihiv regional military administrations, more than UAH 1.2 billion has been allocated from the state budget reserve fund,” the government announcement read.

The Kharkiv region will get UAH 911.5 million (which is about $24.69 million), while the Chernihiv region will receive more than UAH 363 million (or about $9.83 million), the announcement added. “These are funds for the construction of military engineering and fortification structures,” the statement read.

The head of the Kharkiv region military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said he was grateful for the support of the government in Kyiv.

Workers clean an area at the site of a sports centre destroyed during a Russian military strike in Dnipro on Tuesday.

The Russian missiles fired on Ukraine overnight were built using foreign chips, according to Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

“Restrictions have already been put in place, but sanctions need to be strengthened to prevent Russia from obtaining critical components and manufacturing missiles,” he added.

Some background: Ukraine has repeatedly called for stronger western sanctions against Russia, arguing that despite the existing tough sanctions imposed by the US, NATO and the EU, Russia is still able to procure components for the weapons it is using in Ukraine.

Russia launched a barrage of missile strikes at Lviv in western Ukraine and other regions far from the front lines, officials said, leaving at least three dead.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky visits a frontline in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on August 15.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited his country’s troops taking part in Kyiv’s counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia region, his office said in a statement on Tuesday.

“During a working trip to Zaporizhzhia region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the positions of the brigades engaged in offensive operations in the Melitopol sector,” his office said.

Zelensky met with the commander of the Tavria operational and strategic group of troops, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, as well as with several units, including the 3rd Operational Brigade.

Zelensky received reports from commanders on the status of the offensive and discussed the needs and issues faced by each brigade, his office said.

“In particular, the military emphasized the need for means of electronic warfare and frontline air defense systems to counter enemy aircraft and UAVs,” according to the statement. “There is also a need for unmanned aerial vehicles, as they are quickly consumed in offensive operations.”

Zelensky and commanders also “discussed the issues of professional selection of people, providing brigades with special equipment and machinery, and the need for armored evacuation vehicles,” the president’s office added.

A Ukrainian soldier on a Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicle near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on June 25.

Sweden announced another military support package for Ukraine, worth about $315 million, the country’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement Tuesday. 

Transport vehicles, contingency goods and mine clearance equipment, which can be spared for a limited time amounting to a value of just under $200 million, will also be included in this new package according to the ministry.

This is Sweden’s 13th support package.

A building destroyed during a Russian missile strike in Lviv, Ukraine, on August 15.

Russia’s missile strikes in Ukraine’s western Lviv region overnight wounded at least 19 people, including a 10-year-old child, and extensively damaged civilian infrastructure.

The attacks — which happen in the west less often than on the front lines in the east and south — also resulted in the hospitalization of five people, according to the head of the Lviv regional military administration.

Kyiv’s air defenses shot down one of the Russian cruise missiles launched at the western region, Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram on Tuesday. Six other missiles were not intercepted.

“Russians attacked our region with cruise missiles between 5:20 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. (10:20 p.m and 10:30 p.m. ET),” Kozytskyi said. “Fortunately, no one was killed in this missile attack.”

The youngest civilian to sustain an injury was aged 10, while the oldest was 72 years old, Kozytskyi continued.

“Most of the victims had scratches and cuts due to broken windows and bruises,” Kozytskyi said, adding that around 40 houses were damaged. 

The strikes come as Poland holds its largest military parade in decades, in a flex of defensive muscle that comes as tensions rise on the border between the NATO nation and key Russian ally Belarus.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, at least three people died as a result of additional Russian strikes in the northwest and central parts of the country. The Russian Ministry of Defense said Moscow targeted Kyiv’s military industry.

The Russian defense ministry did not comment when asked if strikes may have targeted residential areas. Russian forces have consistently denied targeting civilian infrastructure, despite evidence to the contrary. 

CNN’s Uliana Pavlova contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine has strengthened its positions east of Kharkiv, along the Lyman-Kupiansk axis, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, deputy commander for strategic communications of the eastern military grouping.

“The Lyman-Kupiansk axis was under the special control of the commander (Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, who is also in command of the grouping of forces in the east, which encompasses Bakhmut, Lyman, Kupiansk). He personally traveled to all the key brigades that ensured a steady defense there,” Cherevatyi said on Ukrainian national TV.

“Everything was done to make it impossible for the enemy to advance,” he added. 

Some context: Russian forces had recently tried to push through Ukrainian defenses in the area, with limited gains. 

Last week, a mandatory evacuation was ordered for Kupiansk and its surrounding areas, as Russia intensified shelling of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region.

The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, Aleksandr Bogomaz, says Moscow’s forces prevented a cross-border incursion by Ukrainian forces.

CNN could not independently verify Bogomaz’s claims and Ukrainian officials have not commented on the alleged incident.

Some context: The Bryansk region shares a border to its south with Ukraine, and to its west with Belarus, the close Russian ally nation that helped facilitate Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

The area has been previously targeted in cross border raids.

Last month, a Ukrainian drone hit the Department of Internal Affairs in Bryansk leading to the destruction of the building’s roof and windows, Bogomaz said in a Telegram post, before adding there were no casualties.

Two people were wounded after shelling in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka in the southern Russian region of Belgorod, the local governor said on Tuesday.

“Three artillery mines exploded near a private residential building in which restoration work was underway. There are two victims,” Vyacheslav Gladkov posted on Telegram.

One man is in a “serious condition” in hospital after he sustained shrapnel wounds in his chest and spine, Gladkov said. Another woman was taken to another hospital with shrapnel injuries.

Russian towns bordering Ukraine have recently seen a significant uptick in the number of shelling and attempted drone attacks, bringing hostilities to its territory. 

At least 15 people have been injured in the western region of Lviv, as Ukrainian air defenses struggled to repel a wave of Russian missiles launched overnight.

Here are the latest developments:

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu addresses the International Military Forum Army-2023 in the Patriot Park near Moscow, Russia, on August 15.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused the US on Tuesday of “wiping out the military arsenals” of their global partners, leaving Ukraine exposed to low military resources, in order to allow Washington to supply Kyiv with more arms.

Elsewhere in his address, the Russian defense minister said NATO’s military activities “increased significantly after Finland joined the alliance and the bloc actually absorbed Sweden’s military structures.”

Shoigu also addressed the grain deal that collapsed last month, saying Kyiv showed “particular cynicism in the implementation of the Black Sea grain initiative.”

“Moreover, near the granaries, the production of UAVs and marine controlled vehicles was deployed, which strikes at infrastructure facilities in the Crimea,” he concluded. 

A demonstration of the thermal vision of the new military-grade drone in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 20.

Faced with thousands of Russian landmines in a grueling counteroffensive, Ukrainian armed forces are using the experimental technique of thermal imagery to locate the threat that has claimed many lives.

CNN has seen Ukrainian frontline troops deploy a thermal camera on a commercially available drone at dusk. The camera floats above Russian minefields and detects dozens of heat signatures. Some are craters, but many are landmines, barely hidden under the surface. The heat they gather from the glaring summer sun during the daytime is retained as the sun sets, causing them to show up more clearly on the thermal camera.

Drones with thermal cameras are frequently available to Ukraine’s frontline troops and are relatively cheap at around $5,000 each. But the scale of the task is formidable, with often up to five landmines per square meter across more than 180,000 square kilometers of mine-affected land, according to official Ukrainian estimates.

Troops with the 15th National Guard, near the heavily contested village of Robotine, told CNN the tactic was an effective means of locating some mines. Footage provided to CNN showed the mines being hit by specialised Ukrainian charges, detonating the devices and clearing at least some of the threat.

It is another example of relatively low-tech ingenuity being deployed along with the extraordinary input of NATO supplied armor and weaponry over the past months to try and assist the counteroffensive.

Paul McCann, a spokesman for the UK-based HALO Trust demining charity, told CNN its demining experts had used the technique in Angola where it had shown some promise. He said the heat signatures of the mines were more acutely visible at dawn and dusk when they contrasted more with the external temperature. 

A drone team at a frontline position near the southern village of Robotine told CNN how intensely mined the areas around them were.

Another guardsman, Anton, described the emotional challenges at the front.

“There have been many scary moments. Every time you go to work you step over your fear. Because who else will do it? Nobody. And if they send someone else and something happens to him, you can’t forgive yourself.”

Watch the team’s full report here:

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03:30 • Source: CNN

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu addresses a speech during the Moscow Conference on International Security in Kubinka, in the outskirts of Moscow, on August 15.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Russia may reconsider the decision not to use cluster munitions – despite reports that Moscow has already used cluster munitions during the war in Ukraine.

The Human Rights Watch claims that Russia has already “extensively used cluster munitions, causing many civilian deaths and serious injuries.”

Some context: The US announced last month that it would be sending the controversial munitions to Ukraine, in a move that was criticized by human rights groups.

US President Joe Biden told CNN that the decision whether to send cluster munitions to Ukraine was “very difficult,” but he opted to do so because Kyiv needs more ammunition to continue its fight to push Russian troops out of Ukrainian territory.

More than 100 countries – including the United Kingdom, France and Germany – are signatories of a treaty prohibiting use of the weapon.

What are cluster munitions? The munitions are particularly dangerous to civilians and non-combatants when fired near populated areas because they scatter explosive material, so-called “bomblets” across large areas.

Those that fail to explode on impact can detonate years later, posing a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines.

Ninety-four percent of recorded cluster bomb casualties are civilians, of which almost 40% are children.

A Moscow court has fined Reddit for failing to delete what it said was false information, or “banned content,” regarding the war in Ukraine on its platform, as the Kremlin cracks down on political dissent.

The 2 million ruble (around $20,300) fine was also given for content posted about the prison organization AUE *, which is banned in Russia, state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday.

Judge Timur Vakhrameev said that Reddit was penalized under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, according to RIA Novosti.

The same court will consider another case on Tuesday against the Wikimedia Foundation, the operator of Wikipedia, for not removing possible prohibited content.

The US ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski in Warsaw, Poland, on February 21, 2022.

The US ambassador to Poland expressed his gratitude to Polish soldiers for standing “shoulder to shoulder” with Washington and “defending our freedom” and “shared values,” as allies of Ukraine look to demonstrate their unity amid Russia’s invasion.

Mark Brzezinski said he wanted to offer the “utmost appreciation” to Polish soldiers “on behalf of the United States” on August 15, when Poland commemorates its national Army Day.

August 15 is the anniversary of the 1920 victory over Soviet Russia at the Battle of Warsaw, locally known as the “Miracle on the Vistula.”

“Today is a great day — Polish Army Day. On this occasion, on behalf of the United States, I offer words of utmost appreciation to the Polish soldiers. Military cooperation is a key element of our Polish-American relationship,” Brzezinski wrote in a post on X, previously known as Twitter.

“You are our allies, friends, brothers and sisters in combat. The continued presence of US soldiers in Poland demonstrates our commitment to our allied obligations. Together we are stronger,” Brzezinski added.

Poland and the US have donated aid worth billions of dollars to bolster Ukraine’s military might and imposed sanctions on Russia in an attempt to isolate its economy.