August 23, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya called Tuesday’s Security Council meeting a waste of time and said that Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia filled it with “fictitious soundbites.”

“I wish we had been gathered here by Russia to hear the only thing that the entire world wants to hear – and that is a statement that Russia demilitarizes Zaporizhzhia NPP [nuclear power plant], withdraws its troops, and hands it over to the government of Ukraine. Instead, we wasted more than one hour to listen to a slew of fictitious soundbites,” Kyslytsya said.

CNN previously reported that, according to one UN diplomat, Russia had called for Tuesday’s meeting.

“Once again, [Russia] has the audacity to convene a UN Security Council meeting to discuss its own provocations, its own terror, at the Z-NPP [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant],” Kyslytsya said, calling Russia a “terrorist state.”

Kyslytsya also refuted Nebenzia’s statements that Ukrainian shelling has deteriorated the security situation at the nuclear site at Zaporizhzhia.

“Russian narratives about Ukrainian shelling of the station do not stand up to scrutiny. Nobody who is at least conscious can imagine that Ukraine would target a nuclear power plant at tremendous risk of nuclear catastrophe on its own territory. Such a catastrophe would lead to numerous deaths and pollution for many years to come,” Kyslytsya said.

During the meeting, Russia’s UN Ambassador blamed the car bomb death of the daughter of a leading Putin-ally on Ukrainian intelligence agencies, during a Tuesday Security Council meeting on the in-peril nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

“An explosion of a car took place. Inside the car was…Darya Dugina. Our competent authorities are investigating this and preliminary conclusions are that this monstrous crime was organized by the Ukrainian special services,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said in translated remarks.

Nebenzia also blamed the West for supporting the pro-Ukrainian groups.

Nebenzia said the life of Dugina was stopped at “its very height.” He also said a Ukrainian female agent connected to Dugina’s death had escaped to Estonia. Ukraine has denied any responsibility for the attack.

He called on the UN Security Council to condemn the attack, though such condemnation is unlikely.

The Russian representative also said access for international inspectors to the Zaporizhzhia power plant, the largest in Europe, will go forward “in the near future.” Russia and Ukraine have requested the IAEA to go to the power plant site, but so far the UN has said that security is not safe. The Russian Ambassador said the security situation at the nuclear site has deteriorated. He blamed Ukrainian shelling. He denied allegations of Russian abuse of Ukrainian staff at the facility.

After months of warnings for Americans to leave Ukraine, the White House says the US is not going to be “facilitating the movement of American citizens” inside the country, as the State Department renews its warnings and says increased Russian strikes could be coming soon.

Kirby did not offer any new information on the killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of a close Putin ally that the Russian government claims was killed by Ukrainian intelligence agencies. Ukraine denies any involvement.

“We don’t have any more information or data about this violence,” Kirby said, but he reiterated the US feels “there’s no place for this kind of violence period against anyone. 

Asked about an American teacher sentenced to 14 years in Russian prison, who a group of nine bipartisan senators called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to immediately designate as “wrongfully detained,” Kirby said there was “a limit to what I can say on this particular case… based on some legal considerations.”

“The designation of wrongful detention is one that the State Department has to make, and they take that very, very seriously,” Kirby said. “They’re still working their way through this and reviewing the case, and that’s really about as far as I can go.” 

As CNN’s Jennifer Hansler previously reported, the classification that would allow the US government to undertake active diplomatic efforts to secure Marc Fogel’s release.

US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Richard Mills said Tuesday afternoon that Russia is “pushing us to the brink of nuclear disaster” for using the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant “as a staging ground for war.”

Mills also echoed UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ call for Russia to “immediately…establish a demilitarized zone in the area surrounding the plant.”

“A demilitarized zone would enable the IAEA team to travel to the facility, conduct an inspection, and assess the safety, security, and application of safeguards to ongoing nuclear plant operations,” Mills said.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sports announced Tuesday that at least 133 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Minister of Youth and Sports Vadym Gutzait wrote, “The flag will no longer be raised and the anthem will no longer be played in honor of the sports victories of the deceased athletes.”

The announcement was accompanied by a video tribute to Ukraine’s fallen athletes and coaches created by the ministry together with the Sports Committee of Ukraine and the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.

CNN cannot independently confirm the number of deaths of Ukrainian athletes and coaches.

CNN’s Rich Phillips, Karen Smith and Josh Pennington contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov speaks during an interview on August 23.

When asked by CNN if the Russia-Ukraine war was drifting into a stalemate, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said his country has the “worst scenario” behind them.

Speaking on Tuesday with CNN’s Sam Kiley in Kyiv, Reznikov said, “we are in a stage of stabilizing all the battlefield or battle lines with the small moving of the units, and we made a lot of good deterrents there.”

Reznikov said he believes Ukraine is on the verge of a “new stage” of the war by starting its counter-offensive campaign in a different direction.  

Reznikov said “fatigue syndrome” in the international community is one of the main threats in Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

When asked by Kiley if he is afraid the international community will begin to get tired of the war, Reznikov said, “I call it fatigue syndrome, and for me it’s one of the main threats, and we need to work with this threat, because we need to speak like with you, to communicate, to ask people, don’t be on this fatigue. Because this is very, very dangerous for us.”

The United Nations has consulted with its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and determined that it has the “logistics and security capacity in Ukraine to support any IAEA mission to the [Zaporizhzhia] plant from Kyiv, provided Ukraine and Russia agree,” Rosemary DiCarlo, the United Nations under-secretary for political and peacebuilding affairs, said in remarks to the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

DiCarlo also said that preparations for the mission are proceeding and that “IAEA is in active consultations with all parties regarding its efforts to send such a mission as soon as possible.” 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has met with both Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding the physical integrity, safety, and security of the nuclear plant, according to DiCarlo.

DiCarlo also reiterated Guterres’ calls for an end to all military activities in the immediate vicinity of the plant and “for all sides to refrain from targeting its facilities or surroundings.”

“We must be clear that any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia, or any other nuclear facilities in Ukraine, leading to a possible nuclear incident would have catastrophic consequences, not only for the immediate vicinity, but for the region and beyond,” DiCarlo said.

CNN’s Richard Roth contributed reporting to this post

The US State Department is not planning any immediate changes to the US diplomatic presence in Ukraine despite concerns about Russia stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine in the coming days, according to a senior administration official. 

While the diplomats will take extra precautions in the coming days they are not going to be departing Kyiv at this time, the official said. 

Their continued presence at the US embassy in Ukraine’s capital comes as the State Department is urging Americans – once again – to immediately depart Ukraine, citing concerns about Russia planning to target Ukrainian infrastructure and government facilities.

“The security situation throughout Ukraine is highly volatile and conditions may deteriorate without warning,” the announcement said.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference in Ankara on August 23.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday reiterated Turkey’s position that Ankara supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity and rejects Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, according to the state-run Anadolu agency.

Erdogan said in a video message to the Second Crimea Platform Summit in Kyiv that Crimea must be returned to Ukraine. 

“The return of Crimea to Ukraine, of which it is an inseparable part, is essentially a requirement of international law,” Erdogan said

Erdogan said Ankara will continue to support the Crimean Platform, which was established to resolve the Crimean issue through peaceful means.

Erdogan added that protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and political unity is “critical,” not only for regional but also for global security and stability.

“Ensuring the safety and well-being of our Crimean Tatar compatriots is also among Turkiye’s priorities,” he said.

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in eastern Ukraine on August 19.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked about the situation around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and “the available opportunities for organizing a visit to the station” by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. 

Lavrov outlined Russia’s approaches to the war — what it calls the ongoing “special military operation” — and said that “the Kyiv regime continues to shell the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and the territory adjacent to it, exposing the entire European population to the danger of a nuclear catastrophe with the obvious connivance of its foreign sponsors,” according to the ministry.

Some context: Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed for a mission from the IAEA, a UN nuclear watchdog, to access the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant via territory controlled by Ukrainian forces. He gave his consent during a call with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, according to a source from the Élysée Palace.

Russia and Ukraine have both made accusations about security and military action at and around the plant, the largest nuclear complex in Europe. The lack of independent access to the plant makes it impossible to verify what is happening there.

Over the past month, a number of rockets and shells have landed on the territory of the plant, according to satellite imagery analyzed by CNN.

The US is set to announce a security assistance package of up to $3 billion for Ukraine on Wednesday, according to a US official, which is the country’s Independence Day and marks six months since the beginning of the war. 

This package, first reported by the Associated Press, is far larger than any single previous US package since the start of the war. 

The package falls under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and will include Western air defense capabilities, a large quantity of ammunition, as well as training and maintenance, the official said.  

More background: Because this package is part of the USAI, it will not be drawn from existing US inventories. Instead, it will come from contracts with arms manufacturers. 

The official said the package has not been finalized and details could still change.

Last week, the US announced a $775 million package that included HIMARS and 105mm Howitzer ammo, anti-armor missiles, mine-clearing capabilities, and more. That package came through Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which means it will be pulled directly from US stocks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference on August 23 in Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky denied Ukraine’s responsibility in Russian political commentator Darya Dugina’s murder by car bombing, saying that the suspect is not a Ukrainian citizen.

“She is not in the territory of Ukraine — occupied or not,” he added.

Dugina, the editor of a Russian disinformation website, was also the daughter of prominent Russian ultranationalist Alexander Dugin.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) alleged that the assailant was a Ukrainian woman who arrived in Russia on July 23 with her young daughter, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

After remotely detonating explosives planted in Dugina’s Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, the FSB said the woman and her daughter drove through the Pskov region to Estonia, roughly a 12-hour journey.

The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting today on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, which has come under assault as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues.

The plant, located in eastern Ukraine, has been under Russian control since March.

Russia called for the session, according to one UN diplomat, which is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET on camera, the official UN schedule shows.

The council can expect to hear Russia blame Ukraine and the United States for shelling the plant zone, while the US and others on the council are expected to accuse Moscow of threatening a radiation leak.

Talks are ongoing regarding getting an International Atomic Energy Agency mission to visit the Zaporizhzhia plant, UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a news briefing Tuesday. 

Dujarric said the UN still needs safe assurances in order for staff to visit the site.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a news conference in Berlin on August 23.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — which is nearing the six-month mark — has changed the world permanently, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin neither stopped “at that final turning point [on] Feb. 23” nor responded to “countless offers of talks,” Baerbock said, leading “his country into a long, ever darker night until today, without any sign of compliance, without any serious offer of negotiation, without remorse.”

“As long as this brutal war of aggression continues, we will continue to support Ukraine with military aid in its right to self-defense,” Baerbock said. However, Germany itself must remain capable of defending itself, also in view of the threat situation in the Baltic States, she added. 

Gylfadottir also said her country is “on the side of the Ukrainian people in their heroic struggle against Russian aggression.” She vowed to “help Ukraine rebuild so that the younger generation has reason to hope and reason to dream. This is what we owe them. We owe this to the people who are fighting and dying to defend their country.” 

Russia needs to be held accountable and “must not achieve its goals,” the Icelandic foreign minister said. “Ukraine must win.”

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said that Russia used Crimea as a “testing ground” for human rights violations that has extended into President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.  

The president of the European Commission said that since the peninsula’s annexation in 2014, Crimea has “been used not only as a Russian military base, but also as a testing ground for the brutal methods Russia is now applying across the other occupied parts of Ukraine.”

Von der Leyen’s comments to world leaders came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to restore Ukraine’s rule in Crimea, stressing that for Ukrainians, Crimea is “a part of our people.” 

In his opening remarks, European Council chief Charles Michel told world leaders that “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine did not start on Feb. 24, it started with the illegal annexation of Crimea.”

“Crimea is Ukraine,” Michel emphasized, calling on international partners to help Ukraine to restore its “full territorial integrity within its international borders.”

In his address, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany had a “clear message” regarding any further Russian attempts to “alter the status of parts of Ukraine territory,” stressing that these efforts will “never be recognized” by Germany.

US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith speaks during a news briefing on the eve of a meeting of alliance defence ministers in Brussels, Belgium, on February 15.

A top US diplomat has told CNN that despite the difficulties expected in the coming months — from a global cost-of-living crisis to energy shortages during a brutal European winter — it’s their view that the Western alliance will remain united in its support for Ukraine.

Speaking to CNN from the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Julianne Smith, the US ambassador to NATO, said she remains optimistic that the West will continue to support Ukraine in the way it has since the conflict began.

In her comments, which were made during the week that marks six months since Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed his forces to invade Ukraine on February 24, Smith also directly rebutted Russian claims that the US and NATO are directly involved in the conflict.

Regarding any future NATO involvement in the conflict, Smith reiterated the statement that “neither the United States nor NATO are a party to the conflict full stop,” underscoring that NATO’s only involvement was “non-lethal.”

Smith acknowledged there are “corners of the globe where the Russian narrative appears to be getting through,” and setting the record straight “will be a continued challenge for the alliance to continue to state the reality.”

The US and NATO have provided weapons and intelligence to Ukraine; in early August, Russia accused Washington of direct involvement in the war.

Disinformation and rivalling narratives have been a feature of this conflict from day one. Most recently, Moscow is blaming Ukraine’s special services for the killing of Darya Dugina, a Russian political commentator and the daughter of prominent ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.

Ukraine has denied any involvement in Dugina’s killing, describing the Russian claims as fiction. Prior to her death, Dugina was the editor of a Russian disinformation website.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart following their talks in Moscow, Russia, on August 23.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there won’t be mercy for those responsible for the death of Darya Dugina, a Russian political commentator and the daughter of prominent ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.

“I believe that this is a barbaric crime, for which there should be no forgiveness, and for those who organized it,” Lavrov said during a news conference Tuesday with his Syrian counterpart. 

“Now, as I understand it, the FSB has already established the facts, which are now being investigated. I hope the investigation will be completed soon and, as a result of this investigation, of course, the organizers and those who ordered the murder will get no mercy,” he said. 

In a two-day investigation, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) pinned the blame for Dugina’s murder on the Ukrainian special services. Ukraine has denied any involvement in Dugina’s killing, calling FSB claims fictitious.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to restore Ukrainian rule in Crimea during an international online summit on Tuesday. 

Speaking on a panel alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda, Zelensky outlined his country’s ambitions to regain power in the peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

The president stressed that for Ukrainians, Crimea is “not just some territory” or even a “figure in the geopolitical game.” 

“For Ukraine, Crimea is a part of our people, our society, a community of people to whom we guarantee freedom,” he continued. 

The Ukrainian president also said Crimea has become “a military platform for aggression and the spread of grief,” referencing the 750 different cruise missiles he said the Russians have launched from Crimea since the invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence has warned citizens to be “especially careful” on Tuesday and Wednesday due to a threat of Russian missile strikes as Ukraine marks its Independence Day.

“The air raid alarm is a serious signal, that everyone should take into account. Especially on Aug. 23 and 24 — these are not just words, you have to be especially careful,” he warned.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN that his warning to the country about a potential major attack or uptick in attacks by Russia this week came from Ukraine’s partner-nation intelligence. 

Russia’s “priorities” would be to target Ukraine’s infrastructure and state institutions, Zelensky said at news briefing alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Zelensky also underlined that while Russia attacked “all the time” since the start of the ‘full-scale invasion’ launched on Feb. 24, Russia could increase strikes this Tuesday and Wednesday specifically.

He then vowed a “powerful response” to Russia’s attacks.

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, gives and interview in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 8.

Darya Dugina’s death was organized by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and is the “first in the row” of expected attacks on civilians, the Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov tweeted on Tuesday.

“Support for the war is falling in Russia. The Kremlin needs public mobilization. The FSB is expected to organize a series of terrorist attacks in Russian cities with mass civilian casualties. Dugina is the first in the row,” he said.

“Unlike Russia, Ukraine is not at war with civilians,” he added.

Dugina, the editor of a Russian disinformation website, died after a bomb planted in a car she was driving went off in the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday evening.

Russia has blamed Ukrainian special services for Dugina’s murder, TASS reported on Monday. Ukraine has denied any involvement in Dugina’s killing, calling Russia’s FSB claims fiction.