September 16, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. You can read more about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here, or scroll through the updates below.

Ukrainian strikes on the eastern Donetsk region left six people dead and another nine wounded Saturday, said Denis Pushilin, the Russia-backed head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

Ukrainian forces shelled the cities of Donetsk, Svitlodarsk and Horlivka, Pushilin said on Telegram. He identified one of the wounded people as a woman in Svitlodarsk who “suffered a moderate injury.” Occupying Donetsk authorities later identified another victim as a child born in 2010.

Several houses and civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged during the strikes, Pushilin added.

Remember: The Donetsk People’s Republic is a self-declared, Russian-backed separatist region in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has raged since 2014.

The international community does not recognize the region and its institutions, and considers the territory to be part of Ukraine.

This post has been updated to include the latest death and injury toll reported by Russia-backed authorities in Donetsk.

Ukraine will host a defense industries forum this fall that President Volodymyr Zelensky hopes will help the country produce more weapons and ammunition, he said during his nightly address Saturday. 

Eighty-six leading defense companies from 21 countries have already confirmed their participation in the forum, Zelensky said, but he did not provide further details.

“This fully reflects Ukraine’s strength and potential – our ability to defend ourselves and help other countries preserve freedom and international order,” Zelensky added.

The forum will be the first of its kind in Ukraine.

Destroyed buildings are seen in Andriivka, Ukraine, on September 6.

One of Ukraine’s brigades has released extraordinary footage of its advance on the tiny settlement of Andriivka, which Kyiv’s forces said they recaptured Friday as part of a slow-moving counteroffensive.

The three-minute video, posted to the brigade’s Telegram account, was apparently filmed by a camera mounted to a soldier’s helmet. It shows a small group of fighters from the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade making their way through a brutalized landscape of charred trees completely stripped of their branches. Piles of bricks and other rubble dot the land around the advancing fighters — presumably once the houses where Andriivka residents lived.

In one clip, an infantryman braces slightly as an incoming mortar screams past him, landing close by. In another clip, a soldier bends down to pick up an abandoned assault rifle, possibly discarded by a Russian solider. 

Thick smoke hangs everywhere. 

Some background: Andriivka lies southwest of the key city of Bakhmut and has been a focus of Ukraine’s eastern offensive in recent weeks. The 3rd Separate Assault Brigade is mostly involved in fighting around Bakhmut.

Ukraine’s General Staff — made up of its top military leaders — declared it liberated on Friday. But the video, and comments from a brigade spokesperson, make it clear that former residents have nothing to return to.

Borodin indicated that Ukraine’s forces will continue their slow advance around Bakhmut.

Russia’s military bloggers describe ongoing fierce fighting Saturday to the north of Avdiivka around the larger village of Klishchiivka.

A top Ukrainian commander said Friday that capturing Andriivka has given Kyiv’s troops a key foothold in the area surrounding Bakhmut.

CNN cannot independently verify battlefield claims from either side in the conflict.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov addresses servicemen in Russia in 2022.

The pro-Kremlin Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is gravely ill, a spokesperson for Ukrainian Defense Intelligence claimed Saturday, citing “various sources in the medical and political circles.”

His ill health was not due to an injury, Yusov added.

“He has been ill for a long time, and we are talking about systemic health problems,” he said. “For the last few days, he has been in a serious condition.”

CNN cannot independently verify the Ukrainian claim.

Some background: There have been persistent reports, including from some former Chechen officials, that Kadyrov has had liver and kidney problems.

In March, Kadyrov said he had taken a number of medical tests which showed that he was absolutely healthy.

“And if anyone doubts this, then you need to change the eyes that are deceiving you,” he said at the time.

Kadyrov’s Telegram channel has been active, but he’s not been seen in public recently. A video of the Chechen leader attending a meeting was posted to his Telegram channel on September 12, but it’s unknown when it was filmed.

Kadyrov’s role in Ukraine: Kadyrov leads sizeable paramilitary forces that — while formally a part of Russian security structures — have personal loyalty to him.

Kadyrov has said he and his fighters are active in Ukraine and will help Moscow “fight to the victorious end.”

He has been accused by international and independent observers of gross human rights violations in his home territory and beyond.

Last month, the US provided Ukraine with an industrial-sized 3D printer that can be used to print spare equipment parts that may break down or require maintenance, according to Bill LaPlante, a US under secretary of defense.

The printer is the size of a truck, LaPlante told the Center for New American Security, and “it is changing the ball game” of how quickly Ukraine’s military is able to repair trucks, rocket systems and other weaponry or equipment provided by the West over the last 18 months. 

Ukrainian techs are also “remarkable at tele-maintenance,” LaPlante said, which involves US officials helping them repair things remotely — a vital strategy, given the US’ footprint in the country is largely limited to the embassy in Kyiv.

The US official says Ukraine completed training on the printer within the last week.

Russian attacks killed two civilians in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine on Saturday, according to the head of the region’s military administration.

A man and a woman died when their car was hit by a Russian missile in the village of Strilecha, Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram. Another man was wounded and hospitalized in the village, which sits just outside Ukraine’s border with Russia.

A separate attack on the village Petropavlivka, southeast of Kharkiv city, wounded a 23-year-old man Saturday, Syniehubov said.

And earlier today, the regional leader said five civilians were wounded by a Russian missile attack on Kharkiv city.

School classes have been moved into shelters set up in the city’s metro stations, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a television interview. Additional metro stations will also be equipped so that more students can study there, he said.

Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Pope Francis’ Ukraine peace envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi returned from a three-day trip to Beijing on Friday, calling on all sides to participate in negotiations that could bring Russia’s war to an end.

When it comes to pursuing peace diplomatically, Zuppi said, the “ball is not only in Ukraine’s court.”

During a visit to Russia in June, the cardinal met with the Kremlin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and Maria Llova-Belova, the government official at the center of an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

When it comes to pursuing peace diplomatically, the “ball is not only in Ukraine’s court,”

Earlier in June, Zuppi also traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian officials. 

The peace envoy said efforts to seek a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine have received “considerable attention from the Chinese government.”

Some context: Ukraine and its Western allies have long expressed hope that China and its leader Xi Jinping, a self-described friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, could play a role in pushing Moscow toward peace.

So far, however, its claims of neutrality and a vaguely-worded 12-point position paper on a “political settlement” for the conflict — which failed to acknowledge Russia invaded Ukraine’s territory — have been met with skepticism.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long expressed concerns about negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and pointed to his past record of reneging on agreements.

“When you want to have a compromise or a dialogue with somebody, you cannot do it with a liar,” Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview in Kyiv last week.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for not coming to the negotiating table.

CNN’s Nectar Gan and Simone McCarthy contributed reporting to this post.

Workers harvest a field of wheat in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on July 4.

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia will defy the European Union and extend a temporary ban placed on Ukrainian grain imports, in a move likely to anger the bloc’s leadership.

On Friday, the EU announced it was lifting restrictive measures placed on the export of Ukrainian grain to a select number of countries in Eastern Europe.

The temporary measure, adopted May 2, banned the import of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to counter the risk of farmers in these countries being undercut by a bottleneck of cheap Ukrainian grain.

The European Commission said in a statement that it was lifting the ban because Ukraine had committed to export control measures that would prevent any further disruption to neighboring economies.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejoiced, his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki did not welcome the EU’s decision.

A Polish government spokesperson formally announced the government’s plan to extend the ban on Ukrainian grain imports later Friday.

Hungary has also opted to retain the ban, with the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban announcing his plans on Saturday to “take matters into our own hands.”

Slovakia’s Ministry of Agriculture announced its decision to extend the ban in a Facebook post Friday, citing a need to safeguard Slovakia’s “domestic market.”

More context: European officials have tried to keep Ukrainian grain flowing during Russia’s war in Ukraine, fearing widespread famine brought on by blocked ports and sea routes to Africa and the Middle East.

The EU took steps to lift duties on grain from Ukraine and ease its distribution to global markets, but those moves sparked protests from farmers elsewhere in Europe, who said the influx of cheap grain hurt them.

The EU convened meetings in search of a compromise before Friday’s announcement, and said the decision should satisfy the needs of both sides.

Now the decision by the three countries to apply their own measures is expected to anger EU officials.

Earlier Friday, European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis called on countries to “work along the lines” of the new agreement and “refrain from unilateral measures” on Ukrainian grain imports.

At least five civilians have been wounded after Russia fired missiles at the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, a regional leader said Saturday.

Moscow’s forces used S-300 surface-to-air missiles in the attack, according to Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration. The missiles hit the urban Kholodnohirsky district of Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest city.

According to preliminary information, none of the civilians suffered life-threatening wounds, Syniehubov said in a Telegram post.

The Aroyat approaches a port near Odesa, Ukraine, on September 16.

Two merchant ships approached Ukrainian ports this morning in preparation to collect about 20,000 tons of wheat for Africa and Asia, according to a Ukrainian official.

This would be the first such use of key Black Sea shipping corridors since Russia withdrew from an agreement designed to guarantee safe passage for cargo ships carrying grain.

Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the ships, Resilient Africa and Aroyat, were headed to Chornomorsk, one of three main ports near the city of Odesa. 

Data from the MarineTraffic website, which tracks shipping movements around the world, at 2 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET), showed the two ships each about 10 miles off Ukraine’s southwest coast. 

Some background: Ukraine announced last month that it was setting up “temporary corridors” for civilian shipping after Russia’s announcement in July it was pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement brokered by Turkey and the United Nations which provided security guarantees for ships taking Ukrainian grain to world markets. 

Five ships have already used the corridor sailing south from Ukraine’s ports, according to the infrastructure minister, but this is the first such passage in the other direction.

Even though merchant shipping companies have started to use the temporary corridors, Ukraine’s navy has warned “the military threat and mine danger from the Russian Federation remains along all routes.”

Russian-installed officials have announced their plans to sell a raft of Ukrainian-owned properties in annexed Crimea, including a property owned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a post on Telegram, Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov announced plans to sell 100 “nationalised properties.”

“These are residential premises, including the apartment of the Zelensky couple, sanatorium and resort facilities, retail and commercial facilities,” Konstantinov said on Saturday. 

The Russian installed authorities expect to raise over 800 million rubles ($8.2 million) from the sale of the properties, according to Konstantinov.

Konstantinov, who is the speaker of the Crimean Parliament, said a specially designated commission will continue efforts to “identify the property of Ukrainian oligarchs in Crimea.”

Some context: Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The peninsula’s annexation is considered illegitimate by most global powers.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has refocused some of its war efforts on the region, increasing missile and drone strikes on Crimea in an attempt to land both strategic and symbolic blows against Russian forces.

A police officer inspects the remains of a Russian cruise missile in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 18.

Russia is “likely able to generate a significant stockpile” of air launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) and there is a “realistic possibility” that it will use them against Ukrainian infrastructure targets, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence said Saturday.

“Between October 2022 and March 2023, Russia focused long-range strikes against Ukraine’s national energy infrastructure,” the defense ministry said in the statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Open source reports suggest that since April 2023, ALCM expenditure rates have reduced, while Russian leaders have highlighted efforts to increase the rate of cruise missile production,” the defence ministry said.

It concluded, “Russia is therefore likely able to generate a significant stockpile of ALCMs. There is a realistic possibility Russia will again focus these weapons against Ukrainian infrastructure targets over the winter.”

Some context: On Wednesday, Ukraine called for tougher and more sophisticated sanctions against Russia following reports that Russia had managed to overcome sanctions and export controls imposed by the West to increase its missile production.

Last winter was cold and dark for many Ukrainians, with Russian forces launching hundreds of missiles and drones at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure — seemingly with the aim of breaking the country’s power grid — temporarily cutting off electricity, heat and water to millions.

At one point last October, about 40% of normal electrical supply was offline in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s state power generator, Ukrenergo.

An agricultural worker operates a combine during a wheat harvesting in a field in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on July 14, 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the European Commission’s decision to cancel restrictive measures against Ukraine’s agricultural exports in his nightly address on Friday. 

“Now, it is important that European unity works on a bilateral level – with the neighbors,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president said the decision was the result of a “lengthy meeting” with government officials and European Union leaders on Friday.

The commission wrote in a statement that Ukraine has agreed to introduce policies, like an export licensing system, within 30 days that will prevent surges of cheap grain from disrupting other European economies. That concern had been the basis of the restrictive measures.

Until then, Ukraine must put in place effective export control measures to “prevent any market distortions in neighboring member states,” the commission said, adding that Kyiv is expected to submit an “action plan” to the EU by September 18.

Key context: European officials have tried to keep Ukrainian grain flowing during the war, but face complaints that they are undercutting farmers elsewhere in Europe.

In May, the EU adopted a temporary measure that banned wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed originating in Ukraine from being exported to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, after those countries raised concerns over the way a bottleneck of cheap Ukrainian grain was affecting their local economies.

A Russian armored vehicle is purportedly shot by a Ukrainian drone near Andriivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, in this still image obtained from video released August 22, 2023.

A Ukrainian commander fighting for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut says capturing the village of Andriivka Friday was a key step for Kyiv’s troops.

Zhorin also noted that liberating Andriivka means “full control over the railroad, which is a stronghold for further offensive.” 

Ukrainian President Zelensky congratulated the 3rd Assault Brigade and other forces involved in retaking Andriivka in his nightly address on Friday, calling it “a significant and much-needed result.”

Zelensky also noted that active battles continue around the villages of Klishchiivka and Kurdiumivka near Bakhmut, which is located in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. 

Ukraine’s General Staff noted that “the Defense Forces have partial success in the area of Klishchiivka” in a daily update on Friday. 

Some context: Ukraine’s Third Separate Assault Brigade recaptured the village of Andriivka, south of the city of Bakhmut, on Friday, it announced on Telegram that day. They are now trying to consolidate their gain there to hold on to it.

Bakhmut sits toward the northeast of the Donetsk region, about 13 miles from the Luhansk region, and has long been a target for Russian forces.

Russian forces claimed control of Bakhmut in May following a months-long slog in the city. The Russian advance was bolstered by members of the Wagner mercenary group, which incurred heavy losses in the fierce fighting.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits an aircraft manufacturing plant in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Khabarovsk region, Russia, on September 15, 2023.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected warplanes, toured an airfield and visited a Pacific Fleet frigate on Saturday as the latest stop on his tour of Russia took him to Vladivostok.

Russian state media reported that Kim had met the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at the Knevichi airfield in Vladivostok before both men were accompanied by the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, on a visit to the Pacific Fleet frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov.

The North Korean leader was shown the ship’s central command center and its modern missile weapon control systems, the Russian Ministry of Defence said via Telegram. 

The Russian defence ministry added that Admiral Evmenov had talked to Kim about the “expanded capabilities of the new control systems, which allow Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles to be effectively used against sea and coastal targets at a distance of more than 1,500 kilometers from the ship.”

Afterwards Kim was gifted a replica of the ship and left a comment in the frigate’s guest book, though the ministry did not reveal what he wrote.

The stop in Vladivostok is Kim’s latest in a tour of Russia and its Far East region that follows his meeting with President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, at which the North Korean leader appeared to endorse Moscow’s war on Ukraine. There has also been speculation Putin is seeking arms from North Korea for his invasion.

Read the full story here.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks to the media in the briefing room of the White House on September 5, 2023, in Washington.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan defended the final declaration from last week’s Group of 20 summit, which stopped short of explicitly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sullivan hasn’t received “any kind of formal — or really, informal — reaction from Ukraine with respect to the G20 communique,” he said at a briefing Friday.

Rather, the national security adviser said, Ukraine remains focused on engaging with other countries at peace summits — like the ones held this summer in Denmark and Saudi Arabia — where leaders can “find a way forward toward a common understanding of the principles upon which the just peace should be based.”

Sullivan said the conversations at those two summits actually “bear a strong resemblance” to the propositions laid out in the G20 communique.

Sullivan pushed back against the idea that the communique was “tepid” in its support for Ukraine, saying those four propositions are “powerful.”

Rather than statements of neutrality, he argued, they “really say to Russia, ‘What you are doing is not acceptable.’”

What Ukraine said: After news of the declaration emerged, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said the G20 had “nothing to be proud of.”

“Ukraine is grateful to its partners who tried to include strong wording in the text,” he wrote on Facebook. 

“At the same time, the G20 has nothing to be proud of in the part about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Obviously, the participation of the Ukrainian side would have allowed the participants to better understand the situation. The principle of ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine’ remains as key as ever.”

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Senate leadership last week and House leadership Thursday to discuss support for Ukraine.

He told reporters on Friday that he got the sense there was backing for bipartisan support for Ukraine from leaders on both sides of the aisle even as some House Republicans have signaled they may block additional aid.

Last week, CNN reported the White House was ramping up pressure on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to approve its request to tie aid for Ukraine with increased disaster relief funding ahead of a government funding showdown.

But tension among Republicans in Congress is mounting as lawmakers face an end-of-month deadline to avoid a government shutdown. The White House has called on Congress to pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government running while congressional leaders hash out major differences.

Though Sullivan expressed optimism that there was an appetite for a bipartisan aid package, he admitted the dynamics have changed since Republicans took control of the House last year.

“I acknowledge that there’s a difference between this Congress in the last Congress, and we’ll have to contend with that as we go through the discussions that will continue in the days ahead on how to get Ukraine the resources it needs,” he said.

Still, he pointed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington — and Capitol Hill — next week as a sign there might be progress on Ukraine aid soon.