May 8, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Russia’s launched a wave of strikes on Ukraine early Monday in what Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko called its “most massive attack.”

The mayor said the drone attack did not cause any deaths, “but five people were injured in two districts of the city.” Other attacks were recorded in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Kherson areas.

Here are the latest developments:

US to announce new aid package to Ukraine: The United States is set to announce a $1.2 billion aid package to Ukraine as early as Tuesday, according to a US official familiar with the package. It comes at a critical point with Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces looming. The package will include drones, artillery ammunition and air defense missiles as well as other capabilities, the official said. It comes days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new $300 million security assistance package for Kyiv.

Wagner forces receive more ammunition: Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the private Russian military group Wagner, said preliminary information indicates that his fighters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut have started to receive more ammunition. Prigozhin had repeatedly complained that his units were not receiving enough ammunition from Russia’s defense establishment. Last week, he announced they would withdraw from Bakhmut — a threat he now appears to be rowing back on. 

Kremlin-backed officials mobilize Russians in Mariupol: Kremlin-backed authorities in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol are in the process of mobilizing residents who have Russian passports, the exiled city council claimed on Telegram. Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, which administers Mariupol, signed a decree allowing the mobilization of Russian citizens in the occupied region on March 31. 

Parts of Russian administration leave Skadovsk: A significant part of the Russian-installed administration of Skadovsk left the occupied city on Sunday, Ukrainian military officials said. The activities of Skadovsk’s district and city administrations were “suspended,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its daily update. On Saturday night, “the occupiers loaded documentation, office equipment, and other property of state institutions into vehicles,” before leaving with their families on Sunday morning, Ukrainian military officials said. Skadovsk sits on the Black Sea. 

The United States is set to announce a $1.2 billion aid package to Ukraine as early as Tuesday, according to a US official familiar with the package. It comes at a critical point with Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces looming. 

The package will include drones, artillery ammunition and air defense missiles as well as other capabilities, the official said.

The package — first reported by the Associated Press — will fall under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which means it will be contracted and purchased from manufacturers instead of pulled directly from Defense Department stocks in a drawdown.

Instead of supplying Ukraine with the weapons it currently needs, USAI packages are intended to create a medium and long-term supply for Ukraine.

Last week, the Pentagon announced its 37th drawdown package for Ukraine since August 2021. The $300 million package included additional ammunition for the HIMARS rocket system, artillery and tank ammunition, anti-tank weapons and more. 

Russia’s wave of strikes on Ukraine early Monday was its “most massive attack with kamikaze drones,” Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Other attacks were recorded in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Kherson areas.

The Ukrainian military said it repelled the assault on the capital city, the latest in Moscow’s efforts to wear down its air defense system. According to Kyiv’s mayor, “36 drones flew to the capital” but were shot down by air defense forces.

“However, debris from several drones damaged some social facilities and a residential high-rise building in Sviatoshyn district,” Klitschko said.

The mayor said the drone attack did not cause any deaths, “but five people were injured in two districts of the city.” 

“Three of them were in high-rise buildings. Two victims were hospitalized, one of them underwent surgery. Doctors say that there is no threat to their lives,” he added.

Shahed drones are manufactured in Iran and have been frequently deployed by Russian forces in Ukraine. 

The PMC (Private Military Company) Wagner Center building in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on October 31, 2022.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the private Russian military group Wagner, said on Monday that preliminary information indicates that his fighters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut have started to receive more ammunition.  

Prigozhin has repeatedly complained that his Wagner units are not receiving enough ammunition from Russia’s defense establishment. Last week, he announced they would withdraw from Bakhmut — a threat he now appears to be rowing back on. 

Earlier Monday, a Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut said his unit faces “constant” shelling and had seen no evidence of the Russian ammunition shortage that Prigozhin had claimed.

A significant part of the Russian-installed administration of Skadovsk left the occupied city on Sunday, Ukrainian military officials said. 

The activities of Skadovsk’s district and city administrations were “suspended,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its daily update.

On Saturday night, “the occupiers loaded documentation, office equipment, and other property of state institutions into vehicles,” before leaving with their families on Sunday morning, Ukrainian military officials said.

The General Staff claims the Russians planned to transport the “documents and looted property,” by sea, further into Russian-held territory. 

Skadovsk sits on the Black Sea. 

The statement said that similar activity was occurring in the nearby villages of Krasne, Shevchenko, Shyroke, Ulianivka and Petrivka, as well as in Mykhailivka — some 28 kilometers away. 

Kremlin-backed authorities in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol are in the process of mobilizing residents who have Russian passports, the exiled city council claimed on Telegram. 

The Telegram post included a photo of a document which the authors said is a referral, received by a resident. 

“Draft boards have started working in Mariupol. The occupiers are already looking for citizens who do not fulfill their ‘military obligations’. The enemy plans to conscript men until August,” said Vadym Boichenko, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol.

Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, which administers Mariupol, signed a decree allowing the mobilization of Russian citizens in the occupied region on March 31. 

A view shows an apartment building damaged by remains of a suicide drone during a Russian overnight strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 8.

The Ukrainian Red Cross suspended operations in Odesa after a Russian missile struck its warehouse in the southern port city.

The organization went on to say there had been no casualties.

Russia launched a wave of drone strikes on Kyiv Monday, and other attacks were also recorded in Kharkiv and Kherson areas. The Ukrainian military said it repelled the assault on the capital city, the latest in Moscow’s efforts to wear down its air defense system.

Here are the latest developments:

A Ukrainian commander in the eastern city of Bakhmut said his unit faces “constant” shelling and they have seen no evidence of the Russian ammunition shortage that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has claimed.

Prigozhin, whose Wagner troops have spearheaded the fight to take the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, has repeatedly claimed his fighters lack ammunition. Last week, he said they would withdraw from the area – a threat he has now apparently backtracked from.

Shepetin said Prigozhin’s statements were an effort to “mislead” the Ukrainian military in the face of his own “enormous losses”.

“I think that the enemy is already desperate. He is using all means at his disposal to try to drive our defense forces out of Bakhmut. But the enemy is not succeeding and will not succeed,” Shepetin said, adding that the Ukrainians were not in danger of being encircled and – while they had “some logistical problems” – were still able to evacuate the wounded and receive supplies of ammunition.

Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, agreed, saying in a separate TV interview that “the Russians have no shortage of ammunition. This is absolutely not true.” He added that Ukrainian positions had been shelled more than four hundred times in the past 24 hours and enemy troops were using “more than 25,000 shells per day” on average around the eastern cities of Bakhmut, Lyman and Kupyansk.

“He [Prigozhin] comes up with this nonsense about the shell crisis. However, his main problem is the constant annihilation of personnel by our defense forces. And hence, he is unable to replenish personnel because he cannot recruit people from prisons,” Cherevatyi said.

Cherevatyi claimed that Russia had taken some 20,000 casualties in the Bakhmut area over the past nine months because of Wagner’s “meat grinder” tactic of fighting.

A man with a child look at a destroyed building in Zaporizhzhia after the Russian shelling. 

The evacuation of some civilians from Russian-occupied towns on the front lines in the Zaporizhzhia region has led to fuel shortages and problems with ATMs and the internet, according to Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov.

While Orlov is not currently in the occupied region, he said the evacuation announcement led to “if not panic, then a mood close to it.”

The first wave of evacuations that began Saturday morning was not massive, he said in a Telegram post Sunday.

Russian forces had removed medical equipment from the city’s hospital, asked patients to evacuate, and a number of hospital departments had ceased operations, he added.

An 11th round of European Union sanctions against Russia will focus on how to effectively cut off ways for Moscow to bypass any existing European sanctions, the EU Commission announced Monday. 

On Sunday, the Financial Times reported that a new EU package of sanctions under consideration lists seven Chinese companies accused of selling equipment to Russia that could be used in weapons. The sanctions list would need unanimous approval from the 27 member states before it can be enforced.

China said Monday it opposes any measures against trade based on its relationship with Russia. “We urge the EU not to take the wrong path, otherwise China will firmly guard our legal rights,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a news conference Monday. 

China’s foreign ministry said it opposes any measures against trade based on its relationship with Russia.

This comes in response to reports of proposed sanctions by the European Union on Chinese companies over their alleged involvement in supporting Russia’s war machine.

“We noted the relevant reports. China is firmly opposed to illegal sanctions or long-arm jurisdiction over China because of Sino-Russian cooperation,” Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said at a regular press briefing on Monday

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin is pictured during a news briefing in Beijing, China, on April 26.

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On Sunday, the Financial Times reported that seven Chinese companies accused of selling equipment to Russia that could be used in weapons had been listed in a new package of sanctions to be discussed by EU member states this week, which had been seen by the FT. The sanctions list needs unanimous approval from the 27 member states before it can be enforced.

A spokesperson for the Swedish presidency declined to comment before an initial discussion among EU ambassadors. Meanwhile, China’s state councilor and foreign minister are embarking on a week-long European visit, with stops in Germany, France, and Norway.

China has maintained that it has not supplied weapons to support Russia in its war in Ukraine, and Wang reiterated that Beijing holds an “objective and impartial position” on the war and supports peace talks. Chinese state-owned defense firms have maintained trade relationships with sanctioned Russian defense companies over the past year. A CNN review of customs records of key companies showed no evidence that any of the goods exchanged are directly feeding Russia’s war.

The Ukrainian Red Cross suspended operations in Odesa after a Russian missile struck its warehouse in the southern port city.

The organization went on to say there had been no casualties.

“The fire completely destroyed the humanitarian aid for Odesa region that was stored in the warehouse,” it added. “There were no representatives of the Red Cross at the site at the time of the missile strike.”

A total of eight missiles were launched at Odesa overnight Sunday, killing one and injuring three. Russian missile attacks were also recorded in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, according to Ukraine’s military.

Amid rumors that Ukraine is preparing to launch its long-anticipated counteroffensive, hundreds of people have begun evacuating from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine’s southeast. Meanwhile, Moscow is preparing to celebrate Victory Day on May 9, marking the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany, just two weeks after explosions targeted the Kremlin.

Russian servicemen are seen against the backdrop of the Kremlin and Saint Basil's cathedral during preparations for the Victory Day military parade rehearsal in Moscow, on Sunday, May 7.

Here are the latest developments:

Russian-occupied towns evacuated: More than 1,600 people, including 660 children, have been evacuated from Russian-occupied towns on the front lines in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, amid reports of intensified Ukrainian shelling there. Zaporizhzhia, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, is expected to be a major target as Kyiv seeks to push back Russian troops. The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has stressed the need to prevent a “severe nuclear accident.”

Wagner chief appears to backtrack: Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Sunday that his troops are staying put in Bakhmut, having threatened two days earlier to withdraw totally from the Ukrainian city. In an expletive-laden rant made to Russia’s “fat cat” military leaders, Prigozhin accused Moscow of leaving his mercenary group short of ammunition. Russia’s defense ministry has since pledged more supplies to keep Prigozhin’s troops going.

Missile strikes hit Odesa: At least one person was killed and three injured in missile strikes on the southern port city of Odesa, according to military officials from the region. Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired eight long-range missiles at the city overnight Sunday. Missile attacks were also recorded in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions.

Ukraine says Russians are exporting stolen grain: The so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) announced its first grain export from the port of Mariupol. Ukrainian authorities said the grain being exported from Mariupol was “stolen” from the country, but added that the move is mostly for the purposes of propaganda, as the port is not fully operational. Mariupol was leveled by Russian forces in the early months of the war, and became a symbol of the Kremlin’s indiscriminate use of firepower in Ukraine.

Russian oligarch slams “terrible” war: Russian oligarch Andrey Kovalev has criticized Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine, saying the “terrible” war has not played out as many expected it to. He listed a string of Russian defeats – from the sinking of the Moskva ship to the bombing of the Kerch bridge – which has turned “the whole world” against Russia. Kovalev’s claims come as Moscow prepares for its annual Victory Day Parade. The event, held to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany, is also used to flaunt Russia’s military strength.

Zelensky proposes moving Victory Day: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared Russia to Nazi Germany as he proposed moving World War II Victory Day celebrations a day earlier to May 8 in a bill presented to lawmakers in Kyiv. Instead, on May 9 he will welcome European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for “Europe Day” – a celebration of peace and unity in Europe.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gestures on the day of an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement at Queen's University, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 19.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will visit Kyiv on Tuesday to mark Europe Day, according to her spokeswoman.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Monday that his country would begin marking Europe Day on May 9, the day that Ukraine traditionally commemorates victory over Nazi Germany. 

But this date has become increasingly associated with a parade to mark the same anniversary in Moscow, used also by the Kremlin to flaunt its military prowess.

Seeking to break with the Russian tradition, Zelensky on Monday submitted a bill to the country’s parliament to move Victory Day celebrations a day earlier to May 8.

What is “Europe Day”: This annual event celebrates peace and unity in Europe. May 9 marks the anniversary of the historic “Schuman Declaration,” which set out the idea for greater political cooperation in Europe, as it emerged from World War II.

The Declaration was presented by French foreign minister Robert Schuman in 1950, as the countries of Europe were still recovering from the devastation of the conflict. It proposed the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community – the first of a series of supranational European institutions that would eventually become the “European Union” of today.

The new political cooperation aimed to make war between European nations “not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.”

Russian oligarch Andrey Kovalev has criticized Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and its consequences for Russia.

In a video shared by Kovalev on his Telegram channel Monday, the businessman said at first he was certain that Russian troops would breach Ukraine’s defenses and capture Kyiv swiftly, within two or three weeks. He expressed surprise that this did not happen.

Kovalev pointed out Russia’s heavy losses since invading Ukraine – including the retreat of Russian troops from the positions they reached early in the war, the humiliating sinking of Russia’s Moskva warship last April, the blast on the bridge connecting annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland, and the recent alleged drone strike on the Kremlin. 

“The whole world is against us. One hundred and twenty-two countries voted to recognize us as an aggressor,” he added, referring to a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly last month. The resolution, which qualified the war against Ukraine as “aggression by the Russian Federation,” received 122 votes, including from China and India – two countries that have avoided condemning Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

In a separate pre-recorded video posted on his Telegram channel, Kovalev tempered his tone somewhat, suggesting Russian President Vladimir Putin should “call on the service of the sovereign entrepreneurs” to help “ensure victory in the war.”

Andrey Kovalev is a Russian real estate businessman, a public figure, and chairman of the All-Russian Movement of Entrepreneurs. According to his biography on the movement website, he previously held government positions and was a member of the Moscow City Duma. In 2012, Kovalev was included in the “List of the Kings of Russian Real Estate” by Forbes Russia with an income of $55 million.

Is criticism growing?: There is little room for dissenting voices in Russia. Putin’s tight control of Russia’s information space prevents many citizens from accessing accurate reports about the invasion of Ukraine. Those who do attempt to speak out face lengthy prison sentences, or worse.

But there are signs of growing dismay among some Russians over how the faltering invasion has played out. Kovalev’s words echo those of the famous Russian pop star Alla Pugacheva, who in September called for an end to Russian soldiers “dying for illusory aims that make our country a pariah.”

Kovalev’s criticism comes the day before Moscow’s Victory Day Parade – an event held annually on May 9 to mark the anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, and used in recent years to flout Russia’s military strength.

Firefighters work at the site where storage facilities were heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in the Odesa region on May 8.

At least one person was killed and three were injured in missile strikes on the southern port city of Odesa on Monday, according to the spokesman for the head of the regional military administration.

Russia fired eight long-range missiles at the city overnight Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement.

Russian missile attacks were also recorded in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, according to Ukraine’s military.

Storage facilities heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike are seen in Odesa region, Ukraine on May 8.

“61 air strikes and 52 enemy attacks from MLRS were documented at our troop positions and populated areas,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement Monday.

The Russian-controlled city of Polohy, in the Zaporizhzhia region, is under fire by Ukrainian forces, a pro-Moscow official said on Monday.

“Polohy is under the fire of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Vladimir Rogoc, a member of the Russian-installed main council of the military-civilian administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, said Monday. 

“According to preliminary information, there are injured [people], as well as damage and destruction of civilian infrastructure,” he claimed.

Rogov said authorities had already been evacuating civilians from frontline areas.

More than 1,600 people, including 660 children, have been evacuated from Russian-occupied towns and cities near the front lines in Zaporizhzhia, according to Yevgeniy Balitskiy, the Russia-appointed acting head of the region.

Balitskiy claimed Sunday that the evacuees “have everything they need: food, a place to sleep, constant contact and consultation with specialists.”

Russia controls much of the Zaporizhzhia region and it could be a target for Ukraine should it launch its heavily anticipated counteroffensive.

The so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), territory in eastern Ukraine illegally occupied and annexed by Russia, has announced its first grain export from the port of Mariupol.

“The first ship carrying grain from the Donetsk People’s Republic loaded at the Mariupol commercial seaport,” the pro-Russian acting head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, posted on his Telegram account on Monday.

Ukrainian authorities said the grain being exported from Mariupol was “stolen” from the country, but added that the move is mostly for the purposes of propaganda, as the port is not fully operational.

“The first three and a half thousand tons of Ukrainian grain from Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions were stolen with the help of the Mariupol seaport,” Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian Mayor of Mariupol said.

“The loading took about one week, which indicates the port’s low efficiency. It can be stated that this cargo is more a propaganda piece,” he added. 

Some background: Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, witnessed some of the most intense fighting since Russia launched its invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has estimated that “tens of thousands” died during the siege of the city. Ukrainian forces finally evacuated the city in May last year, after resisting Russia’s advances for weeks.

Images of Mariupol’s destruction became symbols of the Kremlin’s use of indiscriminate firepower in Ukraine, drawing stark visual parallels with the leveling of cities like Syria’s Aleppo or the Chechen capital of Grozny.

At the time of the siege, Mariupol’s mayor estimated that 90% of the city’s infrastructure had been damaged, 40% of it beyond repair.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Mariupol in March – his first visit to territory captured by his forces since the war began.

During his visit, a video showed Putin in discussion with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, outlining plans for “ongoing construction and restoration work” in the city.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has raised concerns as to the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, describing it as “increasingly unpredictable,” after Moscow ordered the evacuation of residents from Russian-occupied areas close to the facility.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, is held by Russian forces but mostly operated by a Ukrainian workforce.

The town of Enerhodar was among 18 front-line settlements whose residents were evacuated over the weekend. Most of the plant’s staff live in the town, the International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement.

Safety fears: Grossi said he was deeply concerned about the “increasingly tense, stressful, and challenging conditions” for personnel and their families and about “the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant.”

“We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment,” Grossi warned.

The evacuation of Enerhodar comes amid rumors of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, with the southern region likely to be a major target as Kyiv seeks to reclaim territories taken by Moscow.

The site director Yuri Chernichuk said operating staff are not being evacuated and “are doing everything necessary to ensure nuclear safety and security at the plant.”

Chernichuk said the plant’s six reactors are all in shutdown mode and its equipment is being maintained, “in accordance with all necessary nuclear safety and security regulations,” according to Grossi.

Why Zaporizhzhia matters: Ukraine relies heavily on nuclear power. Should Russia keep the Zaporizhzhia plant – which it took control of in March last year – Ukraine would lose about 20% of its domestic electricity generating capacity. Analysts have said Russia would want to capture the plant undamaged, with hopes of serving its own electricity market.

The plant has frequently been disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid due to intense Russian shelling in the area, repeatedly raising fears across Europe of a nuclear accident, though experts say another Chernobyl-sized disaster remains unlikely.