May 9, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

All but two of the 25 cruise missiles fired by Russia overnight Tuesday were intercepted by the Ukrainian Air Force, officials said. According to the Pentagon, the Ukrainian military downed a Russian missile using the Patriot missile defense system.

Here are other headlines you should know:

Anticipated counteroffensive: There’s been recent rumors of a looming  Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia. UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Tuesday that the planned move won’t be a decisive breakthrough and that people shouldn’t expect a film-like counteroffensive because, he says, “the real world doesn’t work like that.” At a joint news conference with Cleverly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he thinks Ukraine has the resources it needs to retake territory in the anticipated counteroffensive. Blinken’s comments come on the same day the US announced an additional $1.2 billion in aid to Ukraine intended to bolster air defenses and keep up ammunition supplies.

Journalist killed near Bakhmut: Arman Soldin, a video journalist for Agence France-Presse was killed near the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the French news agency said on Twitter. Soldin, who was a French citizen with Bosnian origins, was killed by rocket fire on the outskirts of the town of Chasiv Yar, near Bakhmut, AFP said, citing colleagues who witnessed the incident. He was with four colleagues at the time of the attack but the other journalists were not injured, the news agency said. French President Emmanuel Macron mourned Soldin’s death in a tweet on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s grain: Bridget A. Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, accused Russia on Tuesday of “again blocking ships from loading grain in Ukraine’s ports to feed people who need it around the world.” The US official referenced similar comments on the topic made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier on Tuesday, where he accused Russia of “using people’s hunger as a weapon in its war against Ukraine.

Bridget A. Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, accused Russia on Tuesday of “again blocking ships from loading grain in Ukraine’s ports to feed people who need it around the world.”

The US official referenced similar comments on the topic made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier on Tuesday.

Farhan Haq, UN deputy spokesman for the Secretary-General, said two inspections of ships did happen on Tuesday.

The news comes a day after the UN said there had been no ship inspections as part of the grain deal for two days. Ukraine on Monday accused Russia of effectively bringing the grain deal to a halt by not inspecting ships.

Some context: The Black Sea Grain Initiative is an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, brokered by the UN and Turkey, that was established in July 2022 to guarantee safe passage for ships carrying grain and oilseeds — some of Ukraine’s most important exports.  

Talks to extend the initiative are ongoing. The Black Sea grain deal was last extended on March 18 for 60 days, and is set to expire on May 18. 

French President Emmanuel Macron at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China on April 7.

French President Emmanuel Macron mourned the death of Arman Soldin, a video journalist working for AFP who was killed in Ukraine.

Soldin was killed on Tuesday by rocket fire on the outskirts of the town of Chasiv Yar, near Bakhmut, AFP said, citing colleagues who witnessed the incident. 

Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s permanent representative to the UN, also tweeted in French about Soldin’s death, which translated to him saying the journalist “paid with his life for his courage” and offered condolences to Soldin’s loved ones.

 The Kremlin-backed authorities in the occupied Ukrainian city of Kamianka-Dniprovska in the southern Zaporizhzhia region are evacuating families and public sector workers further into Russian-held territory, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement.

Late Thursday, Yevgeniy Balitskiy, the acting governor of the occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia region – who is backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin – announced his administration would evacuate people from places near the war’s southern front line.

Yesterday, Yurii Malashko, Ukraine’s governor of Zaporizhzhia, said in a television interview that he understood some Moscow-backed officials were leaving occupied towns, and offering to evacuate people with Russian passports, ahead of the anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Ivan Fedorov, the Ukraine-elected mayor of Melitopol — a city in Zaporizhzhia — told Ukrainian TV that it was not a “mass evacuation,” but rather “some hundreds evacuated for show.” He claimed that Russia was sending more forces to the southern front line and that, in Melitopol, troops had started mining administrative buildings, kindergartens and schools.

Fedorov advised people in the occupied areas to be prepared for the counteroffensive by finding shelter, charging power banks and stocking up on food and water. 

The Ukrainian military downed a Russian missile using the Patriot missile defense system, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday.

Ryder added that the US and its partners would continue to “rush ground-based air defense capabilities and munitions to help Ukraine control its sovereign skies and to help Ukraine defense its citizens from Russia.”

Arman Soldin, a video journalist for Agence France-Presse, walks in a trench as he covers the war in Ukraine on March 18, 2023.

A journalist for Agence France-Presse was killed near the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the French news agency said on Twitter. 

Soldin, who was a French citizen with Bosnian origins, was killed by rocket fire on the outskirts of the town of Chasiv Yar, near Bakhmut, AFP said, citing colleagues who witnessed the incident.

He was with four colleagues at the time of the attack but the other journalists were not injured, the news agency said.

Soldin is one of the several known journalists killed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, including Fox News photojournalist Pierre Zakrzewski and consultant Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, journalist and documentarian Brent Renaud, and photojournalist Maks Levin.

CNN’s Xiaofei Xu contributed reporting.

Lawmakers in the French National Assembly on Tuesday approved a motion calling on the French government and the European Union to list Russia’s private military group Wagner as a terrorist organization.

The vote passed with all 331 representatives present voting in favor.

The motion — considered a symbolic move from the members of the assembly — also calls the French government to push for the United Nations to list Wagner as a terrorist organization.

Wagner Group is currently on the sanction lists of the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.  

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he thinks Ukraine has the resources it needs to retake territory in an anticipated counteroffensive.

“They have in place … what they need to continue to be successful in regaining territory that was seized by force by Russia over the last 14 months,” Blinken said at a joint news conference with UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

Blinken’s comments come on the same day the US announced an additional $1.2 billion in aid to Ukraine intended to bolster air defenses and keep up ammunition supplies.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly arrives at 10 Downing Street in London on May 2.

Ukraine has demonstrated huge courage and resistance since Russia’s invasion began, but people shouldn’t expect a film-like counteroffensive from Kyiv, UK’s top diplomat said during his visit to the United States Tuesday.  

“The real world doesn’t work like that,” UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.

His remarks come amid rumors of a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia.

“This is the real world. This is not a Hollywood movie,” Cleverly said. 

He also expressed London’s willingness to see China play a more constructive role in ending the war. 

“We know that (Chinese President) Xi enjoys a significant degree of influence with Vladimir Putin,” Cleverly said. “If through his intervention he can help restore the sovereignty of Ukraine, and get Russian troops out of that country, I’m not going to be critical of that,” he said.

Cleverly admitted that whether China could make a meaningful intervention remains to be seen. 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky walks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to a joint press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

The US announced a new aid package to Ukraine as Russia celebrated Victory Day with an annual parade that was notably scaled back this year due to security concerns related to the war in Ukraine.

Here’s everything you need to know:

US aid to Ukraine: The US announced a $1.2 billion security assistance package to Ukraine Tuesday. The package includes 155 mm artillery rounds, additional air defense systems and munitions and drone ammunition, as well as equipment to help “integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars” with Ukraine’s existing systems. The package will fall under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which means it will be contracted and purchased from manufacturers instead of pulled directly from Defense Department stocks in a drawdown. The US has now given Ukraine $37.6 billion in military aid.

The EU chief visits Ukraine: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in Kyiv to mark Europe Day – a celebration of peace and unity on the continent. In a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, she discussed European solidarity in areas such as grain export and more ammunition.

Germany and China talk Russia’s war on the sidelines: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock held a joint news conference in Berlin with China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang, and said Germany wants Beijing to promise it won’t help Russia avoid European sanctions. “It is particularly critical if Russian weaponry companies obtain war-related goods,” she said, adding that all countries — China included — should take action to oblige their companies. “Neutrality means taking the side of the aggressor,” Baerbock said. 

Despite recent nuclear saber-rattling by senior Russian officials, the United States has detected no signs of movement or changes to Russian nuclear forces, a senior US military official and senior administration official told CNN.

As a result, the US has made no changes to its own posture, according to these same officials.

Russian leaders have repeatedly raised the prospect of nuclear war in recent months. With each threat, the US and its allies have monitored Russian nuclear forces for signs of movement or preparations to deploy them.

Most recently, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in late April that the threat of nuclear conflict is “growing every day.”

“Is there such a prospect today? (Unfortunately,) yes. And it is growing every day for well-known reasons,” he said.

It wasn’t the first time this year Medvedev had raised the prospect of nuclear war. In January, he posted to Telegram about US and NATO support for Ukraine, noting, “defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war.”

On Tuesday, Russia’s Victory Day parade showcased parts of Russia’s nuclear forces including the country’s state of the art air defense system, the S-400, and its intercontinental ballistic system, the Yars.

“A true war has been unleashed against our motherland,” Putin said on Tuesday, claiming falsely that the West had provoked the war in Ukraine. “We have repelled international terrorism and to fit we will defend the residents of Donbas and secure our own safety. Russia has no unfriendly nations in the West or in the East.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, right, and China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang speak to the media after a meeting on May 9, in Berlin, Germany.

Germany wants Beijing to promise it won’t help Russia avoid European sanctions, while China warns Berlin and Europe about cutting economic ties with China, as the two countries’ diplomatic chiefs meet in Berlin Tuesday. 

Imposed sanctions should not be “undermined in a roundabout way,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a joint news conference. 

“It is particularly critical if Russian weaponry companies obtain war-related goods,” she said, adding that all countries — China included — should take action to oblige their companies. 

Baerbock welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and urged China to play a more decisive role in ending Russian’s war in Ukraine. 

China, on the other hand, expressed concern over the rising talks of Europe “de-risking” its relationship with China. 

De-risking refers to the concept of “financial institutions terminating or restricting business relationships with clients or categories of clients to avoid, rather than manage, risk,” according to the US Department of State.  

“We must firmly oppose the so-called decoupling exercise and maintain a high degree of vigilance against the new Cold War. Germany, China and Europe should join hands to safeguard the stability and smoothness of the global industrial and supply chains,” he added. 

What other leaders are saying: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for more diverse European trade ties, including new deals with countries such as Mexico, India, Australia and Kenya in a speech at the European Parliament Tuesday. 

European Council President Ursula Von der Leyen also called for de-risking the EU’s relationship with China through diplomacy instead of de-coupling in a speech back in March before she embarked on a joint visit to Beijing with French President Emmanuel Macron. 

Qin’s visit to Berlin unveils a busy week of China-Europe diplomacy in the bloc, with Qin flying to Paris Wednesday and then Oslo, and Baerbock heading to Paris late Tuesday for an expected meeting with Macron. 

155mm artillery shells in the production shop at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant on April 12, 2023 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The U.S. Army is rapidly moving to scale up the production of the ammunition built at the plant and being supplied to Ukraine.

The US announced a $1.2 billion security assistance package to Ukraine Tuesday, as Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces looms.

The package includes 155 mm artillery rounds, additional air defense systems and munitions and drone ammunition, as well as equipment to help “integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars” with Ukraine’s existing systems.

Various senior Ukrainian officials expressed their gratitude to the US for the latest round of defense aid. 

“We appreciate this sign of solidarity with 🇺🇦 shown on a symbolic day for us – Europe Day and the Day of Victory over Nazism in World War II. Together we’re moving towards a new victory!” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a tweet. 

Ukraine’s defense chief Oleksii Reznikov also welcomed the news, calling the new aid “a new package of security assistance.”

CNN reported Monday the announcement was expected.

The package, first reported by the Associated Press, will fall under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, 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.

With the new package announcement, the US marks $37.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration, including $36.9 billion since the beginning of the war in February 2022.

Even after the Ukrainian counteroffensive begins, the US will continue to send military aid to Ukraine, according to a US military official, both to sustain Ukraine’s military force against dug-in Russian troops and to provide new equipment. 

CNN’s Yulia Kesaieva in Kyiv contributed to this post.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 9.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday criticized “protectionist measures” from neighboring countries which limit imports of Ukrainian grain, saying they are “absolutely unacceptable.” 

The EU last week adopted a temporary measure that bans 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 local farmers being undercut by a bottleneck of cheap Ukrainian grain. 

Addressing Zelensky’s concerns, von der Leyen described the grain topic as a “challenging situation” and vowed to set up a joint “coordination platform” to get grain exports “fully functioning again.”

“The immediate priority now is that the grain transit goes seamlessly and at the lowest possible cost outside of Ukraine towards the European Union,” she said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, following their press-conference in Kyiv on May 9.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that Russia is seeking to destroy values of freedom in Ukraine because it is afraid of the country’s path to the European Union.

“We Europeans cherish our liberty, our democracy, our freedom of thought and speech,” von der Leyen said alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kyiv to mark Europe Day. 

“They are afraid of the success you represent and the example you show, and they are afraid of your path to the European Union,” she said.

Von der Leyen added that Russia has “dramatically failed,” and Ukraine is “fighting back successfully.”

A Ukrainian service member walks near residential buildings damaged by a Russian military strike in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on April 21.

Russia has failed to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut before the May 9 deadline — a day when Russia marks the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky said Tuesday

“Unfortunately, the city does not exist anymore. Everything is fully destroyed,” he added.

Zelensky urges more ammo: The Ukrainian president also said ammunition the European Union has pledged to deliver to Ukraine is already needed on the battlefield, calling for faster deliveries. 

“Ukraine daily demonstrates efficiency of our defense against Russian aggression. Every intercepted terrorists’ missile, every success of our warriors in defeating Russian attacks, these are the proofs that we can win over this aggressor,” Zelensky said.

“The main thing is the proportionality of our abilities to the abilities that the aggressor has. And in this context, I have thanked Ursula for the readiness of the European Union to provide Ukraine this badly needed ammunition, one billion artillery shells, and we have also discussed the key issues, the speed of the procurement and delivery of this ammunition, because they are needed on the battlefield already now,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin marked May 9 with the annual Victory Day parade and launched yet another scathing attack on the West, accusing it of holding Ukraine hostage to its anti-Russian plans. He also claimed that “real war” has been unleashed against Russia. 

Russia held its annual celebration to mark the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II. In past years, tens of tanks have streamed across Red Square as jets have ripped through the skies in a flex of Russia’s military might. But this year’s parade was a quieter affair: A single T-34 tank – a relic from the Soviet era – led out this year’s mechanized column, and the flypast was canceled.

A T-34 tank is driven during the Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9.

Here are the latest developments:

People watch the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9.

Wagner founder and financier Yevgeny Prigozhin has criticized the Russian military’s focus on the Victory Day parade in Moscow, which comes just as Ukraine is about to launch a counteroffensive.

In the latest in a series of rants directed at Russia’s military leadership in Moscow, Prigozhin claimed Ukrainian forces were on Tuesday “tearing up the flanks” in the direction of Bakhmut and “regrouping at Zaporizhzhia.”

“And a counteroffensive is about to begin,” he said during a long stream on his social media accounts on Tuesday.

Prigozhin claimed that Russians should pay more attention to unfolding events in Ukraine, rather than the televised Victory Day parade.

“They absolutely, clearly say that the counteroffensive will be on the ground, not on TV. In our country everybody thinks that we should do everything on TV and celebrate the Victory Day,” he added.

The Wagner founder went on to say Victory Day belonged to a previous generation.

“Victory Day is the victory of our grandfathers,” he said. “We haven’t earned that victory one millimeter.”

Wagner head Yevgeniy Prigozhin has criticized the Russian military leadership for their lack of support for his fighters and for failing to hold the lines near Bakhmut, in a long stream posted on his social media accounts.

“Today [Tuesday], one of the units of the Ministry of Defense fled from one of our flanks, abandoning their positions. They all fled and left a front nearly two kilometers wide and 500 meters deep. Good thing we blocked it somehow,” Prigozhin said.

Prigozhin went on to say his fighters would be able to take the city if they were supplied with enough ammunition — but that Moscow had backtracked from its initial promises.

“We were promised on May 7 that we would be given ammunition,” he explained. 

In the morning of May 8, Prigozhin said that Moscow gave an order to provide Wagner with “everything” they wanted. However, they were subsequently only provided with “10% of what was requested,” he claimed.

“We were simply blatantly lied to,” Prigozhin said.

The Wagner founder went on to say the Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov was to blame for the decision.

“If all the tasks are performed in order to deceive the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, either the Supreme Commander-in-Chief will tear you’re a** up or the Russian people, who will be very upset if the war is lost,” Prigozhin added.

The Wagner founder added that his fighters would not leave Bakhmut and that they would “insist for a few more days.”

Some context: This rant is just the latest in the ongoing spat between Prigozhin’s private mercenary group and Moscow’s military leadership. Last week, Prigozhin launched an explosive tirade against Russia’s defense ministry, accusing them of sitting like “fat cats” while his men died in Bakhmut. He threatened to withdraw completely from the embattled Ukrainian city, which Russia has for months failed to capture.

However, Prigozhin appeared to change his mind Sunday, after securing concessions from the government. He announced his forces would stay in Bakhmut because Moscow promised “to give us ammunition and weapons, as much as we need to continue further actions.”

But this latest rant shows the dispute between Prigozhin and Moscow is far from settled.

CNN’s Christian Edwards in London contributed to this post.