November 10, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

Ukraine has claimed big wins in its southern counteroffensive this week, but Kyiv remains concerned that retreating Russian soldiers could turn the regional capital of Kherson into a “city of death” on their way out.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know in today’s Russia-Ukraine news:

Hackers linked to Russia’s military were very likely behind ransomware attacks last month on Ukrainian and Polish transportation and logistics organizations, Microsoft said Thursday. 

The revelation will raise concerns in Washington and European capitals that allies supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion could face greater cyber threats from Moscow. 

Poland is a NATO member and a key conduit for supplying military aid to Ukraine. 

Microsoft attributed the hacks to a group that the Justice Department alleges works on behalf of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency and which caused power blackouts in parts of Ukraine in 2015 and 2016. 

One of Ukraine’s main cybersecurity agencies, the State Special Communications Service, declined to comment. 

It’s a rare public example of an alleged Russian hack related to the war causing damage in a NATO member country. 

During Russia’s invasion, in February, another suspected Russian hack wiped data at two Ukrainian government contractors with a presence in Latvia and Lithuania, but that was widely seen among analysts as collateral damage rather than deliberate. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said a cyberattack could trigger NATO’s collective defense clause, requiring all members to defend an attack on another member. But that has never happened, and it is unclear what exactly NATO’s threshold in cyberspace is for a response.

A NATO spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The GRU-linked ransomware attacks signal “increased risk to organizations directly supplying or transporting humanitarian or military assistance to Ukraine,” researchers from Microsoft, which has worked directly with the Ukrainian government to respond to the hacks, said in a statement. 

The Russian embassy in Washington, DC, did not respond to a request for comment on Microsoft’s statement. Moscow routinely denies conducting cyberattacks.  

Russian hacking groups have carried out a slew of cyberattacks during the war on Ukrainian government and corporate networks in activity that sometimes overlaps with Russia military strikes. But the kind of high-impact hack that takes out power or other critical networks has largely been missing.

Russian hacking has played a peripheral, rather than central, role in the Kremlin’s efforts to dismantle Ukrainian critical infrastructure, US and Ukrainian officials previously told CNN.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 41 settlements in southern Ukraine have been liberated following the Russian decision to withdraw to the eastern side of the Dnipro river.

Zelensky used his daily video address to congratulate several units involved in the advance through the southern Kherson region.

He added, “Everything that is happening now has been achieved through months of fierce struggle. Achieved by courage, pain and losses. It is not the enemy that is leaving. It is Ukrainians who are chasing the occupiers at great cost.”

Zelensky said police units had moved into several settlements in Kherson to begin stabilization measures, but the liberation of Ukrainian territory was just the first step in a long process.

“The first and basic thing is de-mining. The occupiers leave behind thousands of mines and unexploded ammunition. I have often heard estimates that clearing Ukraine of Russian mines will take decades. We cannot wait that long,” the Ukrainian president said.

“The invaders mine everything: power lines, business enterprises, fields, forests,” he said. “At the peak of mine contamination in Ukraine, we had 300,000 square kilometers of life-threatening territory.”

Now, he said, thanks to the efforts of sappers, “there are about 170,000 square kilometers left for demining. In particular, this is in the most difficult places - where the fighting is still ongoing, where the enemy will add more mines before its withdrawal, as it is now in Kherson.”

Zelensky thanked the dozen countries assisting in de-mining. He also alluded to Ukraine’s goals in the conflict.

“We have to go all the way — on the battlefield and in diplomacy — so that our flags, Ukrainian flags, and never again any enemy tricolors are on our entire land, within our internationally recognized border,” he said.

Zelensky also thanked the Netherlands and the United States for fresh infusions of aid — about $100 million from the Netherlands and a new package of military assistance from the US. “Important means of air defense. Just what we need, what we asked for,” he said

Officials in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, say their forces have taken a village after fierce fighting there this week.

The Moscow-backed leader Denis Pushilin said the village of Pavlivka “is almost 90% cleared.”

“The flag is already hoisted,” Pushilin said. “It was given to us at great cost.”

Video was also published on a pro-Russian Telegram channel showing the DPR’s Interior Minister, General Aleksey Dikiy, visiting the village and awarding medals to fighters in the Republic’s militia.

Some background: The battle for Pavlivka took on a higher profile earlier this week when soldiers in one Russian unit wrote a letter of protest to their regional governor in Russia, complaining about poor leadership and tactics. 

“As a result of the ‘carefully’ planned offensive by the ‘great commanders,’ we lost about 300 men, dead and wounded, with some MIA over the past four days,” the letter said.

Video from the area in recent days has shown widespread destruction.

Ukraine has not acknowledged that Pavlivka is held by Russian forces, and CNN cannot independently confirm Russia’s claim.

The State Department is “aware of reports that Russia has ordered the deportation of a US citizen,” spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday, but did not offer further details.

Reuters reported Thursday that a Russian court ordered that American Sarah Krivanek be held for 30 days before being deported. She had reportedly been detained for nearly 11 months on domestic assault charges.

Brittney Griner arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on June 27.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday the United States “did not receive a heads up” that WNBA star Brittney Griner was being transferred to a penal colony in Russia.

“It has unfortunately become standard practice on the part of the Russian Federation not to inform us ahead of time when American citizen detainees are transferred from one detention center to another,” he said at a press briefing.

“We are also engaging to do all that we can to ensure that her conditions are as safe as healthy as can be during this time,” Price said. “That is something that we do for all detained American citizens in Russia and really around the world.”

Price said that discussions with the Russians to secure the release of Griner and Paul Whelan, another American detained in Russia, are ongoing. He noted that “this process has not moved as quickly as we would have liked.”

“The fact is that the Russians have not taken an approach to date that we think is sufficient,” he said. “We have continued to press them to engage seriously and in good faith on the original proposal that we put forward, the alternatives we put forward, we have continued to look for ways to secure as quickly as possible to release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner.”

Also on Thursday, while the White House would not give an update on Griner’s condition, citing confidentiality, the administration said that President Joe Biden is “personally engaged” on working for her return to the US. 

“I have to protect the confidentiality of our dealings with her family and some of our consular dealings with Russian officials,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. “But I will tell you on a daily basis, our embassy in Moscow is focused on ensuring that they are on top of Brittney Griner’s condition, location and how the Russian government is treating her.”

“We are dealing with the Russians at very senior levels and our diplomats on the ground are working overtime to ensure that they are staying in close touch with their Russian counterparts on her case,” Sullivan added.

CNN’s Nikki Carvajal contributed reporting to this post.

US announces new security aid package for Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a press briefing at the White House, on Thursday, November 10.

The Biden administration authorized an additional $400 million in security aid for Ukraine on Thursday.

The new package includes missiles for HAWK and Avenger air defense systems, more ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), grenade launchers, mortar and artillery rounds, and other battlefield supplies.

The package marks the 25th time the US has sent security assistance to Ukraine using presidential drawdown authority. The Defense Department pulls the weapons and equipment from US inventories to send abroad, instead of purchasing new weapons from manufacturers.

The new aid comes as Ukraine claims big wins in its southern counteroffensive. But Kyiv remains concerned that retreating Russian soldiers could turn the regional capital of Kherson into a “city of death” on their way out.

CNN’s Tim Lister and Mick Krever contributed to this report.

Ukraine’s Stugna volunteer military unit on Thursday paid tribute to a British man who the battalion said had died fighting against Russian forces alongside the Ukrainians in occupied territories.

“A man of goodwill, a brave British man, Simon Lingard, died in the Donetsk oblast. A true warrior who left Britain in the most challenging time for Ukraine and came to fight against Russian evil together with our soldiers,” the battalion said in a post on its Telegram account.

The all-volunteer infantry military unit said they met Lingard in the spring in the Kharkiv region, but later their military units split up in different directions of the frontline.  

“The last time we spoke with Simon was just a few days before his death. Our fighters from the ‘Stugna’ Battalion accidentally met with him in Zaporizhzhia and even planned to work together again,” the batallion said, adding that they will “avenge” his death.

“Our condolences to Simon’s wife and their children and to all the people of the United Kingdom. We will never forget what Simon Lingard did for us,” the unit said.  

The UK government said on Wednesday that a British man had lost his life in Ukraine.

In a statement, the UK Foreign Office said that it was “supporting the family of a British national who has lost his life in Ukraine,” but did not reveal the person’s name.

The office added that it was in touch with “the local authorities in connection with his death.”  

In June, former British Army soldier Jordan Gatley was shot and killed while fighting in Ukraine’s Severodonetsk, CNN reported at the time. 

British aid worker Paul Urey died in the Donetsk region of Ukraine earlier this year after the Russian invasion started, CNN has reported.

Russian tank tracks and a Ukrainian soldier are seen in Kherson, Ukraine on November 9, 

Ukrainian officials said it is difficult to make contact with civilians in the city of Kherson, which is without any internet connection as Russian forces withdraw to the opposite bank of the Dnipro River.

Halyna Lugova, the head of the Kherson city military administration, described the situation in the city as “tense and difficult.”

“There is no Internet connection in the city, hence people with whom I communicate have not been in touch since yesterday (Wednesday),” she said.

She said people in the city were living in fear: 

Lugova said that “people can feel the presence of Russians in the city. There seem to be no (Russian) checkpoints, but people see that the occupiers are in the city,” Lugova added.

Lugova said Russian troops were still removing looted equipment from the city on Wednesday night.

“There were trucks, heavy equipment and cars stolen from civilians heading from Snihurivka (a town on the Mykolaiv/Kherson border) towards Antonivskyi bridge,” she said.

Lugova said there is no fuel in the city and only partial heating, water and power supply.

She described a city where goods were being bartered in street bazaars amid chronic shortages.

“The medicine supply is insufficient. This is especially true for medicines for diabetics and cancer patients,” she said.

Sweden will continue discussions with Turkey to overcome objections raised by Ankara over Stockholm’s bid to join the NATO alliance, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said Thursday.

”Sweden is working diligently towards a quick and seamless entry into NATO,” Billstrom told reporters in Berlin, following a meeting with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock.

While all 30 NATO members formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance after approving their applications back in summer, Turkey and Hungary have yet to ratify the accession protocol.

Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed a joint memorandum in June, when Helsinki and Stockholm committed to address Ankara’s security concerns around terrorism and arms exports.

Billstrom said that dialogue would continue ”on all levels” and that he would go to Turkey this autumn, while in the meantime, talks between authorities in Sweden, Turkey and Finland would continue.

Baerbock said that Berlin sent a clear signal to Hungary, saying that there is ”no gray area” in the terms of ratification of Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO.

”For all our security — not only for Finland and Sweden — but for our European security, it is important that these ratifications are carried out together by the end of the year, ” she said.

Ukraine’s military said it had retaken swathes of territory in Kherson on Thursday after Moscow ordered a partial withdrawal from the area, though officials in Kyiv warned that retreating Russian soldiers could turn the regional capital into a “city of death” on their way out.

A military spokesperson said that in just 24 hours, Ukrainian forces had pushed the front line in the key southern region of Kherson forward by 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) and taken control of more than 260 square kilometers of territory (100 square miles). Kyiv said it took control of the towns of Snihurivka and Kyselivka, both of which sit along key roads leading into Kherson city, the regional capital. Kyselivka is located about 15 kilometers (9 miles) away from Kherson city.

Moscow on Wednesday said its troops would withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River, an area that includes Kherson city, in one of the biggest military setbacks for Russia since its invasion began. A spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry said that effort began the following day.

Officials in Kyiv, however, have treated the announcement with skepticism. Kherson is one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia attempted to annex in violation of international law, and some doubt that Moscow would give up fighting for a territory filled with people that Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed would be Russian citizens “forever.”

Ukrainian officials are also concerned that the Russian military will embrace scorched-earth tactics and leave behind a trail of devastation in the wake of their withdrawal. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, alleged Thursday that Russia “wants to turn Kherson into a ‘city of death.’”

Ukrainian military spokesperson Vladyslav Nazarov said Russian forces were continuing to shell areas recaptured by the Ukrainian military and attempted to strike humanitarian aid distribution points.

However, signs of the retreat have begun to emerge. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Washington had seen the “beginnings” of a Russian withdrawal in Kherson. Satellite imagery taken last week of Russian-occupied Crimea showed trenches being dug near the border with Kherson, a possible sign that Russian military leaders are nervous about the progress of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

KHERSON OBLAST, UKRAINE - NOVEMBER 09: Ukrainian Armed Forces' military mobility continue toward Kherson front in Ukraine on November 9, 2022. Ukrainian army continue to support its units in Kherson as Russia-Ukraine war continues. (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Related article Ukraine claims big gains in south, but fears retreating Russians will turn Kherson into 'city of death' | CNN

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on Thursday expressed caution about Moscow ordering a partial withdrawal from occupied parts of Ukraine’s Kherson region, saying “we’ll believe it when we see it,” according to PA media.  

He added that it would be a “significant psychological blow” for Russian troops if they left the area, PA reported.  

“Of course, this is Russia, so we haven’t yet seen them leave en masse,” Wallace said.  

A destroyed building in a village near the newly recaptured city of Snihurivka, in the Mykolaiv region, Ukraine, on November 10.

As Russian forces partially withdraw in the Kherson region, Ukrainian authorities in neighboring Mykolaiv are hoping for some respite from the persistent missile attacks that have hit the city over the past few months.

Vitalii Kim, head of Mykolaiv regional administration, said on his Telegram channel that there is “lots of good news for today. We are preparing to reconnect electricity, heat, humanitarian aid kits, medicines, etc.”

The last few settlements in the Mykolaiv region occupied by the Russians have now been liberated, but Kim said, “We continue to remain silent, because it is all the military’s business.” 

No groups or journalists would be allowed to visit liberated villages, he said.

Kim also had a message for people who had left the now-liberated town of Snihurivka: “Do not rush to return, it is too early.”

An image from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol shows smoke clouding the evening skyline.

The Ukrainian mayor of the city, Ivan Fedorov, said on Telegram that there were “4 loud explosions that the whole city heard.”

Fedorov, who is not in Melitopol himself, said, “we are clarifying the details.”

The city has been occupied by the Russians since the early days of the invasion but in recent months, military targets and railroads have been regularly attacked by long-range Ukrainian artillery. 

A destroyed Russian tank in the outskirts of Ivanivka, a liberated village in the Kherson region, Ukraine, on November 9.

The Russian-appointed “head” of Kherson vowed on Thursday to defend all territory of the region, despite Russia’s decision to transfer its troops to the east bank of the Dnipro River, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.  

“Yes, it’s hard for us now, but still we will defend our land. Our land in the Kherson region, all its territory, all its people will definitely be part of the Russian Federation,” Vladimir Saldo in a video address shared with RIA Novosti. 

Despite Saldo’s claims, a number of social media videos from the west bank of the Kherson region found by CNN show that Ukrainian troops are advancing and appear to be encountering little resistance. 

Saldo added that the situation in the region is now turbulent, and Russian leadership is forced to make “difficult decisions,” adding that “justice will be restored, because it is worth fighting for.” 

On Thursday, the deputy head of the Russian-installed Kherson regional administration, Ekaterina Gubareva, told RIA that civilians retain the opportunity to leave from the west-bank part of the Kherson region, despite the organized departure already being stopped. 

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed reporting to this post.

The Hagglunds Bv410 IRIS-T platform, equipped to shoot air defence missiles from the ground, pictured here in 2018 in Berlin, Germany.

Germany on Thursday pledged to send additional military support to Ukraine, including three crucial IRIS-T SLM air defense systems and IRIS-T missile, according to a statement published by the German government.

Kyiv appealed for more German IRIS-T SLM units in late October following days of heavy attacks by Russian missiles. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the high-tech IRIS-T SLM as “one of the most modern air defense systems in the world” during a visit to Ukraine in late October.

Germany has already delivered one IRIS-T SLM air-to-air missile system to Ukraine. 

Berlin also said it would supply Kyiv with 42 mine-clearing tanks; four mobile and protected mine-clearing systems; four mobile, remote-controlled and protected mine-clearing systems; and five mobile reconnaissance systems on vehicles, according to the German government’s statement.

The German government did not provide dates of delivery until after handing over the armaments and supplies, the statement said.

Germany also announced it had over the past week delivered to Kyiv an unspecified number of IRIS-T SLM missiles, 30 armored infantry mobility vehicles (DINGO), four additional anti-drone sensors and jammers, five tank transporter tractor M1070 Oshkosh units, and one additional lift truck.

Julia Kesaieva contributed reporting to this post.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Operational Command South said Russian forces are regrouping in Kherson and “taking measures to partially withdraw troops to the east bank of the Dnipro.”

Spokesperson Vladyslav Nazarov confirmed Ukrainian advances, saying that “over the past day, our troops at the junction of Kherson and Mykolaiv regions moved the front line by 7 kilometers [about 4 miles]. They liberated almost 260 square kilometers [about 100 square miles] of territory and 12 settlements.”

But the Operational Command warned that Russian forces “continue to shell the liberated territories and deep rear areas.”

It said that on Thursday morning, Russian troops shelled the recently liberated village of Zolota Balka in northeastern Kherson. 

“They tried to hit the humanitarian aid distribution points and administrative buildings of the authorities. Private yards were damaged,” it added.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on October 12.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said the US is seeing the “beginnings” of Russian forces withdrawing from Kherson.

“You are seeing the withdrawal of Russian forces out of Kherson. We’re seeing the beginnings of that. It was announced yesterday by [Russian] Defense Minister [Sergey] Shoigu. So that’s happening,” Milley said in an interview on CNBC.

On Wednesday, Russian state media said that Shoigu had ordered a withdrawal of Russian forces from the west bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region.

Milley said the Ukrainians have fought the Russian military “to a standstill.”

His comments came after ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Social media video emerging from the Kherson region in southern Ukraine shows Ukrainian troops moving into several villages — some heavily damaged — and examining what appear to be piles of ammunition boxes left behind by Russian soldiers.

In the village of Bruskynske in northern Kherson, soldiers received an emotional welcome from several elderly residents who appear to have stayed through the occupation. The civilians told soldiers that the Russians had killed six people through shelling and others had died during the occupation of the village, which lasted for at least six months. 

A soldier then warned the civilians that “the military situation is uncertain, the [Russians] are pulling out and will be shelling [the village].”

Another video showed civilians turning out to greet soldiers arriving in the village of Pavlivka on the border of the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

Ukrainian soldiers also appeared with a flag at the town hall in Kyselivka, only about 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) from Kherson city on the Dnipro River.

The videos are from a wide range of places, from Stanislav — which is close to the Black Sea — to a broad arc more than 200 kilometers (about 124 miles) north and east. They indicate the Ukrainians are taking territory on several fronts on the west bank of Kherson region simultaneously, apparently encountering little resistance.

The Ukrainian progress through Kherson follows the decision announced Wednesday by the Russian military to pull its forces back to the east bank of the Dnipro.