June 5, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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

Drone video emerged late Monday showing a deluge of water gushing from a sizable breach in the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Operational Command South on Tuesday confirmed the dam’s destruction in a post on their official Facebook saying they were assessing the scale of the destruction and calculating likely areas of flooding.

However, the Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontiev, on Tuesday denied information about the dam collapsing in an interview with Russian state media RIA Novosti, calling it “nonsense.”

The torrent of water seen escaping from the dam in the video has the potential to cause major destruction around Kherson city and other populated areas along the Dnipro River, according to analysts who have been fearing this breach could occur in the fighting.

The flooding could lead to the deaths of thousands of people, according to Russian state media on Tuesday.

The video posted on social media has been geolocated by CNN. 

Both Russia and Ukraine have since October 2022 repeatedly accused each of planning to breach the dam using explosives, according to Reuters.  

It is impossible to say who is responsible for the damage caused to the dam at this time.

Drone footage, released June 5 by the Russian Defense Ministry shows a burning armored vehicle in an unidentified location.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday (local time) that Ukrainian forces carried out a military operation in southern Donetsk on Monday in an attempt to advance, but that the advance was stopped after the Ukrainians suffered “heavy losses.”

The Russian ministry had also said Monday its troops repelled a “large-scale offensive” by Ukrainian forces in southern Donetsk.

On Monday, Ukrainian forces were “hit with a complex weapons strike by the army forces, assault and operational-tactical aviation, missile forces, and artillery, as well as heavy thermobaric systems,” the Russian ministry said Tuesday on its Telegram channel.

The ministry also claimed Russian forces destroyed “28 tanks, including eight main battle Leopard tanks,” and 109 armored fighting vehicles.

CNN could not independently verify the report, and it has reached out to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry for comment and has yet to hear back.

Ukrainian soldiers stand in their positions near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Monday, June 5.

Ukrainian officials claimed that units had retaken territory on the northern and southern flanks of the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut. Ukraine’s defense minister said units are “carrying out offensive actions” around the city.

Allied countries continue to pledge their support and watch for the looming Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Here’s what to know:

Groups of Ukrainian pilots have been selected for training in the UK where they will learn to fly modern fighter jets, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Monday.

In a post on Telegram, Shmyhal said that he had thanked British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who is visiting Kyiv, for, “his leadership in creating the ‘coalition of fighter jets’” that Ukraine is lobbying for – and for, “his commitment to train our pilots,” he said.

His Telegram post had earlier said the pilots were headed to the UK, but it was updated later in the day to say they had been selected for training there.

The UK does not have the US-made F-16 fighter jets that Ukraine wants but said after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit last month that it would give “cohorts of Ukrainian pilots… basic training” that they could “apply [to] a different kind of aircraft.”

US President Joe Biden gave his backing for Kyiv’s pilots to be trained on US-made F-16s at the G7 summit in Japan on May 19. The training has started in several EU countries, the bloc’s High Representative, Josep Borrell, told reporters last month. 

Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands are among the countries that have said they will participate in the training. The Netherlands said on May 26 that – despite helping to lead the effort – it had not yet decided whether to deliver the jets to Ukraine. 

Correction: This post and headline have been updated to reflect that the pilots have been selected for training in the UK.

President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during his nightly address on Monday, June 5.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised troops fighting around Bakhmut after officials claimed that units had retaken territory on the northern and southern flanks of the embattled eastern city. 

Earlier, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar claimed on Telegram that Ukraine was “carrying out offensive actions” along the eastern front line and had advanced some 200 to 1,600 meters around the settlements of Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Paraskoviivka to the north of Bakhmut, and some 100 to 700 meters around Ivanivske and Klishchiivka, which are southwest of the city. 

One person is dead and several others injured after a Russian rocket attack on a residential area in Balaklia in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region on Monday, a local official said.

Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the regional military administration, said nine people were hurt. The person who died was a 57-year-old man, the regional prosecutor’s office said in a post on its Telegram channel.

Balaklia is a town in the Izium district of the Kharkiv region.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stands in front of an F-16 fighter jet in the colors of the Danish flag as she visits the Fighter Wing Skrydstrup Air Base near Vojens, Denmark, on May 25.

President Joe Biden welcomed Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to the White House for an Oval Office bilateral meeting Monday, calling Denmark “one of our greatest allies and most reliable friends.” 

The president thanked Frederiksen for meeting his granddaughters during their last visit together, who he said, “are still talking about their meeting with the prime minister,” and wished the PM a happy Constitution Day, noting the Danish holiday, “reflects the fact that we have the same values.” 

The subplot to their conversation about Ukraine and transatlantic security is Frederiksen’s next step.

Frederiksen is widely viewed as a potential contender to replace NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who is expected to step down from the post later this year.

The position traditionally goes to a European but would require sign-off by the United States. 

Some European diplomats speculate her visit to the White House is an opportunity for Biden and his team to sound her out about the top NATO job.

Frederiksen has said she isn’t currently in the running to head up the military alliance.

“I am not a candidate for the job,” she told reporters in Copenhagen, according to Reuters.

Still, that hasn’t quieted speculation she may be in a leading position to earn Biden’s endorsement for the job.

Other candidates for NATO Secretary General could include Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. Yet the alliance has never previously been led by a woman.

The White House has declined to say whether Biden will discuss the position with Frederiksen on Monday in the Oval Office.

“I’m just not going to get into any speculation as far as that,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week. 

Instead, White House officials say the two will discuss the war in Ukraine, and Biden’s recent reversal to allow F16 fighter jets into the country as a long-term deterrence to Russian aggression. That conversation will continue Thursday when Biden hosts British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Ukrainian soldiers ride an APC on the frontline near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Monday, June 5

The Ukrainian offensive is “taking place in several directions,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television on Monday. 

“It is not only about Bakhmut. The offensive is taking place in several directions. We are happy about every meter. Today is a successful day for our forces,” she said.

Earlier, Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app that the country’s troops were “carrying out offensive actions” on the eastern front and had “advanced in several directions” around the city of Bakhmut: near the settlements of Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Paraskoviivka to the north, and near Ivanivske and Klishchiivka to the southwest. 

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, also spoke of “an offensive assault” by the Ukrainians “on the southern and northern flanks of Bakhmut” on national TV on Monday. 

 CNN cannot verify the battlefield reports.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed its troops resisted a “large-scale” attack from Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region, heightening speculation that Kyiv will soon launch a spring counteroffensive that could swing the course of the conflict.

Both Ukraine and Russia have engaged in intense information campaigns to sway public opinion and mislead their opponents about their battle plans.

Monday’s announcement from the Russian side was no exception: The Russian military claimed in a statement to have killed 250 Ukrainians and destroyed armored vehicles used in the assault, but provided scant evidence.

A spokesperson for the Ukraine Armed Forces, Bohdan Senyk, told CNN that Ukraine does “not have information” on a purported “large-scale offensive” in Donetsk.

Moscow is known to make inflated claims about Ukrainian losses. CNN has been unable to independently verify the claim.

In a post on its official Telegram feed, the ministry said the assault took place at “five section of the front in the southern Donetsk direction.”

The ministry claimed the goal of the Ukrainian operation was “to break through” Russian defenses in what it considered to be “the most vulnerable area of the front.”

At the time of the attack, Russia’s top general Valery Gerasimov “was at one of the forward command and control posts,” the statement added.

Read more.

Ukrainian forces appear to destroy Russian positions close to Bakhmut in this screengrab taken from a video released on June 4.

Ukrainian troops are making advances on the eastern front around the city of Bakhmut, according to deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.

Ground troops were “carrying out offensive actions” and had “advanced in several directions” near the settlements of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Paraskoviivka, Ivanivske and Klishchiivka, she said in a post on Telegram on Monday.

Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Paraskoviivka are both north of Bakhmut and Ivanivske and Klishchiivka are to the southwest.

CNN cannot verify the battlefield reports. 

Earlier, Maliar had said on Telegram that Ukrainian troops were, “switching to offensive actions in some directions” and had taken over the “dominant heights” around Bakhmut. 

One Ukrainian officer deployed in the area said his brigade was “gradually advancing.”

“Today, our 3rd Separate Assault Brigade has resumed its advance near Bakhmut. We are gradually advancing, taking new positions. The Russians are nervous,” Maj. Maksym Zhorin said on Telegram on Monday.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Monday. 

The UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, “Ukraine can count on the UK’s support” while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Monday, according to the UK foreign office.

Cleverly’s visit to the Ukrainian capital comes ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London late this month, focusing on re-building and bolstering the country’s economic outlook.

Monday’s trip is Cleverly’s second visit to Kyiv and the fourth meeting between UK senior ministers and President Zelensky in recent weeks. Cleverly also met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on Monday to discuss how to best support Ukraine “from the battlefield to banking guarantees.”

Cleverly also met children who the foreign office say were forcibly deported to Russia.

“Forcibly deporting children, razing cities like Bakhmut, Izium and Mariupol to the ground and committing atrocities are not the acts of a responsible international state. They are the actions of a hostile regime that is in violation of the UN Charter,” Cleverly stated.

Zelensky thanked Cleverly for coming to Kyiv and for the “really big support what UK gave and giving, still giving and we hope will prolong this support to Ukraine.”

“And I want to thank for the last one, it is about opening possibility for training missions for our pilots on fighter jets and also the possibility to open discussion about coalition of Patriots. That is also really important. I am happy that all the leaders understood that during this period of time when we have such big escalation by attacking of different kind of rockets and during all this period when we don’t have fighter jets, we need really something to close the sky. And we understand the name of this something,” Zelensky said.

An “emergency address” supposedly made by President Vladimir Putin that aired on some Russian radio stations on Monday was fake and the broadcast was the result of a “hack,” the Kremlin spokesperson said according to reports in Russian state media. 

The “fake” audio message included false claims that “Ukrainian troops have invaded the territory of the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions, martial law has been introduced on the territory of these regions, an order on general mobilization will be signed today, residents of the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions are asked to evacuate deep into Russia,” the Belgorod regional government said.  

Some background: Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, has seen a rise in shelling in recent days following an incursion in late May by anti-Putin Russians aligned with the Ukrainian military.

State news agency RIA said “hacking” had also been reported in the Voronezh region today. 

Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar addresses a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 15.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar has said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that Russia was spreading information about a Ukrainian counteroffensive “to divert attention” from what she said were challenges the invading army faced around Bakhmut in the east.

In Bakhmut – which Maliar said “remained the epicentre” of the fighting – Ukraine is having some “success” as it takes over the “dominant heights” around the city, she claimed.

In her Telegram post, Maliar also said Ukrainian troops are “switching to offensive actions in some directions,” but framed that as part of Ukraine’s overall “defense operation” that began after Russia launched its attempt at a full-scale invasion in February last year.

Earlier Monday, Maliar and other officials posted a social media video urging silence over any potential news of a counteroffensive.

People take part in an opposition rally to protest against the recent countrywide increase of power rates and prices in Chisinau, Moldova, on February 28.

The Biden administration on Monday imposed on “seven leading members of a Russian intelligence-linked malign influence group” for their roles in trying to destabilize the government of Moldova.

According to the US Treasury Department, those who were sanctioned Monday were involved in a plot involving anti-government protests in Moldova earlier this year in an effort “to foment a manufactured insurrection against the Moldovan government.”

The people hit with the sanctions Monday are Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, Yury Yuryevich Makolov, Gleb Maksimovich Khloponin, Svetlana Andreyevna Boyko, Aleksey Vyacheslavovich Losev, Vasily Viktorovich Gromovikov and Anna Travnikova.

In addition, the Treasury Department alleges that the actors sanctioned Monday “are part of a large global information operation connected to the Russian Federation that targets Ukraine, countries bordering Ukraine including Moldova, Balkan countries, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.”

“These actors provoked, trained, and oversaw groups in democratic countries that conduct anti-government protests, rallies, marches, and demonstrations. These malign influence operatives analyze countries vulnerable to exploitation and stoke fears that undermine faith in democratic principles in the targeted countries,” they said.

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. Milley attends a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on February 14.

While Ukraine is “very well prepared” for a counteroffensive against Russia, it is “too early to tell what outcomes are going to happen,” the top US general told CNN Monday.

“They’re in a war that’s an existential threat for the very survival of Ukraine and has greater meaning for the rest of the world — for Europe, really for the United States, but also for the globe,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said in an in an exclusive interview with CNN in Normandy, France.

Milley, who is retiring this year, is in Normandy to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the 1944 D-Day invasion — a massive World War II operation — as the war continues to rage in Ukraine.

For months now, the US and its allies have been helping arm Ukraine for the counteroffensive.

Meanwhile, the war has also begun creeping into Russia, as suspected Ukrainian drone strikes hit inside Moscow and a shelling attack was carried out in Belgorod. Asked Monday if such attacks would risk escalating the conflict, Milley said there is “always risk” of escalation, and it’s something the US is watching “very, very carefully.” 

Read more of the interview here.

Ukrainian forces destroy Russian positions close to Bakhmut, near Klischiivka, Donetsk Region, Ukraine, in this screengrab taken from a video released on June 4.

Ukrainian Armed Forces have taken back some land north of the city of Bakhmut, according to Russian private military company Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Berkhovka has already been lost and the troops are getting out of there, he said in an audio message on Telegram.

Some context: Wagner forces are in the final stages of completing their withdrawal from Bakhmut following the capture of the city. In recent weeks, Ukraine has launched successful counteroffensives in the north and south of the city with some success. 

Russian officials have claimed that Ukraine has launched assaults on several fronts. The Ministry of Defense claimed to have repelled what it described as a “large-scale offensive” by Ukrainian forces. Elsewhere, Russian-appointed officials in Zaporizhzhia claimed they are facing intense shelling from Ukrainian forces along the Azov Sea.

Meanwhile, CNN has reported that Kyiv may be working with a network of pro-Ukrainian agents inside Russia to launch drone attacks on Russian targets.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukraine does “not have information” on the “large-scale offensive” that Russian claims was launched against them in Donetsk region, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces Bohdan Senyk, told CNN.

On Monday, Russia claimed they have repelled, killed and captured multiple Ukrainian units in the region, but did not provide any evidence of the fact.

The Russian Defense Ministry has claimed to have thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian forces to enter the Russian territory near Novaya Tavolzhanka in the bordering Belgorod region.

“Yesterday [Sunday], units of the Armed Forces and the Border Service of the FSB of Russia thwarted an attempt by two groups of Ukrainian terrorists to penetrate the territory of the Belgorod region near the settlement of Novaya Tavolzhanka, Belgorod region,” the ministry said in a statement Monday.

The statement claims that on Sunday at approximately 1 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET), the two unnamed groups tried to “force the Seversky Donets River and land on the outskirts of the Novaya Tavolzhanka settlement in the Belgorod Region under the cover of intensive artillery shelling of civilian targets.”

The formations were destroyed by air strikes and artillery fire from the cover units of the state border, the ministry added.

CNN cannot independently verify Russia’s claims.

This follows Belgorod region Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov saying a Ukrainian “sabotage and reconnaissance group” entered the territory of Shebekino in the Belgorod region. “Ukrainian terrorists wanted to cross the river near the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, but our servicemen stopped them,” he added.