July 9, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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

US President Joe Biden, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by phone Sunday as he flew on Air Force One to the United Kingdom, a White House official told CNN. 

The leaders agreed to meet face-to-face during the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, to discuss Turkey-US relations and regional issues in detail, the Turkish presidency’s communication office said in a statement.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed to reporters that the two leaders spoke in a “45-minute, hour-long conversation.”

“They talked about a number of issues relative to the upcoming summit, including the war in Ukraine and Turkey’s really robust and stalwart support, including quite concrete military support for Ukraine’s defensive needs,” he said.

Turkey’s objections on Sweden: The call comes as Turkey continues to block Sweden’s bid to join the NATO alliance. Finland and Sweden formally applied to be part of the security alliance in May 2022, propelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Finland was admitted this April.

But Turkey’s objections to Sweden’s efforts continue, which could prove a major embarrassment and source of weakness for the alliance. All NATO member countries must agree on any additional country’s membership. 

Turkey’s long-standing resistance centers on its claim that Sweden allows members of recognized Kurdish terror groups to operate in its country. A recent Quran burning demonstration in Sweden has exacerbated the issue.

On the call, Erdoğan told Biden that Sweden has taken some steps in the right direction in order for Turkey to support its bid “by making changes in the anti-terrorism legislation,” his office said. But these steps were not effective because “supporters of the terrorist organization” continue to “freely hold demonstrations in praise of terrorism,” he continued.

Biden’s role: Erdoğan is set to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Monday in Vilnius. 

While Sweden’s government is playing a key role in the negotiations, NATO leaders are looking to Biden for what the US can offer to Turkey.

Turkey wants the US Congress to approve its purchase of US-made F-16 fighter jets. While US officials are reluctant to tie the Sweden issue and F-16s overtly, officials say that behind the scenes there is an obvious deal to be done. 

In an interview with CNN, Biden said he was optimistic that Sweden would eventually be admitted to NATO, noting that Turkey is seeking to modernize its F-16 fleet, along with Greece, which has voted to admit Sweden.

“Turkey is looking for modernization of F-16 aircraft. And (Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos) Mitsotakis in Greece is also looking for some help,” Biden said. “And so, what I’m trying to, quite frankly, put together is a little bit of a consortium here, where we’re strengthening NATO in terms of military capacity of both Greece as well as Turkey, and allow Sweden to come in. But it’s in play. It’s not done.”

In his comments to reporters, Sullivan confirmed Biden and Erdoğan discussed the sale of F-16 jets to Turkey on Sunday, and that Biden “reiterated his long-standing and quite public commitment and support for the provision of F-16s to Turkey.”

CNN’s DJ Judd, Mariya Knight and Gul Tuysuz contributed to this report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Lutsk, Ukraine, on July 9.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a brief meeting with his Polish counterpart President Andrzej Duda during a surprise visit Sunday to Lutsk, a regional capital in northwestern Ukraine. 

Some background: Poland is one of Kyiv’s closest allies, often leading the way in urging members of the NATO military alliance to send Ukraine more supplies.

Ukrainian-Polish relations have flourished in the face of Moscow’s war. Poles – like their neighbors – have long been wary of the Russian threat, and keeping Moscow at bay has been considered a crucial joint objective of each nation.

You can read more about some of the key storylines heading into the NATO summit, which begins Tuesday, here.

CNN’s Rob Picheta and Radina Gigova contributed reporting to this post.

US President Joe Biden’s attendance at the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, starting Tuesday comes at a critical time for the military alliance.

The backdrop, of course, is Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, which is posing the biggest threat to global stability for the alliance in recent history.

Biden will be a key player on a host of critical issues as leaders gather in Vilnius, a city on NATO’s eastern frontier that sits approximately 20 miles from the Belarusian border.

Ukraine’s path to NATO membership: Ukraine’s eventual accession is taking on increasing urgency and is likely to be one of the biggest flash points for the group as the war drags on.

NATO first welcomed Ukraine’s membership aspirations during a 2008 meeting in Bucharest, Romania, but little progress has been made and the timeline remains uncertain. And while the US has said Ukraine will not be joining NATO as a member coming out of this meeting, the Vilnius summit presents a critical opportunity to take tangible steps toward that end in an important show of unity.

Biden will serve as a key player in determining what specific, measurable criteria or timelines, if any, are offered to Ukraine for NATO membership during this summit.

Sweden’s stalled accession: Observers will also be closely watching how the leaders interact with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as he continues to block Sweden’s bid to join the alliance. Finland and Sweden formally applied to be part of the security alliance in May 2022, propelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Finland was admitted this April. But Turkey’s objections to Sweden’s efforts continue, which could prove a major embarrassment and source of weakness for the alliance.

Biden has already made a notable show of support in welcoming his Swedish counterpart, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, to the White House Wednesday and voicing full-throated support for its accession.

Leaders will also be looking to Biden for what the US can offer to Turkey to grease the wheels. Turkey wants Congress to approve its purchase of US-made F-16 fighter jets. While US officials are reluctant to tie the Sweden issue and F-16s overtly, officials say that behind the scenes there is an obvious deal to be done.

Assistance to Ukraine: As leaders gather, experts are also watching for whether the alliance can offer any additional long-term security assistance to Ukraine, including the possibility of additional F-16 fighter jets. Such long-term investments can serve as a key signal to Russia of NATO’s long-term support for Ukraine.

Biden informed G7 leaders in May that the US will support a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation aircraft, including F-16s.

It remains to be seen what he may announce as he convenes with NATO allies.

Read more about Biden’s trip, including his priorities during a stop in London and at a gathering of Nordic leaders, here.

Air defenses shot down missiles in the Russian border regions of Rostov and Bryansk, local officials said Sunday.

Rostov’s regional Gov. Vasily Golubev claimed a Ukrainian missile was shot down in the area between the Russian towns of Kamensk and Donetsk, adding that shrapnel partially damaged the roofs of several buildings.

Russian defenses also shot down two Ukrainian missiles over the Bryansk region, located at the northern end of the border with Ukraine, according to the region’s Gov. Alexander Bogomaz.

Neither official said anyone had been wounded or killed.

Ukraine has not yet publicly commented on the attacks, and CNN cannot independently verify battlefield reports from either side of the conflict.

Attacks across the border: The governors’ reports come one day after officials in the western Russian region of Belgorod reported heavy shelling that wounded two people. The region’s governor said Ukraine had launched over 100 artillery shells at Belgorod over the course of 24 hours.

There have been more reports of drone attacks, shelling and incursions by anti-Kremlin Russians in the past few months as the effects of Moscow’s war in Ukraine reverberate back onto its own territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a service commemorating victims of World War II at the Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral in Lutsk, Ukraine, on July 9.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging NATO to provide a united response to Ukraine’s membership bid ahead of the alliance summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

“It would be an important message to say that NATO is not afraid of Russia. Ukraine should get clear security guarantees while it is not in NATO. Only under these conditions, our meeting would be meaningful, otherwise it’s just another politics,” he added.

Zelensky also touched on the counteroffensive, admitting Ukraine would like it to be advancing at a faster pace.

“All of us, we want to do it faster because every day means new losses of Ukrainians,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine is “advancing” and is “not stuck in one place.”

The Ukrainian president told ABC that F-16s and any other equipment Ukraine needs “will give us an opportunity to move faster, to save more lives, to stand our ground for a longer time.”

“Some weapons we have been provided by our allies help us save lives and I appreciate that. Of course foot dragging will lead to more lives lost.”

Ukraine is not yet ready for NATO membership and the war needs to end before the alliance can consider adding Kyiv to its ranks, US President Joe Biden said in an interview with CNN that aired Sunday.

The US decision to send Ukraine cluster bombs — controversial weapons that are banned by many nations for their potential risk to civilians — has drawn both criticism and praise from elected officials.

Here’s what two US lawmakers had to say Sunday, and how President Joe Biden’s administration is justifying its decision.

A “game-changer” for Kyiv: House Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, said he supports sending the cluster bombs to Ukraine, arguing Russia is already dropping cluster bombs of its own with “impunity.”

McCaul said the weapons would be a “game-changer” in the counteroffensive.

The US is “crossing a line”: Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat and the lone member of Congress to vote against the war in Afghanistan, told CNN “cluster bombs should never be used. That’s crossing a line.”

“I think the president’s been doing a good job managing this war, this Putin aggressive war against Ukraine, but I think that this should not happen,” Lee said.

“We risk losing our moral leadership,” she added.

Lee did not answer whether she believed the Biden administration will be committing war crimes by supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions. “I’m hoping that the administration would reconsider,” she said.

What the White House is saying: The administration has argued that Russia is already using the weapon and “indiscriminately killing civilians.”

“We are very mindful of the concerns about civilian casualties and unexploded ordnance being picked up by civilians or children and being hurt,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told ABC on Sunday.

“We’re going to focus with Ukraine on demining efforts. In fact, we’re doing it right now and we will when war conditions permit, but these munitions do provide a useful battlefield capability,” he said.

Kirby said Russia has launched “an aggressive war on another country,” while Ukraine will use the weapons to “defend their own territory.” Ultimately, he continued, an unchecked Russia will cause more harm to civilians than Kyiv’s use of cluster bombs.

He also alluded to the US-supplied bombs’ lower “dud” rate, meaning the bomblets dropped by the weapons are much less likely not to explode upon hitting the ground (and therefore pose a long-term threat) than some of the older versions of the weapon used by Russia.

President Joe Biden speaks with CNN's Fareed Zakaria during a televised interview inside the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on July 7.

Ukraine is not yet ready for NATO membership and the war needs to end before the alliance can consider adding Kyiv to its ranks, US President Joe Biden said in an interview with CNN that aired Sunday.

While discussion of Ukraine’s imminent membership in NATO is premature, the US and its allies in NATO will continue to provide President Volodymyr Zelensky and his forces the security and weaponry they need to try to end the war with Russia, Biden told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

Biden spoke to Zakaria ahead of his weeklong trip to Europe, which includes a NATO summit in Lithuania, where Russia’s war in Ukraine and Zelensky’s push for NATO membership will be among the key issues looming over the gathering.

Biden said that he’s spoken to Zelensky at length about the issue, saying he’s told the Ukrainian president the US would keep providing security and weaponry for Ukraine like it does for Israel while the process plays out.

“I think we have to lay out a rational path for Ukraine to be able to qualify to be able to get into NATO,” Biden said, noting that he refused Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands before the war for a commitment not to admit Ukraine because the alliance has “an open-door policy.”

“But I think it’s premature to say, to call for a vote, you know, in now, because there’s other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization and some of those issues,” Biden said.

The NATO meeting also comes as Sweden is seeking to join the Western alliance, a move that has faced resistance from Turkey and Hungary. Biden said he was optimistic that Sweden would eventually be admitted to NATO, noting the key holdout, Turkey, is seeking to modernize its F-16 fleet, along with Greece, which has voted to admit Sweden.

On cluster munitions: The White House announced Friday that the US was sending Ukraine cluster munitions for the first time, a step taken to help bolster Kyiv’s ammunition stores as it mounts a counteroffensive against Russia. Biden said it was a “difficult decision” to give Ukraine the controversial weapons, but that he was convinced it was necessary.

“This is a war relating to munitions. And they’re running out of that ammunition,” Biden said.

There are more than 100 countries, including the UK, France, and Germany, who have outlawed the munitions under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. But the US and Ukraine are not signatories to the ban.

Read more from CNN’s exclusive interview with Biden here.

It has been 501 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On the first day of the war in February 2022, Russian troops began a siege on Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city on the shores of the Black Sea. It finally fell under complete Russian control in May after the surrender of Azovstal — a giant steelworks that had become the city’s last bastion of defense and a powerful symbol of resistance. The Russian military claimed that over 2,000 Ukrainian service members surrendered there.

On Saturday, many of the commanders were freed in a prisoner swap. Their next destination? Back to the front lines.

Here’s more on that story and some of the other latest developments:

Traffic was temporarily suspended on the Kerch bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia after air defenses shot down a cruise missile on Sunday, according to Russian-appointed officials.

However, shortly afterwards, Crimea’s transport minister Nikolai Lukashenko said that traffic had resumed.

The Russian-installed head of the Crimea region, Sergey Aksyonov, claimed on Sunday that air defenses shot down a cruise missile near Kerch. He did not specify where the missile had been launched from or provide any further details.

No injuries or casualties have been recorded, according to Aksyonov.

The 11-mile bridge linking Crimea with mainland Russia was attacked last October, causing big disruption to transport.

The reported downed missile near the Kerch bridge comes shortly after Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar made what appeared to be the clearest admission yet that Ukrainian forces had launched an attack on the bridge last October, the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday.

Black smoke billows from a fire on the Kerch bridge that links Crimea to Russia, after a truck exploded, near Kerch, on October 8, 2022.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar has made what appears to be the clearest admission yet that Ukrainian forces were responsible for an attack last October on the bridge connecting Russia and Crimea, which Moscow has controlled since it seized the peninsula in 2014.

Listing 12 Ukrainian achievements since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion 500 days ago, Maliar wrote on Telegram:

The Telegram message also mentioned the sinking of the Russian warship Moskva (451 days ago) and the liberation of Snake Island (373 days ago).

CNN has contacted the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a statement about the claim of responsibility of the bridge explosion but has yet to receive a response.

Some background: The attack on the Kerch bridge, which disrupted major transport links between mainland Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula, not only struck a blow against Russia’s military effort in Ukraine but also represented a psychological blow for Moscow and a major propaganda victory for Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials celebrated the blast at the time but did not make a clear claim of responsibility.

It took place the day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin turned 70, and Ukraine’s Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov published a video of the bridge in flames alongside a video of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mister President.”

Among other responses, the Ukrainian navy posted on Facebook, “Air defense of the Russian Federation, are you sleeping?” alongside a video showing a section of the bridge’s road that had been completely destroyed.

The leaders of Ukraine and Poland attended a church service in the northwestern Ukrainian city of Lutsk on Sunday.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda stood in front of the church to exchange greetings and share an embrace in a televised event.

Lutsk is in the far west of Ukraine, close to the border with Poland.

Poland has provided large amounts of support for Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion. More than 12 million Ukrainians have crossed the border into Poland since February 2022, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

A view shows Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol after the Nova Kakhovka dam breach in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on June 16, 2023.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Sunday that NATO leaders should discuss the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine at its upcoming summit this week, since most alliance members would find themselves in the “direct hit zone.”

In her post, Zakharova quoted Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, who posted on Saturday that it was “273 days since the first strike on the Crimean bridge to disrupt the Russians’ logistics.”

Zakharova responded by calling Ukraine “a terrorist regime.”

Some context: Alarm began to spread last week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russian troops placed “objects resembling explosives” on roofs at the ZNPP – “perhaps to simulate an attack on the plant,” he said.

The ZNPP has been under the control of Russian troops since March last year, but has continued to be operated by its original Ukrainian staff, who reported initially being forced to work at “gunpoint” by the invading Russian troops.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has long flirted with this nuclear specter since launching his invasion of Ukraine – but Zelensky’s comments raised the prospect that he may cause a nuclear incident not by firing warheads, but by turning the ZNPP itself into a weapon.

However, Zakharova’s claim that the “majority” of NATO members will find themselves in the hit zone is false. Each of the six reactors at the ZNPP have been put into a “cold shutdown” mode – due to an unprecedented intervention by the UN’s nuclear watchdog – limiting the chances of a large-scale nuclear disaster.

If the reported explosives were to detonate, the effects would not recreate the sort of destruction seen after the meltdown of the active Chernobyl plant in 1986. “A plume will come off the reactor where there will be radiation aerosolized,” William Alberque, director of Strategy, Technology and Arms Control at the International Institute for Strategy Studies, told CNN.

This would create a radiation zone close to the ZNPP where “you’ll have a higher chance of cancer over the next 40 years,” but would not have anywhere close to the effect described by Zakhorova.

Read more about the situation at the ZNPP here:

A satellite image of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Related article Ukraine warns Russia might attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. How worried should we be? | CNN

Nine people have died after Russian shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman on Saturday, according to the head of the Donetsk military administration Pavlo Krylenko.

“In the Donetsk direction, the enemy launched a rocket attack on Avdiivka. Artillery shelling of Krasnohorivka in Mariinka community was recorded,” he added.

Kramatorsk was shelled overnight on Saturday, with three houses and a shop sustaining damage with no casualties.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomes commanders who defended the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol — Denys Prokopenko, Sviatoslav Palamar, Denys Shleha, Serhii Volynskyi and Oleh Homenko — after their return from Istanbul in Lviv, Ukraine, on July 8, 2023.

Ukrainian commanders who were captured by Russians forces after leading the defense of Mariupol from the Azovstal steel plant have vowed to return to the battlefield following a prisoner swap.

The commanders announced their intentions at a press conference held shortly after arriving in Lviv, Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday.

They had previously been in Turkey as part of the prisoner swap.

After a lengthy siege which began on the first day of the war, the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol fell under complete Russian control in 2022 with the surrender of Azovstal, the city’s last bastion of Ukrainian defense. The Russian military has claimed that over 2,000 Ukrainian service members surrendered there.

At a press briefing, some of the fighters spoke about their experiences in Turkey and shared their expectations of the future.

“The most important thing for today is that the Ukrainian army has seized the strategic initiative on the front line and is moving forward every day,” said Denys Prokopenko, a commander of Azov regiment.

Prokopenko said returning to the front line was the reason he and others had returned to Ukraine.

Video footage showed large crowds that gathered in Lviv to greet the leaders.

Zelensky thanked his team and President Erdogan in particular for helping to bring the Azovstal leaders home.

Read the full story here.

Ukrainian military serviceman Igor Ovcharruck holds a defused cluster bomb from an MSLR missile, among a display of pieces of rockets used by Russian army, that a Ukrainian munitions expert said did not explode on impact, in the region of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on October 21, 2022.

A defense official provided more information to CNN on Saturday about how the military tested the cluster munitions that US President Joe Biden’s administration plans to send to Ukraine.

The goal of the testing: Make sure the munitions have a “dud rate” of 2.35% or lower.

The dud rate of a cluster munition refers to how often the bomblets the munition scatters across a large area fail to explode, posing a long-term risk to civilians who may encounter them later, similar to landmines. It’s part of what has made the weapon so controversial, and banned in more than 100 nations, including US and Ukrainian allies.

The defense official told CNN the testing of the munitions “was executed via live fire,” as opposed to a simulated or virtual test, and the most recent tests were conducted in 2020 at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona by employees at the US Army’s Joint Munitions Command.

The official said the types of cluster munitions the US is planning to send, the M864 and M483A1 models, were most recently tested in 2020 and 2017, respectively. 

“We set aside 40 rounds from each of the 11 lots tested,” the defense official explained. A “lot” is essentially a batch of ammunition, and the rounds were randomly selected by employees at the Joint Munitions Command where the rounds are stored. 

The official explained that the munitions were tested in multiple ways, including through “air burst” and “ground point detonation,” and from multiple distances ranging from 15-30 kilometers (about 9 to 18 miles).

“There are also multiple ways that the duds are counted to include photo tracking systems, acoustic systems, and manual observation,” the official said.

Why it matters: The Biden administration has sought to emphasize that the cluster munitions it will provide to Ukraine pose a lesser risk to civilians than the cluster munitions currently being used by Russia, which can have a dud rate of as high as 40%, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday.

However, critics have raised questions about the military’s testing process, including whether it was done in ideal conditions or tested under different weather and terrain conditions that might affect how the munition reacts. The defense official did not address whether the munitions were tested under those different conditions.

A view shows Azovstal steel mill destroyed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Mariupol, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on March 16, 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that five soldiers who defended the Azovstal plant in the southern city of Mariupol were returning home with him to Ukraine.

“We are returning home from Türkiye and bringing our heroes home. Ukrainian soldiers Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volynsky, Oleh Khomenko, Denys Shleha. They will finally be with their relatives,” Zelensky said in a Telegram post.

In the video, Zelensky is seen meeting and hugging the men at an airport field before boarding a plane.

Later, social media videos showed large crowds greeting the fighters and Zelensky in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, according to state news agency Ukrinform.

The five Ukrainian soldiers surrendered following the fall of Mariupol. After their release from Russian captivity, they were taken to Turkey as part of a prisoner swap back in September, where they were obliged to stay until the end of the war, according to the terms of the swap.

Zelensky was in Turkey to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Background on Azovstal and Mariupol: The siege of the southern port city of Mariupol lasted almost three months, with the steel plant serving as a symbol of resistance and a final holdout as Russian troops advanced further into the city.

The plant sprawled over 4 square miles and once employed more than 10,000 people, a mass of tunnels, pipes and chimney stacks perched on the Azov Sea.

Russian forces shelled the facility day and night for weeks. The Ukrainians’ last stand became increasingly desperate as food and water supplies dwindled, and hundreds of casualties were left without adequate medical care. Huddled together underground in grim conditions, many soldiers and civilians began to doubt that they’d ever escape the plant alive, before negotiations led to a mutual ceasefire.

What Russia says: Turkey was “pressured” by NATO into returning the five Azovstal leaders to Ukraine, Russian state media RIA reported on Saturday, citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov called it “a violation of the terms of the existing agreements,” adding that “the conditions for the return were violated by both the Turkish side and Kyiv.”

CNN’s Mariya Knight and Chris Liakos contributed reporting to this post.

With the NATO military alliance’s pivotal summit beginning Tuesday, many of the developments surrounding the war in Ukraine have been happening in the diplomatic arena in recent days.

On the ground, both sides have reported heavy shelling, including a deadly strike on an eastern Ukrainian town and heavy shelling in a Russian border region, where the conflict has increasingly spilled into Moscow’s territory.

Here are some of the key headlines we’ve tracked so far this weekend:

Gearing up for the NATO summit: Next week’s gathering of the military alliance will not yet result in Ukraine’s membership, a US official said Friday, but the agenda is dominated by issues relevant to the war in Ukraine.

Turkey has played a key role, voicing support for Kyiv’s eventual accession while also stalling Sweden’s bid to join the alliance. The Turkish foreign minister discussed NATO’s expansion on the phone with his US counterpart Saturday, while aides in Ankara are preparing for a closely-watched visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin some time next month.

Shelling in Russian border region: Belgorod, which sits along the border with Ukraine, came under heavy shelling Saturday, wounding two people, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov, who said Ukraine fired over 100 artillery shells over the past 24 hours. There have been recent reports of drone attacks, shelling and incursions by anti-Kremlin Russians as the effects of Moscow’s war in Ukraine increasingly reverberate back onto its own territory.

Gradual gains around Bakhmut: Troops have advanced about 1 kilometer in the direction of the battered eastern city, Ukrainian officials said Friday. Artillery units firing at Bakhmut have seen tangible progress in pushing the Russians away, Ukrainian fighters told a CNN team reporting from the eastern front. “The Russians are falling back. We know because they hit us much less,” according to one gunner.

A controversial addition to Kyiv’s arsenal: Russia’s foreign ministry called Friday’s announcement by the US to transfer controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine an “act of desperation” that reflects Ukraine’s counteroffensive “failure.”

Both Russia and Ukraine have already used cluster munitions during the war, but the weapons are banned by more than 100 nations — including US and Ukrainian allies — because of their potential threat to civilians.

US President Joe Biden said it was a “difficult decision” to provide the weapons to Ukraine, but he did so due to the country’s decreasing ammunition. The US Defense Department said one of the primary reasons it is providing the cluster munitions is to help Ukrainian troops punch through Russian defensive lines as the counteroffensive is “going a little slower than some had hoped.”

Deadly attack on eastern town: At least eight people were killed and 13 injured as a result of Russian troops shelling the Ukrainian town of Lyman on Saturday, according to Ukrainian officials.