August 2, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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

A woman pays tribute to civilians killed by a Russian missile strike in Uman, Ukraine, on April 29.

Approximately 10,749 civilians have been killed and 15,599 have been wounded in Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, according to Ukraine’s War Crimes Department in the Prosecutor General’s Office. 

The death toll includes 499 children, Yuriy Belousov, the head of the War Crimes Department of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, said in an interview with the news agency Interfax-Ukraine.

Once Ukraine’s occupied territories are liberated, the number of those killed is expected to “increase many times,” he said. 

The figures of the Prosecutor General’s Office are similar to those of international organizations like the United Nations, he added.  

On July 7, the UN reported that it had confirmed the deaths of “more than 9,000 civilians, including over 500 children,” but that the real number is expected to be higher. 

Belousov also said his team had recorded 98,000 war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine since the invasion.

Authorities across Russia have reported a string of attacks on military enlistment offices, blaming them on phone scammers, according to reports from state news agencies RIA and TASS as well as social media images verified by CNN. 

In one incident on August 1, law enforcement officers detained a woman who tried to throw a Molotov cocktail at a military registration and enlistment office in Stavropol. There are no victims or injured, said the governor of the region, Vladimir Vladimirov.

In St. Petersburg, a woman was detained on the night of August 2 after trying to set fire to the door of the military registration and enlistment office in the Admiralteysky district, RIA Novosti reported. 

A photograph posted on social media and geolocated by CNN to a military enlistment office in the Kuzminki district, southeast of Moscow, showed its door on fire on Tuesday, after what appeared to be another such attack. Video of the aftermath, also geolocated by CNN, showed the scene cordoned off by authorities, with the same door, no longer in flames but with severe burn marks.

Some Russian media reported the fire started on Tuesday after a 62-year-old local woman threw a Molotov cocktail at the door of the military enlistment office. 

Similar incidents were reported in other cities across Russia. 

More than 10 military cases of arson at or connected to the military registration and enlistment offices have been reported over the past two days, with state media saying in most cases “the perpetrators have become victims of telephone scammers.”

The attacks come after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law bills extending the age for the military draft, as well as raising fines and tightening rules for those trying to evade the call-up for the military. 

Russian drone strikes in Odesa “deliberately” targeted infrastructure on the Danube River, according to Ukrainian officials.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said 37 Iranian-made Shahed drones were used to attack Ukraine early Wednesday. During his nightly address, he said that some of the drones were shot down, “but only part of them.”

There were no casualties, the Ukrainian leader noted. However, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has said the attacks near the Danube were “unacceptable,” given their close proximity to Romania.

If you’re just catching up, here’s what else you should know:

Ukrainian soldiers undergo training in the Zaporizhzhia region, on Wednesday.

Thirty-seven Iranian-made drones attacked Ukraine in the early hours of Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address. 

Attracting defense production to Ukraine — such as equipment, artillery and shell production — is among new tasks for Ukrainian diplomats, Zelensky said.

He added that it is important “to expand training missions for Ukrainian warriors” as well as ensure the supply of F-16 combat aircraft and long-range missiles. 

Turkmenistan’s flagship airline has suspended flights from the country’s capital Ashgabat to Moscow, citing safety concerns, Turkmenistan Airlines said Wednesday. The announcement comes after several drone attacks in the Russian capital in recent days. 

Flights will continue to the Russian city of Kazan, it said. 

Some context: Russia said Ukraine attempted another drone strike in Moscow on Tuesday, resulting in another hit on one of the two buildings targeted during an attack on Sunday.

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have suggested that these attacks are meant to shatter any remaining sense of calm in the Russian capital. 

Pope Francis is seen in Lisbon on Wednesday.

Pope Francis posed several questions to the West about its efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine while speaking at an event in Portugal on Wednesday.

The Pope is in Lisbon as part of a five-day visit during which he will join celebrations to mark World Youth Day, a global gathering of young Catholics.

Earlier in the year, the Pope announced that the Vatican was part of a peace mission to end the war in Ukraine. While on a trip to Rome to meet with Italian leaders in May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Pope Francis, where the two spoke about the humanitarian and political situation in Ukraine caused by the ongoing war, the Vatican said.

During the meeting, the Pope assured “his constant prayer” for peace and stressed the need for “human gestures” toward victims of the war. 

CNN’s Delia Gallagher and Barbie Latza Nadeau contributed reporting to this post.

Drone footage shows wounded Ukrainian soldier, Serhiy, as he awaits rescue after being separated from his unit.

He looked up at the sky and thought the drone might be there to finish him off. But instead, it saved him.

Serhiy had been separated from his Ukrainian unit and lay with a wound in his left leg and a hole in his chest, one of many casualties sustained by Ukraine in its tough assault in the south against Russian fortifications. Drone footage shows him prostrate in the dirt, rolling in pain, and looking up as he heard the tiny machine’s buzz.

But the drone, originally tasked with frontline surveillance, had spotted him — just a speck of white in the green fields and blackened craters. Its operators moved quickly to save him, bringing the drone back and attaching water, medicine and even a note on how to use it. Images obtained by CNN show its takeoff and arrival above Serhiy.

Drones — Russian ones — have been a constant threat on the frontlines, and so the Ukrainian UAV’s arrival was at first a cause for panic. “All the time I was crawling a drone was always hovering above,” said Serhiy. “We didn’t realize if it was friend or foe, it was a lottery.”

Yet after the bag of medicine and bottle fell, the drone footage shows Serhiy’s relieved reaction. He gestures a thumbs-up to the operators. The medicine gave him enough of a boost to enable him to crawl backward to safety. Even from high above, the footage shows the pain on his face that he had to overcome to make it.

Eugene, the drone operator from the 15th National Guard, told CNN they did not want to leave anyone behind on the front lines. “Every life is important to us,” he said. “I could not live with myself if we just left someone in the field.”

Ukrainian troops discover Russian commander: Perhaps only several miles away, during the same southern counteroffensive, a different fate unfolded for a Russian commander and his unit. Footage supplied by the Ukrainian 15th National Guard shows the ferocious assault their forces unleashed on a position somewhere to the south of Orikhiv. The attack forced the Russian unit of about a dozen men to withdraw but without their commander, who was injured by an artillery strike. 

Hours later, Ukrainian troops entered the trench the Russians had abandoned and found the commander, alive but wounded in the body and face. CNN is not naming the Russian unit or the commander for their safety.

Technik, from the 15th National Guard, formed part of the assault, and described finding the commander. “We said don’t try anything or you will die. And he asked us to shoot him. And we offered him a chance to do it himself. He said he could not do it.”

Technik said the units are ordered to save Russian prisoners so they can be exchanged for captured Ukrainians. “He’s an enemy, and I had no particular desire to save him. But orders are orders. And they have our guys and we can swap prisoners.”

Russia’s account of commander’s fate: Yet accounts of the commander’s fate told a different story back in Russia. There, according to media reports CNN has seen, he was declared dead and awarded a posthumous medal. It is unclear if the Russian military is aware the commander survived or whether Ukraine has informed it he is a prisoner.

Kros, the commander of the 15th National Guard unit that made the assault, said: “As a human, I was shocked that they left him behind. But as a soldier I know my enemy and I know it is not an uncommon practice for them.”

The head of the Ukrainian President’s office, Andrii Yermak, is pictured in Kyiv, Ukraine, in June.

The head of the Ukrainian President’s office, Andrii Yermak, says his team is preparing for an upcoming peace summit in Saudi Arabia.

“We continue to prepare the second meeting at the level of national security advisers and political advisers to the leaders of states in Saudi Arabia,” he wrote on Telegram. “It will be devoted to the key principles of peace based on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Peace Formula.”

“We are in constant communication with our partners,” he added. 

Kyiv’s goal was to expand on the first summit held in Copenhagen in June, increasing the number of participants to include countries from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, Yermak said.

“Our goal in Saudi Arabia is to develop a unified vision of the Formula and to work out the possibilities of holding the future Global Peace Summit,” he said. “We need to restore world order, international law and establish a just peace based on the UN Charter and on Ukraine’s terms.”

Peace plan: Zelensky presented Ukraine’s 10-point peace formula to world leaders at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last year.

The steps include a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes, and a final peace treaty with Moscow. He also urged G20 leaders to use all their power to “make Russia abandon nuclear threats” and implement a price cap on energy imported from Moscow.

CNN’s Irene Nasser and Josh Pennington contributed reporting to this post.

Poland expressed “a very firm protest” against Belarus on Wednesday as Warsaw summoned Minsk’s charge d’affaires, after two military helicopters reportedly entered Polish airspace on Tuesday.

The Belarusian military has denied a violation took place.

Poland has also informed NATO of the alleged helicopter incident, its defense ministry said Tuesday.

Some context: Tensions have been rising between Warsaw and Minsk, and Poland has announced it will increase the number of soldiers along its border with Belarus. On Saturday, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said more than 100 Wagner mercenaries have moved towards the Suwałki corridor, and that this is “a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.”

Damage is seen at a grain port facility after a reported attack by Russian military drones in the Odesa region, Ukraine, on August 2.

Russian drone strikes overnight in Odesa “deliberately” targeted infrastructure on the Danube River, according to Ukrainian officials.

This assault signals the latest Russian strike on Ukrainian grain supplies following the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal last month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes by Russia were an attack on “global food security” and has called on the international community to intervene. 

Here’s what else you need to know: 

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow is ready to return to the Istanbul agreements “as soon as the West actually fulfils all the obligations to Russia fixed in them,” during a phone call on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Kremlin. 

“In particular, Vladimir Putin outlined Russia’s principled position in connection with the termination of the ‘package’ agreements on the export of Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports and the unblocking of supplies of Russian food and fertilizers,” reads the Kremlin statement.

“It was emphasized that, taking into account the requirements of the countries most in need of food, reliable options for the supply of Russian grain are being worked out, including on a gratuitous basis. This issue was substantively discussed at the second Russia-Africa summit recently held in St. Petersburg. The mood for cooperation in this area with Turkey and other interested states was expressed,” the statement added. 

Remember: Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July, declaring it “terminated.” The deal, which was first brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022 and renewed three times, is seen as key to global food security. Russia had repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the agreement, doing so for the first time in October 2022 and then rejoining a few days later.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pictured with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders' summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the Black Sea grain initiative during a phone call on Wednesday, the Turkish Presidency announced in a statement. 

The two leaders also agreed on Putin’s visit to Turkey, according to the statement.

“Pointing out that the long-term shutdown of the Black Sea Initiative will not benefit anyone, and that the countries in need of grain and low income will suffer the most, President Erdogan pointed out that the prices of grains, which decreased by 23 percent during the implementation period, increased by 15 percent in the last two weeks,” it added. 

“President Erdogan noted that Turkey will continue to carry out intensive efforts and diplomacy for the continuation of the Black Sea Initiative,” the statement said. 

Erdogan also thanked his counterpart for the two amphibious firefighting aircraft sent by Russia to Turkey for its fight against forest fires.

Erdogan “expressed his satisfaction with the increasing interest of Russian tourists in Turkey, and expressed his belief that a record will be broken in tourism this year with joint efforts,” according to the statement. 

Russia has kicked off planned military drills in the Baltic Sea, the country’s Ministry of Defense has said.

More than 30 warships and boats, 20 support vessels, 30 aircraft of naval aviation, the Russian Aerospace Forces and about 6,000 military personnel are expected to be involved in the drill, according to the statement.

Russia’s province of Kaliningrad sits along the Baltic Sea Coast, situated between NATO members Poland and Lithuania.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov is pictured speaking to the media in Belgorod, Russia, on June 2.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the decision to arm volunteers of territorial defense in the Belgorod region was carried out “in strict accordance with the law.”

“The main thing here is that everything is carried out in strict accordance with the law,” Peskov commented on the move during a regular conference call with journalists.

Peskov added that issuance of weapons comes in response to the current situation in the bordering region. 

“These are measures that are necessary against the backdrop of attacks that are carried out from the territory of Ukraine,” he said.

Pressed further to comment on concerns that the weapons might fall “into the wrong hands,” Peskov reassured that all control mechanisms are in place and will be carefully implemented to ensure that the weapons distribution is well-regulated, and there is no uncontrolled access to firearms.

“Weapons are never uncontrolled. All control mechanisms, of course, must be very carefully implemented and provided for. Actually, there is no doubt that this is the case,” Peskov said.

Some context: State news agency TASS reported Friday that volunteers of the territorial self-defense of the Belgorod region were provided with machine guns, anti-drone guns and UAZ vehicles, and they were also trained to work with drones.

During the ceremony of presenting arms, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov emphasized the necessity of providing weapons for self-defense.

“We have come to the point where we are solving the issues of providing weapons for our self-defense within the framework of the current legislation. The situation continues to be difficult,” Gladkov said, according to TASS.

The territorial self-defense of the Belgorod region includes about 3,000 people, seven battalions were created on the border with Ukraine. The units have been training in the region since November, the news agency added.

A new model of First Person View (FPV) drones is being adopted by the Ukrainian military, the defense minister announced on Wednesday, as Kyiv increasingly deploys unmanned aerial vehicles aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the front lines. 

In a Facebook post, Reznikov said over the last 15 months the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has already adopted into service more than 30 UAV models of different types — “reconnaissance, attack, kamikaze drones and barrage ammunition.”

Some context: UAVs were first deployed to help artillery locate Russian targets and now, many believe they are being used to hit targets well inside Russian territory.

A recent government initiative called “Army of Drones” relaxed import restrictions and taxes for drone technology, spurring the development of a local industry to better supply the country’s military.

In September, Reznikov said the procedures to accept weapons and military equipment were simplified. “Formalities that used to take up to two years, we now perform in a few weeks,” he said.

Ukrainian soldiers fire artillery on Russian positions at the frontline city of Avdiivka, Ukraine, on July 27.

Ukrainian forces have been able to drive Russian troops from their positions in the eastern part of the country, while elsewhere Moscow’s armies remain mostly on the defensive, Kyiv officials have said.

Also in the east, Ukrainian troops continue their offensive around the embattled city of Bakhmut.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Russian forces are mostly on the defense, but, according to the Ukrainian military, they have tried to recover some of the lost territory on the Velyka Novosilka – Berdiansk axis.

An inspector surveys the damage at a grain port facility after a reported attack by Russian military drones in, Izmail, Ukraine, on August 2.

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Danube River ports are “unacceptable,” given their proximity to Romania, president Klaus Iohannis has said.

Overnight drone strikes in Odesa targeted the Danube port of Izmail, causing damage to some of its structures, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strike on Odesa port infrastructure by Russia was an attack on “global food security” and has called on the international community to intervene. 

Some context: The Danube River is a natural barrier between Ukraine and Romania, effectively serving as a physical border between the two.

Romania is part of NATO and Russian attacks on the Danube River have been the closest Moscow has come to striking NATO territory.

NATO’s Article 5 principle states that an attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all members and guarantees that the resources of the whole alliance can be used to protect any single member nation. 

Small ports on the Danube River have become vital for Ukrainian grain exports following the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal last month.

The deal, which was brokered following the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine, allowed Kyiv to safely export grain by sea, with ships bypassing a Russian blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports and navigating safe passage through the waterway to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait in order to reach global markets.

It proved vital for stabilizing global food prices and bringing relief to the developing countries which rely on Ukrainian exports.

Prior to the collapse of the deal on July 17, Ukraine’s Danube River ports accounted for around a quarter of grain exports, according to Reuters.

Now, the Danube ports –which lie on Ukraine’s border with Romania – are Kyiv’s main way to ship millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to the rest of the world.

Cargo is loaded onto barges and shipped to Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.

Ukrainian officials say Russian forces are now deliberately targeting port infrastructure on the Danube River, as part of efforts to block the export of Ukrainian grain.

Firefighters work at a damaged property following a Russian drone attack in Izmail, in Ukraine's Odesa region, on August 2.

Overnight drone strikes in Odesa targeted the Danube port of Izmail, causing damage to some of its structures, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has said.

The military did not specify which of the Danube ports had been targeted but said “the multi-story administrative buildings suffered significant damage.”

Ukrainian air defenses managed to shoot down 11 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones over Odesa, which the country’s Southern Command said “deliberately” targeted infrastructure on the Danube River. 

Ukraine’s Southern Command said in a post on Twitter Wednesday: “Ukrainian grain has the potential to feed millions of people worldwide. However, Russia chose the path of killing, starvation, and terrorism.”

Some context: Since Russia terminated the grain deal on July 17, Moscow has unleashed a flurry of attacks on grain supplies in key Ukrainian cities and the Danube River has become the latest target.

The Danube ports – which lie on Ukraine’s border with Romania – are Kyiv’s main way to ship millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to the rest of the world.