July 3, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses a joint press conference with Spain's Prime Minister following their talks in Kyiv, on July 1, 2023.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called on US President Joe Biden to invite Ukraine into NATO “now” – even if membership does not come until after the war.

Speaking in English to CNN, Zelensky said that Biden was “the decision maker” about whether Ukraine would be in NATO or not.

“He supports our future in NATO,” but an invitation now would be a huge motivator for Ukrainian soldiers, Zelensky said in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Ukraine’s aspiration to join is enshrined in its constitution and its relationship with NATO dates back to the early 1990s, according to the alliance. NATO is due to hold a summit in Lithuania on July 11 and 12 where leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine’s membership.

 “Now,” Zelensky said in response to a question about why not wait for an invitation. “It’s very important.”

Zelensky added that he understood that Ukraine would “never be in NATO before war finishes.”

NATO stipulates that the settlement of territorial disputes is “a factor in determining whether to invite a state to join the Alliance.”

“We understand everything,” Zelensky said.” But this signal is really very important. And depends on Biden’s decision.”

Erin Burnett’s full interview with President Zelensky airs Wednesday at 7 pm ET.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday acknowledged difficulties on the battlefield — but said Ukraine was “making progress.”

Kyiv says the military has taken back 9 square kilometers of territory in the east of the country and 28.4 square kilometers in the south in the past week, totaling about 14 square miles.

However, Ukrainian officials reported heavy fighting in the east of the country.

Russia has deployed over 180,000 troops to two major battlefronts, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Russian forces, which he described as a “pretty powerful grouping,” were ranged near the cities of Lyman to Kupyansk as well as around Bakhmut, the nearly flattened city that has endured some of the bloodiest clashes since the start of the year.

Here are the other developments you should know:

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announces new cabinet during a press conference in Ankara, Turkey June 3, 2023.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey “will not back down” on its opposition to Sweden joining NATO until all of its “demands are met.”

Erdogan said his country’s expectations were made clear and that “we defend the same principles that we defended last year.”

Some background: FETO is what Turkey calls the followers of Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. Erdogan has accused him of orchestrating a failed coup attempt in July 2016. He has likened Gulen’s followers to ISIS, which has repeatedly bombed targets within Turkey, and the Kurdish separatist movement PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by the US.

The Turkish president’s comments contradict recent remarks made by Swedish, NATO and US officials regarding Sweden’s possible accession to the alliance.

Last week, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said it had fulfilled the necessary requirements set out by Turkey in order to join NATO.

Earlier in June, after meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Sweden had fulfilled its obligations.

More context: Sweden, Finland and Turkey are set to hold a meeting in Brussels before NATO’s July meeting in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius next week where the matter of Ukrainian membership of the alliance is expected to be on the agenda.

Both Sweden and Finland stated their intent to join NATO through its open-door policy in May of 2022, just weeks after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Finland was accepted in April of this year, doubling the alliance’s border with Russia, but Sweden’s accession remains blocked.

Russia has deployed over 180,000 troops to the two major eastern battlefronts, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Cherevatyi called it “a pretty powerful grouping.” He said it included “air assault and mechanized units, units of the Bars combat army reserve, territorial forces” and new Storm Z assault companies, that he said recruited people with criminal records. 

Cherevatyi said that there are around 50,000 Russian troops on the Bakhmut front. 

The cities of Lyman and Kupyansk are about 100 kilometers apart, north of Bakhmut on Ukraine’s eastern front.

Meanwhile, Hanna Maliar, deputy defense minister of Ukraine, reported frequent clashes near Bakhmut. “The situation is changing very rapidly,” Maliar said in a Telegram post. “Control over the same positions can be lost and regained twice a day.”  

General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, echoed Maliar’s comments in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, on Monday. 

“The enemy is trying to transfer units to the most threatening directions for counterattacks, trying to destabilize the situation, cause losses to Ukraine and disrupt the logistics of the defense forces,” Syrskyi said, adding that “the threat of the enemy offensive actions from the side of Bakhmut in the direction of Chasiv Yar remains.”       

Chasiv Yar is about 15 kilometers west of Bakhmut.

Syrskyi noted that Russians are “desperately clinging to the positions and strongholds that were once occupied by the Wagnerites,” a reference to the mercenary force that led the Russian offensive around Bakhmut.

Ukrainian forces have been able to stop Russian troops from moving within Bakhmut, he said.

Journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended detention at The Moscow City Court in Moscow on June 22.

Detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is “in good health and remains strong, despite his circumstances,” a State Department spokesperson said on Monday after US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy visited him in prison.

The US embassy will “continue to provide all appropriate support to Mr. Gershkovich and his family, and we expect Russian authorities to provide continued consular access,” the spokesperson added.

Gershkovich is facing espionage charges in Russia. US officials and Gershkovich’s family have refuted those charges. On Monday, the State Department called – again – for him and Paul Whelan, another American wrongfully detained in Russia, to be released.

“Mr. Gershkovich is wrongfully detained and the charges against him are baseless. We call on the Russian Federation to immediately release him,” the spokesperson said. “We also call for the immediate release of Paul Whelan. Mr. Whelan has been wrongfully detained in Russia for more than 4 years. Both men deserve to go home to their families now.”

A view of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on June 15.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been reconnected to the backup power line for the first time in four months, the head of the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog said Monday.

The power plant, which is the largest in Europe, “reconnected to its only available back-up power line four months after it was lost, but the site’s power situation remains extremely fragile during the ongoing military conflict and is not sustainable,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a statement.

Energoatom, the company that runs nuclear power plants in Ukraine added before the backup power supply was restored “Zaporizhzhia NPP was ‘hanging’ on only one line of connection with the national power grid and experienced seven complete blackouts.”

More background: The IAEA has raised concerns as to the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, previously describing the situation as “increasingly unpredictable.” It has frequently been disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid due to intense Russian shelling, repeatedly raising fears across Europe of a nuclear accident.

The plant is currently held by Russian forces but mostly operated by a Ukrainian workforce. It is also significant because Ukraine relies heavily on nuclear power. Ukraine would lose 20% of its domestic electricity-generating capacity if Russia kept it.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday to discuss the “political, military, and humanitarian situation in Ukraine,” according to a spokesperson for the German government.

German spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said in a news release that Scholz and Zelensky called for the extension of the United Nations Ukraine grain agreement, which is due to expire on July 17.

Zelensky said he had a “long and fruitful phone call” with Scholz. In addition to discussing the grain deal, the Ukrainian president said on his Telegram channel that the two leaders also talked about the situation on the battlefield.

Some background: The grain agreement was initially signed in 2022, allowing grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. On May 17th, when the deal was last set to expire, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the deal would be extended for two more months.

Why this matters: Ukraine is a major supplier of grain to the World Food Programme (WFP). According to the European Commission, Ukraine accounts for 10% of the world wheat market, 15% of the corn market, and 13% of the barley market. It is also a key global player in the market of sunflower oil.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a UN body, warned at the time that as many as 47 million people could be pushed into “acute food insecurity” because of the war.

CNN’s Sophie Tanno contributed reporting to this post.

A couple in their fifties were wounded in a Russian attack on a village in the Kherson region Monday in southern Ukraine, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said in a Telegram post.

Shelling hit near a local church, the official added.

“Two people were wounded in the shelling — a 59-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman. Both of the wounded were hospitalized and are receiving treatment from doctors,” the post said.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, local officials said a Russian drone attack hit the northeastern city of Sumy, killing at least two people.

The US ambassador to Russia has met with jailed US reporter Evan Gershkovich according to his employer, the Wall Street Journal. 

The WSJ said it is the second time Gershkovich has been granted consular access to Ambassador Lynne Tracy since he was detained in March.

Jenny Palmer, the spokesperson for the US Embassy in Moscow, confirmed to CNN that the meeting had occurred.

Last month, a Russian court upheld his extended detention in a Moscow prison until at least the end of August. 

More context: Russia’s main security service, the FSB, has claimed that Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, had been trying to obtain state secrets.

His arrest in March was the first detention of an American reporter in Russia on allegations of spying since the Cold War, rattling White House officials and further straining ties between Moscow and Washington.

The US State Department has officially designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained in Russia. US President Joe Biden has also been blunt about Gershkovich’s arrest, urging Russia to “let him go.”

CNN’s Anna Chernova, Sophie Tanno and Jo Shelley contributed reporting to this post. 

At least two people were killed in a Russian drone attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, the regional military administration reported in an update on Monday. 

“There are 4 injured people who remain in healthcare facilities, 2 of them are in intensive care, and the other 2 are in condition of moderate severity,” the administration added. 

There was a five-year-old child among the injured, according to the administration.

Ukraine has charged Oleh Kulinich, the former head of the Crimean Department of the country’s security service (SBU), with five offenses related to spying for Russia. 

The SBU said Monday it has submitted an indictment for Kulinich on the charges of high treason, weapons charges, theft, leadership of a criminal enterprise and unauthorized leaving of a military unit.

He was arrested a year ago after a special operation by the SBU and the State Bureau of Investigation and has been in custody since. 

Kulinich is suspected of collaborating with the Russian security services and received the operational nickname “Kotyhoroshko.”

An administrative building and 2 multi-apartment residential buildings were damaged as a result of Shahed 136 drone attacks over Sumy, Ukraine, on July 3.

Four Russian attack drones hit the centre of the northeastern city of Sumy, hitting two residential apartment blocks and an administrative building, according to the Sumy Regional Military authority.

At least one person was killed and at least 16 people were injured in the attack. Rescue and firefighting operations are ongoing, the authority said on telegram. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the country's Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on July 3.

Russia is set to hold local elections in the four Ukrainian regions controlled by Moscow, the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) said Monday.

Voters will elect local governors and other officials in September, Ella Pamfilova told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting. 

The date for those elections is set for September 10, the CEC said on Telegram.

Russia-appointed governors of the four annexed regions, that the West regards as illegal, had put forth an initiative to hold local elections, according to Pamfilova, who added that the initiative was approved after consideration together with the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Russian defense ministry.

“The leaders of all four new subjects — the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions — came to us with an initiative [suggesting] that the need to hold these elections has emerged,” she said.

In September, 41 other regional elections will take place to elect governors, members of legislative assemblies or both across Russia, Pamfilova said. 

Ladislav Hamran, left, President of Eurojust, Andriy Kostin, center, Prosecutor General of the Ukraine, and Kenneth A. Polite Jr., Assistant Attorney General, of the U.S., attend a joint press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, on July 3.

Ukraine hopes an international tribunal into alleged Russia’s crimes of aggression can be held based on the work of a new evidence-gathering centre launched Monday. 

Speaking during a news conference marking the centre’s launch in the Hague on Monday, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Andriy Kostin, said he anticipated prosecutors working at the centre will not only gather evidence but also begin building a “prosecutorial strategy” which could be used by a future tribunal. 

Ukraine has already launched criminal proceedings in domestic courts for Russian crimes of aggression, according to Kostin, adding that 312 indictments have already been issued. 

The EU also expressed support for an international tribunal despite the bloc’s Justice Commissioner, Didier Reynders, telling journalists that the first preference remains to amend existing treaty, the Rome Statute so that Russia’s crimes of aggression in Ukraine could be tried before the International Criminal Court. 

“We are open to work on all the possible solutions to have a dedicated tribunal to organize a trial by the crime of aggression…We want to be sure that we will have a very large, very broad support from the international community,” Reynders added. 

United States Assistant Attorney General, Kenneth A Polite Jr., told the news conference that the US “supports an international tribunal,” stressing its commitment to finding a “proper forum to ensure justice and accountability” for Russian crimes of aggression.

Key context: As it stands, the newly launched International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) will not have direct investigative powers, EU criminal justice agency chief, Ladislav Harman told the news conference. Although unable to issue arrest warrants and indictments, the centre will focus on centralizing evidence of Russian crimes of aggression in Ukraine in one database with a view towards identifying evidentiary gaps “as early as possible.”

Ukrainian servicemen of the 3rd Assault Brigade fire a 122mm mortar towards Russian positions at the front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on July 2.

Ukraine claims to have taken back 9 square kilometers of territory in the east of the country and 28.4 square kilometers in the south in the past week, totalling about 14 square miles, according to Hanna Maliar, the deputy defense minister of Ukraine. 

Heavy fighting is ongoing in the east with Ukrainian forces advancing in the Bakhmut direction, and Russia attacking the Lyman, Avdiivka and Maryinka directions, she said in her latest update Monday.

“The enemy is trying to force our troops out of their positions, but is receiving a worthy rebuff,” said Maliar. 

Russia has stepped up attacks in the east, she added, while Ukraine continues to push its offensive in the south, in the Melitopol and Berdiansk sectors.

According to Maliar, “they conducted offensive operations in the areas of Novodarivka, Pryiutne; Novodanylivka, Robotyne; Novosilka, Staromayorske, and were successful.”

The total area liberated in the south is 158.4 square kilometers, she said.  

What the US is saying: On Friday, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said that while Ukraine’s counteroffensive is “going slower than people had predicted,” this is “part of the nature of war.”

“It’s going to be very difficult. It’s going to be very long, and it’s going to be very, very bloody,” Milley said at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Friday. “And no one should have any illusions about any of that.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told CNN in an exclusive interview that he thinks Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is losing control of his own people.

Zelensky has also claimed that Ukrainian forces are “making progress” in reclaiming territory from Russia. Meanwhile, at least one person has been killed in a Russian drone strike in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine.

Here are the latest headlines:

A Ukrainian military vehicle moves along a road near the recently retaken village of Novodarivka in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on July 2.

The Russian-appointed governor of the Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine has said the situation at the front lines is “tense” as Ukraine continues to push its counteroffensive, slowly gaining back territory. 

Ukrainians are making “daily attacks” on Russian positions, Yevgeny Balitsky said on his official Telegram channel. 

“The enemy is active, but they do not spare their soldiers,” he said, claiming that “based on rough estimates” Ukraine has “already lost more than 20,000 personnel.”

Ukraine has not commented on military casualties. CNN cannot independently verify Balitsky’s claims.

Balitsky urged for people to “remain calm” and reassured them that Russia’s defense is “very strong.”

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius makes a statement after talks with the Polish defense minister in Zamosc, Poland, on July 3.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called on Turkey to admit Sweden to NATO “soon,” during a joint news statement Monday with his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak.

“With regard to the war in Ukraine, the new situation that we are experiencing, the security situation, forces us to talk about deterrence and defense capability again, and it is important that Sweden becomes a NATO member soon, that Turkey gives up its resistance,“ Pistorius said ahead of a visit to a base in Zamosc, Eastern Poland, where Patriot air defense systems are stationed.

Both Sweden and its neighbor Finland stated their intent to join NATO through its open-door policy in May last year, just weeks after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Finland was finally accepted in April of this year, doubling the defensive alliance’s border with Russia, but Sweden’s accession is currently blocked.

It is generally accepted that Sweden’s armed forces are compatible with NATO. Sweden has a permanent delegation at NATO and is considered a close partner to the alliance, meaning joining should be relatively straightforward.

But Turkey – a strategically important NATO member due to its geographical location in both the Middle East and Europe, and the alliance’s second-largest military power – has been blocking Sweden’s accession for a number of reasons.

Among them is the claim that Sweden allows members of recognized Kurdish terror groups to operate in the country, most notably the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

Sweden changed its terrorism laws earlier this year, making it a crime to be part of these groups, but it is not clear whether this will convince Turkey to allow the country to join NATO.  

At least one person has been killed in a Russian drone attack on a residential building in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on July 3.

At least one person has been killed in a Russian drone attack on a residential building in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, officials said Monday. 

The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, confirmed the strike on the five-story building on Telegram.

Earlier Monday, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 13 of 17 drones fired by Russia early Monday morning.

There were no casualties and the remaining drones did not reach their targets, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged the fierce battles being fought by his armed forces against Russia, but also had some encouraging words on Monday. 

“Last week was difficult on the front line. But we are making progress,” he said in a statement.

“We are moving forward, step by step! I thank everyone who is defending Ukraine, everyone who is leading this war to Ukraine’s victory!”

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu chairs a meeting with the leadership of the Armed Forces in Moscow, Russia, in this picture released on July 3.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has commended the “loyalty” of the Russian Armed Forces for helping to stop an attempted rebellion by private mercenary group Wagner, as the Kremlin praised the security services for their role.

Speaking to the military on Monday, Shoigu said the rebellion was an “attempt to destabilize the situation in Russia,” but that it had failed “primarily because the personnel of the Armed Forces showed loyalty to their oath and military duty.”

Russia glimpsed the threat of armed insurrection in late June, with Wagner Group mercenaries marching toward Moscow as President Vladimir Putin vowed retribution – all before a sudden deal seemed to defuse the crisis as rapidly as it had emerged.

In his first comments since the 24-hour mutiny, Shoigu added that “the provocation” had no impact on the actions of Russian troops in Ukraine, where the servicemen “courageously and selflessly continued to fulfil the tasks assigned to them.”

“I thank the (military) personnel for their dedicated service,” the minister added.

The Kremlin also praised Russia’s security agency for its role in putting down the attempted rebellion.

Speaking to journalists during a conference call Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commended the “effective functioning of the special services and government agencies, including the Federal Security Service (FSB).”

Peskov did not comment on the questions surrounding how and why such a mutiny could take place, but emphasized the effective fulfilment of duties by all services.

“All services, ministries, departments, special services are effectively carrying out their duties,” he said.

He added that Putin had expressed gratitude for the high level of unity and consolidation among the armed forces and special services during these “challenging days.”

The immediate risk of bloodshed appears to have dissipated, but much remains uncertain; experts warn that the rare uprising is still likely to have consequences down the line.

Putin must now navigate the aftermath of the most serious challenge to his authority since he came to power over 20 years ago, which appeared to have him on the back foot for a day and half.

Left to right, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim AA Khan KC, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, President of Eurojust Ladislav Hamran, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin and Assistant US Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. address a press conference in The Hague on July 3, on the announcement of The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine (ICPA), which will collect evidence of Russian crimes against Ukraine and prepare charges.

A pioneering investigative center launched on Monday will ensure Russia is held accountable for crimes of aggression in Ukraine, according to the European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.

The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) in the Hague will comprise a joint investigation team of prosecutors from Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, and Romania that will probe Russia’s crime of aggression in Ukraine with support from EU criminal justice agency Eurojust, according to a press release.

The United States and the International Criminal Court (ICC) will also support the center, which Eurojust President Ladislav Hamran described as “a unique international cooperation platform without any precedent in legal history.”

The United Nations has defined aggression as “the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.”

The center is set to “coordinate closely” with separate investigations being led by the ICC into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Under the Rome Statute, the treaty which established the ICC, the court is unable to investigate the crime of aggression if the act of aggression is committed by a state that is not party to the Rome Statute unless the UN Security Council refers the matter to it.

EU parliamentarians have previously warned that Russia, which has not ratified the Rome Statute, would likely exercise its veto in the Security Council if a referral was made in relation to crimes of aggression in Ukraine.

At a press conference Monday, Reynders said he hoped that in the future “it will be possible to amend the Rome Statute to give such a competence to the International Criminal Court.”

Discussions continue regarding the prospect of creating a dedicated tribunal for the crime of aggression, he added.

At the same press conference, Hamran said that “we don’t want to wait until the end of the conflict.”

“We decided that we will support our partners which started their own national investigations,” he added.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin was present at the launch, and hailed it as a “truly historic moment” when the “civilized world not only voices, but also shows by concrete actions, that accountability is what matters the most.”

The damaged Chonhar bridge connecting Russian-held parts of Ukraine's Kherson region to the Crimean peninsula is seen in this picture released on June 22 via social media.

The strategic Chonhar bridge linking Crimea to Kherson has been repaired following a Ukrainian missile strike last month, according to a Russian-backed official.

“Transport connections” have been “fully restored,” said Andrey Alekseenko in a post on Telegram.

“The shortest and most convenient transport corridor, where the recently repaired section of the federal highway runs, is operating as usual,” he said.

The two Chonhar bridges, which are key Russian supply routes as well as rail and road crossings, were hit by missiles on June 22. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talks to CNN's Erin Burnett on July 2.

Vladimir Putin’s response to the armed Wagner rebellion was “weak” and the Russian president is losing control of his own people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an exclusive interview Sunday.

Putin faced the greatest threat to his authority in two decades last month when the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, launched a short-lived uprising, claiming control of military facilities in two Russian cities and marching toward Moscow before he agreed to stand down.

Some Russians cheered on Wagner fighters as Prigozhin led the unprecedented challenge to Putin’s authority. Video geolocated and verified by CNN showed crowds cheering as the Wagner boss’ vehicle departed the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on June 24.

Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence reports showed the Kremlin was measuring support for Prigozhin, and he claimed that half of Russia supported the Wagner boss and the paramilitary group’s mutiny.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talks to CNN's Erin Burnett on July 2.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an exclusive interview Sunday that his conversations with the head of the CIA should remain hidden from public view.

On Saturday a US official told CNN that CIA chief Bill Burns had visited Kyiv recently and met with Zelensky and Ukrainian intelligence officials.

Zelensky said he was “surprised” to see his meeting with Burns reported in the media.

Burns, a veteran diplomat, has become a trusted interlocutor in Kyiv, and has made several trips to Ukraine during the war.

TAKE A FIRST LOOK HERE:

Video Ad Feedback

18b71d93-26d8-490f-9e24-0d34f19372ab.mp4

01:23 - Source: CNN

The war in Ukraine will not be over so long as Crimea is occupied by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

While the thrust of Kyiv’s efforts have focused on recapturing territory in the south and east of Ukraine, Zelensky told CNN’s Erin Burnett that his ultimate goal was to liberate the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 in violation of international law.

Burnett asked Zelensky whether there was any scenario under which there could be peace without Crimea.

Search and rescue efforts after a Russian missile attack hit Ria Restaurant in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on June 27.

Celebrated Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina has died after being injured in a Russian missile strike on a restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk last Tuesday. 

Amelina, 37, was known for her research into war crimes. She died Friday after succumbing to her injuries in a hospital in Dnipro, according to a statement from the worldwide writer’s association PEN International.

Amelina had been dining at the restaurant with a Colombian delegation at the time of the strike. She is the 13th person to have died following that attack.

Colombian legislator Sergio Jaramillo, writer Hector Abad and journalist Catalina Gomez were injured, according to a statement by Colombia’s High Commissioner for Peace. 

The three Colombians suffered minor injuries, according to a statement released by the “Aguanta Ucrania” campaign, which was founded by Jaramillo. 

“We spent two magical and sad days in the Donbas, with Victoria as our guide,” the group tweeted after learning of Amelina’s death.

Ukrainian film director Iryna Tsilyk also published a tribute to Amelina on Facebook.

“A good wife and mother of a wonderful boy, she always wrote about her son with such tenderness that we all came to know and love him too,” she wrote.

Olesya Ostrovska, director general of the Ukrainian National Art and Museum Complex Mystetskyi Arsenal, said that Amelina’s death was “an indescribable loss” in a Facebook post.

A day after the missile strike, Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned Russia’s actions.

“Russia has attacked three defenseless Colombian civilians. It has violated the protocols of war,” he tweeted.

Later, Colombia’s ambassador in Russia, Héctor Arenas Neira, was invited to a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry to discuss the circumstances of the attack, according to a statement released by the Russian ministry.

“The legitimate target of the strike of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was the point of temporary deployment of the commanders of the 56th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the moment of hitting the target, Colombian civilians were in a restaurant located in the same building,” said the statement, which went on to wish the Colombians “a speedy recovery.”

Russia said it has intercepted an assassination attempt by Ukraine on the Russian-backed leader of Crimea, state media outlets TASS and RIA reported, citing the FSB. 

The Russian security agency said they arrested a suspect who was hired by the Ukrainian security services to kill Sergey Aksyonov, who was appointed governor of Crimea after Russia illegally annexed it from Ukraine in 2014.

In a statement, the FSB said a Russian recruited by Ukraine’s security services arrived in Crimea last month to begin preparing for the attack, and was apprehended before he could plant the bomb.

Some more detail: The alleged operative was born in 1988 and underwent “training in reconnaissance and subversive activities, including mine-explosive training,” according to the FSB.

The suspect has been charged with “attempted terrorism and illegal acquisition, possession, and transportation of explosives or explosive devices,” and remanded in custody, the security agency said.

Aksyonov thanked the FSB for foiling the alleged attempt on his life, and said that it “is possible to completely eliminate the terrorist threat from Kyiv only by fulfilling the goals of the ‘special operation,’” TASS reported. Russia continues to refer to its war in Ukraine as a “special military operation.”

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have long stated their goal of recapturing Crimea but rarely comment directly on actions in the peninsula.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, greets Chinese President Xi Jinping during their bilateral meeting on November 13, 2019 in Brasilia, Brazil.

All eyes will be on Vladimir Putin this week, with the Russian president expected to make his first appearance on the world stage since the Wagner insurrection threatened his steel grip on power.

Putin is scheduled Tuesday to attend a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a broadly-pro Russian regional security grouping led by Beijing and Moscow.

But while the leaders of the nations assembled have so far provided a sympathetic audience for Putin, his appearance – albeit virtually – could offer something of a window as to the extent of their support after last weekend’s near-crisis.

In the brief, chaotic insurrection, Wagner – a private mercenary group led by warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin – took control of key military facilities in two Russian cities. As thousands of fighters marched toward Moscow, where the Kremlin deployed heavily armed troops to the streets, it seemed as if civil war was on the verge of breaking out.

A secretive deal abruptly ended the rebellion, with Wagner fighters pulling back and Prigozhin sent to Belarus. But one week later, much remains unclear about the inner workings of the deal, the fate of Wagner, and what this means for Putin’s regime.

These questions will likely be on the minds of other leaders attending Tuesday’s virtual summit, including China’s Xi Jinping, and India’s Narendra Modi – whose country is hosting this year’s gathering – as well as representatives from Asian states including Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – many of whom, like Putin, are strongmen rulers.

Experts believe Putin will use the forum to project an image of power, and reassure Moscow’s partners – and by extension the world – that he remains firmly in control.

Read the full story here.

Ukrainian forces shot down 13 of 17 drones fired by Russia early Monday morning, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

There were no casualties and the remaining drones did not reach their targets, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.

A local resident carries a girl outside a partially destroyed building as a result of missiles strikes in Kyiv, on June, 24.

Russia has taken 700,000 Ukrainian children into custody under a program to protect orphans and those abandoned during the fighting, a Russian lawmaker has claimed.

The claimed figure is more than 35 times higher than Ukrainian estimates of the number of children forcibly removed from their homes and taken to Russia.

In a Telegram post, Russian lawmaker Grigory Karasin claimed the children had “sought refuge” in Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the total number of children deported to Russia is at least 19,505. Kyiv has said thousands of cases are already under investigation.

A report released in February detailed allegations of an expansive network of dozens of camps in Russia where children underwent “political reeducation,” including Russia-centric academic, cultural and, in some cases, military education.

Russia has denied it is doing anything illegal, claiming it is bringing Ukrainian children to safety.

A policeman stands near a residential building damaged from a missile attack in Kyiv, on June, 24.

Russian forces have gained ground near the town of Svatove in the Luhansk region, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said Sunday.  The strategic eastern town is situated along key Russian supply routes.

Elsewhere, the most intense battles on the front line continue to be in areas within the cities of Bakhmut and Marinka in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said Saturday. 

Here are more of the latest headlines from Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Dmitry Medvedev during a meeting of the General Council of the party "United Russia" in Moscow, on May, 31.

Russia is “threatened” by the potential for Ukraine to join NATO, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, claimed on Sunday.

Part of Russia’s premise for its invasion of Ukraine was to fend off NATO from expanding close to its borders.

And Medvedev said Moscow is ready to deliberately make the current conflict a permanent one, because “this is a matter of Russia’s existence.”  

Some context: The matter of Ukrainian membership in NATO is one of several issues leaders will tackle when they meet in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11 and 12.

The issue will prove one of the biggest flash points for the group, which has managed to remain remarkably united amid Russia’s unprovoked invasion.

Some allies, particularly those in Eastern Europe who are located closer to Ukraine and Russia, have advocated for a more concrete path for Kyiv to join the defensive alliance once the war ends.

Other European officials, particularly those in western and southern Europe, have argued an expedited entrance of Ukraine into NATO could be too provocative and that it could amount to an extremely risky gamble for the alliance even if there is an end to the fighting, particularly if Russia still stakes claim over Ukrainian territory.

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private military company the Wagner Group is suspending its recruitment efforts for one month as it moves operations to Belarus, a Telegram channel affiliated with Prigozhin said Sunday. 

Remember: It was Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko who reportedly brokered a deal for Prigozhin and his forces’ to exit Russia after Wagner’s stunning, short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin last week.

Up to that point, Wagner had played a key role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, especially in the embattled eastern town of Bakhmut. With the insurrection and Prigozhin’s apparent severing of a long-held alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin, questions swirl about the future for the mercenary chief and other Russian officials with ties to his group.

On Friday, Lukashenko invited Wagner mercenaries to train his military during a speech dedicated to Belarus Independence Day.

In previous speeches, Lukashenko said Wagner had been offered some abandoned land inside Belarus as needed. 

Russian forces have gained some ground near the eastern Ukrainian town of Svatove, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said Sunday. 

“Fierce fighting is taking place there. The enemy is attacking Bilohorivka and Serebrianka,” the defense official, Hanna Maliar, said in a Telegram post, referring to two smaller villages south of Svatove. 

Why it matters: The eastern town, which is located in the Luhansk region, has long been regarded as a key target for Ukrainian forces. It is situated along key Russian supply routes, so any eventual recapture of the town would have important strategic implications for Ukraine. 

Elsewhere in the east: Maliar said “heavy fighting” continues along the entire eastern front line, with Russia attacking in several directions. The cities of Avdiivka, Marinka and Lyman are among them, Maliar said, echoing a report from the Ukrainian military Saturday.

While Ukrainian fighters are moving forward along the southern flank in the Bakhmut area, having “partial success,” Maliar said Russia has moved two air assault regiments to the northern flank and the fighting continues.

On the southern front lines: Maliar reported gradual advances of Ukrainian troops in the south, in particular in areas surrounding the cities of Berdiansk and Melitopol in southeastern Ukraine.

Troops are engaged in ongoing, heavy fighting, she said. Ukrainian troops are facing intense enemy resistance in these areas, as Russia mines the routes remotely and redeploys forces, Maliar added.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said troops engaged in direct combat with Russian forces more than 28 times over the last 24 hours. It also said Russia has launched 11 missile attacks and eight strikes with drones during that period.

CNN cannot independently verify battlefield reports from either side in the conflict.

Volodymyr Zelensky during a press conference on June 28, in Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he’s afraid to lose bipartisan support from the United States, following what he called “dangerous messages coming from some Republicans.”

Zelensky said that regardless of who wins the next US Presidential election, maintaining bipartisan support is “the most important thing for Ukraine.”

During the same news conference, Zelensky was asked if he fears for his own life, to which he replied that he thinks “it is more dangerous for Putin” due to the Russian president’s growing number of international adversaries.

Some background: The topic of whether the US should continue aiding Ukraine against Russia’s invasion has created a rift among the Republican party.

GOP presidential candidates are split into two camps: Isolationists, particularly former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who believe the US is too involved in supporting Ukraine’s efforts to fend off the Russian invasion; and hawks, including several former Trump administration officials, who argue for an even more aggressive posture toward Russia. Both sides are warning that if their positions aren’t heeded, a world war could follow.

CNN’s Eric Bradner contributed reporting.

The most intense battles on the front line continue to be in areas within the cities of Bakhmut and Marinka in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said Saturday. 

In Bakhmut, forces “continue to push the enemy on the northern and southern flanks,” said Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The Russian military has conducted 415 recent artillery attacks and three air raids, he said. Troops engaged in active combat seven times during that period.

In the Marinka area — south of Bakhmut, near the city of Donetsk — Russian forces continue relentless attacks, according to Valerii Shershen, a military press center spokesperson. 

The city, which is now in ruins, has been on the front lines since the beginning of the invasion, with fighting at close quarters among the rubble continuing almost daily.

Elsewhere on the eastern front: North of Bakhmut near the cities of Lyman and Kupyansk, Russia shelled Ukrainian positions 377 times, launched three assaults and conducted 12 air raids, Cherevatyi said. 

The Ukrainian spokesperson claimed Kyiv’s forces are taking dozens of Russian prisoners every week. CNN cannot independently verify claims on battlefield developments.

To the south of Bakhmut near the town of Vuhledar, Russian shelling has increased around frontline areas.

And near Berdiansk, on the far southern end of the eastern front, “our troops continue to consolidate their positions at secured positions and carry out mine clearance. They are on high alert to continue the offensive,” Shershen said. 

The entire front line in the south of Zaporizhzhia region is mined, he said. Russian forces have been “mining both manually and remotely, as well as with MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems),” he said.