July 23, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

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

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots will begin in August.

Reznikov, speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN over the weekend, added that the training will take “a minimum of 6 months” and that Ukraine still needs to add some infrastructure for the fighter jets.

The defense minister said he thought, optimistically, pilots could be operating F-16s in the skies of Ukraine by spring of next year.

Speaking to CNN’s Alex Marquardt in the Ukrainian capital, Reznikov, a lawyer turned defense official, did concede that if Ukraine had these fighter jets now they would “certainly” have helped Ukraine make more progress in the ongoing counteroffensive.

“If you have more sophisticated, more modern weaponry will be more efficient,” he said.

The training — which Reznikov said will likely be held in Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as possibly in the United Kingdom or Poland — will also include intensive sessions for technicians. The defense minister said the maintenance of the jets is a “serious task”.

He said the trainings may be split between countries, but the final plans were still being finalized.

The minister joked that the group of 11 nations that have committed to helping Ukraine train pilots on the F16s are called “Ocean’s 11,” after the popular film.

Another round of Russian attacks on the port city of Odesa?killed at least one person and wounded 19 others overnight into Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials. Kyiv’s air defense systems are struggling to fend off the assaults because they’re ill-equipped to knock down certain types of missiles, the defense ministry said.

Fighting also continues elsewhere near the front lines, with Russia shelling Kharkiv in the north and Zaporizhzhia in the south.

Here’s what to know:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Sunday that the NATO-Ukraine Council will meet Wednesday.

The news comes one day after Zelensky urgently called for a meeting with the military alliance, saying the council should convene to discuss the crisis caused by Russia pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal. The Ukrainian leader said the council needs to decide on steps “to unblock and ensure the stable operation of the grain corridor.”

The meeting will also come on the heels of several consecutive nights of Russian strikes on the southern port city of Odesa, which has further threatened Kyiv’s ability to export food.

About the council: The NATO-Ukraine Council is the joint body where Zelensky formally meets with leaders from the alliance for crisis consultation, input on key issues and updates on Ukraine’s ongoing membership efforts.

The council was created at the 2023 NATO summit as part of a package of support and assurances bringing Ukraine closer to the alliance.

CNN’s Mariya Knight contributed to this report.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleskii Reznikov speaks to the media after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, on April 21.

Ukraine’s defense minister says he is eyeing next year’s NATO summit as possible timing for Ukraine to be admitted to the alliance.?

Oleskii Reznikov noted that next July’s summit in Washington, DC, will be the 75th anniversary of the alliance.?

The United States and other NATO countries have said it is impossible to admit Ukraine now because of the ongoing war. The alliance’s Article 5 says allies will come to the aid of a member if attacked.

Reznikov acknowledged that Ukraine will only be able to join the alliance once the war is over, referencing Article 5 and saying “we have no options to have a unanimous vote” while the conflict is ongoing.

When asked if he thought the war would be over by next summer he quickly answered, “Yes. We will win this war.”?

Reznikov downplayed the Biden administration’s refusal to commit to Ukraine getting admitted immediately after the war’s end.

“I think it’s not necessary,” he said. Ukraine will have a streamlined admission process and in the meantime will continue to work on the necessary reforms, Reznikov added.

The defense minister emphasized that the benefits of admitting Ukraine to the alliance have only grown given its fight against Russia.

Criminals, volunteer fighters and arms traffickers in Ukraine stole some?Western-provided weapons?and equipment intended for Ukrainian troops last year before it was recovered, according to a US Defense Department inspector general report obtained by CNN.

The plots to steal the weaponry and equipment were disrupted by Ukraine’s intelligence services and the items were ultimately recovered, according to the report, titled “DoD’s Accountability of Equipment Provided to Ukraine.” CNN obtained the report via a Freedom of Information Act request. Military.com first reported?the news.

But the inspector general report noted that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the Defense Department’s ability to track and monitor all of the US equipment pouring into Ukraine, as required by law under the Arms Export Control Act, faced “challenges” because of the limited US presence in the country.

According to the report, which examined the period of February-September 2022, the Office of Defense Cooperation-Kyiv “was unable to conduct required (end-use monitoring) of military equipment that the United States provided to Ukraine in FY 2022.”

“The inability of DoD personnel to visit areas where equipment provided to Ukraine was being used or stored significantly hampered ODC-Kyiv’s ability to execute” the monitoring, the report added.

The report is dated October 6, 2022. In late October, the US resumed on-site inspections of Ukrainian weapons depots as a way to better track where the equipment was going. The department has also provided Ukraine with tracking systems, including scanners and software, the Pentagon’s former under secretary of defense for policy, Colin Kahl, told lawmakers in February.

But the report underscores how difficult it was in the early days of the war for the US to track the billions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment it was sending to Ukraine.

Read more here.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is visiting Equatorial Guinea to discuss food security in Africa nearly two weeks after Russia pulled out of a critical deal to allow safe passage of Ukrainian grain exports.

Experts and world leaders have warned that Russia leaving the Black Sea grain deal could jeopardize food sources for many places around the world.

Kuleba’s visit to?Equatorial Guinea?will be the first in the history of diplomatic relations of the two countries, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement.?

Kuleba is expected to “hold talks with the country’s leadership on the development of bilateral relations, increasing the volume of trade, ensuring food security in Africa and supporting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula,” the ministry said.?

Some context: The Black Sea grain deal has allowed for the export of almost 33 million metric tons of food through Ukrainian ports, according to?data from the United Nations. The collapse of the pact threatens to push up food prices for consumers worldwide and tip millions into hunger.

Before the war, Ukraine was the fifth-largest wheat exporter globally, accounting for 10% of exports, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Ukraine is among the world’s top three exporters of barley, maize and rapeseed oil, says Gro Intelligence, an agricultural data firm. It is also?by far the biggest exporter of sunflower oil, accounting for 46% of the world’s exports, according to the UN.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attend a council meeting on May 25, in Moscow, Russia.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday that the Wagner mercenaries who are in his country have begun to “stress” him, because they want to “go to the West” on “an excursion.”

“Why do you need to go to the West? ‘Well, go on an excursion to Warsaw, to Rzeszow,’” Lukashenko said.?“I keep them in the center, as agreed, of Belarus.”?

Lukashenko is a close ally of Putin and he was apparently joking with him. A video showed Putin smiling at the comments.

Key context: The Wagner private military group is in Belarus after Lukashenko helped broker a deal to end the group’s short-lived rebellion against Moscow. Ukraine says as many as 5,000 fighters are already in the country.

This week, Belarus announced its forces?will?hold exercises?with Wagner fighters near?the?border with Poland, raising tensions.

On Friday, Putin, without providing any proof, accused Poland of wanting to annex parts of Belarus, saying any aggression would be met with “all the means at our disposal.”

Western allies have responded in kind, with Germany publicly pledging that NATO will defend its alliance member Poland if there is an attack on its eastern flank from the Wagner troops in Belarus.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks in Washington, DC, on July 20.

Russia has “already lost the war” in Ukraine in terms of what Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to achieve, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN.

“The objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, its sovereignty, to subsume it into Russia. That failed a long time ago,” the secretary said in an exclusive interview that aired Sunday.

Blinken acknowledged that Ukraine’s mission to regain territory captured by Moscow — which has gotten off to a slow start, by its own estimation — would be “a very hard fight.” He predicted that the war, which recently surpassed the 500 days mark, would continue for “several months.”

However, he said, along with the aid, military equipment and training Ukraine is receiving from various countries, Kyiv’s cause represents “the decisive element.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference on July 11, in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his call for more air defense systems following another Russian attack on the port city of Odesa overnight, saying Sunday that “a full-fledged sky shield” is “the only way to defeat Russian missile terror.”

Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 9 of the 19 missiles of various types that Russia launched on Odesa overnight, the Ukrainian defense ministry said Sunday. But certain weapons — including Moscow’s Oniks cruise missiles and Kh-22 anti-ship missiles — are proving almost impossible for Ukrainian air defenses to shoot down.

At least one person was killed and at least 19 others were wounded in the latest strikes on the southern port city, according to Ukrainian officials.

People inspect damages inside the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa, Ukraine, on Sunday, July 23.

The latest attack on Odesa shows how certain types of Russian missiles are proving almost impossible for Ukrainian air defenses to shoot down.

Kyiv’s Air Force says Russia fired five different types of missile at the port city overnight, with air defenses taking down all four Kalibr cruise missiles and all five Iskander K cruise missiles.

By contrast, Ukraine’s defenses failed to intercept any of the five Oniks cruise missiles and three Kh-22 anti-ship missiles fired at the city, in addition to two ballistic missiles of the Iskander-M type.

Speaking last week, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat explained that the speed and trajectory of the Oniks and Kh-22 missiles make them very hard to intercept.

The Oniks missile, he said, “is designed to destroy watercraft, ships. It flies at a speed of more than 3,000 kilometers per hour (around 1,900 mph), which means it has a high speed. When entering the target, the missile can fly at an altitude of 10-15 meters above the water to destroy the ship, which makes it difficult to detect and, accordingly, shoot down by the air defense.”

Ihnat said electronic warfare methods can have some success against these missiles, forcing them to change course, but what Ukraine really needs is more air defense systems like the US-made Patriot and the European SAMP-T systems.

A woman helps clean up the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 23.

At least 25 architectural monuments in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa have been damaged by Russian missiles overnight, according to preliminary information from a local official.

Russia “deliberately aimed their missiles at the historic city center of Odesa” which is protected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Oleh Kiper, the head of the region’s military administration, said Sunday.

Among the damaged buildings is the largest church in the city, the Orthodox cathedral known as the Transfiguration or Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Cathedral, which was consecrated in 1809. The cathedral was destroyed during the Soviet era but was rebuilt after Ukraine became an independent county.?

Some of the other cultural sites include the House of Scientists, also known as the Palace of the Counts Tolstoy, and Zhvanetskyi Boulevard, Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials. A number of historic mansions were also damaged.

Russia has denied that it targeted civilian infrastructure or cultural sites with the attack.

Ukraine’s Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko called for Russia’s expulsion from UNESCO.?

Russia’s “disregard for sacred sites and innocent lives is evident yet again,” Tkachenko said in a Twitter post on Sunday. “Its missiles struck Odesa, endangering peaceful citizens and World Heritage property. Isn’t it time to gather more evidence and take action to label Russia as a terrorist state and expel it from UNESCO?”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the destruction of the cathedral “another war crime” committed by Russia, while US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said, “Russia’s unjustifiable war against Ukraine and its people has terrible costs here.”

The Transfiguration Cathedral is damaged after a Russian missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 23.?

The church that was struck and left severely damaged in Odesa is an Orthodox cathedral known as the Transfiguration or Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Cathedral.

The cathedral is Odesa’s largest Orthodox church and was consecrated in 1809. It was previously destroyed during the Soviet era in 1936 but later rebuilt when Ukraine became an independent nation.

It is found in the historic city center, a UNESCO world heritage site. Given the threat of the war, UNESCO added the cathedral to its protected list earlier in the year.

A Ukrainian serviceman inspects a destroyed Russian tank in the recently liberated village of Novodarivka in?Zaporizhzhia?region, Ukraine, on July 21, 2023.

Deadly Russian shelling continued overnight, striking targets in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions.

At least two people were killed in northeastern Kharkiv, according to regional leaders.?Two others were wounded, including a 60-year-old man and 72-year-old woman.

“Over the past day, the enemy has been massively shelling settlements in?Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, Kupyansk and Izium districts with artillery, mortars and aircraft,” Oleh Syniehubov, head of?Kharkiv?regional military administration, said on Telegram.

The enemy has not made progress around the city of Kupyansk, where Russia has amassed thousands of troops in recent days, Syniehubov claimed. “Our defenders are holding their positions,” he said.

In southern Ukraine: Elsewhere, Russian?forces rained down dozens of attacks?on about 20 different civilian settlements in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region overnight into Sunday, the head of the Zaporizhzhia region military administration, Yurii Malashko, said in a statement.

Russian?troops also attacked the outskirts of?Zaporizhzhia city and the district with four missiles overnight, causing no casualties, according to Malashko.

Zaporizhzhia is a key southern front in Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Kyiv’s forces are attempting to punch through the Russian line, drive south and split the land route connecting Russian-annexed Crimea to eastern Ukraine. But they are doing so under heavy shelling and multi-layered Russian defenses.

A rescuer takes a picture of a residential building damaged during a Russian missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 23, 2023.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr?Zelensky?has said there is “no excuse for Russian evil” following a fifth night of Russian strikes on the city of Odesa.

“Missiles against peaceful cities, against residential buildings, a cathedral … There can be no excuse for Russian evil,” the Ukrainian leader wrote in a statement on Telegram Sunday. “As always, this evil will lose. And there will definitely be a retaliation to Russian terrorists for Odesa. They will feel this retaliation.”

Zelensky said authorities are providing support for those affected by the attacks and expressed his gratitude for all the first responders and volunteers.

Some context: Ukraine has been struggling in the past week?to repel a wave of Russian strikes against Odesa – with its air defenses unable to cope with the types of missiles that Moscow has used to pummel the region.

Saturday’s strikes damaged a Ukrainian Orthodox Church and several “architectural monuments.”

What Russia is saying: The Russian defense ministry denied a historic church — the Transfiguration Cathedral — was a target in the overnight strikes on the city, and blamed Kyiv for disseminating false information.?

Civilian infrastructure, as well as cultural and historical objects, have been “deliberately excluded” from the targets of the strikes, the ministry claimed.?

“The most probable cause” of the destruction of the church is the clumsiness of Ukrainian air defense systems operators, the ministry said.?

A view shows a residential building damaged during a Russian missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 23, 2023.

Russian strikes on the southern port city of Odesa overnight wounded more than a dozen people — including children — and damaged a Ukrainian Orthodox Church, architectural monuments and homes, according to Ukraine’s military.

The strikes, launched Saturday night into early Sunday, killed at least one person, the army’s Operational Command South said in a statement on Telegram. They also left at least 19 people hurt, including four children.

Three of the wounded kids and 11 adults are hospitalized, according to Ukrainian officials.

“Dozens of cars were damaged, facades and roofs of many buildings in the city were damaged and windows were blown out,” according to the military’s statement. “Several craters have been formed in the city. There are power outages, which may hamper traffic and the route of public transport may be changed.”

Relentless attacks: Ukraine has been struggling in the past week?to repel a wave of Russian strikes against Odesa, its air defenses unable to cope with the types of missiles that Moscow has used to pummel the region.

Russia’s attacks have at times targeted grain infrastructure in the port city, further threatening?Ukraine’s ability to export food after the?Black Sea grain deal collapsed.

Read more here.

While Russian forces mount an essentially defensive operation in the south of Ukraine, they’ve adopted a more offensive posture elsewhere along the front line, according to updates from Kyiv’s military, regional leaders and Russian bloggers.

In Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, in particular, Moscow’s troops appear to have Ukraine firmly on the back foot.

Lysohor listed five locations in Luhansk where Russian forces had recently attacked.

A Ukrainian army spokesperson reminded TV viewers that Russia has assembled 100,000 soldiers to the east of an area between the towns of Lyman and Kupyansk. The towns are about 100 kilometers (62 miles) apart, north of Bakhmut on the eastern front.

“Although the situation is complicated, it is under our control,” said Serhii Cherevatyi, the military spokesperson.

Reports from Russia: Rybar, a Russian military blogging site, says Moscow’s forces have made territorial gains in the northeastern Kharkiv region, capturing a railway station in the village of Movchanove and expanding control around the nearby town of Lyman Pershyi.

It is not possible for CNN to immediately verify claims of battlefield gains or losses by either side, but it is notable that the DeepState mapping site also suggests modest Russian gains in the same area.

Also in the east, Ukrainian forces continue their efforts to capture higher ground around Bakhmut, but gains are small and hard to defend, according to reports.

Rybar reported the Ukrainian army has “once again managed to gain a foothold on the heights” near the town of Klishchivka, just south of Bakhmut. But, the Russian site reported, it had come “at the cost of significant losses.”

“The Ukrainian defense forces are holding the initiative (around Bakhmut), putting pressure on the enemy, and liberating Ukrainian land meter by meter,” Cherevatyi said.

Ukrainian forces hit an?ammunition?dump in Crimea on Saturday, forcing an evacuation of the area and canceling train services, according to information from Russian-backed authorities.

It marks the latest in a series of recent strikes on Russian supplies and critical infrastructure in the Russian-occupied peninsula.

Videos posted on social media and geolocated by CNN shows thick black smoke rising not far from a railway station in the town of Oktiabrske in the center of Crimea. In one of the videos, at least three loud explosions can be heard.

Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of the peninsula, said a drone had struck an?ammunition?storage facility, prompting him to order the evacuation of everyone within a 5-kilometer (about 3-mile) radius, as well as the cancellation of several train services.

About Crimea: The depot strike comes after a drone attack struck the bridge linking Crimea to Russia in the early hours of Monday morning, causing significant damage to part of the structure carrying road traffic.?

On Wednesday, an?ammunition?dump was hit in the east of the territory, also causing authorities to evacuate thousands of people living nearby. Unconfirmed reports suggested that attack might have been carried out using a Storm Shadow missile.

And on Thursday, one person was killed when a Ukrainian drone struck four administrative buildings in the northwest of Crimea, Russian-backed authorities said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly vowed to retake Crimea, which was declared annexed by Russia in 2014 in violation of international law.

Russian strikes killed and wounded several people across eastern Ukraine Saturday, where Kyiv’s forces say they are constantly defending against attacks on the front line.

As Ukraine tries to accelerate its counteroffensive, it has also turned attention to the peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

And Moscow’s closest ally, Belarus, is in the spotlight as it?trains with Wagner fighters?and the country’s president?meets with his Russian counterpart.

Here’s what you need to know from our coverage so far this weekend: