July 27, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

A house burns after a Russian bombing in Bakhmut on Wednesday.

Ukrainian officials say?battles continue around Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, as Russian forces make incremental gains in the area. At least one person was killed on Wednesday after a two-story hotel was partially destroyed in the shelling. In the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the mayor said two Russian missiles hit the city’s industrial district.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are targeting the key Antonivskyi Bridge that is used to reinforce and resupply occupying Russian forces in southern Ukraine, according to officials. Moscow is deploying additional forces to its positions in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the southern part of the country, according to Ukrainian officials and videos posted on social media that were geolocated by CNN.

Here’s what else to know:

United States House lawmakers who attended a classified briefing Wednesday on Ukraine said?Biden administration?officials informed them that more than 75,000 Russians have been killed or wounded during the war on Ukraine. The briefing also said the Russian military is fatigued, but Ukrainians are looking for additional reinforcements as they aim to launch a counteroffensive in the south before the winter.

“We were briefed that over 75,000 Russians have either been killed or wounded, which is huge, you’ve got incredible amounts of investment in their land forces, over 80% of their land forces are bogged down, and they’re tired,” Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and recently visited Ukraine, told CNN. “But they’re still the Russian military.”

US and Western officials have said in recent weeks that the next few weeks of war will be crucial, because the Ukrainians are going to try to mount a major counteroffensive in the south. Richard Moore, the head of the UK’s secret intelligence service, MI6, said last week at the Aspen Security Forum that he believes the Russians will begin to lose steam in the coming weeks because they are running out of manpower.?US and western officials believe Ukraine will aim to take back the southern city of Kherson, which has been occupied by Russia since March.?

“I think that what we heard very firmly from President Zelensky and reinforced today is that the Ukrainians really want to hit Russia in the teeth a few times before the winter comes, put them in the best position possible, particularly hitting them down south,” Slotkin added.

During the briefing, Slotkin said there was bipartisan support for sending Ukraine long-range missiles, known as ATACMS, that can strike as far as 180 miles away (more than 280 kilometers). The Ukrainians have been urging the US to provide these systems for months because the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) can only strike distances of around 49 miles (more than 78 kilometers).?

But US national security adviser Jake Sullivan reiterated last week at the Aspen Security Forum that the US would not be providing the ATACMS because they could be used to strike into Russian territory, which would escalate the war even further.?

The US Senate will also get its own briefing on Ukraine. It was originally scheduled for today but had to be rescheduled.

The UK government has sanctioned British blogger Graham Phillips over his content that “destabilizes” Ukraine, according to the British Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.?He was added to the UK sanctions list on Monday, according to the Foreign Office.?

The British Foreign Office said Phillips, “is a video blogger who has produced and published media content that supports and promotes actions and policies which destabilize Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or independence of Ukraine.”

Phillips has been placed under an assets?freeze by the UK government, and according to the public UK government sanctions list, he is the only British national sanctioned in relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.?

In a video posted on YouTube on April 19, Phillips questions captured British national Aiden Aslin, who had been fighting with Ukrainian forces in Mariupol. On camera, Aslin says he is not speaking under duress but is handcuffed during the video.

YouTube removed the video. At the time of writing, parent company Google had not provided a statement to CNN on the removal of the video.

On April 20 this year, British MP Robert Jenrick, who represents Aslin’s constituency in the UK, criticized Phillip’s video of Aslin in Parliament, describing it as a “flagrant breach of the Geneva conventions.”

In the video, Phillips refers to Aslin as a “mercenary” rather than a prisoner of war.

In response, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said of Aslin, “I understand that he had been serving in the Ukrainian forces for some time and his situation was very different from that of a mercenary.”

Phillips previously worked as a contributor for state-owned broadcaster RT in Ukraine and his videos typically present a pro-Russian view on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.?

More background: Responding to the UK government’s sanctions, Phillips said on Telegram on July 26, “It’s pretty Kafka-esque in as much as I’ve not had any chance to defend myself against the charges against me which led to the punishment.”

“But there are no real charges against me which led to the punishment so nothing to defend myself against,” he added, “Just that the British government don’t like my work.”

On Wednesday, Phillips said the sanctions had resulted in authorities, “seizing all my bank accounts without any judicial process,” he said on Telegram.?

Later on Wednesday, Phillips said on Telegram that he had submitted an appeal against the British government decision, adding, “So, after a day with a lawyer I’ve now submitted an official, 4-page appeal against the absolutely absurd, dangerous, ridiculous decision of the UK government to sanction me.?And tomorrow, return to work here in Donbass, as normal, since 2014.”

At the time of writing, Phillips had not responded to CNN’s request for comment.?

In a statement released by the UK Foreign Office on June 11 following Aslin’s capture by Russian forces in Ukraine, Aslin’s family confirmed that he had been serving as a contracted Marine in the 36th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The statement added that he has been a Ukrainian resident for four years.?

In a statement to the OSCE on July 14, the UK’s Deputy ambassador to the OSCE, Deirdre Brown, said of Aslin and the other Briton he was captured with, “Mr Pinner and Mr Aslin are members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and should be treated as Prisoners of War. They are not mercenaries.”

Following his capture, the Russian-backed authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic sentenced Aslin to death for fighting as a “mercenary,” alongside another Briton and a Moroccan citizen.?

CNN has reached out to the Luhansk People’s Republic authorities for an update on Aslin’s status.?At the time of writing, CNN has not had a response.

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska attends the Second Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen "Ukraine and the World: The Future We (Re)build Together", in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 23, 2022.

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska told TalkTV that she tries not to think too much about the threat to her, her husband, and her children from the Kremlin because dwelling on the issue would make her “really paranoid.”

“I’m trying to push these thoughts away,” she said, adding that all Ukrainians are also targets for Russia.

The first lady said she pushes those thoughts to one side because they could make her scared and “that’s not what we need right now.”

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, DC., on July 27.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said President Joe Biden was “directly involved” and signed off on the “substantial proposal” presented to Moscow to try to secure the release of detained Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.

As first reported by CNN, the US government has offered to trade convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout as part of that proposal.?

Blinken did not directly confirm Bout was part of the deal, saying he “can’t and won’t get into any of the details of what we proposed to the Russians over the course of so many weeks now.”

The sign-off from the President is required for any prisoner swaps, and overrules objections from the Department of Justice.

The top US diplomat plans to speak with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in the coming days, and said at a news conference Wednesday that his “hope would be that in speaking to Foreign Minister Lavrov, I can advance the efforts to, to bring them home.”

“There is in my mind utility in conveying clear, direct messages to the Russians on key priorities for us. And as I mentioned, these include securing the return home of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan,” he said.

“We make a judgment in every instance where we think our diplomacy can hopefully advance our interest and values, including direct engagement,” Blinken continued.

The families of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner were notified by a senior administration official ahead of?Secretary Blinken’s announcement that a “substantial proposal” had been put on the table to secure their release from Russia, an official says. Officials will be speaking to their families today and tomorrow as well.?

National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby told CNN Wednesday that the Biden administration made “a substantial offer” weeks ago,?adding that the “offer has been made, and we certainly hope that that Russia will favorably engage on it, but I don’t want to get into more detail about that.”

Kirby told reporters during the White House press briefing that Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Josh Geltzer spoke earlier today with the Griner and Whelan families ahead of Blinken’s announcement of the proposed prisoner swap.

Pressed Wednesday on if, in absence of favorable engagement from Russia, the President’s?national security team thinks Biden may have to make the offer directly, Kirby told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins “I think we’re making it clear across the national security team that we’re serious about securing that release — I don’t have any conversations to speak about, or announcements on the President’s behalf. We believe that this is a serious proposal, and we want the Russians to take it seriously as well.”

He emphasized that the administration was disinclined to offer more details on the proposed prisoner swap, telling reporters, “I’m sure you can all understand that it’s not going to help us get them home by negotiating in public with y’all, so I’m not going to have any more details, but I will say that the President and his team are willing to take extraordinary steps to bring our people home, as we’ve demonstrated with Trevor Reed, and that’s what we’re doing right here, it’s actively happening now.”

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and DJ Judd contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine is “very grateful” for an increase in deliveries of Western military aid over the past month, the country’s national security adviser Oleksiy Danilov tweeted on Wednesday

“Over the past month, there has been a strong intensification of military assistance from our partners, we are very grateful to them for this,” Danilov wrote.?

The Ukrainian National Security went on to say his country’s forces had used some of that equipment to target the?Antonivskyi?bridge, in the Kherson region, an important supply artery for Russian forces stationed west of the Dnieper river.?

Analysts have suggested Russia has been fortifying it’s positions in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in advance of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.?

“This war will result in the decolonization of the Russian federation,” Danilov also said.

The United States expects Moscow-installed leaders in Ukraine to hold sham referenda with the goal of annexing parts of Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, adding that the US “must and we will act quickly to make clear to Russia that these tactics will not work.”

The top US diplomat said that “annexation by force of the territory of a sovereign and independent country is a gross violation of the United Nations Charter.”

“Members of the international community that have committed to uphold the charter and international law, have a responsibility to denounce these plans by the Russian government and to make clear they will never recognize these illegal acts,” he said. “Otherwise, no one can claim to be surprised when Russia follows through on its plans or if other countries follow suit in the future.”

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, July 25, 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and first lady Olena Zelenska sat down with Britain’s TalkTV host Piers Morgan in their first joint international TV interview, which will air Wednesday.

They discussed the United States’ and Britain’s support for Ukraine and how the war has affected their marriage, according to preview clips shared on Twitter by TalkTV and Piers Morgan.

Zelensky said he his keen on US President Joe Biden visiting Ukraine as this would send “the strongest signal in support of Ukraine.”

Asked whether he had a message for the next British prime minister, Zelensky said in a?separate preview clip?that?he would be happy to cooperate closely and maintain the close relationship with the UK that Ukraine benefitted from under now-caretaker Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership.?The interview content was translated from Ukrainian by TalkTV.

“Whoever is the leader, the highest level of support will be provided from the Ukraine,” Zelensky said. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former finance minister Rishi Sunak are vying to become the next Conservative party leader and prime minister.

Zelensky?also said?he had “no right to play in politics inside the UK” when asked about whether he would support a potential campaign to get Boris Johnson back into office. However, Zelensky said Johnson has been a “great friend to Ukraine” and said he hoped he retained some sort of political office.

“I don’t want him to disappear, but the decision is in the hands of the British people,” Zelensky said.?

The presidential couple also?said?their marriage had gotten stronger thanks to the challenges presented by the war.

“I agree with the theory that marriage gets stronger with challenges. I think in our case, it would be the same,” said Zelenska.

“I have only one wife and I am happy,” the president added.

In a moment of levity, the first lady?disclosed?that she found out her husband would be running for Ukraine’s presidency while watching his presidential campaign announcement on TV on Dec. 31, 2018.

“He forgot [to tell me],” Zelenska said. “I saw his New Year’s address and found out he was actually running!” she added.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated when the interview would air.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a news conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, July 27.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken intends to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the first time since the war in Ukraine began more than five months ago.

The top US diplomat said Wednesday that he expected a call with his Russian counterpart this week to discuss a “substantial proposal” presented to Moscow “weeks ago” to try to secure the release of two wrongfully detained Americans — Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner.

He also plans to discuss the recently signed agreement to allow Ukrainian grain to transit through the Black Sea.

Speaking at a news conference at the State Department, Blinken said he would not negotiate on Ukraine in a call with Lavrov, repeating that they would not discuss Ukraine without Ukraine.

In this photo provided by the US Department of Justice, former Soviet military officer and arms trafficking suspect Viktor Bout, center — who has since been convicted and is serving a 25-year US prison sentence — deplanes after arriving at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, in November 2010.

After months of internal debate, the Biden administration has offered to exchange Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year US prison sentence, as part of a potential deal to secure the release of two Americans held by Russia, Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, according to people briefed on the matter.

These sources told CNN that the plan to trade Bout for Whelan and Griner received the backing of President Joe Biden after being under discussion since earlier this year. Biden’s support for the swap overrides opposition from the Department of Justice, which is generally against prisoner trades.

“We communicated a substantial offer that we believe could be successful based on a history of conversations with the Russians,” a senior administration official told CNN Wednesday. “We communicated that a number of weeks ago, in June.”

The official declined to comment on the specifics of the “substantial offer.” They said it was in Russia’s “court to be responsive to it, yet at the same time that does not leave us passive, as we continue to communicate the offer at very senior levels.”

“It takes two to tango. We start all negotiations to bring home Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained with a bad actor on the other side. We start all of these with somebody who has taken a human being American and treated them as a bargaining chip,” the official said. “So in some ways, it’s not surprising, even if it’s disheartening, when those same actors don’t necessarily respond directly to our offers, don’t engage constructively in negotiations.”

The families of Whelan, who has been held by Russia for alleged espionage since 2018, and WNBA star Griner,?jailed in Moscow?for drug possession since February, have urged the White House to secure their release, including via a prisoner exchange if necessary.

In response to CNN reporting, David Whelan, the brother of imprisoned Paul Whelan, said he appreciates the Biden administration.

Keep reading here.

Moscow has warned of “more than serious” consequences if Ukraine uses US-made multiple launch rocket systems or other NATO-supplied long-range weapons against Russian territory, according to Russian official Konstantin Gavrilov.

Gavrilov is the head of the Russian delegation at talks in Vienna on issues of military security and arms control.

“If the Armed Forces of Ukraine use American MLRS or other NATO long-range weapons against Russian territory, the consequences will be more than serious,” Gavrilov said according to a statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.?

Gavrilov also said that all of the main goals set by President Vladimir Putin will be accomplished in Ukraine and urged Western governments to listen to Russia’s concerns.

Some background: Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Tuesday that the United States and other allies have praised his country’s use of donated?systems, such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, with officials in Washington saying Russia has yet to take out any of the gifted Western?rocket?artillery.

The Ukrainian defense minister said the donated weapons were “already affecting the course of the war.” The HIMARS, with range and accuracy superior to that of equivalent Russian artillery, has allowed Ukraine to hit targets well within Moscow-controlled territory, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff said last week.

Germany has also delivered three Mars II?multiple?launch?rocket?systems?launchers from its army stocks, as well as five Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and three self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, German Minister of Defense Christine Lambrecht said on Tuesday.

Workers cut down a tree that has fallen due to shelling in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on July 27.

The Ukrainian military said it was able to repel Russian offensives toward the Donetsk town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

In its evening update on Wednesday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said it had inflicted losses on Russian forces looking to advance in that area.

Artillery shelling and airstrikes were reported in most villages and towns around the area, as well as along most of the frontline in the Donetsk region, as Russia “continues its attempts to improve the tactical position in the directions of the cities of Kramatorsk and Bakhmut with assault actions,” the General Staff said.?

The Ukrainian military said an assault along the Bilohorivka-Verkhnokamianske axis was also repelled.?

In the area around Kharkiv, as well as along the southern flank near Kherson, Ukrainian forces said the Russian military has mostly maintained its defensive positions.?

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson speaks in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday, July 26.

Hungary should still do its part to ration natural gas ahead of winter while relying on help from its EU neighbors amid supply cuts from Russia, Kadri Simson, the EU Energy Commissioner, told CNN on Wednesday.

The EU announced a deal Tuesday to reduce gas usage by 15% from August to March?to see the bloc through winter since Russia has significantly slashed its exports to Europe.

Hungary was the only member state to vote against the plan, which was branded “unfounded” and “unenforceable” by Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó.

“Hungary as a landlocked country, it depends on [its] neighbors’ solidarity,” Simson told CNN’s Becky Anderson. “Even to cut the gas right now from Russia, they need neighbors who are offering them transit routes.”

“We also agreed that at this moment when we are facing full disruption, then the neighbors will provide alternative routes. But to ask for that you also have to do your part,” Simson added. That means that every member state is right now at this stage preparing their plans, how they can save gas.”

Elizabeth Rood, the charge d’affaires of the US embassy in Moscow, said she was able to sit next to WNBA star Brittney Griner during Wednesday’s hearing in the Khimki regional court near Moscow and that Griner is “feeling well.”?

“We are going to continue to monitor the case of Ms. Griner very closely, as well as the cases of all US citizens detained or in prison in Russia,” Rood added.??

Read the complete statement by the US Embassy charge d’affaires:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks to media in Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday, July 27.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Wednesday his country can become a hub to export natural gas to European countries that seek to reduce their dependence on Russian energy.

“Spain is a solidary country, it’s a responsible country. And we will do everything we can, that’s what I told [Polish] Prime Minister [Mateusz] Morawiecki as well as the EU Commission and member states, so that Europe does not become an energy hostage to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Sánchez said at a press conference with his Polish counterpart.

Sánchez said that 30 percent of Europe’s total re-gasification capacity currently resides in Spain, adding that the country has already increased its gas export capacity and was willing to increase it even further.

“Last June, 20 percent of the liquified natural gas imports that arrived to Spain were exported to other countries in the European Union,” Sánchez said, adding that Spain has asked the EU Commission and neighboring countries to increase the capacity for interconnectivity to be able to be better integrated and export more gas to the EU’s energy market.

Sánchez also said the uncertainty and threat of Russia’s war in Ukraine should be countered by reinforcing the European Union.

Alexander Boykov, the lawyer of WNBA star Brittney Griner — who testified today in a Russian courtroom — said his client’s detention, search and arrest were “improper.”

Boykov added that he would go into the details during the closing arguments expected to take place “in a manner of a couple of weeks.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, Griner testified that when she was stopped at the Sheremetyevo airport on Feb. 17?and asked to open her bags, nobody read her rights to her. She signed documents without an explanation of what was in them, she added. She said no lawyer was present.

“Brittney confirmed that she had a doctor’s prescription for the use of medical cannabis and that in the USA medical cannabis is quite a popular treatment among professional athletes. She emphasized that she never planned to bring it to Russia and use it. She also told the court that Ekaterinburg became her second home, and she has always enjoyed her time in Russia,” Blagovolina added.

WNBA star Brittney Griner said during her testimony in a Russian courtroom that she had no intention of smuggling drugs to Russia and that she was aware of the Russian drug laws.

“I still don’t understand to this day how they ended up in my bags,” Griner said, responding to a question from the defense.

Griner stated she had no intention of breaking the Russian law and that she was in a rush “stress packing.”

Asked how she got those cartridges in the US, Griner said she used her medical permit document issued in Arizona to buy marijuana for medical purposes from a pharmacy.

Griner said she had such a bad knee injury that she spent four months in a wheelchair. She said she used medical marijuana when her knee and ankle joint were inflamed. Griner added she never uses it before tournaments, as it may lead to disqualification.

Wednesday’s hearing at the Khimki regional court has ended. The next hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Moscow time (3 a.m. ET) on Tuesday.

A Russian serviceman guards in an area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, Ukraine, on May 1.

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, has accused Russian soldiers of using the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as a fortress from which to fire from.

?“Therefore, the occupiers use the Zaporizhzhia NPP as a fortress,” he added.

Orlov is not inside Enerhodar, as the city has been under Russian occupation since the early days of the war, but says he remains in close communication with residents inside the city.

“The occupiers are using NPP workers and locals as hostages,” he said. “People are kidnapped for the purpose of obtaining money or other benefits. People are kept in basements.”

Ukrainian lawmaker?Andriy?Kostin?addresses colleagues before the voting for his appointment as the Prosecutor General begins in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 27.

Ukraine’s Parliament approved a resolution Wednesday to appoint lawmaker Andriy Kostin as the country’s new prosecutor general after former Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova was dismissed last week.

The draft resolution to appoint Kostin was submitted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who personally attended the session where 299 out of 450 lawmakers approved the new prosecutor.

Kostin also said he would ensure cooperation with the International Criminal Court to bring “every war criminal, representatives of the political and military leadership of Russia” to justice. He went on to suggest “werewolves in uniform” would also be punished, referring to Ukrainian law enforcement who “collaborated with the enemy.”?

Originally from Odesa, Kostin is a lawyer by training. He is also an elected lawmaker from the Servant of the People Party and has been leading the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy since 2020. He is considered a close ally of Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

Zelensky is expected to appoint Kostin by presidential degree as a last step in the formal process.?

The Ukrainian president suspended Venediktova on July 17, along with the head of the country’s Security Service Ivan Bakanov, citing suspicions of “treason” among officers in both their departments. The Ukrainian parliament voted to remove them from their respective posts two days later.?

The Kremlin has vowed to take “similar measures of pressure” on Western media after a European Union court upheld a broadcast ban on Russian state media channel Russia Today.

Earlier on Wednesday, the European Union’s General Court dismissed an action taken by Russia Today France, the French version of the channel, appealing EU measures prohibiting the channel from broadcasting in the bloc.?

RT France brought forward four pleas — alleging infringement of the rights of defense, freedom of expression and information, the right to conduct a business, and the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of nationality — according to a statement from the General Court.

The court dismissed the action “in its entirety,” notably ruling that “the nature and extent of the temporary prohibition” of the EU measures do not call freedom of expression into question.?

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quick to respond to the ruling, stressing that Russia will be taking “no soft stance” in return.?

He expressed his hope that the broadcaster will be able to “find loopholes” allowing the resumption of “their much-needed broadcasting.”

In the judgment, the court stressed that the EU “cannot be criticized” for including a temporary ban on content broadcasting by media outlets funded by the Russian state “on the ground that those outlets would support the Russian Federation’s military aggression against Ukraine.”

US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Griner arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow, Russia, on July 27.

WNBA star Brittney Griner has begun testifying Wednesday at the Khimki regional court near Moscow, saying that she was not read her rights when she was stopped at the Sheremetyevo airport on Feb. 17.

Griner started by asking through an interpreter whether she would be able to leave her cell in order to testify. She said it would hurt to keep bending her neck to see the judge from the cell. She was allowed to testify seated.

Griner said that she travels a lot and makes hundreds of domestic flights during the season as well as internationally.

She continued by describing what happened on Feb. 17 when she was asked to open up her suitcase during her layover stop in Moscow.

Griner said that she was asked to open her bags at the airport, but nobody read her rights to her. She said that she signed some documents but barely knew what was in them and had to use Google Translate on her phone.

She added that later she was taken to another room where her phone was taken away and she was made to sign more documents without an explanation of what was in them. She said no lawyer was present.?

Griner said she stayed in that room until late that night. After that, she was handcuffed and taken away, she said.

Preparations are underway for the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine, according to the country’s navy, while Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom has further cut gas supplies to Europe in a move European Union officials have called “politically motivated.” Fighting continues around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where one person was killed after Russian shelling hit a hotel.

Here are the latest headlines:

U.S. basketball player Brittney?Griner is escorted before a court hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia, on July 27.

US basketball star Brittney Griner has arrived at the Khimki regional court near Moscow for the sixth hearing of her trial.

Griner’s attorney Alexander Boykov told CNN that Griner is expected to testify Wednesday, adding that prosecutors will also have the opportunity to question her.

The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist was arrested on February 17 at a Moscow airport, a week before Russia invaded Ukraine, on accusations of alleged attempted drug smuggling, an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Griner pleaded guilty?earlier this month, a decision the defense hopes will be taken into account by the court and perhaps lead to a less severe sentence. But the US State Department has classified her as wrongfully detained, and her supporters have called for her release, fearing she might be used as a political pawn amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Griner’s lawyers have argued that their client was prescribed medical cannabis for “severe chronic pain.”

At Tuesday’s hearing, a narcologist brought in by Griner’s defense team said that it is likely Griner used the hash oil found in her luggage for medical purposes rather than recreational purposes, based on her prescription.

Speaking after Tuesday’s hearing concluded, Griner’s lawyer Maria Blagovolina said the witness “explained that in various countries — namely in the USA — medical cannabis is a popular treatment specifically among athletes.”

Charge d’Affaires of the US embassy Elizabeth Rood is also attending the hearing. A verdict is not expected today.

Military delegations of Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations (UN) sit at the opening of the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) for Ukrainian grain exports in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 27.

The Joint Coordination Center, which will oversee the export of Ukrainian grain, has opened in Istanbul.?

In an address at the?National Defense University,?Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the center “has a special meaning for the whole world and will work for purely humanitarian purposes.”

The coordination center was one of the key creations of the grain deal agreed between Russia and Ukraine under the auspices of the UN and Turkey.

As part of the deal signed Friday, grain ships will navigate through safe corridors in the Black Sea and then pass through the Bosphorus strait — an important shipping corridor in northwest Turkey — in order to reach global markets.

According to Akar, the deal “signed by the parties will be valid for 120 days and will continue unless the parties request termination.”

He told journalists and officials that “the preparation and planning of the first grain-laden ships to leave the Ukrainian ports continues.”

“The duty of the center is to provide safe sea transportation of grain and similar food products to be exported from Ukraine from the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny,” the minister added during an opening ceremony at the university.?

Russia, Ukraine, the UN and Turkey will each send five representatives, including a mixture of civilian and military representatives, according to Akar.

Akar stressed that the officials working at the center “are aware that the eyes of the world are on them,” outlining Turkey’s hope that the center “will make maximum contributions to humanitarian needs and peace through collective and successful work.”

CNN’s Yusuf Gezer in Istanbul contributed reporting to this post.

Work is underway at Black Sea ports to prepare for grain exports in accordance with the agreement signed by Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul last week, according to the Ukrainian Navy.

“Work has been resumed in the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny,” the Navy said. “The departure and arrival of ships to seaports will be carried out by forming a caravan that will be accompanied by the lead ship.”

Navigation and hydrographic experts are working to ensure that channels from the three ports are safe, it added.

Ukrainian officials have said they hope the first shipments will leave by the end of this week. Merchant ships will have an escort to the edge of Ukrainian territorial waters.

At Prague train station, Russians and Ukrainians volunteer together to help refugees on July 20.

The shift was long over, but she wasn’t ready to leave. Not until the Ukrainian refugee family she had been helping was safely on a train.

Donning a pink vest and switching seamlessly between Ukrainian, Russian and Czech languages, she is one of the Iniciativa Hlavák (Main Station Initiative) volunteers assisting refugees at the main rail station in Prague.

She gives people directions, helps with train tickets and passes on crucial information about where to get help. Volunteering is her way of “doing something,” she told CNN.

“I am not Ukrainian,” she said quietly. “I am Russian.”

“We need to do something about this,” she added. “Nobody [in Russia] is listening when we speak up, but at least here I can do something.”

The volunteer asked for her last name not to be published because of concerns over her safety.

“I don’t know what kind of law is coming next in Russia. I could be called a foreign agent for helping Ukrainians, and if I want to go back to Russia to visit my parents’ grave, it may be a problem,” she said.

A fellow volunteer Maksym Bobrov has similar motivations for helping at the train station.

The 23-year-old is originally from Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine, but has been living and studying in Prague for the past six years.

“I need to do something. I read the news every day, and every day I hope my hometown will not be struck,” he said, recounting a recent journey by a family member through the site of a deadly attack in Vinnytsia.

“They left the square where it happened just minutes before the hit,” he said.

During one three-hour-long shift last week, Bobrov helped countless people.

When a humanitarian train heading to the Polish town of Przemysl pulled in, he was on hand to help dozens of people — mostly women with children — with bags, standing next to the train and lifting a suitcase after suitcase.

He is not going home anytime soon, having been recently reunited with his mom, who joined him in Prague.

“When she hears a plane, she gets up and starts panicking. I have to assure her it’s just a normal plane, not a fighter jet,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss military and technical cooperation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdo?an during his visit to Sochi in southern Russia next Friday, according to the Kremlin.

“Yes, the topic of military-technical cooperation will certainly be discussed in Sochi,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday.

According to Peskov, military-technical cooperation between Russia and Turkey is constantly on the agenda, and “the very fact that interaction is developing in such a sensitive area indicates that, in general, the whole complex of relations is at a very high level.”

When asked if the issue of grain exports will also be raised during the meeting, Peskov said the two presidents will be able to assess how the Istanbul agreements on grain shipments are being implemented.

Putin and Erdo?an met in Tehran last week. On Friday, Ukraine and Russia agreed on a deal that would allow the resumption of vital grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. The agreement was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in Istanbul.

Pipe systems and shut-off devices at the gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline in Lubmin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, on July 20.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has imposed a further cut on gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20% of maximum capacity, German network operator Gascade said in a statement Wednesday.

The Russian state-owned energy company said on Monday that gas flows would be reduced as it shuts down a turbine for repairs.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck reacted strongly on Monday, saying that “there is no technical reason for a reduction in deliveries.”

Gas had been flowing at 40% capacity after Russia slashed exports in response to Western sanctions.

To avoid a gas shortage in winter, Germany is currently trying to fill its gas storage facilities as quickly as possible. The facilities are currently filled to about 66% capacity, according to the German gas and electricity regulator.

On Tuesday, EU energy ministers agreed to a voluntary target to reduce gas usage by 15% between August and March 2023 in order to prepare for the winter.

Gas prices have spiked more than 20% since the start of the week.

Firefighters try to put out a fire after the Russian shelling of a house in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on July 27.

One person was killed in the town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region on Wednesday after a two-story hotel was partially destroyed by shelling, and another person was trapped in the wreckage, the State Emergency Service in Donetsk said.

Video and photographs from the area show extensive damage and fires as Russian forces move closer to the town.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said that three missiles had struck the nearby town of Toretsk, but there were no reports of casualties.

Several other communities near Bakhmut were under intense fire, added Kyrylenko, as were locations elsewhere on the front lines near the city of Donetsk.

Russian forces have been trying to advance westwards through the Donetsk region for several weeks, but have so far made only incremental progress.??

The Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein Air Base in?Landstuhl, Germany, on October 3, 2018.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved the treatment of wounded Ukrainian soldiers at a US military hospital in Germany, according to a memo obtained by CNN and confirmed by two US defense officials.

The plan would allow Ukrainian troops to be treated at a US military hospital for the first time since?Russia invaded the country in February. It allows for the treatment of up to 18 wounded soldiers at a time at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the massive hospital in Germany where the military has for years treated US service members who suffered injuries in combat.

Austin offered verbal guidance in late May to begin offering treatment to wounded Ukraine soldiers, according to the memo. On June 29, Austin formalized the verbal guidance in a memo entitled “Guidance for Medical Treatment of Wounded Ukrainian Service Members.”

Despite the plan receiving final approval nearly one month ago, Landstuhl has not yet received Ukrainian service members for medical care.

The official said the purpose of the memo was to remove any red tape that would slow down the process of offering treatment if the need arose. The plan would permit treatment if there was no facility available in Ukraine or in a closer country. Landstuhl is approximately 700 miles from the Ukrainian border.

If Landstuhl were to receive wounded Ukrainian troops, the service members would have to leave Ukraine by train or car before the US, which has no troops in Ukraine, could evacuate them by air to Ramstein Air Base.

Read the full story here.

South Korean soldiers sitting on a K-2 tank during a media day presentation at the Second Fleet Command of Navy in Pyeongtaek on September 25, 2017.

Poland is buying almost 1,000 tanks, more than 600 pieces of artillery and dozens of fighter jets from South Korea, in part to replace equipment donated to Ukraine to help Kyiv fight?the Russian invasion, the Polish Ministry of Defense told CNN on Tuesday.

The agreement, expected to be officially announced in Poland on Wednesday, will see Warsaw purchase 980 tanks based on the South Korean K2 model, 648 self-propelled K9 armored howitzers, and 48 FA-50 fighter jets, the ministry said. It would not confirm the value of the deal.

The first 180 K2 tanks, made by Hyundai Rotem and equipped with auto-loading 120mm guns, are expected to arrive this year, with the production of 800 upgraded tanks starting in 2026 in Poland, according to the ministry.

The first 48 K9 howitzers, made by Hanwha Defense, are also expected to arrive this year, with delivery of a second batch of 600 due to start in 2024. From 2025 these will be produced in Poland, the ministry said.

The ministry said these armored vehicles would, in part, replace the Soviet-era tanks that Poland has donated to Ukraine to use in its fight against Russia.

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US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Griner arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow, Russia, on July 26.

US basketball star Brittney Griner is expected to testify in a Russian courtroom Wednesday as part of?her ongoing trial on drug charges, for which she faces up to 10 years in prison.

Griner’s attorney, Alexander Boykov, confirmed to CNN the two-time Olympic gold medalist would testify, adding prosecutors will also have the opportunity to question her.

Griner has been detained in Russia since February, when authorities said they found cannabis oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport and accused the WNBA player — who plays in Russia during the league’s offseason — of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance.

Read the full story here.

Ukrainian officials say battles continue around the eastern city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, as Russian forces make incremental gains in the area.

Social media video published in the past 24 hours shows Russian forces in control of a power plant near the settlement of Novoluhanske, which has been a battleground for several weeks.

The military’s General Staff said fighting continues in the area,?but the Russians had failed in an effort to close in on the nearby town of Soledar, according to its operational update Wednesday.

Hostilities continued in two areas immediately to the west of the power plant but Russian forces had suffered casualties and pulled back, it added.

Sloviansk: The General Staff reported heavy fire from Russian tanks and artillery against settlements in a wide arc north of Sloviansk — an important target for the Russian operation. Essentially the front lines in this region have not changed in several weeks, with the Ukrainians repeatedly claiming to have repelled Russian assaults.?

Ukrainian forces continue to defend the pocket of territory they still hold on the border of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

The General Staff said another assault by Russian forces in the area of Verkhniokamianske had failed.

The?Antonivskyi?Bridge?across the Dnipro River in the Russia-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, on July 23.

Ukrainian officials have confirmed a further attack on a key bridge used to reinforce and resupply occupying Russian forces in southern Ukraine

Multiple social media videos published on Tuesday night showed several large detonations near the Antonivskyi Bridge — the main crossing point of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region that essentially links Ukraine to Russian-annexed Crimea.

Nataliya Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Operational Command South, told Ukrainian television: “Yes,?there were blows on the bridge, and they were precise.”

Some context: The Antonivskyi Bridge is one of three that had previously been struck by long-range Ukrainian artillery in an effort to disrupt Russian reinforcements and supplies being moved into Kherson from Crimea.

Ukrainian officials have previously said their goal is to allow civilian traffic to continue using the bridge while making it impassable for heavy equipment.

Last week, Russian state media reported that Ukraine used long-range rockets provided by the West to target the bridge for two days in a row, causing major damage.

The Antonivskyi Bridge was damaged “significantly,” said Yurii Sobolevskyi, first deputy head of the Kherson regional council.

Sobolevskyi said the Russians were not letting anyone near the bridge, but the restoration would take a long time and pose problems for Moscow’s forces.

Russia downplays impact: Deputy head of the Russian-backed administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, said the “hysteria that is being spun in the media about how the war is going to be decided on this bridge, it’s just a bluff.”

Southern counteroffensive: Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Operational Command South, also said Ukrainian forces had made advances in the north of Kherson.

She said two villages — Andriyivka and Lozove?— had been liberated, and Ukrainian forces were strengthening their positions. The Ukrainian offensive in Kherson began in late May but has made only modest progress so far.?

Two S-300 missiles fired by Russian forces hit the industrial district of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early on Wednesday,?the city’s mayor Ihor Terekhov said.?

The shelling occurred around 4:25 a.m. local time, Terekhov said, adding that rescuers are already on-site sorting through the rubble.?

Kharkiv, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war, has continued to come under attack by Russian forces.??

The industrial plant of the Nord Stream 1 in Lubmin, northeastern Germany.

The Biden administration is working furiously behind the scenes to keep European allies united against Russia as Moscow?further cuts its energy supplies to the European Union, prompting panic on both sides of the Atlantic over potentially severe gas shortages heading into winter, US officials say.

On Monday, Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom said it would cut flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany in half, to just 20% of its capacity. A US official said the move was retaliation for Western sanctions, and that it put the West in “unchartered territory” when it comes to whether Europe will have enough gas to get through the winter.

In response to the turmoil, the White House dispatched presidential coordinator for global energy Amos Hochstein to Europe on Tuesday, officials said. He will be traveling to Paris and Brussels to discuss contingency planning with the US-EU energy task force created in March, one month after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The impact on Europe could boomerang back onto the US, spiking natural gas and electricity prices, the official said. It will also be a major test of European resilience and unity against Russia, as the Kremlin shows no signs of retreating from Ukraine.

The US and Brussels have been pleading with EU members to save gas and store it for winter, and on Tuesday, energy ministers?agreed in principle to cut gas use by 15% from August to March.

There will also be discussions in the coming days about increasing nuclear power production across Europe to offset gas shortages, officials said. Germany was planning to completely phase out its use of nuclear power by the end of 2022, but US officials are hoping to convince Berlin to extend the life of its three remaining nuclear power plants amid the energy crisis, an official said.

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The Russian military is deploying additional forces to its southern flank, bolstering its positions in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, according to Ukrainian officials and videos posted on social media that were geolocated by CNN. Analysts suggest the move is presumably to try and counter an eventual Ukrainian counteroffensive.?

Several posts on Ukrainian social media accounts reference the movement of heavy military equipment on top of trains or clogging up highways through the Crimean peninsula and into the Kherson region. CNN geolocated several videos, filmed in the past few days, which show convoys crossing from Crimea into Kherson. Other videos showed the convoys heading toward Crimea, across the Kerch straight, from Krasnodar in Russia.?

The spokespeople for the Ukrainian General Staff and the Ukrainian Operational Command South declined to comment, but the Office of the Ukrainian President in Crimea said the “movement of military equipment, ammunition, and personnel of the Russian army continues throughout the territory of the occupied Crimean peninsula.”

Analysts have suggested this movement of heavy equipment could be in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive to try and retake Russian-controlled areas in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas. In its daily assessment of the Russian campaign on Monday, the Institute for the Study of War said that “Russian forces continued to fortify their positions in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts in preparations for Ukrainian counteroffensives.”

What Russia is saying:?The Russian Defense Ministry denied Moscow is deploying additional forces to Ukraine.

“A number of foreign media outlets are spreading false information about alleged mobilization activities,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “We draw your attention to the fact that only a part of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is involved in the conduct of a special military operation, the number of which is quite sufficient to fulfil all the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.”

CNN’s Zarah Ullah and Uliana Pavlova contributed reporting to this post.

In this frame grab from video provided by Roscosmos, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Korsakov, Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveyev are seen during a welcome ceremony after arriving at the International Space Station, on March 18, the first new faces in space since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The crew emerged from the Soyuz capsule wearing yellow flight suits with blue stripes, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

Russia says it is planning to pull out of the International Space Station and end its decades-long partnership with NASA at the orbiting outpost, according to the newly appointed head of Russia’s space agency.

Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made.”

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