July 30, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage. You can catch up on the day’s news by scrolling through the posts below, or read more about Russia’s war in Ukraine here.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed in Russia's Rostov region.

A drone came down in a rural area?of Russia’s southwestern Rostov region near the border with Ukraine on Sunday, according to regional Gov. Vasily Golubev.

“An unmanned aerial vehicle crashed in the settlement of Daraganovka,” Golubev said in a Telegram post Sunday.

The village sits about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Taganrog, where?a missile was shot down on Friday. The missile’s remnants fell on the center of the city, wounding 14 people.

In the case of Sunday’s drone crash, the governor said a home and a car were damaged, but no casualties were immediately reported. An ambulance was headed to the scene at the time of Golubev’s post, he said, and further information may be available later.

The governor said officials are still determining whether the unmanned aerial vehicle was a Ukrainian drone.

Drones on Russian soil: Russia said it?brought down three Ukrainian drones?trying to attack Moscow on Sunday, the second reported attack on the country’s capital in a week. Russia also said it intercepted more than two dozen drones in Crimea, the peninsula it seized in 2014.

Paired with missile strikes, like the one in Taganrog, and incursions by anti-Kremlin Russian fighters aligned with Ukraine, drones are part of the increasing number of instances where the reverberations of Moscow’s invasion have reached its own territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that the war is?“gradually”?being pushed back to Russian territory.

Irina Barkhatova, 68, checks damage in her apartment that was hit by shelling in?Donetsk on Sunday.

Ukrainian authorities?have launched an investigation into the death of one civilian and the injury of five others Sunday in the eastern Donetsk region as a result of Russian shelling on civilian?infrastructure,?Ukraine’s?Prosecutor?General’s Office said in a statement.

“A pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings over violation of the laws and customs of war” is being conducted under the supervision of regional prosecutors, the statement said.?

According to the investigation, Russian troops opened fire on civilian areas in Kostiantynivka and a nearby village of Predtechyno, the Prosecutor General’s Office said. A local resident died as a result of the shelling and five others sustained mine-blast injuries, with a 13-year-old boy among the wounded.?

Kostiantynivka is just west of Bakhmut and north of the city of Donetsk.

According to the?Prosecutor?General’s Office, at least 12 residential buildings and a gas pipeline were damaged in the attacks.?

As drones hit a building in Moscow, Ukraine said it continues to see marginal gains along the front lines.

These are Sunday’s biggest developments.

Drones in Moscow: Russia said it?brought down three Ukrainian drones?trying to attack Moscow on Sunday, the second reported attack on the country’s capital in a week. A business and shopping center west of the capital was hit, damaging two floors of a 50-story building, state news agency TASS reported.

Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin marked Russia’s Navy Day by announcing plans to acquire 30 new ships this year to replenish the fleet.

On the battlefield: The war is “gradually” being pushed back to Russia’s territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s military said its troops are also seeing “slow but steady progress” around the battered eastern city of Bakhmut. On the southern front, Ukraine said it is consolidating positions and holding back Russian offenses.

Peace talks: Saudi Arabia is set to host Ukraine peace talks that will include Western and several developing countries — but not Russia —?the head of?the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said?on Sunday.?

It follows Putin’s?claim Saturday that?Moscow has not rejected peace negotiations with Ukraine, with the Russian leader saying an agreement is needed from both sides, but it’s difficult to reach one while Ukraine’s army is?on offense. While Zelensky repeatedly said in the beginning months of Russia’s full-scale invasion that he wanted to?meet?face to face with Putin, he has since?ruled out any peace negotiations?with Russia until Moscow’s troops withdraw from his country’s territory.

Zelensky also said it was necessary to implement his 10-point peace plan?to ensure the flow of grain after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Pope Francis on Saturday called for Moscow to rejoin the deal.

Kyiv’s forces are making small advances in various frontline areas of southeast Ukraine, treading carefully as Russia launches aerial assaults on their positions, according to a spokesperson with the National Guard of Ukraine.

“The Russians are actively using attack drones,” including Russian-made Lancets and the Iranian-manufactured Shaheds, according to Andrii Kulish, a press officer for the National Guard’s “Rubizh” brigade.

Ukraine’s military says Russian forces have focused attacks in the areas of Avdiivka and Marinka — a pair of nearby small cities in the Donetsk region — and are also active in the directions of Berdiansk and Melitopol further south.

“In the last 24 hours, the enemy attacked our positions 20 times. In addition, they made 603 attacks using tanks, (multiple rocket launchers) and cannon artillery,” the?Tavria defense forces, which is leading the fight in those areas, said via its press center.

“Hottest spot” on the front line: The military grouping said it is “holding back the Russian offensive” near Marinka, adding that it has recorded 18 clashes between troops there over the last 24 hours.

“The intensity of the enemy’s assault actions in Marinka is increasing,” it continued, claiming the Russian assaults include fighters from Russia’s Storm-Z units, which are made up of convicts.

The area is “definitely the hottest spot” on the front line — especially near Oleksandrivka, which neighbors Marinka, the Tavria group said.

Further south: The Tavria defense forces also continue its offensive in areas surrounding Melitopol and Berdiansk, “consolidating their positions, inflicting artillery fire on the enemy targets identified, and carrying out counter-battery operations,”?the?military grouping said.

Closer to the city of Zaporizhzhia, Russian forces have received reinforcements in the town of Robotyno, a town that a Ukrainian fighter said Saturday is under full Ukrainian fire control.

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

Saudi Arabia is set to host Ukraine peace talks including Western and several developing countries,?the head of?the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said?on Sunday.?

“We are preparing the next meeting of advisers to the leaders of the states regarding the implementation of the Peace Formula of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, which will soon take place in Saudi Arabia,” Yermak said.??

The talks,?first reported?by?The Wall Street Journal,?will?involve Ukraine,?Western nations?and key developing?countries, including India and Brazil —?but Russia will not be a participant.??

While Yermak did not provide specific dates for the summit, the Journal reported that the?meeting?is?due to take place?in?the Saudi Arabian city of?Jeddah?from?August 5 to 6.

Yermak said that “each point of the Peace Formula is being discussed in an individual and group format with representatives of more than 50 countries of the world on an almost weekly basis,” referring to Zelensky’s 10-point plan he presented to world leaders at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last year. The steps include a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes and a final peace treaty with Moscow.?

Yermak said that the goal of the talks is “to unite the world around Ukraine.”??

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Moscow has never rejected peace negotiations with Ukraine. In order to start the process to end the war, an agreement is needed from both sides, but it’s difficult to reach one while Ukraine’s army is?on offense, the Russian leader said.

While Zelensky repeatedly said in the beginning months of Russia’s full-scale invasion that he wanted to meet face to face with Putin, he has since?ruled out any peace negotiations?with Russia until Moscow’s troops withdraw from his country’s territory. Zelensky said allowing any negotiations while another nation’s military is occupying Ukraine would only “freeze” the war, pain and suffering caused by Putin’s invasion.

The war is “gradually returning” to Russia’s territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday in an evening address.?

“Russian aggression has gone bankrupt on the battlefield. Today is the 522nd day of the so-called ‘special military operation,’ which the Russian leadership expected to last for a week or two,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky warned, however, that Russia can still attack Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure this winter, as it did last year to devastating effect. The president said that on Sunday he met with regional officials to discuss preparations for possible scenarios.

On Sunday, Zelensky also met with wounded fighters and medical teams during a trip to Ukraine’s western Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Attacks on Russian soil: Russia said it?brought down three Ukrainian drones?trying to attack Moscow on Sunday, the second reported attack on the country’s capital in a week.

In recent months, Russia has also reported Ukrainian missiles reaching cities miles from the border and incursions by anti-Kremlin Russian fighters aligned with Kyiv.

A Ukrainian soldier carries shells to their front line position in the direction of Bakhmut on July 22.

Ukraine’s forces are “gradually moving forward” around the battered city of Bakhmut, while also claiming some gains elsewhere on the eastern front,?a military spokesperson told CNN on Sunday.

Surrounding Bakhmut, Kyiv’s military has generally been able to gain hundreds of meters per day and capture kilometers of territory each week, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, who represents the military’s eastern grouping.

Remember: Bakhmut is one of the most fiercely contested cities in the conflict, with both militaries pouring significant resources into its capture. While the territory bears some strategic value, it also has become a powerful symbol in a war where Russian President Vladimir Putin has had few recent clear-cut victories.

In May, fighters with the Wagner private military group claimed to have captured the city and handed it over to Russia’s military. But in the time since, Ukraine has reported that heavy fighting continues in the area and claimed regular gains all around the city.

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

Other fighting nearby: North of Bakhmut, near the focal point cities of Lyman and Kupyansk, the Ukrainian military spokesperson said Russia’s military is maintaining a presence of around 100,000 troops but suffering “heavy losses.”

A bit farther east, the Luhansk region’s?Serebryansky forest “is a site of constant fighting,” Cherevatyi said. Despite Russia’s strategic actions, “they are failing there,” he claimed.

In his evening address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was “a good day, a powerful day” at the front lines. He highlighted Bakhmut and “other very hot and painful areas,” including the small eastern cities of Avdiivka and Marinka, which have been long battered by the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday the call by Pope Francis for the restoration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative was “important” and that religious leaders’ reaction to the war matters.?

“The reaction of the world’s religious leaders to the Russian missile terror and destruction of Ukrainian agricultural products is extremely important to protect the whole world, and especially the peoples of Africa and Asia, who suffer the most from the threat of hunger, from a food crisis,” he said on Twitter.?

Some context: Russia announced it was suspending its participation in the deal on July 17, spurring fears of global food insecurity. With the harvest only a few months away, US and Western officials are looking for options to transport more grain out of Ukraine. According to the European Commission, the country accounts for 10% of the world wheat market, 15% of the corn market and 13% of the barley market.

“Ukraine is and will be the guarantor of the world’s food security. The key thing now is to stop Russian terror and fully implement the #PeaceFormula,” Zelensky added, referring to the 10-point plan he presented to world leaders at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last year. The steps include a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes and a final peace treaty with Moscow.?

One of the newest pieces in Ukraine’s arsenal is a remote-controlled sea drone designed to attack Russian forces in the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian-made surface drones, first shown publicly to CNN, are armed with 300 kilograms (about 660 pounds) of explosives and can hit a target 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) away.

A pilot who goes by the call sign “Shark” said the drones are easy to control and have limited the Russian navy’s movements. Equipment on Russian ships is designed to attack other ships, according to the drones’ developer, rendering the vessels’ defenses ineffective.

Naval drones?were used?to?strike the Kerch bridge?— which links Crimea to mainland Russia — earlier this month, and they could prove to be vital against?Russian threats?on ships after the country withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal.

Earlier Sunday, on Russia’s Navy Day, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to add 30 more ships to his country’s fleet.

Watch more from Alex Marquardt’s report here:

Pope Francis delivers the Angelus noon prayer in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, on July 30.

Pope Francis on Sunday urged Russia to rejoin a deal that had allowed for the export of Ukrainian grain to international markets, helping mitigate the global food supply crunch worsened by Moscow’s war.

Some background: The deal, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022,?had allowed Ukraine to export grain by sea, with ships bypassing a Russian blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports and navigating safe passage through the waterway to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait, eventually reaching global markets.

The UN said it proved vital for stabilizing global food prices and bringing relief to the developing countries that rely on Ukrainian exports.

Russia withdrew from the accord on July 17, arguing that it was being prevented from adequately exporting its own food. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the main objective of the deal — supplying grain to countries in need — had not been realized.

What’s happened since the deal’s collapse: Russia has unleashed a flurry of attacks on grain supplies in key Ukrainian cities, including the port city of Odesa, wiping out 60,000 tons of grain, enough to feed 270,000 people for a year, British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward said.

It has meanwhile courted African countries, with Putin casting Moscow as a nonetheless reliable source of food. Putin has offered to send free grain to the continent, but the UN says that will not make up for Russia pulling out of the grain deal.

CNN’s Rob Pichet, Mick Krever and Anna Chernova contributed to this post

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his press conference at the Konstantin Palace on July 29, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

As Russia’s war against Ukraine rages on, and Kyiv escalates its counteroffensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin says a ceasefire is hard to implement.

He made the claim at a carefully orchestrated press event attended by a small group of Russian media in St. Petersburg.?

Putin said Moscow has never rejected peace negotiations with Ukraine. In order to start the process to end the war, an agreement is needed from both sides, but it is difficult to reach one while Ukraine’s army is on offense, the Russian leader said.

Key context: This week at a summit with African governments, Putin said he was considering a peace initiative proposed by the leaders and blamed Kyiv for not coming to the table.

But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has?ruled out any peace negotiations?with Russia until Moscow’s troops withdraw from his country’s territory, characterizing the conflict as an unprovoked war of aggression launched by Putin.

Zelensky said allowing any negotiations while another nation’s military is occupying Ukraine would only “freeze” the war, pain and suffering caused by Putin’s invasion.

Ukraine’s purported losses: Putin also said on Saturday that?Ukrainian forces lost 415 of its tanks and 1,300 armored?vehicles since June 4.

When asked for comment by CNN on the Russian leader’s claims, Serhii Cherevatyi, the deputy commander of the Ukraine military’s Eastern Group for Strategic Communications, joked that “if we really had so much (material), we’d already be in Moscow.

“It seems to me that he is living in his own universe,” Cherevatyi said.

On critics: When asked by a journalist about the arrest of people in Russia who are critical of his leadership during the armed conflict with Ukraine, Putin replied:

CNN’s Radina Gigova and Uliana Pavlova contributed to this post

Russian sailors participate in the Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg on July 30.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated servicemen, veterans and all citizens of the country during a speech in St. Petersburg on the country’s Navy Day.

This year, 45 ships, boats and submarines, as well as about 3,000 servicemen, took part in the parade, according to the Kremlin.?

Putin said 30 new ships will be added to the Russian fleet this year, including a missile Corvette called the Mercury, which is named in memory of the crew of a “legendary” Russian brig known for its battle with two ships in the 19th?century.

Guests at the parade included four leaders who attended Putin’s Africa summit.

A second person has died following a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, authorities said on social media.

Twenty people have now been reported injured. School buildings, dormitories and high-rise residential buildings were also damaged, the Sumy City Council said on social media.

Authorities said efforts to clear the rubble and evacuate residents continue and that?13 people were provided with temporary accommodation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, attends the Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg on July 30.

Russia’s annual Navy Day parade was held in St. Petersburg, with sailors and veterans showing off the country’s naval might.?

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a short speech to mark the occasion. He said that the navy plans to acquire 30 new ships “of various classes” this year to replenish the fleet. One is a missile corvette named Mercury.

According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, four African heads of state who stayed in St. Petersburg following a Russia-Africa summit joined Putin for the parade.

A bit of history: The Naval Day celebration was established in 1939. It was originally held on July 24, then changed to the last Sunday in July in 1980. The largest parades are held in Russia’s major port cities.

One of the main traditions of the holiday is the solemn raising of the St. Andrew’s flag, the symbol of the Russian navy.

Russia says Ukraine targeted Moscow with drones on Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks that have brought the Ukraine war to Russia’s capital.

The Russian Defense Ministry said three drones were intercepted but a business and shopping development in the west of the capital was hit. The fifth and sixth floor of a 50-story building were damaged, and no casualties were reported, state news agency TASS reported.

Videos showed debris as well as emergency services at the scene.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force said the latest drone attacks on Moscow were aimed at impacting Russians who, since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, felt the war was distant.

“There’s always something flying in Russia, as well as in Moscow. Now the war is affecting those who were not concerned,” the spokesman, Yurii Ihnat, said on Ukrainian television.

“No matter how the Russian authorities would like to turn a blind eye on this by saying they have intercepted everything … something does hit.”

Read more:

A view shows the damaged facade of an office building in the Moscow City following a reported Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, Russia, July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

Related article Three drones intercepted following attack in Moscow, Russian forces say | CNN

The Ukrainian military on Saturday said it had recently conducted a successful missile strike on the Chonhar Bridge, a key piece of infrastructure that connects the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region to the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.

The bridge is a key crossing point for military and civilian traffic between the two regions.

The news from Kyiv came shortly after the?Russian-appointed acting head of the Kherson region administration,?Vladimir?Saldo,?said that Ukraine had attacked a railroad between Kherson region and Crimea overnight with a dozen long-range missiles.??

Saldo?claimed all of the missiles were intercepted by Russian air defenses, although he said some infrastructure was “slightly damaged” by the missile debris.

This is the second time since June that the Chonhar Bridge has been targeted. Saldo said in late June that the bridge was damaged in a missile strike.

More than 100 Wagner Group mercenaries have moved toward the Suwa?ki corridor, a small stretch of NATO territory separating the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad from Belarus, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday.

Morawiecki called it “a step toward a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.”

Poland’s government has used the term “hybrid attack” to describe attempts by the neighboring Belarusian regime to manipulate the flow of migrants through the area, putting pressure on the EU over sanctions against Minsk. Polish officials have said that its ally Russia helps Belarus with this scheme.

So far this year, there have been about 16,000 attempts by migrants to cross the border illegally, “pushed to Poland” by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin,?Mateusz said.?

The prime minister warned, according to the Polish Press Agency, that Wagner mercenaries may try to pose as migrants in order to cross from Belarus into Poland.

Rising tensions: This is the latest example of regional tensions inflamed by Lukashenko welcoming Wagner troops into his country following their short-lived rebellion against Moscow.

Belarus announced earlier in July that its forces will?hold joint exercises?with Wagner fighters?near?the?border with Poland. Putin also made a series of?unsubstantiated allegations?last week, accusing Poland of harboring plans to “directly intervene” in the war and “tear off” parts of Ukraine for itself, also claiming Warsaw has aspirations to annex parts of Belarus.

Germany?has pledged?NATO would defend alliance member Poland in case of an attack.

More on the Suwa?ki corridor: This thin strip of land, also known as the Suwa?ki gap, is the only overland link between the Baltic states — NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — and the rest of the European Union. The corridor separates the Russian standalone region of Kaliningrad from Belarus and connects Polish and Lithuanian territory.

Kaliningrad was captured by Soviet troops from Nazi Germany in April 1945 and then became part of Soviet territory as a result of the Potsdam Agreement. It was renamed from the German K?nigsberg in 1946.

In 2002, the EU and Moscow reached an agreement on travel between Russia and Kaliningrad, ahead of Poland and Lithuania joining the European Union in 2004. When those countries joined, the exclave became surrounded on three sides by EU territory.

Russia says the 2002 agreement has now been violated, with Lithuania banning the flow of sanctioned goods across its territory. But the government in Vilnius says it is merely upholding EU sanctions introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has not acknowledged that it has nuclear weapons based in Kaliningrad, but in 2018 the Federation of American Scientists concluded that Russia had significantly modernized a nuclear weapons storage bunker in the region, based on analysis of satellite imagery.

CNN’s Tim Lister and Rob Picheta contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine has passed legislation moving its official Christmas holiday to December 25, further distancing itself from the traditions of the Putin-aligned Russian Orthodox Church, which celebrates the holiday on January 7.

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the bill into law on Friday after it was passed by Ukraine’s parliament earlier this month.

The legislation’s sponsors said its passage would help Ukraine “abandon the Russian heritage of imposing the celebration of Christmas on January 7,” and help Ukrainians “live their own life with their own traditions (and) holidays.”

Ukraine and Russia are both majority Orthodox countries, but since Russia illegally annexed Crimea and began supporting separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in 2014, a large part of the Orthodox community in Ukraine has moved away from Moscow.

Russia’s war in Ukraine further accelerated the divide between the two branches of Orthodox Christianity, especially given that the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, fully endorsed the invasion?and framed it as a culture clash between the wider Russian world and Western liberal values.

The new law will effectively formalize what some churches in Ukraine had already begun practicing. A branch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine allowed its churches to celebrate Christmas on December 25 last year. Ukraine’s main Greek Catholic church said in February it was moving to a new calendar to celebrate Christmas on December 25 as well.

Tetyana, an Orthodox Christian from Kyiv, said the date was not important for her, but she was ready to support the move because of its symbolic value.

Read more on what Ukrainians say about the move.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he traveled to the Bakhmut area of eastern Ukraine to visit troops and present them with state awards on Saturday, which marks?Special Operations Forces Day in Ukraine.

Zelensky said he visited “advanced positions” of the forces, but that he could not go into details about their current mission.

Images and video released by his office showed the president talking to soldiers at a local gas station, drinking coffee and taking pictures with them.?Zelensky referred to the meeting as a “traditional coffee talk.”

Zelensky went to a command post for special forces tactical groups in the town of?Chasiv Yar, which is located about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) west of Bakhmut.

In addition to Chasiv Yar, Zelensky also visited the cities Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, his office said.?

Anniversary of prison attack: Zelensky also mentioned the anniversary of a strike on a detention center in?Olenivka, where more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners were killed last year.?

“Today is the anniversary of Olenivka, one of the most vile and cruel crimes of Russia. The deliberate, pre-planned killing of captured Azov warriors,” Zelensky said.?

An extensive CNN investigation published in August last year demonstrated that the Russian narrative claiming the camp in?Olenivka?had been hit by a Ukrainian HIMARS rocket did not stand up to scrutiny. The Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner has also supported the findings of the investigation.?

CNN’s Tim Lister and?Gianluca Mezzofiore contributed reporting.