Moscow mayor says attempted Ukrainian drone attack forced airport to divert flights
From CNN's Olga Voitovych
An attempted Ukrainian drone attack forced an airport serving Moscow to divert "some flights" on Tuesday, the Russian capital's mayor said.
"For security reasons, some flights from Vnukovo airport have been temporarily rerouted," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
All drones detected were eliminated by air defense forces and there were no casualties or injuries, he added.
Russian state media reports earlier said two drones were shot down near the capital Tuesday.
Russian aviation authorities said earlier that six flights were diverted from Vnukovo airport — one of four airports that serve the capital — due to "technical issues."
All flight restrictions at the airport were lifted at 8 a.m. local time, according to Russian authorities.
Some context: Ukraine rarely comments on attacks on Russian soil, which have ramped up in recent months as the war increasingly comes home to the Russian people.
Multiple people familiar with US intelligence on the matter told CNN in June that Kyiv has cultivated a network of agents inside Russia and has provided them with drones to stage attacks.
26 min ago
Moscow airport diverts planes due to "technical issues," Russian authorities say
From CNN's Josh Pennington
Vnukovo International Airport, one of four airports that serve Moscow, diverted six flights on Tuesday, according to a statement from Rosaviatsiya, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency.
It is unclear whether the changes were related to earlier state media reports that two drones were shot down near the capital Tuesday.
"Due to technical issues unmanageable by the airport itself, Vnukovo has imposed restrictions on the arrival and departure of aircraft from beginning at 5:10 AM," Rosaviatsiya said in the statement.
Restrictions on flights arriving to and departing from Vnukovo Airport remained in place until 8:00 a.m, Rosaviatsiya said.
Other airports in Moscow and the region surrounding the capital were operating as normal and without restriction, according to the statement.
Drone reports: State-run TASS news agency said Tuesday that one drone was intercepted in Novaya Moskva (New Moscow) and the other in Kaluga Oblast. There were no injuries or damage, state-run RIA Novosti reported.
Ukraine rarely comments on attacks on Russian soil, which have ramped up in recent months as the war increasingly comes home to the Russian people.
Multiple people familiar with US intelligence on the matter told CNN in June that Kyiv has cultivated a network of agents inside Russia and has provided them with drones to stage attacks.
56 min ago
2 drones intercepted near Moscow, Russian state media reports
From CNN’s Josh Pennington and Maija-Liisa Ehlinger
Two drones were shot down near Moscow early Tuesday morning, according to Russian state media.
State-run TASS news agency said one drone was intercepted in Novaya Moskva (New Moscow) and the other in Kaluga Oblast southwest of the capital.
There were no injuries or damage after the drones were intercepted, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
1 hr 22 min ago
Here's why Ukraine's counteroffensive progress has been slower than some expectations
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová
Ukrainian servicemen ride in a T-80 main battle tank captured earlier from Russian troops, along a road near the front line town of Bakhmut on June 19. Serhii Nuzhnenko/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Reuters
The minefields in southern Ukraine are so dense, the troops trying to liberate the area can only advance “tree by tree,” one soldier involved in Kyiv’s counteroffensive in the south told CNN. In all his years of service, he said, he’s never seen this many mines.
The soldier, who asked to be identified by his call sign “Legion,” told CNN he believed the actions by his troops were “quite successful and effective.” Yet as he and other Ukrainian soldiers wade through mined areas, encountering heavily fortified defenses and aerial assaults, much of the world seems to think they are moving rather slowly.
Ukraine’s Western allies are getting nervous about the fact that the progress of Kyiv’s long-awaited counteroffensive is being measured in meters, rather than kilometers. Kyiv’s allies are well aware that Ukraine cannot defeat Russia without their help. But the slower than expected pace of the counteroffensive means their support could become increasingly unsustainable if the conflict drags on.
Many of the countries that are supporting Ukraine’s war efforts are struggling with high inflation, rising interest rates and sluggish growth. Their leaders — some of whom are facing elections in the next year and a half — need to justify the huge amount of resources they’ve poured into Ukraine when their own voters are struggling to make ends meet. That can become difficult if there isn’t much battlefield success to show for it.
For now though, the support appears unfaltering. Multiple Ukrainian and Western officials have admitted that the counteroffensive has so far failed to yield major advances — but most were quick to add that the slow progress was justified.
The front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine have not moved much over the past months, giving Russian troops plenty of time to dig in and prepare for a counteroffensive.
According to an assessment by the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), some of the most strategic sections of the front line are guarded by multiple lines of defense, making it very difficult for the Ukrainians to break through.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said that the pace is not surprising, given that Ukrainian soldiers were fighting “for their life.”
“We are giving them as much help as humanly possible, but at the end of the day, Ukrainian soldiers are assaulting through minefields and into trenches,” he said.
It's early morning in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know
From CNN staff
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday acknowledged difficulties on the battlefield — but said Ukraine was "making progress."
Kyiv says the military has taken back 9 square kilometers of territory in the east of the country and 28.4 square kilometers in the south in the past week, totaling about 14 square miles.
However, Ukrainian officials reported heavy fighting in the east.
Russia has deployed over 180,000 troops to two major battlefronts, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Russians, which he described as a "pretty powerful grouping," were ranged near the cities of Lyman to Kupyansk and around Bakhmut, the nearly flattened city that has endured some of the bloodiest clashes since the start of the year.
Here are the other developments you should know:
Deadly Sumy attack: Four Russian drones struck the center of the northeastern city, according to local officials. At least two people were killed, the regional military administration said.
Call for grain deal extension: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a telephone call with Zelensky on Monday to discuss the “political, military, and humanitarian situation in Ukraine,” according to Berlin. The two leaders called for the extension of the UN-brokered Ukraine grain agreement, which is due to expire on July 17.
Nuclear fears: Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant reconnected to its only available backup power line four months after it was lost, but the situation "remains extremely fragile during the ongoing military conflict and is not sustainable," the UN nuclear watchdog chief said. The plant is held by Russian forces but is mostly operated by a Ukrainian workforce.
Turkish leader digs in: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey “will not back down” on its opposition to Sweden joining NATO until all of its “demands are met.” Last month, after meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sweden had fulfilled its obligations.
Plea to Biden: Zelensky called on US President Joe Biden to invite Ukraine into NATO “now” — even if membership does not come until after the war. Speaking to CNN, Zelensky said Biden was “the decision maker” about whether Ukraine would be in NATO or not.
International probe: Ukraine hopes an international tribunal into alleged Russian crimes of aggression can be held based on the work of a new evidence-gathering center launched in The Hague on Monday. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said he anticipated prosecutors will not only gather evidence but also begin building a “prosecutorial strategy” which could be used by a future tribunal.
2 hr 5 min ago
Zelensky calls on Biden to invite Ukraine into NATO now — even if membership doesn't happen until after war
From CNN’s Erin Burnett, Yon Pomrenze, and Mick Krever
President Volodymyr Zelensky called on US President Joe Biden to invite Ukraine into NATO “now” — even if membership does not come until after the war.
Zelensky said Biden was “the decision maker” about whether Ukraine would be in NATO or not.
“He supports our future in NATO,” but an invitation now would be a huge motivator for Ukrainian soldiers, Zelensky said in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett.
Ukraine’s aspiration to join is enshrined in its constitution and its relationship with NATO dates back to the early 1990s, according to the alliance. NATO is due to hold a summit in Lithuania on July 11 and 12 where leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine's membership.
“Now,” Zelensky said in response to a question about why not wait for an invitation. “It’s very important.”
“It’s so important to feel that you are really being around allies in the future," he added.
Zelensky said he understood that Ukraine would “never be in NATO before war finishes.”
NATO stipulates that the settlement of territorial disputes is “a factor in determining whether to invite a state to join the Alliance.”
“We understand everything,” Zelensky said.” But this signal is really very important. And depends on Biden’s decision.”
Turkey will continue to oppose Sweden's NATO bid until "demands are met," Erdogan says
From CNN's Jessie Gretener
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey “will not back down” on its opposition to Sweden joining NATO until all of its “demands are met.”
Erdogan said his country's expectations were made clear and that "we defend the same principles that we defended last year."
“We do want them to harbor the separatist organizations and FETO rascals. And I want it to be known that we are not going to back down until all of those demands are met,” Erdogan told journalists Monday.
Some background: FETO is what Turkey calls the followers of Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. Erdogan has accused him of orchestrating a failed coup attempt in July 2016. He has likened Gulen’s followers to ISIS, which has repeatedly bombed targets within Turkey, and the Kurdish separatist movement PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by the US.
The Turkish president's comments contradict recent remarks made by Swedish, NATO and US officials regarding Sweden’s possible accession to the alliance.
Last week, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said it had fulfilled the necessary requirements set out by Turkey in order to join NATO.
Earlier in June, after meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Sweden had fulfilled its obligations.
More context: Sweden, Finland and Turkey are set to hold a meeting in Brussels before NATO’s July meeting in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius next week where the matter of Ukrainian membership of the alliance is expected to be on the agenda.
Both Sweden and Finland stated their intent to join NATO through its open-door policy in May of 2022, just weeks after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Finland was accepted in April of this year, doubling the alliance’s border with Russia, but Sweden’s accession remains blocked.
54 min ago
Russia has deployed more than 180,000 troops to 2 major battlefronts, Ukrainian military says
From CNN's Mariya Knight and Olga Voitovych
Russia has deployed over 180,000 troops to the two major eastern battlefronts, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
"More than 180,000 (Russian troops have been deployed) across the area of responsibility (of the Eastern Group of Forces) ... The Lyman-Kupyansk front is longer, which is why the enemy is concentrating their forces there," Cherevatyi said in an interview with Ukrainian media Monday, adding there are “more than 120,000 enemy troops” on Lyman-Kupyansk direction at the moment.
Cherevatyi called it “a pretty powerful grouping.” He said it included “air assault and mechanized units, units of the Bars combat army reserve, territorial forces” and new Storm Z assault companies, that he said recruited people with criminal records.
Cherevatyi said there are around 50,000 Russian troops on the Bakhmut front.
The cities of Lyman and Kupyansk are about 100 kilometers apart, north of Bakhmut on Ukraine's eastern front.
Bakhmut fighting: Meanwhile, Hanna Maliar, deputy defense minister of Ukraine, reported frequent clashes near Bakhmut. “The situation is changing very rapidly,” Maliar said in a Telegram post. “Control over the same positions can be lost and regained twice a day.”
Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, echoed Maliar's comments in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, on Monday.
“The enemy is trying to transfer units to the most threatening directions for counterattacks, trying to destabilize the situation, cause losses to Ukraine and disrupt the logistics of the defense forces,” Syrskyi said, adding that “the threat of the enemy offensive actions from the side of Bakhmut in the direction of Chasiv Yar remains.”
Chasiv Yar is about 15 kilometers west of Bakhmut.
Syrskyi noted that Russians are “desperately clinging to the positions and strongholds that were once occupied by the Wagnerites,” a reference to the mercenary force that led the Russian offensive around Bakhmut.
Ukrainian forces have been able to stop Russian troops from moving within Bakhmut, he said.
JUST IN: Moscow's mayor said an attempted Ukrainian drone attack forced an airport serving the Russian capital to divert some flights Tuesday. State media reports said two drones were shot down near Moscow and there were no injuries.
President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged difficulties Monday on the battlefield — but said Ukraine is "making progress." Kyiv's military said it has retaken more than 37 square kilometers (about 14 square miles) of territory in the past week.
Russia has deployed over 180,000 troops to the two major eastern battlefronts between the cities of Lyman and Kupyansk, the Ukrainian military said.
In an interview with CNN, Zelensky urged US President Joe Biden to invite Ukraine into NATO "now" — even if membership does not come until after the war.
An attempted Ukrainian drone attack forced an airport serving Moscow to divert "some flights" on Tuesday, the Russian capital's mayor said.
"For security reasons, some flights from Vnukovo airport have been temporarily rerouted," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
All drones detected were eliminated by air defense forces and there were no casualties or injuries, he added.
Russian state media reports earlier said two drones were shot down near the capital Tuesday.
Russian aviation authorities said earlier that six flights were diverted from Vnukovo airport — one of four airports that serve the capital — due to "technical issues."
All flight restrictions at the airport were lifted at 8 a.m. local time, according to Russian authorities.
Some context: Ukraine rarely comments on attacks on Russian soil, which have ramped up in recent months as the war increasingly comes home to the Russian people.
Multiple people familiar with US intelligence on the matter told CNN in June that Kyiv has cultivated a network of agents inside Russia and has provided them with drones to stage attacks.
Vnukovo International Airport, one of four airports that serve Moscow, diverted six flights on Tuesday, according to a statement from Rosaviatsiya, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency.
It is unclear whether the changes were related to earlier state media reports that two drones were shot down near the capital Tuesday.
"Due to technical issues unmanageable by the airport itself, Vnukovo has imposed restrictions on the arrival and departure of aircraft from beginning at 5:10 AM," Rosaviatsiya said in the statement.
Restrictions on flights arriving to and departing from Vnukovo Airport remained in place until 8:00 a.m, Rosaviatsiya said.
Other airports in Moscow and the region surrounding the capital were operating as normal and without restriction, according to the statement.
Drone reports: State-run TASS news agency said Tuesday that one drone was intercepted in Novaya Moskva (New Moscow) and the other in Kaluga Oblast. There were no injuries or damage, state-run RIA Novosti reported.
Ukraine rarely comments on attacks on Russian soil, which have ramped up in recent months as the war increasingly comes home to the Russian people.
Multiple people familiar with US intelligence on the matter told CNN in June that Kyiv has cultivated a network of agents inside Russia and has provided them with drones to stage attacks.
Two drones were shot down near Moscow early Tuesday morning, according to Russian state media.
State-run TASS news agency said one drone was intercepted in Novaya Moskva (New Moscow) and the other in Kaluga Oblast southwest of the capital.
There were no injuries or damage after the drones were intercepted, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Ukrainian servicemen ride in a T-80 main battle tank captured earlier from Russian troops, along a road near the front line town of Bakhmut on June 19. Serhii Nuzhnenko/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Reuters
The minefields in southern Ukraine are so dense, the troops trying to liberate the area can only advance “tree by tree,” one soldier involved in Kyiv’s counteroffensive in the south told CNN. In all his years of service, he said, he’s never seen this many mines.
The soldier, who asked to be identified by his call sign “Legion,” told CNN he believed the actions by his troops were “quite successful and effective.” Yet as he and other Ukrainian soldiers wade through mined areas, encountering heavily fortified defenses and aerial assaults, much of the world seems to think they are moving rather slowly.
Ukraine’s Western allies are getting nervous about the fact that the progress of Kyiv’s long-awaited counteroffensive is being measured in meters, rather than kilometers. Kyiv’s allies are well aware that Ukraine cannot defeat Russia without their help. But the slower than expected pace of the counteroffensive means their support could become increasingly unsustainable if the conflict drags on.
Many of the countries that are supporting Ukraine’s war efforts are struggling with high inflation, rising interest rates and sluggish growth. Their leaders — some of whom are facing elections in the next year and a half — need to justify the huge amount of resources they’ve poured into Ukraine when their own voters are struggling to make ends meet. That can become difficult if there isn’t much battlefield success to show for it.
For now though, the support appears unfaltering. Multiple Ukrainian and Western officials have admitted that the counteroffensive has so far failed to yield major advances — but most were quick to add that the slow progress was justified.
The front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine have not moved much over the past months, giving Russian troops plenty of time to dig in and prepare for a counteroffensive.
According to an assessment by the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), some of the most strategic sections of the front line are guarded by multiple lines of defense, making it very difficult for the Ukrainians to break through.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said that the pace is not surprising, given that Ukrainian soldiers were fighting “for their life.”
“We are giving them as much help as humanly possible, but at the end of the day, Ukrainian soldiers are assaulting through minefields and into trenches,” he said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday acknowledged difficulties on the battlefield — but said Ukraine was "making progress."
Kyiv says the military has taken back 9 square kilometers of territory in the east of the country and 28.4 square kilometers in the south in the past week, totaling about 14 square miles.
However, Ukrainian officials reported heavy fighting in the east.
Russia has deployed over 180,000 troops to two major battlefronts, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Russians, which he described as a "pretty powerful grouping," were ranged near the cities of Lyman to Kupyansk and around Bakhmut, the nearly flattened city that has endured some of the bloodiest clashes since the start of the year.
Here are the other developments you should know:
Deadly Sumy attack: Four Russian drones struck the center of the northeastern city, according to local officials. At least two people were killed, the regional military administration said.
Call for grain deal extension: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a telephone call with Zelensky on Monday to discuss the “political, military, and humanitarian situation in Ukraine,” according to Berlin. The two leaders called for the extension of the UN-brokered Ukraine grain agreement, which is due to expire on July 17.
Nuclear fears: Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant reconnected to its only available backup power line four months after it was lost, but the situation "remains extremely fragile during the ongoing military conflict and is not sustainable," the UN nuclear watchdog chief said. The plant is held by Russian forces but is mostly operated by a Ukrainian workforce.
Turkish leader digs in: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey “will not back down” on its opposition to Sweden joining NATO until all of its “demands are met.” Last month, after meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sweden had fulfilled its obligations.
Plea to Biden: Zelensky called on US President Joe Biden to invite Ukraine into NATO “now” — even if membership does not come until after the war. Speaking to CNN, Zelensky said Biden was “the decision maker” about whether Ukraine would be in NATO or not.
International probe: Ukraine hopes an international tribunal into alleged Russian crimes of aggression can be held based on the work of a new evidence-gathering center launched in The Hague on Monday. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said he anticipated prosecutors will not only gather evidence but also begin building a “prosecutorial strategy” which could be used by a future tribunal.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called on US President Joe Biden to invite Ukraine into NATO “now” — even if membership does not come until after the war.
Zelensky said Biden was “the decision maker” about whether Ukraine would be in NATO or not.
“He supports our future in NATO,” but an invitation now would be a huge motivator for Ukrainian soldiers, Zelensky said in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett.
Ukraine’s aspiration to join is enshrined in its constitution and its relationship with NATO dates back to the early 1990s, according to the alliance. NATO is due to hold a summit in Lithuania on July 11 and 12 where leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine's membership.
“Now,” Zelensky said in response to a question about why not wait for an invitation. “It’s very important.”
“It’s so important to feel that you are really being around allies in the future," he added.
Zelensky said he understood that Ukraine would “never be in NATO before war finishes.”
NATO stipulates that the settlement of territorial disputes is “a factor in determining whether to invite a state to join the Alliance.”
“We understand everything,” Zelensky said.” But this signal is really very important. And depends on Biden’s decision.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey “will not back down” on its opposition to Sweden joining NATO until all of its “demands are met.”
Erdogan said his country's expectations were made clear and that "we defend the same principles that we defended last year."
“We do want them to harbor the separatist organizations and FETO rascals. And I want it to be known that we are not going to back down until all of those demands are met,” Erdogan told journalists Monday.
Some background: FETO is what Turkey calls the followers of Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. Erdogan has accused him of orchestrating a failed coup attempt in July 2016. He has likened Gulen’s followers to ISIS, which has repeatedly bombed targets within Turkey, and the Kurdish separatist movement PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by the US.
The Turkish president's comments contradict recent remarks made by Swedish, NATO and US officials regarding Sweden’s possible accession to the alliance.
Last week, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said it had fulfilled the necessary requirements set out by Turkey in order to join NATO.
Earlier in June, after meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Sweden had fulfilled its obligations.
More context: Sweden, Finland and Turkey are set to hold a meeting in Brussels before NATO’s July meeting in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius next week where the matter of Ukrainian membership of the alliance is expected to be on the agenda.
Both Sweden and Finland stated their intent to join NATO through its open-door policy in May of 2022, just weeks after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Finland was accepted in April of this year, doubling the alliance’s border with Russia, but Sweden’s accession remains blocked.
Russia has deployed over 180,000 troops to the two major eastern battlefronts, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
"More than 180,000 (Russian troops have been deployed) across the area of responsibility (of the Eastern Group of Forces) ... The Lyman-Kupyansk front is longer, which is why the enemy is concentrating their forces there," Cherevatyi said in an interview with Ukrainian media Monday, adding there are “more than 120,000 enemy troops” on Lyman-Kupyansk direction at the moment.
Cherevatyi called it “a pretty powerful grouping.” He said it included “air assault and mechanized units, units of the Bars combat army reserve, territorial forces” and new Storm Z assault companies, that he said recruited people with criminal records.
Cherevatyi said there are around 50,000 Russian troops on the Bakhmut front.
The cities of Lyman and Kupyansk are about 100 kilometers apart, north of Bakhmut on Ukraine's eastern front.
Bakhmut fighting: Meanwhile, Hanna Maliar, deputy defense minister of Ukraine, reported frequent clashes near Bakhmut. “The situation is changing very rapidly,” Maliar said in a Telegram post. “Control over the same positions can be lost and regained twice a day.”
Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, echoed Maliar's comments in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, on Monday.
“The enemy is trying to transfer units to the most threatening directions for counterattacks, trying to destabilize the situation, cause losses to Ukraine and disrupt the logistics of the defense forces,” Syrskyi said, adding that “the threat of the enemy offensive actions from the side of Bakhmut in the direction of Chasiv Yar remains.”
Chasiv Yar is about 15 kilometers west of Bakhmut.
Syrskyi noted that Russians are “desperately clinging to the positions and strongholds that were once occupied by the Wagnerites,” a reference to the mercenary force that led the Russian offensive around Bakhmut.
Ukrainian forces have been able to stop Russian troops from moving within Bakhmut, he said.
