It's early morning in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know
From CNN staff
Ukrainian air defenses repelled a Russian drone attack on the Kyiv region in the early hours of Tuesday, officials said.
Kyiv city military administration head Serhiy Popko said in a Telegram post that Russia used Iran-made Shahed drones in the sixth attack on the capital this month.
No casualties or damage was reported, he said.
Here are the top headlines:
Slow progress: Ukraine’s defense minister Oleksii Reznikov acknowledged that Kyiv's counteroffensive is behind schedule but insisted it is still going according to plan. “Our generals, our commanders, they see the real situation on the battlefield. And again, I have to repeat the main value for us is life of our soldiers,” he told CNN. Separately, Ukraine's military said Russia has been able to jam Ukrainian drones, impeding progress.
Crimea attacks:Ukraine will continue carrying out attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the Kerch Bridge that connects it to Russia, Reznikov told CNN. “All these targets are official targets because it will reduce their capacity to fight against us (and) will help to save the lives of Ukrainians,” he said.
Nuclear plant: Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency discovered mines at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, agency chief Rafael Grossi said Monday —after previous claims by Kyiv that the site had been mined. Having explosives on the site is “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance,” he said.
Moscow drone attack: Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, an arm of the Ministry of Defense, says it carried out a drone attack on Moscow early Monday, a Defense Intelligence official told CNN. The Kremlin said all the drones targeting the Russian capital had been neutralized, in what Russian authorities described as a "thwarted" attack. The Russian foreign ministry urged international organizations to condemn the attack and recent Ukrainian strikes on Crimea.
Odesa attacks: Authorities in the southern Ukrainian city say part of itshistoric cathedral is structurally unsound after it was hit Sunday by a Russian missile. The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.
56 min ago
Spain says more Leopard tanks are on the way to Ukraine
From CNN’s Mariya Knight
Leopard 2A4 tanks take part in a military training near Tata, Hungary, February 6. Bernadett Szabo/Reuters
Leopard 2 tanks are among a new batch of military and humanitarian equipment en route from Spain to Ukraine, the Spanish defense ministry said Monday.
In a statement, the ministry said the shipment had departed from the port of Santander and was expected to be delivered to Ukraine's military in early August.
The shipment includes:
4 Leopard 2A4 tanks
10 M-113 armored personnel carriers
10 cargo trucks
1 armored multi-purpose vehicle
5 ambulances, including 2 that are armored
Spanish aid: Spain has already sent six Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, as part of a pledge to send a total of 10 such vehicles. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in July that Madrid will provide four more Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv. A portable field hospital with surgical capacity arrived in Ukraine on Sunday, according to Spain's defense ministry.
4 hr 29 min ago
Ukraine will keep attacking targets in Crimea and the Kerch Bridge, defense minister says
From CNN's Sebastian Shukla, Alex Marquardt and Sana Noor Haq
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says that Ukraine will continue carrying out attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the Kerch Bridge that connects it to the Russian mainland, while also admitting that Ukraine’s plan for its sluggish counteroffensive is behind schedule.
As Russia has pummeled the southern port city of Odesa and the surrounding region over the past week, Ukraine has continued to carry out strikes inside Crimea. On Tuesday, Ukrainian drones hit an ammunition depot, just a week after seaborne drones struck the Kerch Bridge.
“All these targets are official targets because it will reduce their capacity to fight against us (and) will help to save the lives of Ukrainians,” Reznikov said in an interview with CNN.
Asked if Ukraine’s goal is to permanently disable the bridge, Reznikov responded: “It’s normal tactics to ruin the logistic lines of your enemy to stop the options to get more ammunition, to get more fuel, to get more food, etcetera. That’s why we will use these tactics against them.”
Reznikov also accused Russia of operating as “a terrorist state.”
The fifth night of Russian strikes in Odesa badly damaged more than two dozen landmarks in the historic city center. Drones meanwhile pounded the region’s port infrastructure, targeting crucial grain stocks.
Mines discovered at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, UN watchdog says
From CNN’s Mariya Knight, Olga Voitovych and Josh Pennington
Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks during an interview in Tokyo, Japan, on July 7. Shuji Kajiyama/AP/File
Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discovered mines at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, agency chief Rafael Grossi said Monday —after previous claims by Kyiv that the site had been mined.
“IAEA experts have observed directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery of the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia NPP,” Grossi said in a statement, adding that the mines were spotted during a walkdown on Sunday.
The IAEA team has been aware of the previous placement of mines outside and inside of the plant and they have been told it was “a military decision, and in an area controlled by military,” Grossi said.
“IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers,” Grossi said, noting that the mines were “situated in a restricted area that operating plant personnel cannot access and were facing away from the site.”
Grossi called having explosives on the site “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on world leaders to put pressure on Russia to hand the plant over to the IAEA.
4 hr 39 min ago
Ukrainian forces report modest progress. Here's where things stand
From CNN's Tim Lister, Olga Voitovych, Mari Kostenko and Josh Pennington
Ukrainian forces say they are making modest progress in the east and south, as well as restraining Russian efforts to move forward in the Donetsk region, but overall there appears to have been little change on the front lines.
Ukrainian military officials said Russian minefields and electronic warfare capabilities are impeding progress.
Here's where things stand:
In the south: Oleksandr Kurbatov, with the Dnipro city territorial defense, said Monday that Ukrainian units were working hard to move forward in an area known as the Vremivskyi Ledge. He said Russian forces were bringing in new units of "highly qualified military" who are using the cover of darkness and carefully designed corridors through the minefields to attack Ukrainian positions. Valerii Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukrainian forces in the south, acknowledged that progress was slow, saying that “strike units had partial success and advanced into enemy territory from 350 meters up to 1.4 kilometers.”
Near Melitopol: The general staff of the Ukrainian military said offensive operations continued in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, and units were consolidating their positions. Russia carried out 58 airstrikes over the past day — higher than the recent average, the general staff said. Some came near the town of Kupyansk in Kharkiv, which was liberated by the Ukrainians last September and has been a target of Russian attacks. But Ukrainian officials say the Russians are being held east of the Oskil River.
Bakhmut and the East: In the Bakhmut area, there have been efforts by the Russians to retake recently lost ground, but the general staff said a number of attacks had been repelled. Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian military, said defense forces “are gradually liberating Ukrainian land. Hundreds of meters every day, kilometers every week.” But he said that fierce Russian resistance continued, with seven battles over the past day alone.
4 hr 52 min ago
Wheat prices rise after Ukrainian Danube port hit
From CNN's Anna Cooban and Tim Lister
Wheat prices rose sharply Monday following a strike by a Russian drone on a Ukrainian port on the Danube river.
Moscow’s drones attacked Ukraine’s port infrastructure overnight, targeting the country’s grain stocks, the Ukrainian Army said. One grain silo at the Reni port was hit and substantially damaged, according to geolocated images and video.
Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade jumped 8.5% to $7.57 a bushel, and corn futures rose 4.7% to $5.52 a bushel.
Traders are concerned about tightening supply following the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal last week and a string of Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure.
The deal — originally brokered by Turkey and the United Nations a year ago — had ensured the safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports. So far the pact has allowed for the export of almost 33 million metric tons of food through Ukrainian ports, according to UN data.
Russian foreign ministry condemns Ukraine drone strikes and vows retaliation
From CNN's Anna Chernova
Russia's foreign ministry on Monday urged international organizations to condemn the recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and Crimea.
“We regard what happened as another use of terrorist methods by the military-political leadership of Ukraine, intimidation of the civilian population. These attacks had no military meaning,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “We strongly condemn this yet another crime of the Kyiv regime. We call on international organizations to give it a proper assessment.”
The ministry blamed the West for exacerbating the situation, stating the actions of Kyiv were influenced by the West's focus on further escalating tensions.
“The Russian side reserves the right to take tough retaliatory measures,” the ministry said, adding that the Investigative Committee of Russia has opened criminal cases in response to these incidents, assuring that all those responsible will be identified and brought to justice.
Some context: The reported attacks come after Russian missiles badly damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, sparking outrage and prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to vow retaliation.
The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.
Ukrainian air defenses repelled a Russian drone attack on the Kyiv region in the early hours of Tuesday, officials said. No casualties or damage were reported.
Ukraine's defense minister acknowledged that Kyiv's counteroffensive is behind schedule but insisted it is still going according to plan. Separately, the military said Russia has been able to jam Ukrainian drones, impeding progress.
Experts with the UN nuclear watchdog discovered mines on the site of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Monday.
Ukrainian air defenses repelled a Russian drone attack on the Kyiv region in the early hours of Tuesday, officials said.
Kyiv city military administration head Serhiy Popko said in a Telegram post that Russia used Iran-made Shahed drones in the sixth attack on the capital this month.
No casualties or damage was reported, he said.
Here are the top headlines:
Slow progress: Ukraine’s defense minister Oleksii Reznikov acknowledged that Kyiv's counteroffensive is behind schedule but insisted it is still going according to plan. “Our generals, our commanders, they see the real situation on the battlefield. And again, I have to repeat the main value for us is life of our soldiers,” he told CNN. Separately, Ukraine's military said Russia has been able to jam Ukrainian drones, impeding progress.
Crimea attacks:Ukraine will continue carrying out attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the Kerch Bridge that connects it to Russia, Reznikov told CNN. “All these targets are official targets because it will reduce their capacity to fight against us (and) will help to save the lives of Ukrainians,” he said.
Nuclear plant: Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency discovered mines at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, agency chief Rafael Grossi said Monday —after previous claims by Kyiv that the site had been mined. Having explosives on the site is “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance,” he said.
Moscow drone attack: Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, an arm of the Ministry of Defense, says it carried out a drone attack on Moscow early Monday, a Defense Intelligence official told CNN. The Kremlin said all the drones targeting the Russian capital had been neutralized, in what Russian authorities described as a "thwarted" attack. The Russian foreign ministry urged international organizations to condemn the attack and recent Ukrainian strikes on Crimea.
Odesa attacks: Authorities in the southern Ukrainian city say part of itshistoric cathedral is structurally unsound after it was hit Sunday by a Russian missile. The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.
Leopard 2A4 tanks take part in a military training near Tata, Hungary, February 6. Bernadett Szabo/Reuters
Leopard 2 tanks are among a new batch of military and humanitarian equipment en route from Spain to Ukraine, the Spanish defense ministry said Monday.
In a statement, the ministry said the shipment had departed from the port of Santander and was expected to be delivered to Ukraine's military in early August.
The shipment includes:
4 Leopard 2A4 tanks
10 M-113 armored personnel carriers
10 cargo trucks
1 armored multi-purpose vehicle
5 ambulances, including 2 that are armored
Spanish aid: Spain has already sent six Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, as part of a pledge to send a total of 10 such vehicles. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in July that Madrid will provide four more Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv. A portable field hospital with surgical capacity arrived in Ukraine on Sunday, according to Spain's defense ministry.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says that Ukraine will continue carrying out attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the Kerch Bridge that connects it to the Russian mainland, while also admitting that Ukraine’s plan for its sluggish counteroffensive is behind schedule.
As Russia has pummeled the southern port city of Odesa and the surrounding region over the past week, Ukraine has continued to carry out strikes inside Crimea. On Tuesday, Ukrainian drones hit an ammunition depot, just a week after seaborne drones struck the Kerch Bridge.
“All these targets are official targets because it will reduce their capacity to fight against us (and) will help to save the lives of Ukrainians,” Reznikov said in an interview with CNN.
Asked if Ukraine’s goal is to permanently disable the bridge, Reznikov responded: “It’s normal tactics to ruin the logistic lines of your enemy to stop the options to get more ammunition, to get more fuel, to get more food, etcetera. That’s why we will use these tactics against them.”
Reznikov also accused Russia of operating as “a terrorist state.”
The fifth night of Russian strikes in Odesa badly damaged more than two dozen landmarks in the historic city center. Drones meanwhile pounded the region’s port infrastructure, targeting crucial grain stocks.
Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks during an interview in Tokyo, Japan, on July 7. Shuji Kajiyama/AP/File
Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discovered mines at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, agency chief Rafael Grossi said Monday —after previous claims by Kyiv that the site had been mined.
“IAEA experts have observed directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery of the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia NPP,” Grossi said in a statement, adding that the mines were spotted during a walkdown on Sunday.
The IAEA team has been aware of the previous placement of mines outside and inside of the plant and they have been told it was “a military decision, and in an area controlled by military,” Grossi said.
“IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers,” Grossi said, noting that the mines were “situated in a restricted area that operating plant personnel cannot access and were facing away from the site.”
Grossi called having explosives on the site “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on world leaders to put pressure on Russia to hand the plant over to the IAEA.
Ukrainian forces say they are making modest progress in the east and south, as well as restraining Russian efforts to move forward in the Donetsk region, but overall there appears to have been little change on the front lines.
Ukrainian military officials said Russian minefields and electronic warfare capabilities are impeding progress.
Here's where things stand:
In the south: Oleksandr Kurbatov, with the Dnipro city territorial defense, said Monday that Ukrainian units were working hard to move forward in an area known as the Vremivskyi Ledge. He said Russian forces were bringing in new units of "highly qualified military" who are using the cover of darkness and carefully designed corridors through the minefields to attack Ukrainian positions. Valerii Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukrainian forces in the south, acknowledged that progress was slow, saying that “strike units had partial success and advanced into enemy territory from 350 meters up to 1.4 kilometers.”
Near Melitopol: The general staff of the Ukrainian military said offensive operations continued in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, and units were consolidating their positions. Russia carried out 58 airstrikes over the past day — higher than the recent average, the general staff said. Some came near the town of Kupyansk in Kharkiv, which was liberated by the Ukrainians last September and has been a target of Russian attacks. But Ukrainian officials say the Russians are being held east of the Oskil River.
Bakhmut and the East: In the Bakhmut area, there have been efforts by the Russians to retake recently lost ground, but the general staff said a number of attacks had been repelled. Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian military, said defense forces “are gradually liberating Ukrainian land. Hundreds of meters every day, kilometers every week.” But he said that fierce Russian resistance continued, with seven battles over the past day alone.
Wheat prices rose sharply Monday following a strike by a Russian drone on a Ukrainian port on the Danube river.
Moscow’s drones attacked Ukraine’s port infrastructure overnight, targeting the country’s grain stocks, the Ukrainian Army said. One grain silo at the Reni port was hit and substantially damaged, according to geolocated images and video.
Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade jumped 8.5% to $7.57 a bushel, and corn futures rose 4.7% to $5.52 a bushel.
Traders are concerned about tightening supply following the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal last week and a string of Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure.
The deal — originally brokered by Turkey and the United Nations a year ago — had ensured the safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports. So far the pact has allowed for the export of almost 33 million metric tons of food through Ukrainian ports, according to UN data.
Russia's foreign ministry on Monday urged international organizations to condemn the recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and Crimea.
“We regard what happened as another use of terrorist methods by the military-political leadership of Ukraine, intimidation of the civilian population. These attacks had no military meaning,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “We strongly condemn this yet another crime of the Kyiv regime. We call on international organizations to give it a proper assessment.”
The ministry blamed the West for exacerbating the situation, stating the actions of Kyiv were influenced by the West's focus on further escalating tensions.
“The Russian side reserves the right to take tough retaliatory measures,” the ministry said, adding that the Investigative Committee of Russia has opened criminal cases in response to these incidents, assuring that all those responsible will be identified and brought to justice.
Some context: The reported attacks come after Russian missiles badly damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, sparking outrage and prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to vow retaliation.
The Odesa strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the port city. The attacks also destroyed other historic buildings, Ukraine’s culture ministry said.
