Here's what we know about some of the recent attacks:
Sunday's bridge strikes: Missiles rocked a pair of bridges linking occupied regions of Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014. Ukraine's military said the strikes "hit two key routes of communication" for Russia. Kyiv has made it clear that it will prioritize cutting off the annexed peninsula from land newly captured since Moscow's full-scale invasion of 2022.
Attacks at sea: Ukraine hit one of Russia's largest oil tankers with a sea drone late Friday, within 24 hours of an attack on a naval base in Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The first assault left a Russian warship badly damaged. The attacks were carried out using an emerging Ukrainian tool: sea drones that can travel long distances and have proven difficult to defend.
Drones cross the border: A string of aerial drone strikes have also peppered Russian cities, including Moscow, throughout the summer. Though recent strikes on the Russian capital did not reportedly cause any injuries or fatalities, they have unsettled residents and created a sense that the scope of the conflict is drifting across the border. On Sunday, an attempted Ukrainian drone attack briefly halted traffic at an airport in Moscow, according to the city's mayor.
Ukraine says more is coming: Ukraine on Saturday pledged there would be more attacks on Russian shipping in the Black Sea and another key bridge to Crimea — the structure linking the peninsula to mainland Russia, which Kyiv has also targeted on multiple occasions. Any explosions that happen on Russia's ships or bridges in the region are "an absolutely logical and effective step," the head of the Ukrainian Security Service said this week. If Russia wants such explosions to stop, he added, "they have the only option to do so — to leave the territorial waters of Ukraine and our land."
3 hr 18 min ago
Peace talks in Saudi Arabia end with goodwill statements but no concrete announcements
From CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali
Delegations from various countries and organizations attending the Ukraine peace summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, agreed to continue working together toward "achieving lasting peace in the region," Saudi state news reported Sunday, but no specific developments were revealed.
“The participants agreed on the importance of continuing international consultations and exchanging opinions in order to build a common ground that will pave the way for peace. They also emphasized the importance of benefiting from views and positive suggestions made during this meeting,” according to a statement from the Saudi Press Agency.
In statements Sunday, the head of Ukraine's presidential office called the talks "productive" and "extremely honest and open," while Russia's deputy foreign minister dismissed the talks as "doomed" to prevent meaningful developments.
Some context: The lack of any concrete resolutions announced after the talks does not come as a surprise, as officials had tempered expectations.
The meetings — which did not include representatives from Russia — were seen mostly as a means for laying out future frameworks. They were also viewed as a venue to potentially win support for Kyiv's peace proposals from beyond its core Western backers like the United States and United Kingdom: The meetings included representatives from developing countries and from world powers that have sought to project varying degrees of neutrality in the conflict, like China and India.
Ukraine and Russia remain publicly committed to prerequisites for direct negotiations that the other side finds unacceptable.
3 hr 27 min ago
Ukraine's military confirms striking key Russian routes to Crimea
From CNN’s Mariya Knight and Kostan Nechyporenko
Ukraine's military has confirmed that it struck road bridges linking Crimea and Russian-occupied parts of southern Ukraine on Sunday.
The strikes "hit two key routes of communication" for Russia, the Chonhar bridge linking the Kherson region to Crimea and a smaller bridge to the peninsula from the Ukrainian town of Henichesk, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Telegram.
Russian-backed authorities and Russian state media had earlier reported that Kyiv was responsible for strikes on the bridges. The Russian-appointed head of occupied areas in the Kherson region accused Ukraine of using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles in the attack.
3 hr 27 min ago
Explosions hit road bridges between Crimea and occupied Ukraine
From CNN's Kostan Nechyporenko, Denis Lapin and Tim Lister
Explosions hit critical road bridges linking occupied Crimea with parts of Kherson region under Russian control, Russian authorities say, as Ukraine escalates its targeting of Russian infrastructure and territory.
The blasts came on the same day the Moscow mayor said a drone had been shot down approaching the city and soon after Ukraine struck one of Russia’s biggest oil tankers with a sea drone as well as carrying out an attack on a major naval base.
The Russian-appointed acting head of Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, says the missiles that hit two bridges in Crimea Sunday were all Storm Shadows, an air-launched long-range missile supplied to Ukraine by the UK.
Saldo said the two bridges were used by civilian and not military traffic. A rupture to a gas pipeline running alongside the bridge had cut off supplies to 20,000 residents of the city of Henichesk in Kherson.
"It’s this kind of sneaky missile attack that can’t be forgiven. It’s like a wounded animal snapping back," Saldo said. "These strikes do not do anything for the special military operation that is currently underway … They have decided to take petty revenge on civilians and those who are now moving through the territory of the Kherson region."
He added that no one was hurt and the bridge would reopen to traffic by the end of the day.
Russian bomb hits blood transfusion center in Kharkiv region, Zelensky says
From CNN's Mariya Knight
A Russian guided aerial bomb struck a blood transfusion center in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region Saturday, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He said on Telegram there are dead and wounded victims as a result of the attack, but did not provide any specific numbers.
Zelensky said the blood transfusion center is located in the Kupyansk community, where Russia has recently amassed troops on the eastern front line. A fire broke out at the center following the attack, he added.
CNN cannot independently verify reports about attacks on the front lines in Ukraine.
The area was liberated in a Ukrainian counteroffensive last fall.
Ukraine is using unmanned vehicles to attack faraway Russian targets by air and by sea. An attempted drone attack briefly halted traffic at an airport in Moscow on Sunday, according to the city's mayor.
Here's what we know about some of the recent attacks:
Sunday's bridge strikes: Missiles rocked a pair of bridges linking occupied regions of Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014. Ukraine's military said the strikes "hit two key routes of communication" for Russia. Kyiv has made it clear that it will prioritize cutting off the annexed peninsula from land newly captured since Moscow's full-scale invasion of 2022.
Attacks at sea: Ukraine hit one of Russia's largest oil tankers with a sea drone late Friday, within 24 hours of an attack on a naval base in Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The first assault left a Russian warship badly damaged. The attacks were carried out using an emerging Ukrainian tool: sea drones that can travel long distances and have proven difficult to defend.
Drones cross the border: A string of aerial drone strikes have also peppered Russian cities, including Moscow, throughout the summer. Though recent strikes on the Russian capital did not reportedly cause any injuries or fatalities, they have unsettled residents and created a sense that the scope of the conflict is drifting across the border. On Sunday, an attempted Ukrainian drone attack briefly halted traffic at an airport in Moscow, according to the city's mayor.
Ukraine says more is coming: Ukraine on Saturday pledged there would be more attacks on Russian shipping in the Black Sea and another key bridge to Crimea — the structure linking the peninsula to mainland Russia, which Kyiv has also targeted on multiple occasions. Any explosions that happen on Russia's ships or bridges in the region are "an absolutely logical and effective step," the head of the Ukrainian Security Service said this week. If Russia wants such explosions to stop, he added, "they have the only option to do so — to leave the territorial waters of Ukraine and our land."
Delegations from various countries and organizations attending the Ukraine peace summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, agreed to continue working together toward "achieving lasting peace in the region," Saudi state news reported Sunday, but no specific developments were revealed.
“The participants agreed on the importance of continuing international consultations and exchanging opinions in order to build a common ground that will pave the way for peace. They also emphasized the importance of benefiting from views and positive suggestions made during this meeting,” according to a statement from the Saudi Press Agency.
In statements Sunday, the head of Ukraine's presidential office called the talks "productive" and "extremely honest and open," while Russia's deputy foreign minister dismissed the talks as "doomed" to prevent meaningful developments.
Some context: The lack of any concrete resolutions announced after the talks does not come as a surprise, as officials had tempered expectations.
The meetings — which did not include representatives from Russia — were seen mostly as a means for laying out future frameworks. They were also viewed as a venue to potentially win support for Kyiv's peace proposals from beyond its core Western backers like the United States and United Kingdom: The meetings included representatives from developing countries and from world powers that have sought to project varying degrees of neutrality in the conflict, like China and India.
Ukraine and Russia remain publicly committed to prerequisites for direct negotiations that the other side finds unacceptable.
Ukraine's military has confirmed that it struck road bridges linking Crimea and Russian-occupied parts of southern Ukraine on Sunday.
The strikes "hit two key routes of communication" for Russia, the Chonhar bridge linking the Kherson region to Crimea and a smaller bridge to the peninsula from the Ukrainian town of Henichesk, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Telegram.
Russian-backed authorities and Russian state media had earlier reported that Kyiv was responsible for strikes on the bridges. The Russian-appointed head of occupied areas in the Kherson region accused Ukraine of using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles in the attack.
Explosions hit critical road bridges linking occupied Crimea with parts of Kherson region under Russian control, Russian authorities say, as Ukraine escalates its targeting of Russian infrastructure and territory.
The blasts came on the same day the Moscow mayor said a drone had been shot down approaching the city and soon after Ukraine struck one of Russia’s biggest oil tankers with a sea drone as well as carrying out an attack on a major naval base.
The Russian-appointed acting head of Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, says the missiles that hit two bridges in Crimea Sunday were all Storm Shadows, an air-launched long-range missile supplied to Ukraine by the UK.
Saldo said the two bridges were used by civilian and not military traffic. A rupture to a gas pipeline running alongside the bridge had cut off supplies to 20,000 residents of the city of Henichesk in Kherson.
"It’s this kind of sneaky missile attack that can’t be forgiven. It’s like a wounded animal snapping back," Saldo said. "These strikes do not do anything for the special military operation that is currently underway … They have decided to take petty revenge on civilians and those who are now moving through the territory of the Kherson region."
He added that no one was hurt and the bridge would reopen to traffic by the end of the day.
A Russian guided aerial bomb struck a blood transfusion center in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region Saturday, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He said on Telegram there are dead and wounded victims as a result of the attack, but did not provide any specific numbers.
Zelensky said the blood transfusion center is located in the Kupyansk community, where Russia has recently amassed troops on the eastern front line. A fire broke out at the center following the attack, he added.
CNN cannot independently verify reports about attacks on the front lines in Ukraine.
The area was liberated in a Ukrainian counteroffensive last fall.
