Drones hit Moscow, Kyiv wakes up to barrage of strikes. Here's what you need to know
CNN Staff
Emergency personnel work near a damaged office building following a reported Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, Russia, on August 1. Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters
Russia says Ukraine again attempted a drone strike in Moscow on Tuesday targeting the exact same building that was hit on Sunday.
Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have suggested that these attacks are meant to shatter any remaining sense of calm in the Russian capital.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Kyiv was met with a barrage of drone attacks.
Here's what else you need to know:
Cross-border attacks: Both Ukraine and Russia reported assaults aimed at each other on Tuesday. Moscow said Kyiv again attempted a drone strike in its capital. Kyiv accused Russia of shelling a medical facility in the southern port city of Kherson, killing a doctor and wounding a nurse.
Civilians caught in the crossfire: Two ballistic missiles struck the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih — Zelensky's hometown — on Monday, killing six people and wounding dozens more. Further south, in Kherson, Russian shelling on residential areas killed four people, a top adviser to Zelensky said. Local officials said Russia had intensified shelling on the city to provide cover for rotating troops.
F-16 training concerns: The US is still waiting for European officials to submit a final plan for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, which the US will have to authorize before the program can actually begin this month, officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
Ukrainian children in Russia: More than 700,000 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia since the beginning of the war, Russia's ombudsperson for children's rights said in a report published Monday. The report claims most of the minors arrived with parents or other relatives. The ombudswoman, Maria Lvova-Belova, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have been accused by the International Criminal Court of the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of children during the war. The Hague issued arrest warrants for them in March.
35 min ago
Ukraine shoots down more than 10 drones over Kyiv, military official says
From CNN's Josh Pennington and Hira Humayun
Ukraine shot down more than 10 drones over Kyiv, according to Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, in a Telegram post early Wednesday.
Initial information indicates that Russian forces used Shahed barrage munitions in the barrage of attacks, Popko said.
"Drone groups approached Kyiv simultaneously from several directions. However, the air defense forces detected and destroyed all aerial targets - over 10 UAVs - in a timely manner," Popko said.
He said debris from the drones has fallen in the districts of Solomianskyi, Holosiivskyi, and Sviatoshynskyi in Kyiv and that some non-residential buildings and road surfaces were damaged, but no serious damage or fires.
He said there is no information on casualties so far.
Early Wednesday, the head of Odesa regional military administration, Oleh Kiper also warned of possible drone attacks on the Odesa region.
Kiper asked people in the Odesa to take shelter while its air defenses were at work, according to a Telegram post.
Some context: Both Ukraine and Russia reported cross-border attacks Tuesday. Moscow said Kyiv again attempted a drone strike in Moscow, targeting the exact same building that was hit on Sunday. Kyiv accused Russia of shelling a medical facility in the southern port city of Kherson, killing a doctor and wounding a nurse.
1 hr 18 min ago
F-16 questions remain as Ukrainian pilots set to start training this month
From CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Jennifer Hansler
The US is still waiting for European officials to submit a final plan for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, which the US will have to authorize before the program can actually begin, officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
The training is supposed to start this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European officials have said publicly. But two months after President Joe Biden announced US support for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, there remain a number of critical details to work out.
The US still needs to approve the transfer of F-16-specific equipment and materials, including flight simulators and training manuals. But officials told CNN that the Biden administration has not yet received a final training plan from the Europeans, meaning there is nothing for the US to sign off on yet.
It is also still unclear which countries will commit F-16s to the training program – and to Ukraine itself once the program is finished. Transferring the planes to Ukraine will require separate US approval.
Poland will increase soldiers at border after Belarusian helicopters allegedly violated airspace, officials say
From CNN’s Niamh Kennedy and Josh Pennington
Poland will increase the number of soldiers along its border with Belarus after two Belarusian helicopters allegedly violated the Polish airspace on Tuesday, according to the Defense Ministry.
In a statement Tuesday, the ministry said Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak convened a meeting of Poland’s Committee on National Security and Defense Affairs after reports that the Polish airspace was violated earlier on Tuesday.
“It was established that today, August 1, 2023, there was a violation of Polish airspace by two Belarusian helicopters, which were conducting training near the border. The Belarusian side had previously informed the Polish side about the training. The border crossing took place in the Bialowieza region at a very low altitude, making detection by radar systems difficult,” the statement said.
Poland has informed NATO of the incident and moved to summon the Belarusian chargé d’affaires to the Polish Foreign Ministry to “explain the incident,” according to the statement.
“As a reminder, Russia and Belarus have recently stepped up hybrid actions against Poland,” the Defense Ministry stressed.
Last weekend, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned that the situation along the Belarusian border is “becoming even more dangerous,” warning Wagner fighters are moving closer.
More context: More than 100 troops from the mercenary group Wagner are moving toward a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, Poland’s prime minister said over the weekend and warned they could pose as migrants to cross the border. Morawiecki said Saturday that his government had received information that the Wagner mercenaries were not far from Grodno, a city in western Belarus close to the land, which is also known as the Suwalki gap or corridor.
Though just 60 miles long, the corridor is strategically important to NATO, the EU, Russia and Belarus. The border region connects the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to Belarus and it is the only overland link between the Baltic states and the rest of the EU.
34 min ago
Lukashenko denies some Wagner fighters have moved closer to Polish border
From CNN's Radina Gigova and Anna Chernova
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday denied Poland's claims that about 100 of the Wagner mercenaries, who are in the country, have moved closer to the Polish border, according to a statement published by his office.
“I suddenly hear the other day that Poland has freaked out that allegedly some unit as large as 100 people is moving here. No PMC Wagner units 100 people strong have moved here. And if they have, they did it only in order to pass on combat experience to the brigades, which are stationed in Brest and Grodno," Lukashenko said during a working visit to Kamenets District, in the southwestern Brest region, according to the statement.
Last month, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said the country's forces will hold joint military exercises with Wagner fighters near its border with the NATO member. Wagner fighters have arrived in Belarus following a short-lived mutiny by the private military group in June.
"I need to train my own military personnel, because an army that doesn't fight is half an army," Lukashenko added according to the statement. "So they [Wagner] are here to pass on their experience."
The longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Wagner fighters "want to go nowhere" and that they stay "near Osipovichi in the center of Belarus."
Russia says Ukraine launched three drones toward Moscow on Tuesday. A Ukrainian presidential adviser said the strikes are a sign the Russian capital is becoming “used to a full-fledged war.”
Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces thwarted a Ukrainian naval drone attack on two of its patrol vessels in the Black Sea, while the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol said a drone was shot down in the occupied Crimean city.
Ukraine accused Russia of shelling a medical facility in Kherson, killing a doctor and wounding a nurse. An attack Monday killed at least four people and injured 17 others in the southern port city.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko denied Poland's claims that about 100 of the Wagner mercenaries who are in the country have moved closer to the Polish border.
Emergency personnel work near a damaged office building following a reported Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, Russia, on August 1. Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters
Russia says Ukraine again attempted a drone strike in Moscow on Tuesday targeting the exact same building that was hit on Sunday.
Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have suggested that these attacks are meant to shatter any remaining sense of calm in the Russian capital.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Kyiv was met with a barrage of drone attacks.
Here's what else you need to know:
Cross-border attacks: Both Ukraine and Russia reported assaults aimed at each other on Tuesday. Moscow said Kyiv again attempted a drone strike in its capital. Kyiv accused Russia of shelling a medical facility in the southern port city of Kherson, killing a doctor and wounding a nurse.
Civilians caught in the crossfire: Two ballistic missiles struck the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih — Zelensky's hometown — on Monday, killing six people and wounding dozens more. Further south, in Kherson, Russian shelling on residential areas killed four people, a top adviser to Zelensky said. Local officials said Russia had intensified shelling on the city to provide cover for rotating troops.
F-16 training concerns: The US is still waiting for European officials to submit a final plan for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, which the US will have to authorize before the program can actually begin this month, officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
Ukrainian children in Russia: More than 700,000 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia since the beginning of the war, Russia's ombudsperson for children's rights said in a report published Monday. The report claims most of the minors arrived with parents or other relatives. The ombudswoman, Maria Lvova-Belova, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have been accused by the International Criminal Court of the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of children during the war. The Hague issued arrest warrants for them in March.
Ukraine shot down more than 10 drones over Kyiv, according to Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, in a Telegram post early Wednesday.
Initial information indicates that Russian forces used Shahed barrage munitions in the barrage of attacks, Popko said.
"Drone groups approached Kyiv simultaneously from several directions. However, the air defense forces detected and destroyed all aerial targets - over 10 UAVs - in a timely manner," Popko said.
He said debris from the drones has fallen in the districts of Solomianskyi, Holosiivskyi, and Sviatoshynskyi in Kyiv and that some non-residential buildings and road surfaces were damaged, but no serious damage or fires.
He said there is no information on casualties so far.
Early Wednesday, the head of Odesa regional military administration, Oleh Kiper also warned of possible drone attacks on the Odesa region.
Kiper asked people in the Odesa to take shelter while its air defenses were at work, according to a Telegram post.
Some context: Both Ukraine and Russia reported cross-border attacks Tuesday. Moscow said Kyiv again attempted a drone strike in Moscow, targeting the exact same building that was hit on Sunday. Kyiv accused Russia of shelling a medical facility in the southern port city of Kherson, killing a doctor and wounding a nurse.
The US is still waiting for European officials to submit a final plan for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, which the US will have to authorize before the program can actually begin, officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
The training is supposed to start this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European officials have said publicly. But two months after President Joe Biden announced US support for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, there remain a number of critical details to work out.
The US still needs to approve the transfer of F-16-specific equipment and materials, including flight simulators and training manuals. But officials told CNN that the Biden administration has not yet received a final training plan from the Europeans, meaning there is nothing for the US to sign off on yet.
It is also still unclear which countries will commit F-16s to the training program – and to Ukraine itself once the program is finished. Transferring the planes to Ukraine will require separate US approval.
Poland will increase the number of soldiers along its border with Belarus after two Belarusian helicopters allegedly violated the Polish airspace on Tuesday, according to the Defense Ministry.
In a statement Tuesday, the ministry said Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak convened a meeting of Poland’s Committee on National Security and Defense Affairs after reports that the Polish airspace was violated earlier on Tuesday.
“It was established that today, August 1, 2023, there was a violation of Polish airspace by two Belarusian helicopters, which were conducting training near the border. The Belarusian side had previously informed the Polish side about the training. The border crossing took place in the Bialowieza region at a very low altitude, making detection by radar systems difficult,” the statement said.
Poland has informed NATO of the incident and moved to summon the Belarusian chargé d’affaires to the Polish Foreign Ministry to “explain the incident,” according to the statement.
“As a reminder, Russia and Belarus have recently stepped up hybrid actions against Poland,” the Defense Ministry stressed.
Last weekend, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned that the situation along the Belarusian border is “becoming even more dangerous,” warning Wagner fighters are moving closer.
More context: More than 100 troops from the mercenary group Wagner are moving toward a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, Poland’s prime minister said over the weekend and warned they could pose as migrants to cross the border. Morawiecki said Saturday that his government had received information that the Wagner mercenaries were not far from Grodno, a city in western Belarus close to the land, which is also known as the Suwalki gap or corridor.
Though just 60 miles long, the corridor is strategically important to NATO, the EU, Russia and Belarus. The border region connects the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to Belarus and it is the only overland link between the Baltic states and the rest of the EU.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday denied Poland's claims that about 100 of the Wagner mercenaries, who are in the country, have moved closer to the Polish border, according to a statement published by his office.
“I suddenly hear the other day that Poland has freaked out that allegedly some unit as large as 100 people is moving here. No PMC Wagner units 100 people strong have moved here. And if they have, they did it only in order to pass on combat experience to the brigades, which are stationed in Brest and Grodno," Lukashenko said during a working visit to Kamenets District, in the southwestern Brest region, according to the statement.
Last month, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said the country's forces will hold joint military exercises with Wagner fighters near its border with the NATO member. Wagner fighters have arrived in Belarus following a short-lived mutiny by the private military group in June.
"I need to train my own military personnel, because an army that doesn't fight is half an army," Lukashenko added according to the statement. "So they [Wagner] are here to pass on their experience."
The longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Wagner fighters "want to go nowhere" and that they stay "near Osipovichi in the center of Belarus."
