June 14, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Drone footage obtained by The Wall Street Journal appears to show a Russian soldier surrendering to a Ukrainian drone on the battlefield of Bakhmut in May.

A Russian soldier surrendered to a Ukrainian drone on the battlefield of Bakhmut in May, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.?

Reporters at the Wall Street Journal interviewed the Russian soldier at a detention facility in the Kharkiv region on May 19. According to the Wall Street Journal, the soldier spoke while under the supervision of a guard. CNN cannot verify whether the soldier spoke under duress.?

The reporters also spoke with the drone pilot, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal also published drone footage from a unit of Ukraine’s 92nd Mechanized Brigade showing the surrender taking place. The video is edited with music playing. CNN has not viewed the raw video.?

The drone footage appears to show a Russian soldier running from Ukrainian assault drones in the trenches of the battlefield Bakhmut, according to the Wall Street Journal. The soldier then stops and attempts to communicate with the drone through hand gestures.?

The Ukrainian drone pilot told the Wall Street Journal he decided to spare his life after watching his pleas.

In a statement to CNN, Yuriy Fedorenko, commander of the assault drone division “Achilles” of the 92nd Brigade, confirmed the surrender had occurred.??

The pilot dropped a note to the soldier telling him to follow the drone if he wanted to surrender, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The footage appears to show the soldier following the drone, dodging a mortar along the way. Upon arriving at a Ukrainian position, the soldier dropped to his knees and removed his helmet and flak jacket, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ukrainian forces took him into their custody, loaded him into a Humvee truck, and he was later brought to a detention facility in the Kharkiv region, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Russian soldier and former prison marshal who was working as a liquor-store manager said he was drafted in September of last year.

Before being sent to Bakhmut, he said he had performed guard duties and built fortified positions in Luhansk, the Wall Street Journal reported.

President Joe Biden and his team are in the midst of a high-stakes conversation with fellow NATO members on how and when Ukraine may join — a debate that could expose strains in the alliance ahead of a summit.?

The matter of Ukrainian membership in NATO is one of several issues leaders will tackle when they meet in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in mid-July. Also up for discussion are new defense spending commitments and a successor to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who is planning on leaving his post in the autumn.

Yet it is the issue of Ukrainian membership that will prove one of the biggest flash points for the group, which has managed to remain remarkably united amid Russia’s unprovoked invasion.

At past NATO summits, the allies have produced a joint declaration outlining their shared views. A failure to reach a consensus this year would be hugely consequential and would signal trouble for the unity of the alliance as the war in Ukraine continues.

Where there is a dispute: Some allies, particularly those in Eastern Europe who are located closer to Ukraine and Russia, have advocated for a more concrete path for Kyiv to join the defensive alliance once the war ends.?

Other European officials, particularly those in western and southern Europe, have argued an expedited entrance of Ukraine into NATO could be too provocative and that it could amount to an extremely risky gamble for the alliance even if there is an end to the fighting, particularly if Russia still stakes claim over Ukrainian territory.?

Biden and members of his administration have remained committed to the alliance’s current posture — which states Ukraine will eventually join NATO but without any certainty of when.

The divide has prompted urgent discussions ahead of the summit. The result of the conversations could determine whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends.

The invasion and its aftermath have increased pressure on all NATO members to provide Ukraine with some type of security guarantee going forward, even as there remains disagreement on exactly what they might look like.

Read more here.

There is a “fierce battle” happening on Ukraine’s front lines, according to its deputy defense minister, as Kyiv’s fighters also start to carry out counteroffensive attacks in the southeastern parts of the country.

NATO allies are continuing to pledge their support for Ukraine and making it clear that “Russia doesn’t get a voice or a veto” in whether or not Kyiv joins the alliance, according to Julianne Smith, Washington’s top diplomat to NATO.

Here’s what else to know:

Russian occupation army launched four Kalibrs at civilian infrastructure in Odesa, Ukraine Wednesday night, June 14.?

There is a “serious confrontation ongoing” on Ukraine’s front lines, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said Wednesday, describing it as a “fierce battle.”

“We’ve got an offensive in several directions, but the enemy also conducts an offensive in several directions. So as of now we are simultaneously on the defense and [on the] offensive but in different directions,” Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian national TV.

Russian forces are trying to stop Ukraine’s offensive by increasing shelling and aviation strikes, Maliar said. “We also see the enemy actively using anti-tank guided missiles and self-destroying drones in attempts to stop our offensive and inflict various damage.”

Ukraine’s troops are experiencing “difficulties” advancing in the south as “the fields are mined,” she added, saying the troops are advancing “slowly but surely.”

In an update that echoed Maliar’s description of the fighting, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russia had carried out “37 air strikes and fired 32 times from multiple launch rocket systems at Ukrainian troops’ positions and settlements” in the past day.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya attends the Globsec regional security forum in Bratislava, Slovakia on May 30.

Exiled?Belarusian opposition leader?Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya?is calling on the global community to “react strongly” to Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to the country.

The opposition leader said that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s statement announcing that the deployment has begun “creates a serious threat to regional security and sets us on a dangerous path for nuclear escalation.”

Lukashenko claimed that Belarus has already received some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, in an interview with Kremlin propagandist Olga Skabeeva released Tuesday.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has pushed back against the move, calling it “dangerous and reckless” in a tweet Tuesday.?

“The nuclear ban treaty is crystal clear — hosting another country’s nuclear weapons is illegal. Deploying nuclear weapons outside your own territory is wrong — and no state (we’re looking at you US) can be considered responsible when they do,” it added.

Some context: Belarus is one of Russia’s few allies in its war on Ukraine. While the country’s military isn’t directly involved in the fighting, Belarus helped Russia launch its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing the Kremlin’s troops to enter the country from its territory.

CNN’s Brad Lennon, Anna Chernova and Lindsay Isaac contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian military officials have claimed some success in attempted advances in the Zaporizhzhia region on Wednesday, as Kyiv mounts early stages of a sweeping counteroffensive across southeastern parts of the country.

Both sides have reported clashes in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.

Ukraine’s top general also said Tuesday that the military has seen “certain gains” in its offensive and is “moving forward.”

These are the areas of focus right now:

Ukrainian servicemen ride by boat through a flooded neighborhood in Kherson on June 8.

Floodwaters from the?Nova Kakhovka?dam collapse in southern Ukraine are predicted to fully recede by June 20, according to Andrey Alekseenko, the Russian-backed head of the government of the Kherson region.

The breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam on the morning of June 6 unleashed a mass of water down the Dnipro River and flooded towns and villages on both sides.

“As of today, the water in Oleshky and the district remains only in the lowlands - up to 1.6 m. Supplies have returned to normal - vehicles with food products were able to enter,” he said on Telegram.?Oleshky is around 70 kilometers (about 43 miles) west of Nova Kakhovka.

The head of the Russian-appointed Kherson region administration, Vladimir Saldo, said Tuesday that the water level in Nova Kakhovka was unchanged at 5 meters.

Remember: Ukraine controls the west bank of the Dnipro River and the city of Kherson after its?counteroffensive last year, while Russian troops remain on the east bank in the larger Kherson region.

On the Ukrainian side: Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said “everything” is being done to return citizens “to a normal, peaceful and safe life as soon as possible” nine days after the collapse.

“Starting today, we have planned the work of sappers - 33 groups are working in Kherson region. 66 motor pumps are pumping out water from basements and streets,” he said in a message on Telegram.

He said more than 3,000 people in Ukraine-controlled Kherson have filed police reports about flooded homes, and 3,761 people have been evacuated from Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin during his speech at the Grand Kremlin Palace, on June 12, in Moscow, Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet with leaders of African countries on Saturday in St Petersburg, according to presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

The grain deal will be one of the key issues the leaders will discuss, he said.

“African leaders are interested in the constant supply of grain to their continent, which so far has not been possible under the Istanbul deal,” Ushakov said, according to state media TASS.

Russia has been dissatisfied with the deal and will carefully consider a decision on whether to extend it, Ushakov said, echoing Putin’s Tuesday comments to war correspondents at the Kremlin, where he said he is considering exiting the deal.

Before they meet with Putin, the leaders will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, the non-profit organization Brazzaville Foundation earlier announced.

Participating leaders will include:

Wagner?private?military?company chief?Yevgeny Prigozhin reiterated?his fighters?will not sign contracts with the Russian?Ministry of Defense, after Russian President Vladimir Putin backed?a ministry?order for mercenary groups fighting in Ukraine?to sign?contracts.?

The defense ministry Saturday said “volunteer units” and private military groups would be required to sign a contract by July 1, which would “give the voluntary formations the necessary legal status” and create “unified approaches” to their work.?

Putin said Tuesday during a meeting with pro-Kremlin journalists that contracts with the defense ministry are?“the only way to ensure social guarantees,” adding that “it has to be done as quickly as possible.”

In a statement published by Prigozhin’s press service Wednesday, he said:

“When the Motherland was in trouble, when the help of PMC Wagner was needed and we all came to defend it, the President promised us all social guarantees,” said Prigozhin, who has publicly criticized Russian defense leaders.

The Wagner chief claimed in May that his fighters captured the eastern city of Bakhmut in a high-profile, protracted battle. He also said on Wednesday that Wagner will return to the front lines in August.

Prigozhin?added that he thinks?the State Duma, Russian parliament, and the president will find a compromise.

On Wednesday,?a?Ministry of Defense statement?said?10 more commanders of brigades and detachments of volunteer corps fighting in Ukraine went ahead and signed the contracts.

“The decision to raise their status, first of all, to provide the same benefits that are provided to all military personnel, was accepted by the personnel of the volunteer formations with great approval,” said Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseev in a statement.?

The investigation into who was behind the?Nord Stream pipeline sabotage is entering its “final phase,” lead prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist told Swedish radio on Wednesday.

“I do think we may possibly be entering a final phase in this case,” Ljungqvist said.?“I hope that at least this autumn, we can take a stand on a decision on the so-called indictment issue.”?

Swedish and Danish authorities have been investigating four holes in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that link Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea, which investigators believe were caused by explosives last year.

“I can say that the explosive has a special composition, from which it is possible to draw certain conclusions [about the perpetrator],”?Ljungqvist said, adding that he has met the?German prosecutor investigating the sabotage.

His statement comes a day after?The Netherlands’?public broadcaster NOS reported Dutch?military intelligence warned the CIA about an alleged Ukrainian plan to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines three months before they were hit.

Ukraine has?denied any involvement in the sabotage following a New York Times report citing intelligence that a “pro-Ukrainian group” may have been behind the attack.

US Ambassador to?NATO?Julianne?Smith?speaks during a news briefing in Brussels, Belgium, on February 15, 2022.

Washington’s top diplomat to NATO said on Wednesday that the alliance supports Ukraine’s aspirations to join the group, adding Russia doesn’t have a say on NATO’s open-door policy.?

She also said the allies are looking forward to welcoming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the next NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in July.?

“We think we’ll have a nice package to deliver (to Ukraine) at the summit,” the ambassador said.?

NATO allies are working on aiding Ukraine not just with their “current efforts to defend their territorial integrity, but (with) practical support tied to longer-term questions, longer-term modernization issues that they will be grappling with, questions of standardization, interoperability, and thinking about what type of force they will have in the future.”

“But at the summit, we’ll have more to say about our longer-term practical assistance,” the ambassador added.?

On Sweden: Smith also addressed Sweden’s intent to join NATO, which is currently being blocked by Turkey.?Sweden has sought to become a part of the alliance in light of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. ?

Russian forces pounded the southern port city of Odesa and the eastern Donetsk region overnight, destroying civilian infrastructure in a series of deadly attacks.

Meanwhile, Kyiv claimed key advances in Zaporizhzhia amid an ongoing offensive in the southeastern region.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukrainian military officials have claimed “partial success” in attempted advances in the Zaporizhzhia region, as Kyiv stepped up the early stages of a sweeping counteroffensive across southeastern parts of the country.

Fighting is ongoing in several areas, including toward the coast of the Sea of Azov near Berdiansk, the contested village of Makarivka, and near the villages of Novodanylivka and Novopokrovka, according to Ukrainian military spokesperson Andriy Kovalov.?

Kyiv’s officials claimed Moscow’s troops are stealing grain from Ukrainian farmers and loading into onto cargo ships in the port city of Berdiansk to be shipped to Russian territory.

Ukrainian defense forces have advanced 200 meters to 1.4 kilometers (about 656 feet to 0.8 miles), and took about 3 square kilometers (one square mile) of territory, Kovalov said.

Ukrainian troops have advanced 200 to 500 meters (about 656 to 1,640 feet) toward Bakhmut and 300 to 350 meters (984 to 1,148 feet) toward?Zaporizhzhia, according to a Telegram post by Hanna Maliar, the deputy defense minister of Ukraine.

Russia has lost up to 10 vehicles, an air defense system, two electronic warfares systems and various radar systems and weapons in the past few days, Maliar added.

Some context: Kyiv has ramped up operations near the front lines of Zaporizhzhia in recent weeks, attempting what is seen as a major military objective — breaking Russia’s land-bridge to annexed Crimea.

Meanwhile, Russia has launched a series of air strikes and shelling operations in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and in the eastern Donetsk region. As many as 40 civilian buildings have been destroyed, according to Kovalov.

Houses are seen underwater in a flooded neighborhood in Kherson, Ukraine, on June 10.

Top officials in Kyiv said valuable cultural heritage objects were destroyed during the Nova Kakhovka dam collapse in southern Ukraine last week, in one of the largest industrial disasters for Europe in decades.

The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine said Wednesday that “hundreds of cultural heritage objects” were either “damaged, flooded, or, like the power plant itself, deliberately destroyed.”

Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over the dam’s destruction, without providing concrete proof that the other is culpable. It is not clear whether the dam was deliberately attacked or whether the breach was the result of structural failure.?

The explosion of the dam and?erosion and flooding of the nearby Dnipro River “caused a critical situation with the protection of archaeological heritage in the region,” it added.

The ministry claimed “valuable items” are at risk of being looted because some people are using metal detectors to try to locate objects in the southern regions of?Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa.

“Archaeologists, museum workers, and law enforcement officials will join forces to monitor, record damage and perform other urgent work,” the ministry said. ?

The ministry added that specialists have been monitoring water levels along the reservoir, where water levels are gradually receding after the collapse caused flooding in Kherson.

Russia’s border regions of Kursk and Belgorod were shelled overnight by Ukrainian armed forces, Russian authorities said Wednesday.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said four districts were targeted overnight: the villages of Zhuravlevka and Novopetrovka and the Graivoron and Shebekino urban districts. Gladkov added no casualties were recorded.

Separately, the border settlements in the Glushkovo district of the Kursk region came under fire from Ukraine, Gov. Roman Starovoit said on his Telegram channel. The governor also gave the following details:

A commercial building damaged in an overnight Russian strike in Odesa, Ukraine, on June 14.

As the Ukrainian port city of Odesa remains a top target of Russia missile strikes, CNN spoke to residents who said they are living in constant fear and their children adapting to the new normal.

Oleksandr Tokalenko, who recently relocated from Kherson to Odesa,?said he and his family are used to the shelling.?“Although the children live in constant fear and stay awake at night until 3 or 4 a.m., when attacks usually happen, to wake up the adults in case there are missiles or drones. Then they sleep during the day.”

Olena Yakovleva said she sees the latest Russian attack as an “illogical action caused by the Russians’ sense of powerlessness. That is why they are hitting residential areas where there is not a single military facility. This is how they take revenge on ordinary civilians for the actions of our army at the front.”

She added that the day after such shelling, she feels “happy that the morning has come and we are alive.”

Max Kopylov said the situation in Odesa has intensified. “Russians do not let us live and hit civilians … Recently, there was an attack near my mother-in-law, there are no windows in the area of a few hundred meters around, people were killed. We have many friends living there. Everyone is shocked after such nights.”

CNN was given unprecedented access to the frontline town of Velyka Novosilka in southeastern Ukraine, a secretive area where Ukraine has been preparing part of the opening phases of its counteroffensive.

Immediately to the south, Ukrainian pushing and probing has produced some success, as troops have taken back the villages of Neskuchne, Blahodatne and, more recently, Makarivka.

Ukrainian forces have been working to stabilize some of the villages, but when CNN visited Velyka Novosilka, the situation remained very fluid. Russia, some soldiers said, was not going down without a fight.

Velyka Novosilka, which has been without water, electricity or gas for a year and a half – and is constantly battered by shelling and strikes – is an oasis by comparison.

Winnie is one of several combat medics with the 68th Jaeger, one of Ukraine’s long-established brigades that has held this front line since early in the war. Now, reinforced by Western-trained units and armed with Western-supplied weapons, they are hoping to take back Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia.

“(The US-donated) MaxxPro (armored fighting vehicle) has saved my life many times. It saves our lives every day from shrapnel, shelling and bullets,” says another soldier who goes by the call sign Skrypal.

It’s a long, hard and dangerous task and, even this early on in Ukraine’s offensive, it’s not difficult to foresee victory is likely to come at a heavy cost. To reduce it, Ukraine relies heavily on drone pilots to provide accurate reconnaissance.

“It is impossible to carry out an offensive without drones,” says a pilot with the call sign Mara. “There are many casualties. But with the help of drones, losses can be minimized as much as possible.”

Read the full story here.

Watch CNN’s team take cover while reporting:

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02:21 - Source: CNN

Chancellor Olaf Scholz takes part in a press conference to introduce the new German security strategy in Berlin, Germany, on June 14.

A top German government minister said Moscow’s war in Ukraine has made Europe more “vulnerable” to security threats, as Berlin announced a major overhaul of its national strategy on Wednesday.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz presented a wide-ranging paper alongside senior government officials, as they pointed to several factors detailing the government’s revised security plan at a press conference in Berlin.

Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister, stressed that with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “Europe is also vulnerable.”?

The new security elements included enhanced environmental policies, better cooperation with African countries, improved food security and an updated military program.

The war in Ukraine shifted the security landscape in Europe, with the military threat posed by Russia triggering a wave of countries on the continent to rethink their long-term priorities.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian private military company Wagner, said that his force will return to the Ukrainian front lines in August.

“We are resting and preparing. On June 5, we left, and on August 5, according to the forecasts, PMC Wagner will continue to perform in full combat readiness the tasks that were set,” Prigozhin said in a video comment speaking to journalists in Russia’s Ulyanovsk region.

The video was shared Tuesday via Orchest Wagnera, its unofficial Telegram channel. Prigozhin’s press service confirmed Tuesday he visited Ulyanovsk together with Viktor Bout, the former Soviet military officer and convicted arms dealer released in a prisoner swap with US basketball star Brittney Griner.

Prigozhin previously said Wagner fighters would be replaced by regular Russian forces in the Bakhmut area and relocated away from the front lines.

His group captured the frontline city of Bakhmut last month but more recently Ukraine has claimed advances in the area.

Emergency workers extinguish a fire after a Russian rocket hit in a storehouse building in Odesa, Ukraine, on June 14.

Moscow unleashed a stream of deadly cruise missiles from the Black Sea in the direction of Odesa overnight, killing at least three people and wounding more than a dozen others.

The barrage left destroyed civilian infrastructure in its wake, with scenes emergeing of battered apartment buildings, a destroyed shopping mall and shattered restaurant complexes.

The Kremlin has heavily targeted Odesa since launching its invasion in February 2022, a strategically important city on the southern coast of Ukraine:

A shopping mall and apartment buildings damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Odesa, Ukraine, on June 14.

Kyiv urged stricter economic measures against?Russia to restrict its supply of arsenal components, after a deadly cruise missile attack overnight in the southern city of Odesa.

Ukrainian officials said at least three people were killed in Russia’s assault on residential infrastructure, which left piles of debris in the port city.

Moscow’s military struck Odesa with Kalibr missiles, which have “at least 40 foreign components,” according to Ukraine’s presidential office.

“Sanctions need to be strengthened, in particular, against those who help a terrorist country to obtain weapons components,” Andriy Yermak said.

Some background: Yermak did not specify which countries he was referring to, but Russia has been using Iranian-made weapons to carry out strikes.

As CNN has previously reported, Chinese state-owned defense firms have maintained trade relationships with Russian companies, despite Western sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A Bradley fighting vehicle in Nowa Deba, Poland, on April 12.

The US Defense Department on Tuesday announced it will supply 15 more Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine, just days after a report said Kyiv had lost multiple US-supplied armored vehicles in its counteroffensive against Russian invaders.

The Bradley fighting vehicle, which moves on tracks rather than wheels, can hold around 10 troops and is used to transport personnel into battle while providing supporting fire.

The Bradleys are part of a $325 million assistance package — the 40th presidential drawdown — that includes 10 Stryker armored personnel carriers, ammunition for surface-to-air missile systems and HIMARS rocket systems; Stinger shoulder-fired anti-aircraft systems and Javelin anti-armor systems; 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, and small arms ammunition.

Some context: Dutch open-source intelligence website Oryx, which has been collecting visual evidence of military equipment losses in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, reported earlier this week that 16 of Ukraine’s Bradleys were either destroyed or damaged and abandoned in fighting in eastern Ukraine in recent days.

Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks to media in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 13.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog chief has postponed his scheduled visit to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine by a day, according to a report in Russian state media Wednesday. ?

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Rafael Grossi’s visit slated for Wednesday has been delayed to Thursday, Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear firm, told state-run news agency TASS in the report.

“[His] mission has been put off till the next day,” Karchaa told TASS.

Following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv Tuesday, Grossi said he was concerned about the possibility the nuclear plant could be caught up in Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia.

He had initially announced he would go to the plant on Wednesday to assess the situation.?

CNN has reached out to the IAEA to ask about Grossi’s visit to the plant

Flood impacts:?The nuclear plant receives cooling water that’s critical for safety from a nearby thermal plant that is fed upstream from the reservoir adjacent to the Nova Kakhovka dam that collapsed last week.

On Sunday, the IAEA said it needed access to a location near the plant to determine water levels at the reservoir to clarify a discrepancy between measurements following the dam’s collapse.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over the dam’s destruction, without providing concrete proof that the other is culpable. The dam was occupied by Russia at the time of its collapse but is not yet clear whether it was deliberately attacked or if the breach was the result of structural failure.

A police officer helps a local woman to be evacuated from a residential area hit by a Russian missile strike in Kostiantynivka,?Donetsk?region, Ukraine on June 14.

Three people were killed and three others wounded in Donetsk following “morning shelling” by Russian forces early Wednesday, the eastern region’s military chief said.

In a statement on Telegram, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region military administration, said initial information indicated rocket attacks killed two and injured two others in Kramatorsk, while one person died and another was wounded in Kostiantynivka.

The attacks caused “significant damage” to dozens of homes in the two cities, Kyrylenko said.

Rescuers were working at the impacted areas, he added.

In an earlier statement, Ukraine’s air force said Russian forces had launched six Kh-22 air-launched cruise missiles targeting Donetsk from Russia’s neighboring Rostov region.

An F16 fighter airplane takes off during an Air Defender 2023 exercise in Jagel, Germany, on June 12.

As the early stages of?Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian invaders?is unfolding on the battlefield, hundreds of warplanes from some of Kyiv’s biggest supporters are in the skies over Germany as NATO holds its largest aerial war games ever.

“Air Defender 2023” is bringing together 250 warplanes — including 190 fighter jets — and 10,000 troops in drills designed to boost the alliance’s preparedness and ability “to protect against aircraft, drones and missile attacks on cities and critical infrastructure,” according to a NATO press release.

Though the German-led exercises have been in the works for several years, their timing as Moscow unleashes punishing air attacks on Ukrainian cities as part of the now 16-month invasion of its neighbor sends a timely message, especially to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in the aftermath of World War II to defend Western nations from the Soviet Union and the alliance contains a mutual defense clause where an attack on any one member is considered an attack on all.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, the worry in NATO is that the destruction Moscow has wreaked on Ukraine’s cities could spill beyond the country’s borders.

NATO members’ military support for Ukraine, including tanks, armored vehicles and other weaponry being used in Kyiv’s current offensive, has consistently produced threats of retaliation from Russia.

Alliance members are making plans to?supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets?of the same variety that are participating in the current war games.

Read more here.

Buildings damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Odesa, Ukraine on June 14.

Russia launched cruise missiles and drones at targets across Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said Wednesday.

In a statement, the air force said 12 out of 20 missiles and drones fired by Russia were intercepted by Ukrainian air defenses.

Russia fired four Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea in the direction of Odesa, three of which were shot down, it said. Ukrainian authorities said earlier that at least three people were killed and 13 others were wounded in the attack on the southern port city.

Russian forces also launched six Kh-22 air-launched cruise missiles from?Tu-22M3 long-range bombers targeting Donetsk from Russia’s Rostov region, according to Ukraine’s air force.

The impact of those missiles is unclear at the moment.?

Russia also launched 10 Iran-made attack drones on southeastern Ukraine, nine of which were shot down, the air force said.

This post has been updated.

A shopping mall and apartment buildings damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Odesa, Ukraine on June 14.

At least three people died and 13 others were wounded on Wednesday after Russia fired four cruise missiles from the Black Sea at Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa, Ukrainian authorities said.

In a statement, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said?the strikes killed at least three people and injured seven others at a retail chain warehouse. Victims might still be trapped under the rubble there, it said.

Six other people were injured at another location in the city center, where the attack damaged a business center, an educational institution, a residential complex, restaurants and shops, the statement added.

The attack comes after 11 people were killed, including a child, in Russian missile strikes on the central city of Kryvyi Rih on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials.

Joe Biden meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington on Tuesday, June 13.

US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday reaffirmed their wish for Sweden to join NATO.

During a meeting in Washington, DC, the two leaders “underscored their shared desire to welcome Sweden to the Alliance as soon as possible,” according to a White House readout.

Sweden signaled its intention to join NATO in May last year following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but its accession is being blocked by Turkey and Hungary.

The White House readout said Biden and Stoltenberg also discussed “the implications of Russia’s war on Ukraine for transatlantic security and the importance of continuing to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defense.”

Earlier, Stoltenberg said Ukraine’s recent gains on the battlefield underscored the need for continued Western assistance to give Kyiv a “stronger hand” in any future negotiations with Moscow.

The meeting Tuesday comes ahead of a NATO Summit in Vilnius in July.?

Gas leak at Nord Stream 2 is seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm, Denmark, on September 27, 2022.

A Russian diplomat in the United States on Tuesday called for a “transparent” investigation into last September’s Nord Stream pipeline attacks, following a report from the Netherlands’ public broadcaster that said Dutch military intelligence warned the CIA last year about an alleged Ukrainian plan to blow up the gas pipelines three months before they were hit.

In a Telegram post, Andrey Ledenev,?Minister-Counselor at the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, also said the role of the US in the blasts should be “clarified.”

Based on information from three US officials, CNN reported last week that the US received intelligence from a European ally last year that the Ukrainian military was planning an attack on the pipelines.

Last September, leaks caused by underwater explosions were discovered in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which funnel gas from Russia into the European Union and run under the Baltic Sea.?

Ukraine denied any responsibility for the leaks at the time, and the attack has been condemned by US officials and Western allies. It is currently being investigated by other European nations.??

Previous reporting from CNN’s Mick Krever, Alex Marquardt, Sarah Dean, Sugam Pokharel, Natasha Bertrand, Alex Marquardt and Haley Britzky?

Ukraine’s top general said his troops have seen “certain gains” in their offensive and are “moving forward,” as fighting rages along the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.?

“Both defensive and offensive fierce fighting is ongoing in the East and South of our nation. We have certain gains, implementing our plans, moving forward,”?Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in a Facebook post.?

NATO’s chief said Tuesday that Ukraine’s gains on the battlefield underscore the need for continued Western assistance to give Kyiv a “stronger hand” in any future negotiations with Moscow.

Here’s the latest news from Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Dutch military intelligence warned the CIA last year about an alleged Ukrainian plan to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines three months before they were hit, Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported on Tuesday, without specifying a source.

The report was based on a joint investigation by?NOS, Dutch television news show Nieuwsuur [Newshour] and German media Die Zeit and ARD.

The United States received intelligence from a European ally last year that the Ukrainian military was planning an attack on the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines, CNN reported?last week?based on information from three US officials.

The attack on the pipelines last September has been condemned by US officials and Western allies alike as a sabotage on critical infrastructure. It is currently being investigated by other European nations.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Tuesday that the CIA warned Ukraine last year to not attack the Nord Stream gas pipelines after receiving information about an alleged Ukrainian plan, citing officials familiar with the exchange.

The CIA received the tip from Dutch military intelligence, the officials?told the WSJ.

In its report, NOS said the Dutch military intelligence service, the MIVD, was able at an early stage to gather detailed information about an alleged Ukrainian plot to blow up the pipelines. The MIVD did not provide a comment to NOS, the broadcaster said.

The CIA and the Dutch embassy in the US both declined to comment when CNN reached out for comment on Tuesday.

CNN has also reached out to the MIVD, and the Ukrainian government for response, but hasn’t heard back.

Read more here.

At least seven employees of Ukraine’s State Forestry Service were killed by Russian shelling in the northeastern Sumy region on Tuesday, a Ukrainian official said.

Volodymr Artyukh, head of the Sumy regional administration, said the shelling also damaged a house, shop and outbuildings in the city of Seredyno-Buda.

Elsewhere in the Sumy region, a boarding school was struck by Russian shelling in the town of Bilopillia, Artyukh said.

There were no reports of deaths and everyone at the school was evacuated, including 135 children, he added.

Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine on June 10.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday thanked the British-led alliance of multiple European countries for the latest air defense aid for Kyiv.

Zelensky said the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) had announced “a powerful assistance package worth over €100 million [$108 million] to strengthen [Ukrainian] air defense.”

The assistance includes radars to help protect Ukraine from Russian airstrikes, guns, and ammunition, according to the UK government.

The JEF is comprised of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Russian airstrikes: The package was announced Tuesday just hours after Russian missiles attacked the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, killing 11 people including a child, Ukrainian officials said. Air defenses shot down three cruise missiles over the city but there were also “incomings” that hit civilian infrastructure, authorities said.

Rescuers work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Kryvyi?Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine on June 13.

A child was among the 11 people killed after a missile attack by Russia on an apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address.

Zelensky said rescue operations and clearing of rubble had concluded, and sent his condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. He added that more than 30 people were injured, all of whom are being provided with assistance.

A day of mourning for the victims has been declared on Wednesday.?

A Ukrainian military official on Tuesday reiterated accusations that Russian forces are blowing up small dams in areas where Ukrainian troops are on the offensive.

Maj. Vladyslav Dudar, a representative of the Environmental Safety and Mine Action Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, said Russian troops had mined a large number of “hydraulic structures” in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian military said Russian forces had blown up a small?dam?at a reservoir near the village of Novodarivka in Zaporizhzhia, leading to flooding on both banks of the Mokri Yaly River.?

Novodarivka is one of several villages in the area that the Ukrainians have claimed in recent days amid offensive operations along several points of the front lines in southern Ukraine.?

Some more context: This comes after the collapse of the much larger Nova?Kakhovka?dam last week.?Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over the dam’s destruction, without providing concrete proof that the other is culpable. The dam was occupied by Russia at the time of its collapse. It is not yet clear whether the dam was deliberately attacked or whether the breach was the result of structural failure.

Ukrainian service members ride a BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle near the front line in Neskuchne village, Donetsk?region, Ukraine on June 13.

A Ukrainian military commander said Tuesday that soldiers are fighting fiercely to drive back Russian forces along the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

CNN cannot independently verify battlefield claims.

However, both sides have reported clashes in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Ukraine is gaining ground in its offensive, underscoring the need for continued Western assistance to Kyiv, NATO’s secretary general said Tuesday.

With Ukrainian gains on the battlefield, Russian President Vladimir Putin will recognize that he can’t win the war, the NATO chief said.

The main focus of the Oval Office talks was July’s NATO summit in Lithuania, including the need for members of the alliance to recommit to defense spending levels.?

The Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said Tuesday that the military has seen “certain gains” in its offensive and is “moving forward.”

He said he informed the United States’ top?general?Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,?about the situation along the front lines in a phone call.?