February 13, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Polish President Andrzej Duda and Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak visited the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade in ?wi?toszów, Poland, on Monday and met with Polish instructors and Ukrainian soldiers training on Leopard 2 A4 tanks.

Here’s a look:

Polish President Andrzej Duda addresses the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade with Blaszczak on Monday.

A Leopard 2 A4 tank on display at the ?wi?toszów Tank Training Center in ?wi?toszów, Poland.

Polish and Ukrainian soldiers are seen on a Leopard 2 A4 tank during training at the ?wi?toszów Military Base in western Poland on Monday.

A Polish soldier participates in Leopard 2 tank training at the military base and test range in ?wi?toszów.

A Leopard 2 A4 tank rolls down a path at the training center where Polish Army soldiers train personnel from the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Monday.

Moldova’s President Maia Sandu accused Russia on Monday of planning to use “saboteurs who have undergone military training and are disguised as civilians” to destabilize?the country,?echoing a claim?made days earlier by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.?

“In the past few days, there have been discussions in our society about the security of our country,” Sandu said in an address to the citizens of Moldova, published on the presidential website. “The statements of President Zelensky about the plans of the Russian Federation to destabilize the Republic of Moldova have been confirmed by our institutions.”

Sandu went on to say that last?fall,?in anticipation of an energy crisis,?there was a plan for?“a series of actions involving saboteurs who have undergone military training and are disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and hostage-taking.”

Sandu also?claimed individuals?disguised as “the so-called opposition” were going to try forcing a change of power in Chisinau through “violent actions.”?

CNN is unable to independently verify those claims.???

Some more context: On Thursday, Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence intercepted a Russian plan to destabilize Moldova.

On Friday, the?prime minister?of Moldova?and her cabinet?resigned – just hours after a Russian cruise missile crossed over the country’s territory. The foreign ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador over what it said was an “unacceptable violation of our airspace by a Russian missile.”.???

CNN also reached out to the Russian foreign ministry for comment on the allegations by Sandu and Zelensky.??

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto speak at a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, on February 13.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Monday called on Turkey and Hungary to swiftly ratify Finland and Sweden’s bids to join the?North Atlantic Treaty Organization.?

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto added, “On NATO accession – we are waiting for the two last ratifications Hungary and Turkey,” adding that?he hoped fulfilling?“all those conditions that were set by Turkey” would lead “to a very rapid ratification process.”?

Haavisto said he hopes both?Finland and Sweden can become NATO members by the middle of the summer, adding that “the conflict is not far away from us.”?

The two Nordic countries?announced their intention to join NATO in May 2022, ending decades of neutrality after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sudden shift in attitudes toward joining the bloc.?

Some more context: All?30 NATO member states must ratify their bids to join the bloc; however,?Turkey and Hungary have yet to approve them.?

Turkish-Swedish relations suffered a major blow in late January after a rally outside the Turkish Embassy in Helsinki at which an anti-immigration politician set alight a copy of the Quran. The incident sparked anger in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where protesters took to the streets and burned the Swedish flag outside the Swedish embassy in response.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously said he has a positive view on Finland’s entry to NATO, but not on Sweden’s “as long as it permits attacks on Islam’s holy book Quran,” according to state news agency Anadolu.?Turkey has also?said Sweden must take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.

CNN’s Jack Guy and Niamh Kennedy contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine’s?Ministry of Infrastructure said that Russia is “sabotaging inspections” of vessels heading to Ukrainian ports to load up agricultural products, noting that “the number of new vessels entering for loading continues to decrease” in the?ports of Greater Odesa.

“Such decreasing dynamics are due to Russia’s actions in the inspection zone in the Bosphorus. It is now three months in a row that Russians are sabotaging inspections for unsubstantiated and sometimes preposterous reasons,”?the Ministry of Infrastructure claimed?in a statement on social media.

There are?145 vessels in line for inspection by the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) as of February 12, and 122 of those are heading to Ukrainian ports to get agricultural produce, the?Ministry of Infrastructure said.

CNN has reached out to the Joint Coordination Centre,??the UN initiative that oversees the export of Ukrainian grain, for comment.

“It is our hope that the issue of impeded inspections will be resolved by our partners and the entire civilized world,” the ministry statement added. “Ukraine has the right to free trade navigation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the world has the right to continuous access to food. Russia must stop imposing its discriminatory policies on the world.”?

Russian forces have converted two hospitals for military use in the eastern Luhansk region, according to?the Ukrainian military’s General Staff.

Earlier on Monday, the Ukrainian leader of the?Luhansk region said?Russia continues a high pace of attacks in the region, in what is a prelude to “massive attacks.”?

With previous reporting from Mick Krever in London

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St?re holds a news conference in Berlin with Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz in November 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Norwegian prime minister Monday for a?new defense package and discussed “further cooperation” with Norway, he said in a Telegram post.?

Last month,?Norwegian Defense Minister Bj?rn Arild Gram said in a statement that the country is in “close dialogue” with allies and Ukraine on how they can contribute “in the best possible way.”?Norway is also contributing to allies’ efforts to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.?

A Ukrainian military member walks a street in Krasna Hora, Ukraine, on January 7.

Ukraine on Monday disputed Russia’s claim that it had captured the village of Krasna Hora near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

The?claim that Russians have taken Krasna Hora “is not true,” Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces told CNN. “There are ongoing battles there. We are keeping it under our control.”

Cherevatyi added that?Bakhmut remains the focus of Russia’s main attacks.?

“The enemy made 85 attacks in the Bakhmut sector. There were 33 combat engagements. In the area of the city of Bakhmut, there were 25 attacks and 19 combat engagements,”?Cherevatyi told CNN.

Cherevatyi said Russian forces have the ability to fire on the routes to?Bakhmut, adding that “we are engaged in counter-battery fighting to reduce it.”

“We have the ability to supply weapons, food, equipment, medicines and to evacuate the wounded from there,” he said.?

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine?said in a Telegram post on Monday that “the battle for Bakhmut continues.”

What Russia is saying: The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday echoed claims by the Russian private military group Wagner that Krasna Hora has been captured.

“In the Donetsk direction, the volunteers of the assault detachments, with fire support from the rocket troops and artillery of the Southern group of troops, liberated the settlement of Krasna Hora in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the statement from the daily briefing of the ministry said.

Moscow’s claims come as Russian forces continue to attempt to encircle the city. Krasna Hora lies on the main north-south road leading to Bakhmut. It sits just below Soledar, the town that Russian forces captured?last month.

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova appears at a ceremony in Moscow on January 27.

Russia’s Human Rights Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova?on Monday asked?the Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov to investigate the information that mobilized men from Tatarstan were allegedly sent to fight in Ukraine “practically without weapons.”

This follows a video published on social networks in which about two dozen men in camouflage uniforms say that upon arrival to Ukraine, they were divided into different units, transferred to the command of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and sent on a mission without any equipment or support.

Moskalkova said in a statement on Monday,?“I sent an appeal to the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, with a request to investigate the information that appeared on the network that?soldiers?mobilized from the Republic of Tatarstan were sent to perform combat missions as part of a special military operation?with virtually no weapons.”

The?Russian?Human Rights Council?— serving under Russian President Vladimir Putin —?also reported that they will look into another case regarding mobilized men from Smolensk, who turned to the council with a complaint about the actions of the military command.

“I received such an appeal, and I managed to give it a go through the HRC channels: an inspection has been scheduled. Therefore, if any of you are faced with similar issues, reach out. At least we will help someone,” said Eva Merkacheva, a?member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.

According to Merkacheva,?the mobilized soldiers from Smolensk were immediately sent to the front lines, where they stayed for three months. Following that, they were briefly sent to the rear and returned back to the front lines. They were not allowed “neither physically nor mentally to rest.”

The?Human Rights Council said in a statement that they “will monitor this egregious situation with the mobilized.”

What former Wagner fighters saying: Two former fighters of the Russian private military company Wagner have told CNN of their horrific experiences on the?battlefield?in eastern Ukraine, and how anyone who faltered was immediately shot by their own commanders.

The two fighters were captured by Ukrainian forces late last year. CNN is not disclosing their identities for their own safety. Both are married with children and were?recruited while in prison. One was serving a 20-year sentence for manslaughter.

CNN’s?Tim Lister?and?Frederik Pleitgen contributed reporting to this post.

In this image from the Ukrainian Armed Forces taken in February shows damaged Russian tanks in a field after attempting to attack in Vuhledar, Ukraine.

The scenes are chaotic:?Russian tanks?veering wildly before exploding or driving straight into minefields, men running in every direction, some on fire, the bodies of soldiers caught in tank tracks.

Russian military bloggers are calling it a fiasco, and worse.

These scenes have been recorded by Ukrainian military drones over the past two weeks around the town of Vuhledar in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, where successive Russian assaults have failed.

The Vuhledar debacle suggests chronic failures in the command and tactics of the Russians as they gear up for a?spring offensive. If replicated elsewhere on the long military front in Donetsk and Luhansk, such failings could jeopardize the Kremlin’s plans to seize more territory.

About 20 videos geolocated by CNN show basic tactical blunders in an area that’s open and flat, where Ukrainian spotters on higher ground can direct artillery strikes and where minefields are worsening Russian casualties.

One video shows a tank running into a minefield and exploding, followed almost obliviously by an infantry fighting vehicle that suffers the same fate. Others show Ukrainian drones dropping small explosive charges on static tanks in open country – and a graveyard of abandoned armor.

At least two dozen Russian tanks and infantry vehicles have been disabled or destroyed in a matter of days, according to the videos, which were released by the Ukrainian military and analyzed by CNN and military experts. Satellite images show intensive patterns of impacts along tree lines where Russian tanks tried to advance.

The Russian Defense Ministry has insisted the assault on Vuhledar, where the 155th Marine Brigade is prominently involved, is going according to plan. In remarks recorded for a Sunday television show, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the “marine infantry is working as it should. Right now. Fighting heroically.”

But the leader of the self-declared, Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, acknowledged Friday that the area was “hot” and said, “the enemy continues to transfer reserves in large quantities, and this slowed down the liberation of this settlement.”

Read more here.

A residential building is pictured in Krasna Hora, Ukraine, on January 7.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday echoed claims by the Russian private military group Wagner that the village of?Krasna Hora near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine has been captured.

“In the Donetsk direction, the volunteers of the assault detachments, with fire support from the rocket troops and artillery of the Southern group of troops, liberated the settlement of Krasna Hora in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the statement from the daily briefing of the ministry said.

Earlier, Wagner had claimed to have captured the small village that lies just north of the Bakhmut, as the battle for control of the Donetsk region intensifies. ?

More background: Moscow’s claims come as Russian forces continue to attempt to encircle the city. Krasna Hora lies on the main north-south road leading to Bakhmut. It sits just below Soledar, the town that Russian forces captured last month.

Ukrainian troops have in recent weeks reported heavy fighting around Krasna Hora. Russian forces appeared to have originally bypassed the village, initially pushing further west toward the M-03 road that leads from Bakhmut to the strategically important city of Sloviansk.

A post on the Wagner Telegram channel showed fighters standing in front of a Krasna Hora sign. CNN has geolocated the sign to a southwestern entrance to the village, in the direction of Bakhmut.

Wagner boss?Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed the capture of Krasna Hora in a statement on Telegram, and repeated his claim that Wagner was leading the charge in the battle for Bakhmut.

A file image shows Leopard 2 tanks in action during a training demonstration in Munster, Germany, in May 2019.

Germany has started to train Ukrainian soldiers on its Leopard 2 tanks, a government spokesperson told journalists on Monday.

The training is taking place in the city of Munster in west Germany, and is scheduled to finish by the end of March when Germany is expected to deliver the tanks to Ukraine, according to the spokesperson.

Remember: The leaders of Germany and the US announced last month that they would send contingents of tanks to Ukraine, reversing their longstanding trepidation at providing Kyiv with offensive armored vehicles and unleashing powerful new tools in Ukraine’s efforts to retake territory seized by Russia.

Damage is seen after Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on February 10.

Russian artillery has blocked the main southern supply route close to the village of Chasiv Yar, which overlooks the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and remains in Ukrainian hands, according to numerous military sources on the ground and CNN’s own observations.

Wagner, the Russian private military company, on Sunday claimed to have captured Krasna Hora, a small village just north of Bakhmut.?Russian artillery can now hit vehicles traveling on the main road?to the city.

This leaves Ukrainian forces fighting street to street combat inside the town of Bakhmut, with the prospect of using complicated resupply routes on back roads.

The Ukrainian battle there is now also tougher because the Ukrainian artillery and tanks could not be used in the town, according to Ukrainian military sources and soldiers involved in the fight.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses a press conference?in Brussels on February 13.

The war in Ukraine is depleting allies’ ammunition stockpiles and the meeting of defense ministers on Tuesday will focus on ways to increase stockpiles and defense industrial capacities, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

“For example, the wait for large caliber ammunition has increased from 12 to 28 months. Orders placed today will only be delivered two and half years later,” he said during a press conference in Brussels, adding that the depleted stockpile puts defense ministries under strain.?“We need to ramp up our production and production capacity.”

Concerns around depleting stockpiles did not appear to sideline NATO’s commitment to support Ukraine as Stoltenberg highlighted the need to send Kyiv more weapons.

“The reality is we are seeing the start” of new Russian offensive already, Stoltenberg told journalists. “It’s urgent to provide Ukraine with more weapons.”

Ukrainian artillerymen fire an L119 howitzer towards Russian positions at a front line in the Luhansk region on January 16.

Russia continued a high pace of attacks in Ukraine’s Luhansk region ahead of what the Ukrainian leader of that region said is a prelude to “massive attacks.”

He said that he believed that Russia was preparing for a “full-scale offensive,” pointing to increased shelling and air strikes. “They have a lot of reserves in personnel and a lot of equipment,” he said. “So we are waiting for them to launch round-the-clock massive attacks in the coming days.”

Allies will “step up and sustain” support for Ukraine, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

“Almost one year of the invasion, President Putin is not preparing for peace. He is launching new offensives,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference.

His comments come?ahead of a meeting of NATO ministers of defense?on February 14.?

Russian forces are pummeling parts of eastern Ukraine with heavy shelling, as the battle for control of the Donetsk region intensifies in a grinding war of attrition.

Here are the latest developments:

Christoph Heusgen, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, arrives to speak to the media on February 13, in Berlin, Germany.

Russian government officials were not invited to this year’s annual Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Germany, where the war in Ukraine will be a top priority for global leaders attending the summit.

The conference is due to take place in the German city between February 17 and February 19 — five days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We don’t want to give (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey) Lavrov a platform for his propaganda,“ the chairman of the MSC said Monday.

“He has deliberately not been invited,” Christoph Heusgen added during a press conference in Berlin.

Guests who have confirmed their attendance at this year’s conference include US Vice President Kamala Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish President Andrzej Duda and China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

“We deem China’s participation very important,“ Heusgen said. “We are hoping that there will be sideline talks with the Chinese FM.”

Around 600 to 700 participants are expected to attend the MSC, according to Heusgen.

Some context: A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said earlier that top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi will visit Russia as part of a diplomatic tour of Europe, during which he will speak at the MSC.

Although Beijing has claimed impartiality in Russia’s war on Ukraine, it has refused to condemn the invasion.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov is pictured during a briefing in Odesa, Ukraine, on February 9.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov laid out his agenda ahead of a meeting Tuesday with allied officials in Ramstein, Germany, where parties will discuss Ukraine-focused defense talks amid Russia’s invasion.

“The main issues on the agenda are:

He said the Ukrainian delegation would “work intensively with partners in the coming days. The pace is extremely high.”

Some context: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is nearing its one-year anniversary, as clashes intensify in a grinding battle of attrition for control of the eastern Donetsk region.

In recent weeks, the possibility of the West sending more weapons — especially fighter jets — to bolster Kyiv’s military might in the war has been high on the agenda in discussions between allies and Ukrainian officials.

The Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom said Ukraine will “wait and see” if its allied partners will agree to the country’s request to send fighter jets after Poland’s president cast doubt on the prospect.

A damaged building is seen in Kherson, Ukraine, on February 12.

Heavy bombardment from Moscow in Kherson has left four people dead, as Russian forces targeted the liberated southern region of Ukraine over the weekend.

Five attacks since midnight killed one civilian, authorities said. That followed a Sunday in which Russian forces fired on Kherson 42 times with multiple rocket launchers, mortars, tanks, and a missile according to authorities, who said that three people were killed in the attacks.

“The enemy shells hit depots, a cinema and concert hall, the area near the regional administration building, and residential buildings,” the administration said.

Russian shelling has also damaged the rail line into Kherson city. Trains will terminate in Mykolaiv, to the west, for the next day or two while authorities fix the track, and passengers will be transferred to busses for the final stretch.

Wang Yi speaks during a symposium on December 25, 2022.

China’s?top diplomat will visit Russia this month, according to its Foreign Ministry, in the first visit to the country from a Chinese official in that role since Moscow’s unprovoked?invasion of Ukraine began last year.

Wang Yi, who was named Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser last month, will visit Russia during an eight-day international tour starting Tuesday that will also include visits to France, Italy, Hungary and a speaking engagement at the Munich Security Conference next weekend, which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken may also attend.

The foreign itinerary is Wang’s first after leaving his post as foreign minister and taking up his new role, and it could provide a test of the diplomat’s ability in balancing Beijing’s close ties with Moscow, while also attempting to boost China’s image and relations in Europe – and by extension the United States.

Read more here.

Authorities guard the area in front of the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on January 23.

The United States has told its citizens in Russia to leave immediately due to the war in Ukraine and the risk of potential harassment and arbitrary arrest by Russian law enforcement agencies.?

Russian security services have increased the arbitrary enforcement of laws “to target foreign and international organizations they consider ‘undesirable,’” the advisory added.

Some context: Several US citizens remain detained in Russia, including Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who US officials say is being wrongfully detained. He was arrested in Russia in December 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. The US has repeatedly advised its citizens against travel to Russia and to leave the country immediately if there.?

People are seen walking along the seafront in Odesa, Ukraine on February 1.

Kyiv’s defense minister said Ukrainian forces have kept Russia from dominating the Black Sea when asked about the potential risk to southern Ukraine in a possible large-scale Russian counteroffensive.

Reznikov gave an example of the Ukrainians using the Neptune,?an anti-ship weapon developed in Ukraine, to target the Russian cruiser Moskva in 2022.?

“Plus, the Harpoon anti-ship complexes are at work, so I don’t see any chances for them approaching Odesa from the sea,” the minister added.

Talking about the left-bank territories of southern Ukraine, Reznikov said the enemy “has an opportunity to replenish their groupings with weapons, equipment and people; therefore, the situation there is more tense.”

A fragment of a rocket is seen after Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Ukraine on February 10.

Russia has “set records” for shelling, pounding Ukraine with artillery fire in the east, a military spokesperson said during an interview on Ukrainian television Sunday.?

According to the Cherevatyi, the main direction of the enemy’s attack remains on the Bakhmut section of the front line.

“There, the enemy struck 167 times along the entire section of the front with various types of rocket-propelled artillery, and 41 clashes between forces took place. The enemy lost 212 servicemen and 315 servicemen were wounded as a result,” he continued.

CNN is not able to independently confirm the number of sustained casualties.

“In the area of ??Bakhmut itself, there were 48 attacks and 19 clashes between forces,” he said. He added “battles were also fought in the area of ??Torske, Fedorivka, Ivanivske and Chasiv Yar.”?

When asked whether the Russians are trying to wear down the Ukrainian troops, Cherevatyi expressed his belief that, on the contrary, “the defense forces in the east of Ukraine are wearing out the enemy so that it cannot conduct large-scale offensive operations.”?

He also reported that currently, “army reserves are being prepared to carry out a decisive blow to the enemy and push it away from Ukraine’s territory under the supervision of Ukraine’s commander-in-chief and the chief of the general staff.”??

“Using, of course, the help of our partners from the free world,” Cherevatyi added.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, leaves BBC Broadcasting House in London, following an interview on February 12.

The Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom said Ukraine will “wait and see” if its allied partners will agree to the country’s request to send fighter jets, after Poland’s president cast doubt on the prospect.

Any move from Ukraine’s allies to send fighter jets to Ukraine would have to be a “joint decision,” Polish President Andrzej Duda told the BBC in an interview Saturday.

“A decision today to donate any kind of jets, any F-16s, to donate them outside Poland is a very serious decision. And it’s not an easy one for us to take,” Duda said, explaining that Poland has a very limited number of the jets.

Prystaiko maintained that certain world leaders “have to say these words for the sake of the unity of the alliance.”

“I am not saying that somebody is trying to, you know, downplay it. No, just trying to create a compromise among all of them, and come with some sort of group decision,” he said.?

Some context: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed Ukraine’s need for modern fighter jets during an?address to the European Council?in Brussels on Thursday.?

On Friday, Ukraine’s Air Force and the Dutch Defense Minister announced that the Ukrainian government had officially asked the Netherlands for its American-made F-16 fighter jets.

Damaged buildings are seen after Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Ukraine on February 10.

Russian forces have maintained a high tempo of rocket attacks across the front lines of the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military reports.

Moscow’s troops carried out 23 attacks using rocket launchers over the course of 24 hours into Sunday evening local time, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in an update Sunday. The shelling focused on Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiivka in Donetsk, and Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.

The Ukrainian military restricted access to Bakhmut as roads into the city came under increased fire.

Authorities in the central Dnipropetrovsk region said the town of Nikopol, across the Dnipro River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was shelled three times Sunday.?One woman was killed and two others?were wounded.

Russia also shelled several settlements in the northern Sumy region, according to the General Staff, as well as several places near the border in Kharkiv region.

Russia also used aircraft to strike at Ukrainian defenses this weekend, the military said.

In southern Ukraine, the city of Kherson and 14 other settlements came under enemy fire.

Two former fighters of the Russian private military company Wagner speak to CNN.

Two former fighters of the Russian private military company Wagner have told CNN of their horrific experiences on the?battlefield?in eastern Ukraine, and how anyone who faltered was immediately shot by their own commanders.

The two fighters were captured by Ukrainian forces late last year. CNN is not disclosing their identities for their own safety. Both are married with children and were?recruited while in prison. One was serving a 20-year sentence for manslaughter.

For security reasons, the Ukrainians kept a presence in the room where the interview took place. CNN told the fighters that they could end the interview at any time they wished. But they spoke in detail for more than an hour.

The two fighters told of hideous losses in “first wave” assaults reminiscent of World War I charges.

The other fighter was involved in an assault lasting five days, through a forest near the city of Lysychansk on the Luhansk-Donetsk border in eastern Ukraine.

“The first steps into the forest were difficult because of all the landmines spread out. Out of 10 guys, seven were killed immediately,” he said.

“You can’t help the wounded. The Ukrainians were firing heavily on us, so even if their wounds were minor, you’ve got to keep going, otherwise you’re the one getting hit by the fire.

“You are at it for five days, people dying right next to me, praying to God, begging for water. You think that you can put down your weapon and nothing else will happen. And then the fight starts again 10 minutes later, and [the Ukrainians] keep coming after you. There is no feeling attached to it. Just wave after wave.”

Read the full story here.