April 27, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The US is imposing new sanctions on groups in Russia and Iran accused of taking Americans hostage as it works to prevent more captive-taking and potentially secure the release of citizens currently being detained.

The move comes amid several high-profile cases of Americans being wrongfully detained. Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and Paul Whelan, a former Marine, are being held in Russia on espionage charges they each vehemently deny.

American citizens Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz are all being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, where there have been reports of torture.

The sanctions ordered up Thursday would punish organizations the US accuses of being responsible for holding hostage or wrongfully detaining Americans. In Iran, four individuals are also coming under new sanctions.

The groups are Russia’s Federal Security Service and the Intelligence Organization of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Officials said the steps should act as a warning to those thinking of taking Americans hostage. “We are also showing that one cannot engage in this sort of awful behavior using human beings as pawns, as bargaining chips, without paying consequences and these are some of the consequences,” a senior administration official said.

But questions remain about the real impact of these sanctions because many of the entities hit on Thursday were already sanctioned under different authorities by the US.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has successfully carried out a rotation of its staff at the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, which is controlled by the occupying Russian force, according to Russia's officials.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog, said that the “regular (monthly) rotation of the IAEA specialists at the ZNPP took place today strictly in accordance with the schedule.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed a staff rotation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The IAEA told CNN Thursday: "We confirm that the eighth team from the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) arrived at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant today."

How things are unfolding on the ground: Maxar Technologies has shared with CNN satellite imagery taken in late March that appears to show Russian forces have established defensive positions on top of two of the six nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia. 

The IAEA has called, unsuccessfully, for the zone around the plant to be demilitarized. 

Separately, a Russian-appointed official in occupied Zaporizhzhia, Vladimir Rogov, said the cooling pond at the nuclear power plant has been restocked with fish to ensure vegetation was kept under control.

Rogov said nearly 500 kilograms of fish were released into the cooling pond, “which is necessary for normal operation of hydraulic structures and the plant as a whole.”

The plant is now managed by the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom after becoming occupied by Russian forces in March 2022.

Russian forces shelled a village near the border in northeastern Ukraine Thursday, killing at least one person and wounding several others, according to Ukrainian officials.

The shelling hit the village of Tokarivka in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional military administration. The village is about 5 kilometers (roughly 3 miles) from the Russian border.

Regional power company employees had been working to restore power lines in the area and were among those injured, Syniehubov said. In addition to the person killed, at least four people were wounded. 

Border villages across the regions of northern Ukraine are frequently struck by Russian artillery and mortar fire.

The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected a US request on Thursday to visit detained Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich. 

The decision was in response to Washington’s failure to provide visas to Russian journalists from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s pool when he visited the United Nations in New York, the ministry said.

“In this regard, the US Embassy has been informed that its request for a consular visit on May 11 of American citizen E. Gershkovich, who was detained on charges of espionage activities, is being rejected,” the statement said. 

The US has designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained after his arrest in March on espionage charges leveled against him. Gershkovich is currently being held at a prison in Moscow.

While Russia has suffered thousands of losses in its war against Ukraine, a senior US military commander in Europe told lawmakers Wednesday that they have plenty more firepower left in their arsenal.

“The Air Force has lost very little, they’ve lost 80 planes. They have another 1,000 fighters and fighter bombers,” he said. “The Navy has lost one ship.”

Classified military documents allegedly leaked by a junior enlisted National Guard airman for months gave a snapshot of where Russia’s ground forces were committed in the war. One document, dated February and March, said that 527 of 544 of available Russian battalions have been committed to the war against Ukraine; 474 of them are already in the country, the intelligence said.

One document also estimated that between 35,000 and 43,000 Russian forces have been killed in action during the conflict.

Those losses have recently been particularly heavy in the fight around Bakhmut. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that Russia is concentrating “all its forces on Bakhmut, and in fact is not conducting such powerful combat operations anywhere else in our operational area of responsibility.”

In March, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers that Russian troops are “getting slaughtered” in their fight for Bakhmut.

“For about the last 20, 21 days, the Russians have not made any progress whatsoever in and around Bakhmut. So it’s a slaughter fest for the Russians,” Milley said. “They’re getting hammered in the vicinity of Bakhmut and the Ukrainians have fought very, very well.”

Still, those losses appear to be only a fraction of Russia’s total military force. Asked about Russia’s submarine patrols in the Atlantic, Cavoli said that “much of the Russian military has not been affected negatively” by its invasion of Ukraine.

“[T]he Russians are more active than we’ve seen them in years, and their patrols into the Atlantic, and throughout the Atlantic, are at a high level, most of the time at a higher level than we’ve seen in years,” he said. “And this is, as you pointed out, despite all of the efforts that they’re undertaking inside Ukraine.”

Read more here.

Ukrainian soccer player Taras Stepanenko, 33, still remembers hiding in a basement in Kyiv with his family as Russian troops approached the city, and the sound of gunfire and explosions filled the air during the initial days of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.

They spent three days sheltering, unsure of what their fate would be, before eventually escaping the nation’s capital.

The family moved south to get away from the fighting before eventually leaving the country and moving to Moldova, then Romania, before finally settling in Spain. Stepanenko is grateful to have escaped, courtesy of special conditions granted to him as a father of three children and also as a professional athlete.

Now, the imposing midfielder, who has played 72 times for his country, dedicates his life and career to raising awareness of Ukraine’s fight. “I’m a footballer, so what can I do for my country? The best I can do is represent my country as a player […] and send the message to European countries and tell our story through football,” he says.

Like Stepanenko, 29-year-old Ukrainian midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi sees playing football as his national duty and a way of repaying those fighting on the frontline.

He was playing for Italian club Atalanta, preparing to play a Europa League match against Greek side Olympiacos, when he heard about Russia’s invasion. After ensuring his loved ones were safe, he says he never in doubt about playing that evening.

Despite his mind being occupied by the escalating violence back home, Malinovskyi not only played against Olympiacos but scored two goals in the 3-0 win. When celebrating his first goal, Malinovskyi lifted up his jersey to reveal a message on his undershirt which read: “No War In Ukraine.”

It was a moment that reverberated around the world. Since then, he has also set up a charity alongside his partner which has supplied much needed medical equipment for the children of Ukraine.

Both Malinovskyi and Stepanenko will be key members of the Ukrainian national team in its bid to qualify for the European Championships, hosted by Germany, in 2024.

A long-awaited phone call between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday has received a tentative welcome in Washington and parts of Europe for its potential to increase dialogue toward resolving Russia's brutal war in Ukraine. 

Elsewhere, Russian troops are fortifying their defenses around the city of Mariupol, an adviser to the city's mayor has said. “The occupiers continue to dig in and build echelon defenses around Mariupol,” Petro Andriushchenko said in a Telegram post.

Here are the latest developments:

The conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping was "very fruitful" and could open a "new stage" of cooperation between the two countries, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during a Thursday news conference in Rome. 

"This conversation I'm sure is opening a new stage of our cooperation and relations with the Chinese Republic," Shmyhal said. 

"We fully understand what the liberation of Ukraine is. All the territories within the 1991 borders must be free. Security must be guaranteed by international structures. Only in this case we can be sure of having a stable, just and lasting peace," he said.

Xi and Zelensky spoke by phone on Wednesday, in their first known conversation since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Meanwhile, Moscow reacted to the conversation by saying it welcomes all contacts that can bring an end to the conflict.

“We are ready to welcome everything that can hasten the end of the conflict in Ukraine and the achievement by Russia of all its goals,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists Thursday, when asked about the call.

He added that communication between the two leaders is a “sovereign matter” for China and Ukraine. 

CNN's Barbie Nadeau contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine’s NATO allies have delivered almost all the combat vehicles they promised Kyiv, the head of the alliance said Thursday. 

“More than 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine have already been delivered,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. 

“That means over 1,550 armored vehicles, 230 tanks and other equipment, including vast amounts of ammunition. In total, we have trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian armored brigades. This will put Ukraine in a strong position to continue to retake occupied territory.”