April 28, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Russian forces have made some progress in Moscow's renewed assault on eastern Ukraine, according to US and NATO officials, as their military tries to fix the myriad problems that plagued the early weeks of the invasion. 

The US has seen "some evidence" of improvement in Russia's ability to combine air and ground operations, as well as its capacity for resupplying forces in the field, officials say.

The progress is "slow and uneven," a senior US defense official said, allowing Russian forces to advance only "several kilometers or so" each day.  

But the US assesses that Russia is trying to learn from the mistakes it made early on, where columns of tanks and armor ran out of food and fuel, leaving them easy prey to Ukrainian hit-and-run tactics. 

Russia has placed command and control elements near its border with eastern Ukraine, according to a senior NATO official, a sign they are attempting to fix the communications and coordination failures observed in the attack on Kyiv. 

Before the invasion began on Feb. 24th, Russia amassed 125 to 130 battalion tactical groups, known as BTGs, around Ukraine and near Kyiv in particular, but when the fighting began, Russia's military leaders showed little ability to have them fight as one.  

There are 92 BTGS in country now, with another 20 just across border in Russia, according to the senior defense official.

Still, western officials familiar with the latest intelligence say even if Russia has learned key lessons from its systemic failures in the first stage of the conflict, it's not clear that Moscow will be able to implement the necessary changes to dominate in the Donbas region.

Its military has suffered heavy losses in both manpower and equipment and officials believe that other equipment relocated from different parts of Ukraine likely isn't fully repaired yet. Many of the fighting units have cobbled together soldiers who have never fought or trained together.  

"I don't know how many lessons they can actually operationalize. It's not a simple thing," said the senior NATO official. "You don't just move tanks and personnel and say, 'Now go back into the fight!'" 

You can read more here.

Alex Marquardt and Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.

Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, called the Russian missile strikes in Kyiv a "heinous act of barbarism" in a tweet Thursday.

Ukrainian officials have condemned Russia’s missile attack on Kyiv Thursday night, which they say occurred as the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was finishing a visit to the Ukrainian capital. 

View Kuleba's tweet:

CNN's Tim Lister contributed to this report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 10 Russian servicemembers have been identified as suspects in the “crimes committed against our people in Bucha”.

In his nightly address posted to social media on Thursday, Zelensky said the investigation into crimes committed by the Russian military is underway and that the “first ten Russian servicemen from the 64th motorized rifle brigade of the Russian Ground Forces who committed crimes against our people in Bucha, Kyiv region, received the status of suspects.”

In early April, images emerged from Bucha showing bodies lying along streets and accounts of Russian atrocities emerged as its forces retreated from areas near Kyiv.

Zelensky called it “genocide” and the alleged atrocities in Bucha have drawn international outrage, with Western leaders calling for war crimes investigations and fresh sanctions on Russia. Russia’s Ministry of Defense denied responsibility and said "not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions" in Bucha.

When 12-year-old Kira Obedinsky, orphaned by war, was whisked from her hometown of Mariupol to a hospital in a Russian-controlled area of eastern Ukraine earlier in March, she was unsure if she would ever be reunited with her remaining family members.

Now in Kyiv, against all the odds, she sits on a hospital bed with her grandfather Oleksander Obedinsky — and on Wednesday spoke to CNN for the first time about her ordeal. She continues to recover from injuries that nurses say include shell fragment wounds to her face, neck, and legs. Her scarred face and introverted manner are signs of the physical and psychological trauma she has suffered.

The Obedinsky family has been torn apart by this war. Kira’s father, Yevhen Obedinsky, a former captain of Ukraine’s national water polo team, was killed on March 17 as Russian forces shelled the city. In that moment, Kira was orphaned, her mother having died when Kira was two weeks old.

Days after her father’s death, Kira was taken to a hospital in the Donetsk region by Russian-speaking soldiers after sustaining injuries from a landmine while trying to flee Mariupol with her father’s girlfriend.

“The [Russian] military came running, they stopped two cars and took us to Manhush, to a hospital because we were bleeding. Then they took us from Manhush to another Donetsk hospital,” said Kira.

Speaking to CNN earlier this month from Kyiv, Oleksander told CNN that he feared he would never see his granddaughter again because it was almost impossible to travel across the war-torn country to retrieve her. He said he had spoken to the hospital where Kira was being treated and was told she would eventually be sent to an orphanage in Russia.

Their grateful reunion, more than a month after they had last seen each other, was orchestrated by negotiators from Ukraine and Russia – and involved an epic international journey.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Kira in the hospital to celebrate her return, also giving her an iPad to entertain her as she recovers.

Oleksander said he had told Zelensky that Kira was “tired but happy” and thanked him for the safe return of his granddaughter. “Nobody believed [it would be possible]. But thank God we managed,” he told CNN.

Retrieving Kira from territory controlled by Moscow-backed separatists was no easy task. Following media coverage of her plight, the Ukrainian government told her grandfather they had reached an agreement that would allow him to travel to Donetsk to pick up his granddaughter — but that it would not be an easy undertaking.

Undeterred, Oleksander immediately embarked as instructed on what was to be a grueling four-day journey, taking a train to Poland, a flight to Turkey, a second flight to Moscow, followed by a train ride to the southern Russian city of Rostov, before finally reaching a tearful Kira after another car journey to Donetsk, he said.

After an emotional reunion – with countless tight hugs, they said — the pair then set off home, taking the same protracted route on the return leg to Kyiv.

Read more about Kira's journey here.

The US House passed a bill that will give President Joe Biden broader authority to help Ukraine defend itself against the Russian incursion into their country. 

The Ukrainian Democracy Defense Land-Lease Act, which passed the House with a wide bipartisan majority — allows the President to enter lend-lease agreements with Ukraine to provide them with defense articles in order to protect civilian populations.

The final vote was 417-10, with the ten no votes coming from Republican Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar of Arizona, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Warren Davidson of Ohio, and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin.

Broadly speaking, the bill waives certain requirements that typically apply to lend-lease agreements for defensive equipment and arms, provided that those “articles are intended for Ukraine's government or the governments of other Eastern European countries affected by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.” It also waives the prohibition that the loan or lease cannot extend beyond five years. 

The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent in early April and now heads to the President’s desk for his signature.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and lawmakers from the US House Foreign Affairs Committee applauded a delegation of Ukrainian parliamentarians who came in to observe a hearing Thursday afternoon.

Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski noted their presence in the room, and they were given about 13 seconds of sustained applause during the hearing. The camera showed them standing up for recognition

“It is our great hope that you will soon be able to meet as we do here without any fear of violence being done to your beautiful capital and that your democracy will long endure,” said Malinowski, who was presiding over the briefing.

Ukrainian officials have condemned Russia’s missile attack on Kyiv Thursday night, which occurred as the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was finishing a visit to the Ukrainian capital. 

President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his daily video message, said that "Today, immediately after the end of our talks [with Guterres] in Kyiv, Russian missiles flew into the city. 5 missiles. This says a lot about Russia's true attitude to global institutions, about the Russian leadership's efforts to humiliate the UN and everything that the organization represents. And therefore requires an appropriate, powerful response."

The Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, said in a tweet: “During the meeting with @antonioguterres in Kyiv, we heard explosions. Russia launched a missile strike on the capital. I am sure that such defiant behavior of the occupier will be assessed properly by the UN Secretary-General. War in #Ukraine is an attack on world security!” 

A statement from the State Emergency Service in Kyiv stated:

The Russian war on Ukraine has "driven US-Russia relations into the depths," US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan told CNN on Thursday. 

Although the top envoy did not say that the relationship between Washington and Moscow was at its absolute lowest point, Sullivan noted that it was "about as bad as it could be."

In an interview from Moscow with Alisyn Camerota on CNN Newsroom, Sullivan said there is "very little engagement with the Russian government," and his communications have focused on the detained US citizens and "the functioning of our embassy," which is under sharp restrictions imposed by the Russian government.

On Wednesday, American Trevor Reed was released from Russian custody in a prisoner swap — a major development with which Sullivan was a key player. However, other Americans remain detained, including Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, the latter of whom has asked why he was "left behind."

"Why was I left behind? While I am pleased Trevor is home with his family, I have been held on a fictitious charge of espionage for 40 months," Whelan said in a statement to his parents and shared with CNN. "The world knows this charge was fabricated. Why hasn't more been done to secure my release?"

Sullivan told CNN that he "couldn't agree with Whelan more in the sense that he has been convicted of a fabricated charge. 

"I've been advocating for his release both publicly in negotiations with the Russian government since before I got here as ambassador, when I was deputy secretary of state when Paul was originally arrested back in December of 2018," he said.

"I've never relented in my advocacy for Paul in engagement with the Russian government, for Paul's release," Sullivan added, noting that "this case, Trevor's case is just one step."

On the Russian war in Ukraine, Sullivan suggested it is up to one man — Russian President Vladimir Putin — to bring the brutal conflict to an end.

The US ambassador said the rhetoric about Russia potentially using nuclear weapons has escalated in "a dramatically irresponsible way recently," but noted it "isn't new." He recalled that in past conversations with the Russian government related to issues that were in the past related to Ukraine, the discussion would begin normally and then would "spiral" to warnings about nuclear confrontation if the US and NATO continued to support Ukraine.

"And my reaction on the other side of the table is astonishment," Sullivan said. "And unfortunately, what we've seen most recently, is at the most senior levels of the US government, an escalation of that rhetoric."

Sullivan said the US has ratcheted down in response, noting that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had paused and then canceled a missile test despite pre-planning and notifying the Russian government.

"We do not engage in irresponsible rhetoric with respect to nuclear weapons," he told CNN. 

The US is "prepared to deter nuclear aggression against the United States," Sullivan added.

"We won't succumb to nuclear blackmail, but we won't tolerate nuclear saber rattling and nuclear brinksmanship," he said.

Canadian Minister of National Defence Anita Anand confirmed that Canadian military service members are also training Ukrainians in how to use Howitzers, which are long range weapons, during a news conference at the Pentagon on Thursday after meeting with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.