May 23, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Two US Air Force aircraft were intercepted by Russian jets in the Baltic Sea near the Russian border, the Russian Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. 

The Pentagon, meanwhile, downplayed the incident saying it was a “safe and professional interaction."

“On May 23, 2023, Russian airspace control over the Baltic Sea detected two air targets approaching the State Border of the Russian Federation,” the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation said in a statement on Telegram.

The Russian MOD said the operation was carried out “in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace."

The Pentagon confirmed that there was an “interaction” between two of its B-1 bombers and the Russian jets.

An anti-Putin Russian group, which claimed to have crossed the border from Ukraine and attacked Russia’s Belgorod region, has said its goal is the “complete liberation of Russia."

The Freedom for Russia Legion called the attack in the Belgorod region a "peacekeeping operation" on Telegram Tuesday. It said the goal was to create a "demilitarized zone between Russia and Ukraine, to destroy the security forces that serve the Putin regime and to demonstrate to the people of Russia that it is possible to create pockets of resistance and successfully fight against the Putin regime." 

“These goals of the operation were successfully achieved,” it added.

The Legion, which is aligned with the Ukrainian army, also claimed it had destroyed a motorized rifle company of the Russian Army on Tuesday, destroying armored vehicles. CNN has not verified this claim.

It was not immediately clear whether the Legion claimed to have struck the Russian forces inside Russian or Ukrainian-held territory.

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a second anti-Putin Russian group that has also claimed to have been involved in cross-border attacks, posted videos to Telegram on Tuesday showing their fighters inside Belgorod region. CNN cannot verify when these videos were filmed but has geolocated them to the Belgorod region.

A caption to a video purporting to show RDK fighters riding a vehicle at a border point said, “The situation on the small but now our own little piece of our homeland is still disturbing, and it wouldn't hurt to clean it up.” 

The US embassy in Moscow said it was “deeply concerned” by a Russian court’s decision on Tuesday to extend the pre-trial detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich by three months. 

“The United States strongly objects to Russia’s ongoing denial of consular access to Mr. Gershkovich.  We reiterate that the claims against him are baseless and call for Mr. Gershkovich’s immediate release,” it added. 

The Kremlin has so far not commented on Washington alleging Moscow of denying the embassy’s consular access to Gershkovich. 

When asked by CNN about this topic during a regular briefing with journalists earlier on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “No, we are not dealing with this issue.” 

The White House is reiterating that American journalist Evan Gershkovich “shouldn't be detained at all” following news that the Wall Street Journal reporter’s pre-trial detention in Russia had been extended for three months.

John Kirby of the US National Security Council told CNN’s Kate Bolduan he was learning the news of that extension at that moment, saying, “I don't know if I have an official reaction by the White House on this except to say that he shouldn't be detained at all.”

The State Department called on Russia to immediately release him and the other detained American, Paul Whelan. Spokesperson Matthew Miller called the claims against Gershkovich baseless.

Kirby said the United States wants consular access to Gershkovich, which the Russians have denied two requests this month. He said these visits are important to talk to Gershkovich directly and see how he's doing.

“It's difficult to know exactly why they're denying it. It could be just, you know, spitefulness over — you know, antipathy towards the United States, antipathy towards the free press, or there could be some sort of legal excuse that they're trying to pin this on," Kirby said.

Miller also acknowledged that Gershkovich’s parents were present in Moscow, but said the US did not help them travel to Russia, as the State Department is advising US citizens not to travel to the country.

“Personally, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to see your child detained overseas, especially to be detained wrongfully, and so I'm certainly not going to criticize any parent for wanting to see their child,” Miller said.

The counter-terrorism operation in the Russian border region of Belgorod is over, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“A decision has been made to cancel the legal regime of a counter-terrorist operation on the territory of the Belgorod region,” Gladkov said on Telegram Tuesday.

Earlier, the Belgorod governor said that there had been no new incursions by fighters crossing the Ukrainian border into the Borisovsky district of the Belgorod region.

“Reports are coming from the Borisovsky district: the village of Bogun-Gorodok, the farm Lozovaya Rudka and the village of Tsapovka. According to our information, there was shelling from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there were [strikes],” he said on Telegram. 

“Some telegram channels are starting to interpret this information as the sabotage and reconnaissance group entry and trying to make people panic. There was no entry. The FSB, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defense do not confirm this information. The military is working,” he said.

Gladkov added that one civilian died as a result of cross-border fighting in the Russian region of Belgorod.

“Unfortunately, we have losses. A civilian from the village of Kozinka died at the hands of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Gladkov said on Telegram Tuesday. “Most sincere condolences to all family and friends. I know that his wife is in our hospital with injuries.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense also said the fighters who crossed from Ukraine into Russia’s western Belgorod region on Monday have been pushed back into Ukrainian territory.

Russia repelled the attackers using air strikes, artillery fire and military units, it said, adding: “The remnants of the nationalists were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit by fire until they were completely eliminated.”

Remember: On Monday, a group of anti-Putin Russian nationals – who are aligned with the Ukrainian army – claimed responsibility for an attack in Russian’s southwestern region of Belgorod, as Moscow said it was fighting a group of saboteurs there.

In a Telegram post, groups calling themselves the “Freedom for Russia Legion” and “Russian Volunteer Corps” said they had “liberated” a settlement in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.

CNN’s Anna Chernova and Jo Shelley contributed to this post.

The Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich for three months to August 30, Russian state agency RIA Novosti reported citing the court. 

Gershkovich, who has been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department, appeared in court in April to ask that his pre-trial detention be under house arrest rather than in jail. That appeal was denied, and he is being held at Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison.

The Wall Street Journal said it was "deeply disappointed" with the court's decision.

"While we expected there would be no change to Evan’s wrongful detention, we are deeply disappointed. The accusations are demonstrably false, and we continue to demand his immediate release," it said in a statement Tuesday.

CNN's Sharon Braithwaite contributed reporting to this post.

Supporting Ukraine by training pilots on F-16 fighter jets “does not make NATO and NATO allies party to the conflict,” the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. 

Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of an EU defense ministers meeting, the alliance chief welcomed the decision by several NATO allies to start training Ukrainian pilots on F16 fighter jets.

Stoltenberg continued to say that “the right of self-defense is enshrined in the UN charter. We help Ukraine to uphold that right. That is our right to help them protect UN law, international law, against the war of aggression. That doesn’t make NATO and NATO allies party to the conflict, but we are supporting Ukraine to defend themselves against a war of aggression, a brutal invasion by President Putin.” 

Some background: President Joe Biden informed G7 leaders Friday that the US supports a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation aircraft, including F-16s, a senior administration official told CNN.

Following Biden's backing of Ukrainian pilots training to fly F-16s, Russia’s deputy foreign minister warned Western countries of “enormous risks” if Ukraine is provided with F-16 fighter jets, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday.

"In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the set goals," Alexander Grushko said.

CNN's Darya Tarasova and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this post.

Part of the beleaguered city of Bakhmut remains under Ukrainian control, the country’s national security adviser Oleksiy Danilov told CNN on Tuesday. 

“If they [Russians] believe they have taken Bakhmut, I can say that this is not true. As of today, part of Bakhmut is under our control,” Danilov told CNN Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. “I can't say that all of it, but part of Bakhmut is still under our fire.”

Danilov went on to defend Kyiv’s decision to hold on to the city for as long as possible.

“It was our strategic defense operation, which was successful for us, given that we held the territory for 10 months, where we were destroying them every day,” he added. “They could not take Bakhmut for 10 months. What can they boast about?”

Some background: Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed this weekend that his troops had captured “all the territories they promised to capture, to the last square centimeter.” But Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian forces still occupy “a small part of the city,” but that fighting had “decreased” on Tuesday.

On the timing of Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive, Danilov said President Volodymyr Zelensky will have the final say.

“We are working according to our plan, we have it. We are clearly aware of when, where, how and what should start,” he said. “The final decision is up to the President, meeting of (the Commander-in-Chief's) staff.”

“When the decision is made, Russia will definitely feel it,” he concluded.

Ukraine’s top national security official told CNN that those responsible for the cross border-raid in Belgorod are Russians who want to get rid of the darkness in their country, denying any involvement from Kyiv.

“They are Russians, it is their country and they have the right to be there,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told CNN's Frederik Pleitgen in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. “There are some Russians who are on the side of the light and who went to deal with the darkness that exists in Russia now.”

Danilov rejected accusations of Ukrainian involvement levied by Moscow against Kyiv and said the incident in Belgorod was solely a Russian matter.

“There are events happening there that are related to a sector that, in our opinion, should be commented on either by the supreme commander-in-chief, i.e. Putin, or by the Defense minister or someone else,” he said. “They are citizens of the Russian Federation.”

Remember: On Monday, Ukraine confirmed that the group behind the incursion was made up of Russian nationals. The attack was carried out by a group that was "part of the defense and security forces" in Ukraine but acting as “independent entities” in Russia, according to Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency.