Russia's war in Ukraine

By Aditi Sangal, Rhea Mogul, Lianne Kolirin and Ed Upright, CNN

Updated 6:49 p.m. ET, June 24, 2022
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9:46 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Russia claims it has encircled up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas

From CNN's Anna Chernova, Vasco Cotovio and Olga Voitovych

Russia says it has encircled around 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas as it intensifies its efforts to capture Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, its defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a Friday briefing.

"In total, in the Hirske area, we have cut off up to 2,000 people: about [Ukrainian] 1,800 servicemen, 120 Nazis from Right Sector, up to 80 foreign mercenaries, as well as over 40 armored combat vehicles and about 80 guns and mortars,” Konashenkov said, adding that 41 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered voluntarily in the past 24 hours.

CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian military and regional administration for comment on Russia’s claims — which CNN has been unable to independently verify — but has yet to hear back.

Earlier on Friday, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration conceded that Russian forces had made progress in some areas to the south of Lysychansk, namely Zolote and Toshkivka.

The Russian Ministry of Defense also said Moscow’s forces had targeted five ammunition depots in the Luhansk region, adding that Ukrainian forces were seeing high levels of attrition.

"To replenish the losses in manpower, Ukrainian command are forced to form separate rifle battalions formed by untrained, mobilized citizens in each regions towards Donetsk and Luhansk,” he said.

In the same area of Luhansk, the head of the Hirske military-civilian administration Оleksii Babchenko said that town had been “completely occupied” by Russian forces. The specifics have not yet been confirmed.

“Unfortunately, as of 8 a.m. today, Hirske territorial community is completely occupied,” Babchenko said in a televised address. “Despite the fact that there was a very strong fortified area near Zolote, the breakthrough was made from the direction of Orikhove-Toshkivka.

“The occupation regime is currently being established.

There are about 4,000 locals left in the entire territorial community. The situation is extremely difficult: there is no electricity, water or gas,” Babchenko went on to say.

“As early as Tuesday (June 21), it was impossible to reach Hirske, to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate the population, because all roads were either not under our control, or already being fired at," he said.

Babchenko went on to say that around 60% of buildings in the town had been damaged.

5:58 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

"Russia uses hunger as weapon of war and holds the whole world hostage," says German minister

From CNN's Nadine Schmidt

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends a press conference on Germany's contribution against the global hunger crisis at the International Conference on Food Security in Berlin on June 24.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends a press conference on Germany's contribution against the global hunger crisis at the International Conference on Food Security in Berlin on June 24. (Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture alliance/Getty Images)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused Russia of using ''hunger as a weapon of war'' and holding ''the whole world hostage,'' ahead of a key gathering on Friday in Berlin.

US State Secretary Antony Blinken is among those attending the conference on the looming food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

Baerbock told reporters in Berlin that the event, entitled "Uniting for Global Food Security," will address supply shortages caused by the war, while aiming to "stabilize food supplies worldwide."  

She said the conference was called into action ''at very short notice'' and that 50 delegations, as well as 40 ministers, from around the world will be attending.

The top priority is to set up reliable transport routes to allow grain from Ukraine to be exported, she said of the food security conference.

Anyone who does not attend the hunger crisis conference should ask themselves how they can contribute,'' she added.

The West has demanded that Russia stop the blockade of Ukrainian seaports to allow vast stores of grain to be taken to world markets as fears rise of famines in vulnerable regions.

Germany's development minister Svenja Schulze, who was speaking at the same news briefing, said the country will spend $4.2 billion this year in the fight against global hunger.

The Berlin conference will take place as the leaders of the G7 countries prepare to meet in the Bavarian Alpine resort of Schloss Elmau between June 26 and 28.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to discuss financial aid for Ukraine with the G7 leaders by video link on Monday. 

9:48 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

EU needs to buy energy collectively to prevent winter crisis, says Belgian Prime Minister

From CNN's Xiaofei Xu and Sharon Braithwaite

European Union member states need to buy energy collectively and implement price caps on gas to prevent what could be a hard winter, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Friday.

We are heading towards a winter that could be difficult. We can only get through this difficult period if we work together," De Croo said ahead of the European Council meeting in Brussels.

“We need to form an energy bloc, we need to buy energy collectively, we need to make use of price caps and we need to coordinate better among ourselves," he added.

De Croo went on to say that the EU Commission "should really take the lead right now."

If we all operate on our own, we won’t be able to get out of this," he stressed.

Europe has tried to reduce its reliance on Russian natural gas since the invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Europe's energy crisis escalated this month as Moscow further reduced supplies to Germany, Italy and other members of the European Union. Twelve EU countries have so far been affected by Russian gas supply cuts, the bloc's climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said on Thursday.

Gas supply in the EU is “currently guaranteed” but the situation is “to be taken seriously,” the EU Commission told CNN on Thursday.

On Thursday, the EU and Norway agreed to further strengthen their cooperation in the energy field, providing the EU with additional gas supplies.

With previous reporting from CNN’s Arnaud Siad.

9:47 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Russia is on the verge of taking a key Ukrainian city, but bigger battles await

Analysis from CNN's Tim Lister

It was more a question of when, rather than if, the remaining Ukrainian units in the eastern city of Severodonetsk would be withdrawn.

For the last several weeks, Russian forces have simply destroyed every defensive position the Ukrainians have adopted, pushing them into a few square blocks in and around the city’s Azot chemical plant.

Ukrainian forces in Severodonetsk held on much longer than many observers anticipated, forcing the Russians and their allies to devote resources to the city that might have been used to press the offensive elsewhere.

But the Ukrainian military has clearly made the decision that there was nothing more to defend -- and that hundreds of civilians sheltering at the plant were in greater danger with every passing day.

According to the Institute for War, a US think tank that follows the campaign closely, "The loss of Severodonetsk is a loss for Ukraine in the sense that any terrain captured by Russian forces is a loss -- but the battle of Severodonetsk will not be a decisive Russian victory."

Now the battle moves across the Siverskiy Donets river to Lysychansk, the last city in Luhansk held by Ukrainian forces. And there are already signs that the Russians will use the same merciless tactic of area bombardment to grind down Ukrainian forces, deploying combat planes, multiple launch rocket systems and even short-range ballistic missiles such as the Tochka-U. 

Serhiy Hayday, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, noted Friday: "There is a lot of military equipment. According to our information, at least six Tochka-U left in the direction of Lysychansk from Starobilsk only. One is enough destructive power -- six is a total disaster."

The loss of Severodonetsk – and, potentially, Lysychansk in the coming days -- may have been priced into Ukrainian calculations, given the overwhelming firepower of Russian forces and the apparent improvement in Russian logistics since the campaign against Kyiv was abandoned. But every town and city defended provides an opportunity to degrade the enemy.

There are still large areas of the neighboring Donetsk region under Ukrainian control. The regional military administration says about 45% of Donetsk is held by Ukrainian forces, including the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

There are not many obvious defensive positions west of Lysychansk, in an area of open countryside. Ukrainian commanders will have to decide whether the whole pocket -- courageously defended for weeks -- is better abandoned for a more consolidated defense of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka, the industrial belt of Donetsk.

The question is whether the losses inflicted on Russian forces in recent weeks will impair their ability and desire to gobble up more territory, especially as Ukraine deploys more accurate western weapons such as the HIMARS rocket systems.  

Equally, it's unclear whether the punishment endured by Ukrainian units in the Donbas region over the last two months has left them with enough resources to launch counter-attacks against Russian flanks (as they have attempted against Russian forces advancing from Kharkiv region in the north.)

The Kremlin has not veered from its ultimate objective of taking all of Donetsk and Luhansk. It now has almost all the latter. Completing the "special military operation" will still take weeks, and more likely months, if at all. It has become a classic war of attrition.

5:10 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Ukraine's President Zelensky "grateful" to US for additional $450m in military aid

From CNN's Victoria Butenko

U.S. Marine Corps High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems with 3d Battalion, 12th Marines, pictured in Okinawa, Japan, on September 30.
U.S. Marine Corps High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems with 3d Battalion, 12th Marines, pictured in Okinawa, Japan, on September 30. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ujian Gosun/ABACA/Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country is “grateful” to US President Biden and the American people for the latest package of $450 million in military aid.

The Biden administration on Thursday announced the additional military aid for Ukraine, with the United States giving the war-stricken country four more multiple launch rocket systems and artillery ammunition for other systems.

The package, which will be drawn from existing Defense Department stocks, also includes 18 patrol boats for monitoring coasts and rivers, and small arms.

The most significant part of the package is the four additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), wheeled vehicles capable of launching barrages of guided rockets at targets up to approximately 40 miles away.

Zelensky tweeted on Friday: "We're grateful to [US President Joe Biden] and the American people for the decision to provide another $450 million defense aid package to Ukraine. This support, including additional HIMARS, is now more important than ever.

By joint efforts we will free Ukrainian land from the Russian aggressor!” he concluded.
4:53 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Russia has destroyed roads leading into Lysychansk, says local official

From CNN's Olga Voitovych

A Ukrainian armored personnel carrier (APC) rides on the road while smoke rises over the oil refinery outside the town of Lysychansk, Ukraine, on June 23.
A Ukrainian armored personnel carrier (APC) rides on the road while smoke rises over the oil refinery outside the town of Lysychansk, Ukraine, on June 23. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian forces have targeted and destroyed some of the roads leading into the encircled Ukrainian city of Lysychansk, according to the head of the Luhansk regional military administration.

The Russians destroy with helicopters the roads and bridges leading to Lysychansk,” Serhiy Hayday wrote on his official Telegram account on Friday.

The post, which included video of one of the targeted bridges, continued: “The bridge is damaged, only cars will be able to pass it now, the truck will not pass into the city.”

Russian forces have been attempting to cut off supply lines into Lysychansk and Severodonetsk for weeks as they closed in on the two population centers.

3:55 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Pro-Russian politician killed in occupied Kherson, state media says

From CNN's Oleksandra Ochman

A Russian-installed politician in the occupied southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was killed on Friday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Dmitry Savluchenko, head of the Department of Youth and Sports for the region, was killed "as a result of a terrorist attack," according to RIA.

Ukrainian officials claimed responsibility for Savluchenko's death.

“Our partisans have another victory,” Serhii Khlan, adviser to the head of the Kherson Civil Military Administration said in a Facebook post on Friday. “A pro-Russian activist and traitor was blown up in a car in one of Kherson's yards in the morning.”
9:47 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Russian forces make gains in Donbas, south of Lysychansk

From CNN's Vasco Cotovio and Olga Voitovych

Smoke billows over the oil refinery outside Lysychansk, Ukraine, on June 23.
Smoke billows over the oil refinery outside Lysychansk, Ukraine, on June 23. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian forces have made some gains in the past 24 hours, claiming two villages to the south of the neighboring Donbas cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.

Forces from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) said on Friday they had captured the villages of Hirske and Zolote. 

“The Ukrainian group, located in the Gorskoye-Zolotoye cauldron, has been liquidated. All settlements are under our control,” Andriy Marochko, an officer with the self-proclaimed LPR militia said in Telegram remarks carried by Russian state news agency TASS on Friday.

The head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Hayday, conceded that Russian forces had made gains south of Lysychansk. 

“The enemy is advancing towards Lysychansk from the side of Zolote and Toshkivka,” he said. “They really succeed in some settlements.”

9:47 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Ukrainian forces to withdraw from Severodonetsk, regional military chief says

From CNN's Olga Voitovych

Ukrainian soldiers ride a tank on a road in the eastern Luhansk region, Ukraine, on June 23.
Ukrainian soldiers ride a tank on a road in the eastern Luhansk region, Ukraine, on June 23. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukrainian forces will have to withdraw from Severodonetsk, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Hayday, said Friday, accusing Russia of destroying most of the city’s infrastructure.

“Unfortunately, we will have to withdraw our military [from Severodonetsk]. It makes no sense to stay in positions broken after many months [of hostilities], because the number of dead in unfortified territories may grow every day,” Hayday said in a televised address.
“Our defenders, who are there, have already received a command to withdraw to new positions, and to fully conduct hostilities from there.”

Hayday said the situation in Severodonetsk was unsustainable after round the clock shelling by Russian forces over several months. 

“All the infrastructure of the city is completely destroyed,” he said. “More than 90% of houses were fired on, about 80% of houses were critically destroyed. These are the ones that can no longer be restored, they must be demolished.”

Hayday went on to say Russia was now targeting neighboring Lysychansk from Zolote and Toshkivka, around 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) to the south.

“They really succeed in some settlements,” he said. “Lysychansk is logistically stretched, the landscape is complex. Therefore, it is difficult to take it immediately.”

According to Hayday, Russian attempts to infiltrate the city with sabotage and reconnaissance groups had been repelled. He added that evacuations and deliveries of military and humanitarian aid to the city were ongoing.