July 13, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

A pro-Kremlin official has denounced the release of a high-profile Russian general’s voice note appeal as a “political show.”

In the note, General Ivan Popov accused the army leadership of betraying Russian troops by not providing sufficient support -- and said he had since been fired for his comments.

Andrey Turchak, the First Deputy Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council and leader of the parliamentary working group on Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, said Thursday that Popov's appeal was not intended for the public.

“The fact that ‘member of parliament’ [Andrey] Gurulev somehow received it and made a political show out of it, is on his conscience,” he added. 

Gurulev, a member of the Russian parliament and a former Deputy Commander of the Southern Military District, relayed Popov's audio message on his Telegram channel.

Turchak affirmed that General Popov maintains a “clear conscience,” and praised commanders like Popov, stating that the nation “can be proud of such commanders.”

This is the scene in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, which for the third night in a row came under attack from Russia air strikes.

Ukraine’s Air Force said it downed 20 Iran-made drones and two cruise missiles overnight into Thursday. At least one person was killed and two injured in the strikes.

The firing of Ivan Popov, the Russian general in command of forces in occupied southern Ukraine, comes amid speculation about the whereabouts of another general, Sergey Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since last month's aborted mutiny by the private military group Wagner.

On Wednesday, Andrey Kartapolov, head of Russia’s State Duma Defense Committee, gave this update.

In the week after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin launched his march on Moscow, the New York Times, citing US officials who said they were briefed on American intelligence, reported that Surovikin “had advance knowledge of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to rebel against Russia’s military leadership.”

CNN asked the Kremlin and Russian Ministry Defense for comment on Surovikin’s whereabouts, in light of that reporting. Some observers think US officials have a motive for trying to discredit Surovikin.

The Kremlin said “no comment,” and its chief spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told CNN “I have nothing to add to what I have already said on this topic.”

Surovikin's last public appearance was on Friday June 23, when Wagner’s mutiny began, issuing a video appeal to Prigozhin to cease his rebellion.

Surovikin, the former top Russian commander in Ukraine, was replaced in January by General Gerasimov – who was among the members of Russia’s top military brass lambasted by Prigozhin for making “mistakes” during the invasion of Ukraine.

Documents obtained by the Russian investigative Dossier Center, shared exclusively with CNN, suggest that Surovikin was a VIP member of Wagner.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday he has "no doubt" Ukraine will join NATO once its war with Russia is over.

"We heard just about every country in the room say as much,” Austin said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer in Vilnius following the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital.

Austin said that there is “still work to be done” in bringing Ukraine's equipment and training up to NATO standards.

While “we are doing this work now as they fight this war," he said, "there is more that will need to be done to ensure that they have a full complement of capabilities.”

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Watch a clip of the interview here:

The full interview airs at 6 p.m. ET Thursday on CNN.

Moscow would view any F-16 fighter jets supplied to Kyiv by NATO allies as a “threat by the West in the nuclear sphere,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with a pro-Kremlin Russian news site published Wednesday.

So far, no government has committed to providing Ukraine with the US-made aircraft. But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday following a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that the two nations had “agreed to start training pilots in August.”

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that it will take "months" before Ukraine will be capable of deploying F-16s, noting that besides the pilot training, maintenance capabilities must be put in place and airfields improved to accommodate the aircraft.

Some context: The F-16 is a multirole aircraft and can be configured to carry tactical nuclear weapons. The US, Belgian and Dutch air forces have F-16s with that mission, the latter two nations being tasked with carrying nuclear weapons from the US arsenal in Europe, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. But any F-16s that might possibly be transferred to Ukraine would not be nuclear capable, Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, told Business Insider last month.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday defended Washington's controversial decision to support Ukraine with cluster munitions despite the risk to civilians.

Cluster munitions scatter “bomblets” across large areas that can fail to explode on impact and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines. More than 100 countries have outlawed the weapons under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the US, Ukraine and Russia are not signatories to the ban.

Both the Ukrainians and the Russians have used cluster bombs since Moscow’s forces invaded in February 2022.

The Ukrainians have committed to making sure these munitions are used only in the “appropriate places,” and not in populated areas, Austin said.

Asked by Blitzer how long the US would need to provide cluster bombs to Kyiv, Austin said he wants to make sure “Ukraine can remain successful in their fight,” so he would not “speculate how long that’s going to take.”

"We're going stay focused on making sure that they have what they need to continue to provide the support for their maneuver," Austin said.

Sweden's clearance to become NATO's 32nd member was among “a lot of great things accomplished” at this week's alliance summit in Lithuania, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday.

Putin “brought NATO closer to his doorstep” with his actions in Ukraine, Austin told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer when asked about how the Russian leader is reacting to the alliance’s expansion.

“Countries like Finland and Sweden bring a lot to the alliance so we are happy to have them on board,” he added, saying “they will bring value to the alliance right away.” 

All NATO members must agree to let a new member join the alliance, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dropped his opposition to Sweden's bid, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

Austin also told CNN there was "broad support" for member countries to commit 2% of their gross domestic product to defense spending and for providing Ukraine with the investment it needs to defend itself.

Ukraine's air defenses shot down a barrage of weapons launched by Russia overnight, including missiles and 20 Iran-made drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said Thursday.

In a statement on Telegram, the Air Force said attack drones fired by Russian forces were destroyed mostly in the Kyiv region. Russia also fired two cruise missiles from the Black Sea and one ballistic missile from Crimea, it said.

Earlier Thursday, Ukrainian officials said one person died and two others were injured in Kyiv after air defenses intercepted Russian drones, marking the third successive night of airstrikes on the capital.

As a series of welcoming cannon blasts rang out from a nearby colonial fort, the Russian navy’s training class ship Perekop sailed into Havana on Tuesday.

While in Cuba for a four-day visit, the Perekop’s sailors will “carry out a wide range of activities,” according to Cuba’s state-run Prensa Latina news service, and members of the Cuban public will be given the opportunity to tour the ship.

It is the first official visit by a Russian naval vessel to Cuba in years — and another sign of the reforging of the relationship between the two Cold War-era allies after the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly brought down the Cuban economy with it.

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to its widespread ostracization, the Cuban government increasingly has defended Moscow.

He also blasted US economic sanctions on Russia, while heralding Russian “projects of cooperation and collaboration” under development in Cuba.

Read more here.