July 24, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says that Ukraine will continue carrying out attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the Kerch Bridge that connects it to the Russian mainland, while also admitting that Ukraine’s plan for its sluggish counteroffensive is behind schedule.

As Russia has pummeled the southern port city of Odesa and the surrounding region over the past week, Ukraine has continued to carry out strikes inside Crimea. On Tuesday, Ukrainian drones hit an ammunition depot, just a week after seaborne drones struck the Kerch Bridge.

Asked if Ukraine’s goal is to permanently disable the bridge, Reznikov responded: “It’s normal tactics to ruin the logistic lines of your enemy to stop the options to get more ammunition, to get more fuel, to get more food, etcetera. That’s why we will use these tactics against them.”

Reznikov also accused Russia of operating as “a terrorist state.”

The fifth night of Russian strikes in Odesa badly damaged more than two dozen landmarks in the historic city center. Drones meanwhile pounded the region’s port infrastructure, targeting crucial grain stocks days.

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Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discovered mines at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) site, agency chief Rafael Grossi said Monday —after previous claims by Kyiv that it had been mined.   

Zaporizhzhia NPP is currently occupied by Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on world leaders to put pressure on Russia to hand the station over to the IAEA and for Russian fighters to leave the territory of the station.  

Grossi added that the IAEA team has been aware of the previous placement of mines outside and inside of the plant and they have been told that it was “a military decision, and in an area controlled by military.” 

“IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers,” Grossi said, noting that the mines were “situated in a restricted area that operating plant personnel cannot access and were facing away from the site.”  

Grossi called having explosives on the site “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance.”  

Ukrainian air defenses are at work in the Kyiv region on the outskirts of the capital, according to Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv city military administration.

Ukraine’s Air Force said there is a threat of Russian UAV attacks in the area.

The Kyiv city military administration also said there were air raid sirens in the country’s capital early Tuesday.

Progress is slow in Ukraine's counteroffensive efforts, officials said, pointing to several variables that are impeding progress on the front lines.

Ukraine has claimed responsibility for drone strikes that hit Moscow and Crimea.

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Ukraine's counteroffensive is partly struggling because of Russian ability to jam drones, according to military officials.

Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Ukrainian forces in the south, said heavy losses were being inflicted on the Russians, but it’s clear that progress is slow.

One reason, according to Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuri Inhat, is that Russia has a major advantage in electronic warfare. 

Ukrainian forces say they are making modest progress in the east and south, as well as restraining Russian efforts to move forward in the Donetsk region, but overall there appears to have been little change on the front lines.

Ukrainian military officials said Russian minefields and electronic warfare capabilities are impeding progress.

Here's where things stand:

In the south: Oleksandr Kurbatov, with the Dnipro city territorial defense, said Monday that Ukrainian units were working hard to move forward in an area known as the Vremivskyi Ledge. 

He said that Russian forces were bringing in new units of "highly qualified military" who are using the cover of darkness and carefully designed corridors through the minefields to attack Ukrainian positions.

Valerii Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukrainian forces in the south, acknowledged that progress was slow, saying that “strike units had partial success and advanced into enemy territory from 350 meters up to 1.4 kms.” 

Near Melitopol: The general staff of the Ukrainian military said that offensive operations continued in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, and units were consolidating their positions.

Russia carried out 58 air strikes over the past day — higher than the recent average, the general staff said. Some came near the town of Kupyansk in Kharkiv, which was liberated by the Ukrainians last September and has been a target of Russian attacks. But Ukrainian officials say the Russians are being held east of the Oskil River. 

Bakhmut and the East: In the Bakhmut area, there have been efforts by the Russians to retake recently lost ground, but the general staff said a number of attacks had been repelled. 

Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian military, said that the defense forces “are gradually liberating Ukrainian land. Hundreds of meters every day, kilometers every week.”

But he said that fierce Russian resistance continued, with seven battles over the past day alone in which he claimed "94 occupiers were killed and 152 were wounded."

CNN cannot verify Ukrainian claims of advances on the battlefield or of casualty numbers.

The Biden administration on Monday imposed sanctions against three Malian officials accused of facilitating the Wagner Group’s presence in that country.

The action comes weeks after Wagner chief Yevegny Prigozhin led an unsuccessful revolt against the Russian government. The Wagner Group is deeply entrenched in Mali and is accused of committing atrocities there.

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mali’s Minister of Defense Col. Sadio Camara, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Col. Alou Boi Diarra, and Malian Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Adama Bagayoko for their roles in supporting the Russian mercenary group.

According to the news release from the Treasury Department, “Camara planned and organized the deployment of the Wagner Group in Mali,” and in 2021, “Camara made several trips to Russia to solidify the agreement between the Wagner Group and the Malian transition government to deploy the Wagner Group to Mali.”

Diarra accompanied Camara on several of his trips to Russia, the Treasury Department said, and “in his previous role as Air Logistics Chief, Diarra significantly contributed to the logistical movement of Russian entities in Mali."

“Together, Camara and Diarra formulated and executed the plan that ultimately ushered the Wagner Group into Mali,” the agency said.

“Bagayoko serves as an advocate for the Wagner Group to the Burkinabe transition government, working to secure the Wagner Group’s deployment to Burkina Faso,” the Treasury said. “Additionally, Bagayoko is also reportedly seeking to facilitate the Wagner Group’s access to gold mining in Mali.”

An Agence France-Presse journalist was wounded in a Russian drone attack while reporting from a Ukrainian position near Bakhmut on Monday, according to AFP reporters who witnessed the attack.

Dylan Collins, a US citizen on assignment in Ukraine, sustained multiple shrapnel injuries in the attack in a forested area while reporting at a Ukrainian artillery position.

The video journalist was evacuated to a nearby hospital where he is being treated. Doctors say his condition is not life-threatening.

Collins, 35, is conscious, according to the international news agency.

Since the start of a counteroffensive in June, Ukrainian forces have been advancing slowly to the north and south of Bakhmut in an attempt to surround Russian forces and eventually re-take the city.

Collins has been working for AFP since 2018 and has reported from Middle East conflict zones. He also covered the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for AFP.

AFP video journalist Arman Soldin was killed by Russian rocket fire near Bakhmut in May.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleskii Reznikov admitted that Kyiv's counteroffensive is behind schedule, but insisted he is "not worried" because it is going according to plan, adding that it was a “misconception that every counteroffensive should be quick."

The official said, “our generals, our commanders, they see the real situation on the battlefield. And again, I have to repeat the main value for us is the life of for our soldiers.” 

The situation on the southern front in Ukraine has been slowed largely due to intricate minefields laid by Russian forces who were given time to build up defenses. Ukrainian forces have had to resort to clearing, by hand, paths through the fields, Reznikov said.

The minister said the Russians have "serious security zones with the mines" and that it "very difficult to break through."

"We need to use our soldiers, sappers, deminers very slowly, and very slowly preparing the corridors for the real offensive movement," Reznikov said, adding this activity in different places would confuse Russians on the main direction that Ukraine would take.