July 25, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The UK believes that Russia could target civilian ships in the Black Sea, following the Kremlin’s decision to leave the Black Sea Grain Initiative, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday. 

Russia could target civilian ships in the Black Sea and blame Ukraine, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council said last week. 

Russia has also laid additional sea mines in the approach to Ukrainian ports, NSC spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement Wednesday. Earlier that day, Russia’s defense ministry said any ship sailing toward a Ukrainian port would be considered a potential carrier of military cargo. 

Repeating the warning from the NSC, the director of the CIA said on Thursday that Russia could be preparing a false-flag operation attacking a ship in the Black Sea.

Russia's Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said on Thursday that attempts to attribute to Russia the preparation of attacks on civilian vessels are "pure fabrication" and "completely contradicts our approaches."

UK PM on Russian grain threats: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said any Russian attempt to stop grain exports from leaving Ukraine would be completely “unacceptable.”  

Sunak said in a tweet that he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Tuesday “and made it clear that any Russian attempt to stop grain leaving Ukraine is completely unacceptable. We must continue to stand with Ukraine.”

CNN’s Oren Liebermann, Radina Gigova and Mick Krever contributed reporting to this post.

The Russian state Duma has passed an amendment extending the military call-up age to include citizens from 18 to 30 years. 

Previously, military service was compulsory for Russian citizens aged 18 to 27 years.

The new bill will now be forwarded to the Federation Council for further consideration before the law can be signed by President Vladimir Putin.

The senators of the Federation Council will support the law, said Valentina Matvienko, the speaker of the upper house, adding that there is “no reason for excessive resonance” regarding these changes, according to state news RIA Novosti.

The Kremlin said it is “impossible” for Russia to return to the expired Black Sea Grain Initiative until all conditions are met, snubbing suggestions by UN Secretary General António Guterres to rejoin the crucial deal.

“Mr. Guterres' letter [to Russian President Vladimir Putin] once again outlined a certain plan of action and a promise that one day it would be possible to fulfil the Russian part of these agreements,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Moscow has repeatedly insisted that the agreement in place does not allow for Russia to adequately export its own foodstuffs.

Commenting on the Kremlin’s attitude to the proposal of the Kyiv authorities to export grain through the ports of the Baltic, Peskov said: “It is the sovereign right of these states."

Moscow will fight attempts to use any supply channels of Ukrainian grain for “military purposes and terrorist attacks” against Russia, Peskov added.

Some background: The Black Sea grain deal, first brokered last summer, allowed for the safe export of Ukrainian wheat from ports after Russia initially barricaded docks in the southern region and exacerbated a global food crisis.

Western allies of Kyiv have accused Russia of weaponizing the deal, the collapse of which prompted a rapid increase in global wheat prices and threatened food security in Global South countries that rely on Ukrainian grain.

One fighter was shot twice, sent from the hospital back to the front, where he drank melted snow to live. Forced to assault Ukrainian positions repeatedly, until a grenade blinded him. Saved from the trenches by a doctor who made him a hospital orderly.

Another was jailed at 20 for minor drugs charges, sent to the front aged 23. Given almost no training, he was dead three weeks later — among likely 60 Russians killed in an assault on the very day Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated the defeat of the Nazis in Red Square.

These two stories, of remarkable survival and premature death, epitomize the squalid and exhausting loss of life in Russia’s trenches. Yet there is one distinction: the dead are prisoners, promised respite from their jail terms if they join so-called Storm-Z battalions run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Life expectancy is short, conditions themselves tough to survive, and convicts describe being used as cannon fodder. Tens of thousands of convicts have been recruited to serve at the front line, at first by the mercenary group Wagner — a scheme then taken over by the defense ministry.

CNN spoke to the mother of one convict, Andrei, who was jailed aged 20 on drug charges and sent to the front line as part of the Russian military’s recruitment program. The mother provided extensive video, documentation and chat messages to verify her son’s story, and his early death, just three weeks after deployment.

CNN also spoke to a rare survivor of the Storm-Z units, Sergei — who was first interviewed by phone in a military hospital months earlier and last week recounted the savage and deteriorating life in the Russian trenches.

While the appalling fighting conditions are well known, much Russian testimony is from prisoners of war, and provided through Ukrainian facilitators. These two stories represent rare testimony delivered directly from Russians. CNN has changed the names and removed key details from these two accounts for the safety of the interviewees.

Read their stories here.

Kyiv reported new advances in the south, as Ukrainian forces struggle to puncture Moscow's tight defense lines amid a sweeping counteroffensive operation focusing on the southeastern regions.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukrainian forces have made gains along the southern front, according to Kyiv military officials and battlefield reports.

Andrii Kovalov, spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's general staff said Tuesday that Kyiv's forces “had success in the direction of Staromaiorske,” in the Berdiansk front, south of Velyka Novosilka.

Ukrainian forces are "entrenching themselves in the reached positions,” he said, adding that Russian troops were "resisting strongly."

In an update Tuesday, the general staff said Russian forces continued to focus on preventing Ukraine’s advances along the southern front, indicating stiff resistance. 

Some of those offensive operations toward Melitopol are taking place just south of the town of Orikhiv, with some advances reported over the past 24 hours. 

Battlefield reports: The Institute for the Study of War said Ukraine was reportedly able to advance 1.7 kilometers (just over a mile) toward the northeastern outskirts of the village of Robotyne.

The advancement was documented by several Russian military bloggers. 

Some reported Ukraine had shifted the vector of its attack in the area by going around Russian fortifications with the support of its artillery, driving Moscow’s troops back.

The Melitopol axis was one of the main thrusts of the early stages of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, where Kyiv first employed some of the Western equipment it received specifically for the push forward — meeting with notorious Russian resistance.

In the east: Ukrainian forces drove back the Russians near Andriivka, just south of the embattled city of Bakhmut, spokesperson Kovalov also claimed. The advance comes as Ukrainian troops continue offensive operations north and south of Bakhmut, he said.

Ukrainian advances near Andriivka are part of a plan to encircle Bakhmut and drive out Russian forces, the spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhii Cherevatyi, said on Tuesday.

Cherevatyi acknowledged the situation was more difficult north of the city. 

“The enemy is better prepared there (north of Bakhmut). There are also certain natural obstacles there, including water obstacles,” he explained. “But the work there is also ongoing and will be visible over time, despite the fact that the enemy is preparing everything to complicate our movement.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko spoke about the Wagner private military company — which led a failed mutiny against Moscow last month — at their recent talks in St. Petersburg, according to the Kremlin.

“The topic of the Wagner group was also raised there, the topic of trade and economic cooperation, as well as the Union State, and the external threat along the perimeter of our countries -- all this, of course, was on the agenda," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Peskov did not provide any additional detail on what both leaders discussed regarding Wagner, but added that the meeting served to align positions and share views on multiple issues.

“There were no goals to reach any agreements,” Peskov continued.

Lukashenko arrived in Russia last Saturday and held meetings with Putin in St. Petersburg on Sunday and Monday, according to both presidential press services.

Some background: Lukashenko has remained Putin's closest ally since he allowed Russian forces to use Belarusian territory to launch its invasion of Ukraine.

Wagner forces were stationed in Belarus after Lukashenko helped negotiate a deal to end the group's short-lived insurrection against the Kremlin.

As many as 5,000 fighters are already in the country, according to Ukraine.

Last week, Belarus' defense ministry said it would hold join military sessions with Wagner troops after the failed rebellion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his plea for resources to bolster Kyiv's air defense system in a call with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday.

“[We] spoke about Russia's daily attempts to destroy Odesa's historic center and port infrastructure. We must defend Odesa. Ukraine urgently needs to strengthen its air defense to protect its historical heritage and continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” Zelensky said of the call between the two leaders on Tuesday.

“We discussed our further defense cooperation, the course of Ukrainian offensive operations. I outlined the current defense needs of [Ukraine]."

The southern port city of Odesa has been hit with a barrage of Russian strikes in recent days, damaging architectural sites and targeting grain stocks -- days after Moscow withdrew from a deal that allowed for the safe passage of Ukrainian wheat from ports in the region.

Zelensky also said he discussed Ukraine's bid for NATO membership, echoing calls from other senior officials in Kyiv to speed up the country's accession into the bloc.

“[We] noted the adoption by the G7 of the Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine at the NATO Summit in Vilnius and the subsequent accession of other countries to it,” he added. “We also coordinated future steps to fill it with concrete security guarantees on a bilateral basis.”

The UK has remained a staunch ally of Kyiv since Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022, donating billions of dollars' worth of military aid to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia in an attempt to squeeze its economy.

A Russian delegation led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will begin a three-day visit to North Korea on Tuesday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and North Korean state media.

North Korea is one of only a handful of countries to show outright support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has blamed the United States and the West for the war.

North Korean state newspaper KCNA confirmed the visit.

Meanwhile, a high-level Chinese government delegation is headed to North Korea this week, believed to be the highest-level representatives from Beijing to visit Pyongyang since the isolated country closed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read more about the visit here.