Ukrainian pilots will start F-16 training in Denmark later this month
From CNN’s Sarah Dean in London
Ukrainian pilots will begin training on F-16 fighter jets in Denmark later in August, the Danish defense ministry said Friday.
A coalition of 11 countries will be involved in the training, it added.
Some background: CNN reported Thursday that the US has committed to approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine as soon as training is complete, according to a US official.
Denmark and the Netherlands have taken the lead in preparing a program to train Ukrainian pilots on the American jet, but the US is still working with other countries to see who may provide F-16s to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Ukraine said Wednesday that it didn’t expect to receive F-16s until some time next year.
CNN's Oren Liebermann and Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.
8:42 a.m. ET, August 18, 2023
Why some corners of the Biden administration are skeptical of Ukraine's recent focus on Crimea
From CNN's Katie Bo Lillis and Natasha Bertrand
A view shows the Crimean bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the peninsula across the Kerch Strait, Crimea, on July 17. Reuters
Ukraine has ramped up missile strikes on Russian-occupied Crimea in recent weeks in an effort to disrupt Russian logistics and resupply efforts as fighting rages in southern Ukraine – but it’s a strategy that some US officials in Washington are viewing with skepticism.
For some military and Biden administration officials, Ukrainian attacks on Crimea are at best a distraction, and at worst, a valuable waste of resources in a strategy that many analysts now believe has left Ukraine stretched too thin between multiple axes of attack.
“It’s knocked the Russians off balance a bit, but it is not doing anything decisive,” a senior defense official told CNN. “And it would probably be better for everyone for them to just focus on the counteroffensive.”
Ukraine has in recent weeks used long-range missiles to strike two bridges linking Crimea to Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine, and on Saturday, targeted the only bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Russia. With roughly a third of the peninsula now within the range of the US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), according to one senior Western intelligence official, Ukraine has also stepped up strikes on Russian ammunition dumps and other logistics and resupply infrastructure there.
“There’s more and more pressure on Crimea, and especially so in recent weeks,” that official told CNN. “I mean, they get pounded.”
Crimea holds a deep symbolic importance to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered his forces to invade and illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014. And it is also a strategically vital logistics hub for Russia’s war effort; its location on the Black Sea has made it sought-after territory for centuries.
For Ukraine, the attacks are an integral part of their counteroffensive strategy, intended to try to isolate Crimea and make it more difficult for Russia to sustain its military operations on the Ukrainian mainland, a Ukrainian source familiar with the strategy told CNN.
It's mid-afternoon in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know
From CNN staff
Russia blamed Ukraine for Friday’s attempted drone strike on Moscow, which forced authorities to suspend traffic to four major airports in the Russian capital. During the suspension, seven flights were diverted to alternative locations: three to Nizhny Novgorod, three to St. Petersburg and one to Minsk, in Belarus.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that Russian air defenses shot down a drone over the capital city overnight into Friday. He said in a post on Telegram that debris from the drone fell into Expocentre, an exhibition center that lies within the wider Moscow city center, about three miles (five kilometers) east of the Kremlin.
Here's what else is happening:
Thousands without power after Russian shelling: Some 14,000 people in the frontline region of Donetsk have been left without power after Russian shelling affected generation at a thermal powerplant, according to Ukraine's grid operator Ukrenergo. The operator also said that months after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in June, around 11,000 people were still without power in the Kherson region.
Russia says it thwarted Black Sea gunboat attack: Russia says two of its patrol ships repelled a new Ukrainian attack on the Black Sea. According to Russia’s defense ministry, Ukraine targeted the ships with an unmanned gunboat lateThursday night. But Russia says its ships opened fire on the vessel and destroyed it before reaching its target.
Grain ship arrives in sea near Turkey: A container ship laden with grain that departed from Ukraine's southern port of Odesa on Wednesday has transited through the Bosporus and arrived in the sea of Marmara near Turkey, its final destination. The Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte, carrying 30,000 metric tons of cargo including food products, is the first vessel to use a temporary Black Sea shipping corridor established following the breakdown of a UN-brokered grain deal last month, Kyiv officials said.
Japan concerned: Japan’s defense ministry said Friday that it scrambled fighter jets in response to two Russian IL-38 information-gathering aircrafts seen flying to and from the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea through the Tsushima Strait, which separates Japan and South Korea. This came after Tokyo expressed “grave concern” after Chinese and Russian warships sailed close to its southern islands on Thursday.
F-16 transfers: The US has committed to approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine as soon as training is complete, according to a US official. The plan is to make sure Ukraine has the fighter jet it has long sought the moment its pilots complete training on the F-16. The training program was initially expected to start this month, but it is now unclear exactly when it will start or how long it will take.
Lukashenko threat: Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, a key Russian ally, said Minsk would immediately respond to aggression if provoked, including by using nuclear weapons, state media reported. Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
7:49 a.m. ET, August 18, 2023
Minor damage after missile strike on Zaporizhzhia
From CNN's Kostan Nechyporenko and Vasco Cotovio
Ukrainian officials say civilian infrastructure in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia suffered minor damage, with no reports of casualties at the moment, after a Russian missile strike on Friday.
“The enemy launched a missile attack on one of the districts of the regional center [of Zaporizhzhia],” the head of Zaporizhzhia region military administration, Yurii Malashko, wrote on his Telegram account. “The extent of the damage and the number of casualties are being clarified.”
The secretary of Zaporizhzhia city council, Anatolii Kurtev, said the blast had blown out “out apartment and balcony windows and windows in stairwells in three multi-story buildings.”
“Two educational institutions sustained minor damage. Specialists from the district administration and Zaporizhremservice [municipal utilities company] are conducting a survey to determine the extent of damage in the buildings and to carry out repairs,” Kurtev said. “No information on the victims has been received so far. We hope that everyone is safe and sound. Details are being clarified.”
7:31 a.m. ET, August 18, 2023
Ukraine says 14,000 without power in Donetsk after Russian shelling
From CNN's Kostan Nechyporenko and Vasco Cotovio
Some 14,000 people in the frontline region of Donetsk have been left without power after Russian shelling affected generation at a thermal powerplant, according to Ukraine's grid operator Ukrenergo.
“Enemy terror continues in the frontline and border regions with Russia. In Donetsk region, 110 kV overhead lines were disconnected twice due to enemy shelling. This resulted in limited electricity generation at one of the thermal power plants in Donetsk region,” Urkenergo said in a statement on Friday. “In addition, lower power overhead lines were disconnected due to hostilities in Donetsk Oblast, leaving more than 14,000 consumers without electricity.” “Some consumers in Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions also lost power,” it added.
The operator also said that months after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam, around 11,000 people were still without power in the Kherson region.
“Power engineers are working to restore the power supply, but repairs are slowed down by shelling,” it said.
Remember: Tens of thousands of people were deprived of power and clean water after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine in June, one of the biggest industrial and ecological disasters in Europe for decades. The catastrophe destroyed entire villages, flooded farmland and caused massive environmental damage.
6:53 a.m. ET, August 18, 2023
Ukrainian flag hung near security service building in Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod
From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio and Allegra Goodwin
A Ukrainian flag was hung near a building operated by Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, several videos posted on social media and verified by CNN show.
The flag appeared to have been hung from powerlines above a road and has reportedly been taken down by the local fire department.
Russian officials have yet to comment on the incident.
Where is it? Nizhny Novgorod is Russia’s sixth largest city by population, with 1.2 million people, and is located around 400km (250 miles) east of Moscow.
6:26 a.m. ET, August 18, 2023
Japan scrambles fighter jets after Russian planes seen over Sea of Japan and East China Sea
From CNN's Emi Jozuko in Tokyo and Duarte Mendonca in Lisbon
A Russian IL-38 information-gathering aircraft flies between the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, in this photo taken by Japan Air Self-Defense Force August 18. Defense Ministry of Japan/Reuters
Japan’s defense ministry said Friday that it scrambled fighter jets in response to two Russian IL-38 information-gathering aircrafts seen flying to and from the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea through the Tsushima Strait, which separates Japan and South Korea.
The defense ministry said it was the first time the Chinese and Russian naval ships sailed through that particular area of the sea together and had expressed “grave concern” about their joint military activities in the sea and airspace surrounding the country in recent years, saying they are “intended as a show of force against Japan.”
Some context: It's standard practice for Japan to scramble fighter jets in response to Chinese and Russian aircrafts flying close to its territory.
Japan’s relations with Russia have deteriorated since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began 18 months ago. Tokyo has joined its Western allies in imposing sanctions on Moscow and pledged billions in humanitarian aid for Kyiv.
4:42 a.m. ET, August 18, 2023
Russian authorities blame Ukraine for drone strike that forced temporary Moscow airport closures
From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio
Damage to the Expocentre building in Moscow, Russia, following a drone attack on August 18. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images
An alleged drone strike attempt on Moscow forced authorities to suspend traffic to four major airports in the Russian capital on Friday, according to the country’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya.
“This morning, August 18, 2023, in order to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights, flights to Moscow airports: Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo were temporarily restricted. Also to Zhukovsky airport,” Rosaviatsiya said on its Telegram channel.
Russia blamed Ukraine for Friday’s attempted drone strike on Moscow, calling it a “terrorist attack.”
“On 18 August at around 04:00 Moscow time, the Kiev regime launched another terrorist attack using a drone against facilities in Moscow and Moscow region,” Russia's defense ministry said in a statement on Friday. “The UAV, after being hit by air defense systems, changed its flight trajectory and fell on a non-residential building near Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment in Moscow.” “There were no casualties or fires,” it added.
During the suspension, seven flights were diverted to alternative locations: three to Nizhny Novgorod, three to St Petersburg and one to Minsk, in Belarus.
Restrictions on air travel have since been lifted and “Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky airports are operating normally,” Rosaviatsiya also said.
3:57 a.m. ET, August 18, 2023
First ship to leave Ukraine since grain deal collapse has nearly reached port in Turkey
From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio
Hong-Kong-flagged container ship Joseph Schulte transits the Bosporus in Istanbul, Turkey on August 18. Yoruk Isik/Reuters
A container ship laden with grain that departed from Ukraine's southern port of Odesa on Wednesday has transited through the Bosporus and arrived in the sea of Marmara near Turkey, its final destination.
The Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte, carrying 30,000 metric tons of cargo including food products, is the first vessel to use a temporary Black Sea shipping corridor established following the breakdown of a UN-brokered grain deal last month, Kyiv officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky on Thursday hailed the "functioning of the 'grain corridor,'" as the ship sailed through the Black Sea along Romanian and Bulgarian territorial waters on its passage to Turkey.
"Off we go with the first one," Zelensky wrote on Telegram. "We are preparing the next steps."
Some context: Russia pulled out of a UN and Turkish brokered deal in July that allowed Ukraine to move its grain via the Black Sea and warned that any ships headed to Ukraine would be treated as potentially carrying weapons.
Last week, the Ukrainian navy issued an order declaring "temporary corridors" for merchant ships sailing to and from Ukrainian ports. However, it admitted that the military threat and mine danger from Russia remained along all routes.
On Sunday, a Russian warship fired warning shots and boarded a Turkish-owned cargo ship it claimed was headed to Ukraine, in what Kyiv said was "an act of piracy."
