October 3, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

President Joe Biden spoke by phone with a group of top United States allies Tuesday morning as the future of US funding for Ukraine remains uncertain. 

“President Biden convened a call this morning with allies and partners to coordinate our ongoing support for Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement. 

The call came days after Congress passed a temporary government spending bill that notably did not include aid for Ukraine, which remains a thorny issue with hardline conservatives. 

Participants, the White House said, included:

Following the call, EU leaders reiterated their support for Ukraine.

Von der Leyen said Europe’s support for Ukraine "is unwavering" through a proposed new 50 billion euros (about $52 billion) on macro-financial assistance, one million rounds of ammunition delivered by March 2024, as well as "EU action to ensure full accountability for Russian crimes against Ukrainians."

"Good call with NATO leaders hosted by the President of the United States. As Russia continues its brutal war, we are all committed to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes," said Stoltenberg. 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak echoed that sentiment, according to a readout from his country, reiterating the UK's "ongoing military, humanitarian and economic assistance" to Kyiv.

The Italian readout of the call also said Biden was "keen to reassure" Kyiv’s allies about the continuing American support for Ukraine. 

CNN's James Frater, Sharon Braithwaite and Radina Gigova contributed reporting to this post.

European Union lawmakers have approved a four year budget that would provide up to $52.3 billion (50 billion euros) for Ukraine in order to tackle the crisis caused by Russia’s war, the European Parliament said in a statement on Tuesday. 

The budget revision was introduced to adapt to the ongoing “war against Ukraine and growing migration issues,” the statement said. 

The facility for Ukraine will provide up to $52 billion in direct budgetary support for Ukraine over the period 2024 to 2027, to support reforms, create a favorable investment climate and conditions for attracting private investors to Ukraine's recovery. 

The funding would be separate to financing for military assistance. 

MEP Jan Olbrycht said of the revised budget: “Our goal was an ambitious but realistic proposal...and we have managed to keep it targeted but comprehensive. We aim to stabilise Ukraine's situation with a new €50 billion facility while bolstering the EU’s economy."

At the same time, Ukraine is working towards satisfying the European Union's demands for reform as part of a path towards membership of the EU, though analysts expect this will take at least several years.

According to Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal Ukraine will work on a single document – a “roadmap for reforms plan until 2027."

Much of Ukraine's annual budget is financed by credits from external sources while its spending is focused on financing the war against Russia. 

Shmyhal said the plan would have a number of documents with reform proposals from partners including the seven conditions that the EU has laid out for Ukraine's membership to move forward. Most significantly, these include action on corruption and money laundering, as well as guarantees for media freedom and the protection of ethnic minorities.

More Ukraine aid: The International Monetary Fund is also reviewing financial support for Ukraine, following the agreement of a $15.6 billion package of aid in March designed to help Ukraine's economic recovery from the devastating effects of Russia's invasion This week an IMF team has started technical discussions in Kyiv "with the aim of discussing fiscal, budgetary, financial, and structural measures ."

The arrangement is part of a US$115 billion total IMF support package for Ukraine.

The European Union is also planning to step up the pipeline of credits to finance military aid to Ukraine, principally munitions and weapons systems.

On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell proposed an annual $5 billion "peace facility" for Ukraine, an EU fund that reimburses states that supply arms to Ukraine. 

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) claimed it has cracked a large Russian spy ring in the south of the country.

The SBU alleged that 13 informants had been detained in the Mykolaiv region, all of them local residents. Four of the 13 had already been found guilty and sentenced to jail, with terms of between eight and 15 years, it said.

Some context: Mykolaiv came under almost daily fire from Russian missiles for much of 2022 but has seen fewer attacks since Ukraine retook much of the neighboring Kherson region last autumn.

The SBU said that the informants had helped Russia target "a multi-storey building in Mykolaiv with an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system in the fall of 2022. Seven civilians, including a child, were killed as a result of the enemy attack at that time."

According to the investigation, the Russian informants passed the coordinates of Ukrainian targets to Russia's Federal Security Service through a "liaison," whom the SBU named as pro-Kremlin blogger Sergey Lebedev. Lebedev was indicted on suspicion of treason in June.

The SBU said that "in the course of the investigation into Lebedev's criminal actions, it was established that following the FSB instructions, he had remotely established his own espionage network in Mykolaiv region." He recruited the informants through his Telegram channel, according to the SBU.

Earlier this year, a woman in Mykolaiv was arrested in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

The US is increasingly urging Ukraine to do more to combat governmental corruption, issuing several notices to Kyiv in the last few weeks indicating that certain kinds of US economic aid will be linked to Ukraine’s progress in reforming its institutions, multiple US officials told CNN.

The Biden administration’s commitment to supporting Ukraine’s military remains undiminished. But officials have made clear recently that other forms of US aid are potentially in jeopardy if Ukraine does not do more to address corruption.

Congress has not yet approved the administration’s request for $24 billion in additional funding for Ukraine, with some Republicans wary of providing so much money without robust oversight and conditions attached.

The State Department issued a formal diplomatic note, also known as a demarche, to Ukraine in late summer that said the US expects Ukraine to continue pursuing various anti-corruption and financial transparency efforts in order to keep receiving direct budget support, three officials familiar with the matter told CNN. The demarche has not been previously reported.

The demarche also emphasized the need for Ukraine to implement critical reforms under Ukraine’s International Monetary Fund program, including those related to anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), a source familiar with the matter said.

In a statement to CNN, the Ukrainian embassy in Washington said that Ukraine has moved “ambitiously” to pass reforms, including on its IMF program.

White House list of reforms: Separately, the White House has drafted a list of reforms Ukraine should implement in order to continue receiving US financial assistance and move toward integrating into Europe.

The draft, first reported by Ukrainska Pravda, was shared with the US embassy in Kyiv and members of the Donor Coordination Platform, a mechanism launched in January to better coordinate international financial support flowing into Ukraine. The reforms are not a condition for receiving military aid, a US official said.

“This list was provided as a basis for consultation with the Government of Ukraine and key partners as part of our enduring support to Ukraine and its efforts to integrate into Europe, a goal the United States strongly supports,” the US embassy in Kyiv said in a statement.

The White House document outlines changes Ukraine could make within three months, six months, one year and 18 months.

Read more here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was visiting the eastern frontline areas of Kupyansk-Lyman.

He said he visited several brigades and commanders to discuss the battlefield situation.

“Each of our combat brigades, each warrior who destroys the occupiers with every step forward assert that the Ukrainian victory will surely come,” Zelensky continued.

“They are the power. I thank them for their service!” Zelensky concluded in his X post.

The area has seen intense exchanges of artillery and tank fire as both sides have probed for weaknesses. But little territory has been won or lost in the region over the past year. 

This is the furthest he has traveled east in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began.

Ukraine has added three Chinese oil and gas companies to its list of international companies sponsoring Russia's war against the country.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC Group), China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) were named today by the Ukrainian National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAZK)

The NAZK said all three companies "continue to develop joint projects with Russia and to fund Russia's strategic industry by paying substantial taxes."

The additional listings bring the number of Chinese companies on the NAZK's list to 12.

Heavy artillery and aerial bombardments on the front lines in Ukraine are preventing either side from winning territory, with official and unofficial reports indicating very little movement in many areas.

The Ukrainian military said Tuesday there had been 35 combat engagements over the past day, with the Russians carrying out 47 air strikes. It said that one area where the Russians have deployed many forces — Kupiansk in the north — had not seen any further Russian efforts to advance, while the Russians had again unsuccessfully tried to regain ground south of Bakhmut, which has seen some of the war's most intense fighting.

Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that Ukrainian forces failed in their attempts to break through Russian defensive lines in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to state media outlet RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

However, fierce fighting has continued to the south of the village of Robotyne, as Ukrainian forces try to push towards the strategic hub of Tokmak, which Russian forces use for resupply and where fuel and ammunition depots are located.

CNN is unable to verify battlefield claims made by either side. 

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A Ukrainian solider rushes through the front line in Klishchiivka, eastern Ukraine, as gun and artillery fire erupt around him. Armed with an American-made M16 rifle, he and his unit storm an area that moments before was held by Russian forces.

The scene, recorded on the soldier’s helmet camera, illustrates Ukraine’s heavy reliance on international military support — especially on the equipment arriving from the United States — not just expensive body armor and high-tech missiles, but also small arms such as assault rifles and machine guns.

It also shows why the US Congress decision to pass a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown, without additional funding for Ukraine, rang alarm bells from Kyiv right down to the front line.

US President Joe Biden was quick to try to reassure Ukraine and US allies that American support is unwavering, and called on Congress to follow through on a commitment to hold a separate vote on funding for Ukraine. But the damage was done: the squabble in Washington was a wake-up call for Ukrainians, indicating that US support could shift with the political winds in DC.

In Ukraine’s east, where Ukrainian soldiers are waging a counteroffensive against Russian forces assisted by American weapons, that scenario is unfathomable.

Read more here: Touting American-made guns, frontline Ukrainian soldiers fear potential loss of US military support

Watch the full report here:

In the wake of autumn conscription announced last week, Russia's defense minister has reiterated that conscripted soldiers will not be sent to the frontlines of the war in Ukraine.

The annexed regions (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia) are parts of Ukraine illegally incorporated into the Russian Federation last year.

According to Shoigu, the General Staff has no plans for additional mobilization.

“The Russian Armed Forces have the necessary number of military personnel to conduct a military offensive," he said.