July 27, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news | CNN (2024)

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Ukraine's Olga Kharlan, left, leaves the fencing strip after she refused to shake hands with Russia's Anna Smirnova during the Fencing World Championships in Milan, on Thursday, July 27, 2023.

The leader of*ckraine’snational fencing team, Olga Kharlan, has spoken out after her disqualification from the world championships for refusing to shake hands with her Russian opponent, saying “I acted with my heart.”

The four-time individual world champion and four-time Olympic medalist took to Instagram late Thursday to defend her actions and thank her supporters, particularly the Ukrainian military.

Kharlan said that she came “back to life” thanks to messages of support from the public, “especially the support from our fighters who are defending us.”

“When I hear that I motivated them, or this act motivated them it’s impossible to put into words how it makes me feel. It is impossible to convey, I thank each and every one of you, I thank every soldier who defends us,” Kharlan said.

Ukrainians can never “be forced into peace […] by any handshake,” she added.

The International Fencing Federation has not offered any account of the decision on its website or social media accounts. But the refusal to shake hands after contest results in a black card and expulsion, according to federation rules.

The Ukrainian athlete approached the end of her video message by saying “the rules have to change because the world is changing.”

Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine can be seen for the first time at one of Russia’s long-stretching “dragon’s teeth” defensive lines in a new video circulating on Russian social media.

CNN has geolocated the video to an area just east of the small villages of Nove and Kharkove in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia oblast.

The video was taken from a Russian military position and shows a Ukrainian military vehicle moving in a field, heading toward a ditch in front of a large row of “dragon’s teeth”— concrete and rebar pyramids that can serve as barriers against tanks. The apparent driver of the vehicle appears and begins running back toward a tree line.

For months, satellite images have shown that the Russians have installed the “dragon’s teeth” lines across the territory they control in Ukraine.The “teeth” are laid out in three-deep rows that stretch for hundreds of miles; on either side of the concrete lines, Russian forces have also dug massive anti-tank trenches.

When the vehicle hits the trench, a big puff of dirt and smoke is seen.A second later, the front end of the vehicle appears to be stuck, with its front end sitting on top of the trench.

It’s unclear what exactly is happening in the video. Pro-Ukrainian channels claim it’s their forces testing the ability for a vehicle to make it over the trench and the “dragon teeth,” while pro-Russian channels claim it’s a casualty of one of their military strikes.

What is clear, however, is the Ukrainian counteroffensive in southern part of the country has made notable gains in the last several days.

While the ability of the Ukrainians to push Russian forces back behind their “dragon teeth” line is a clear indicator, the counteroffensive has been successful so far.

The defensive line also poses a significant obstacle that the counteroffensive will need to find ways to overcome in the days, weeks, and months to come.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said architecture experts are “working to assess the possibility of restoring” the Transfiguration Cathedral — a UNESCO World Heritage site in the southern port city of Odesa that was badly damaged by a Russian missile attack over the weekend.

He added that he is “grateful to our partners in Europe for their willingness to join the reconstruction.”

Zelensky also published a video of himself speaking in Ukrainian (with English subtitles) from inside the historic church on Thursday, according to Zelensky’s office.

The Ukrainian leader said he “listened to the report on the liquidation of the consequences of Russian strikes on Odesa and the region.”

Russia shelled the northeastern Ukrainian Kupyansk district in the Kharkiv region Tuesday, wounding five people, according to the Kharkiv regional military administration.

Syniehubov said Russians struck “a private residential building.”

“The details of the occupiers’ crime are being established by law enforcement officers working at the scene,” he said.

A Ukrainian serviceman prepares to fire a mortar at Russian positions on the front line near the city ofBakhmut on July 13.

Ukraine’s military is waging attritional battlessouthofBakhmut withthe ultimate aimofcutting Russian supply routesintothedevastated eastern city, whichMoscow’s forces capturedinthespring, according to officials.

Ukraine is “gradually advancing” south of Bakhmut and fighting persists in Klishchiivka, Kurdiumivka and Andriivka — threevillagessouthofthecity, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said.

TheUkraine military also said Ukrainian units repelled a Russian counter-attacksouthofBakhmut.

Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesperson fortheEastern GroupingoftheUkrainian military, saidthere had been 11 combat engagementsinthearea overthepast day.

Alongtheborderofthe Kharkiv and Luhansk regions,theRussians were continuing efforts to push Ukrainian units back, Maliar said.

However, Cherevatyi noted thatthenumberofenemy assaults around Lyman was lower than average. Compared to a recent peak of 10 to 15, he said there were three enemy attacks in areas within the Serebryansky forest and Bilohorivka.

Ukrainian soldiers are seen in the Ukrainian village ofStaromaiorske, in this screen grab from video posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

Both Russian and Ukrainian sources report intense fighting along the front lines in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, where Ukrainian forces are stepping up efforts to break through entrenched Russian defenses.

Late Thursday, video emerged of a Ukrainian unit claiming to be in the village of Staromaiorske – a target for several weeks, located east of Zaporizhzhia city.

A group of soldiers posted the video, with one saying Ukrainian fighters have “fulfilled the task and liberated the village.”

The video was reposted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Telegram account, with the caption: “Our South! Our guys!”

Earlier Thursday, the commander of a Russian-backed battalion from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic acknowledged the loss of Staromaiorske.

Kyiv’s troops “methodically” took the village over the course of several days, “knocking personnel out of their shelters and turning those shelters into piles of broken bricks,” said the commander, Alexander Khodakovsky. He acknowledged that losing the area was “a blow to our military ego.”

Fighting intensifies in the south: Besides committing additional brigades to the fight in the south, the Ukrainian military has kept up a campaign to degrade Russian logistical hubs, with Russian-appointed officials in occupied areas reporting several rocket strikes against the town of Tokmak, a critical resupply site.

“Tokmak has essentially become a frontline city, because the intensity of hostilities directly on the Zaporizhzhia frontline toward Tokmak is increasing every day,” the Ukrainian mayor of nearby Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, told CNN.

Fedorov claimed Moscow’s troops are “constantly suffering losses” in villages around Tokmak.

Few frontline accounts have emerged, but a member of the Freedom for Russia Legion — a militant group of Russian dissidents that fights against Moscow — said the battles are unceasing.

Denysov said Russia has responded with artillery barrages and aviation. Their priority is preventing the Ukrainian advance toward Tokmak and other towns near Zaporizhzhia city, including Vasylivka to the south and Polohy, further east of the city.

Denysov claimed some Russian units have suffered “such losses that they are now waiting for replenishment.”

Two weeks ago, a senior Russian commander in the area was dismissed for demanding that the defense ministry rotate units out of frontline positions.

China is providing technology and equipment to Russia that is increasingly important to Moscow’s war in Ukraine, according to anewly released reportcompiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The report is unclassified and largely cites open-source data and western press reporting to support its claims. But it includes the US intelligence community assessment that China “has become an increasingly important buttress for Russia in its war effort.”

The report — mandated by the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 passed by Congress, and released by House Intelligence Committee Democrats— says that as of March, China “had shipped more than $12 million in drones and drone parts” to Russia, citing a “third-party analysis” of Russian customs data.

Chinese state-owned defense companies have also been providing sanctioned Russian government-owned defense companies with other dual-use technology “that Moscow’s military uses to continue the war in Ukraine,” the report says, including “navigation equipment, jamming technology, and fighter-jet parts.”

Semiconductor exports from China to Russia have also jumped considerably since 2021, it adds, with “hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of US-made or US-branded semiconductors flowing into Russia” despite heavy western sanctions and export controls.

The report says Chinese firms are “probably” helping Moscow to evade these sanctions — though it is “difficult to ascertain the extent” of that help. The report says the intelligence community cannot be sure whether Beijing is deliberately interfering with the US’ ability to conduct export control checks, via interviews and investigations, inside China.

The report does say, however, that China “has become an even more critical economic partner for Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.”

CNN has asked the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, for comment on the report.

What the US has said: The Biden administration has repeatedly raised concerns with China about evidence it has suggesting that Chinese companies have sold non-lethal equipment to Russia for use in Ukraine, but US officials say they have seen no signs so far that China has provided weapons or lethal military aid to Russia.

The US believes that at the outset of the war, China intended to sell Russia lethal weapons for use in Ukraine, a US official previously told CNN. But China significantly scaled back on those plans as the war progressed, this person said — something the Biden administration has considered a victory.

What China has said: China has claimed neutrality over the war in Ukraine and called for peace in the conflict. But Beijing has also avoided publicly criticizing Russia’s war efforts and the two countries have repeatedly emphasized their cooperation, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu declaring a “boundless” military partnership after a meeting in April.

United Nations Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres has warned that a “handful of donations” will not counter the “dramatic” impact of Russia’s move to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal.

Speaking to journalists in New York on Thursday, the UN Secretary General stressed that the UN will continue to engage with Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, and other relevant countries to “re-establish the Black Sea initiative” which helped export nearly 33 million tons of grain from Ukrainian ports.

He added that these price increases will be “paid by everybody everywhere,” and will hit developing countries hardest.

“So, it’s not with a handful of donations to some countries that we correct this dramatic impact that affects everybody everywhere,” Guterres added.

Putin’s attempt to help global food insecurity: The UN chief’s comments come after Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier on Thursday that Russia has sent nearly 10 million tons of grain to Africa, accusing Western sanctions of making it harder for Russia to send grain to the African continent.

Putin reiterated that Russia remained a “reliable” supplier of food to Africa, despitepulling outof a key Ukraine grain deal andcontinued attacks against port infrastructure in the city of Odesa.

On Monday, wheat pricesrose sharplyfollowing a strike by a Russian drone on a Ukrainian port on the Danube River.

CNN’s Anna Cooban andTim Lister contributed reporting to this post.

Heavy rocket strikes slammed the critical logistics hub of Tokmak in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine on Thursday, according to a regional leader installed by Moscow.

Ukraine’s military carried out the “massive” attack using multiple rocket launchers, according to Vladimir Rogov, a senior Russian-appointed official in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Three rockets exploded and a fourth fell near a railway station but did not explode, Rogov said on Telegram. One person was wounded, he added.

What’s happening in the region: Tokmak is a Russian logistics headquarters located south of Zaporizhzhia city, with a rail line to the Russian-annexed peninsula of Crimea. It is about 20 to 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Ukrainian frontline positions.

It has come under regular fire from Ukrainian rocket and missile systems, including multiple rocket launchers, but is currently beyond the range of most artillery systems.

Ukraine appears to be ramping up itscounteroffensive in the area, deploying extra troops to the southern front, according to Russian and US officials. Rogov admitted this week that Kyiv’s forces have been able “to wedge in” three sections of Russia’s first line of defense in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company, has been spotted in St. Petersburg, meeting with an African dignitary on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit, according to accounts associated with the mercenary group.

CNN has been unable to identify the dignitary but he was wearing a lanyard that matched the ones being worn by other officials at the summit. The dignitary is part of the Central African Republic delegation to the Russia-Africa summit, the accounts say.

This is the first time Prigozhin has been seen in publicinside Russia since he led an armed mutiny last month. Since the rebellion, Prigozhin had only been seen in public on July 19, when he seemingly appeared in in a video inside Belarus,apparently greeting Wagner fighters to a base in Asipovichy.

The video was grainy and filmed in low light so CNN cannot definitively say the speaker isPrigozhinor when it was filmed, but CIA Director Bill Burns subsequently confirmed the Wagner founder was in Minsk.

Wagner has had a presence in the Central African Republic for several years now, as previously reported by CNN.

CNN was able to geolocate the photograph of Prigozhin and the dignitary to the Trezzini Palace Hotel in St. Petersburg, where the Wagner founder has kept an office, according to Russian media. The hotel was one of the locations searched by Russian authorities on July 6, after he led arecently failed insurrection.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walk together in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

Delegations from Russia and China — North Korea’s key allies in the Korean War — gathered in Pyongyang this week to celebrate North Korea’s “Victory Day” in the war that ravaged the Korean Peninsula seven decades ago as they alignover another very contemporary conflict –Russia’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.

At a state reception for Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Russian delegation, in a reference to the war in Ukraine, North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam expressed Pyongyang’s full support “for the just struggle of the Russian army and people to defend the sovereignty and security of the country,” according to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

In remarks of his own, Shoigu then said the Korean People’s Army (KPA) has “become the strongest army in the world” and pledged continued cooperation to keep it that way.

Shoigu’s presence at “Victory Day” celebration is “particularly notable: a sign of just how close Pyongyang and Moscow have become since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year,” said Ankit Panda, Stanton senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

But the gathering in Pyongyang illustrates a weakness too, said Blake Herzinger, a research fellow at the United States Studies Center in Australia. “It’s really representative of how short both China and Russia’s lists of friends are, and the willingness of both to show support for a rogue regime,” Herzinger said.

Read more about the meeting here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Ukrainian forces have suffered heavy losses during an intensified effort to break through Russian defenses in southern Ukraine.

Putin was speaking on the margins of the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg.

He said that in the last few days “we confirm that hostilities have intensified and in a significant way,” and that the main clashes took place in the Zaporizhzhia region.

His comments come as US officials tell CNN that Ukraine appears to be ramping up itscounteroffensive and has committed additional resources in this area in recent days.

Putin said that “without any exaggeration, I can say that our soldiers and officers have demonstrated the best examples of mass heroism. The enemy used a large number of armored vehicles - this is 50 units. Of these, 39 units, including 26 tanks and 13 armored vehicles, were destroyed….The enemy was not successful in any of the areas of clashes. All counteroffensive attempts were stopped, and the enemy was driven back with heavy losses.”

Putin added: “Today they tried to pick up abandoned wrecked equipment, the wounded and the bodies of the dead, which they left yesterday on the battlefield…The enemy has very heavy losses of personnel — over 200 people. Unfortunately, we did not do without losses, but the difference is colossal, at times - more than ten times less than our enemy. “

Some key context: There has been little independent evidence of the state of the front lines in the south, but Russian military bloggers and official Ukrainian accounts suggest that Ukrainian forces have cut a path through at least one of the many minefields laid by the Russians and made modest territorial gains in the area of Robotyne, south of the town of Orikhiv.

A Ukrainian soldier fires artillery in the direction of Bakhmut on July 22.

After two months of painstakingly slow progress on the battlefield, Ukraine appears to be ramping up itscounteroffensive, deploying extra troops to the southern front and signaling a new phase of the operation, US and Russian officials said.

Ukrainehas committed more forces to the southeast of the country, a sign that Kyiv has identified potential weaknesses in Russian defensive lines, two US officials told CNN.

The Ukrainian military had been holding large numbers of trained troops, some equipped with more powerful Western weapons, back since the operation started in early June. While it still maintains some combat power in reserve, it has now deployed the “main bulk” of the forces committed to the counteroffensive forces, one of the US officials said.

The thrust appears to have brought some results. The counteroffensive has broken through some elements of Russian defensive lines in the southeast, the US official said, and the reserve units have come in to capitalize on the opportunity.

A Russian military official admitted that Ukraine forces have been able “to wedge in” three sections of Russia’s first line of defense in the Zaporizhzhia front line on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s military did not comment in detail on the situation in the area beyond saying its offensive operations along the southern front were “gradually advancing.”

A Ukrainian serviceman inspects a destroyed Russian tank in the recently liberated village of Novodarivka in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine on July 21.

Rogov went on to say Russian forces were using their full arsenal, including aviation strikes, to push back against the Ukrainian units carrying out the assault, which he claimed were Western-equipped and trained.

“The fighters of these brigades have been trained abroad, and the brigades themselves are equipped with Western military equipment, including Leopard tanks and Bradley [infantry fighting vehicles],” he wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s 47th Brigade, which is involved in the offensive, confirmed to CNN it was pushing ahead, saying: “Infantry is advancing. Artillery covers. Bradley crews destroy enemy infantry and their equipment.”

Read more here.

One of the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Tomoko Akane, who issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s children’s ombudsman, Maria Lvova-Belova, has been added to the Russian Interior Ministry’s criminal wanted list.

According to the database entry of the Ministry seen by CNN, Akane is “wanted under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” although the specific article is not specified.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Lvova-Belova on March 17, accusing them of involvement in war crimes related to the illegal deportation of people, including children, and their transfer to Russia. In response, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case against ICC prosecutor Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, as well as judges Rosario Salvatore Aitala, Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez, and Tomoko Akane.

The Russian authorities asserted that their actions are illegal due to the lack of valid grounds for bringing charges against the Russian president and Russia’s children’s ombudsman. Karim Khan and Rosario Aitala were charged and added to the wanted list in May, according to state news agency TASS.

More background: Moscow rejected the warrant when it was issued in March. Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs, said the court has “no meaning” for the country, “including from a “legal point of view.” Russia withdrew from the ICC treaty under a directive signed by Putin in 2016.

CNN’s Rob Picheta and Lauren Said-Moorhouse contributed reporting to this post.

From left: Director of the Institute for African Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences Irina Abramova, African Union Chairman, President of the Union of the Comoros Azali Assoumani, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the Board of Directors at African Export-Import Bank Benedict Okey Oramah, New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff and head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill attend a plenary session of the Russia-Africa Summit and Economic and Humanitarian Forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

The Russia-Africa summit is underway in St. Petersburg, discussing topics ranging from food security to a “multipolar world order.” Yuri Ushakov, assistant for foreign affairs to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said ahead of the summit that all but five African states would be sending representatives, including 17 heads of state.

That turnout, however, is far lower than the 45 heads of state who attended the last summit in 2019 – in a sign of unease among African leaders around aligning themselves too closely with Russia.

Meanwhile, a thousand miles south of St. Petersburg, Ukraine has sent more forces to its counteroffensive in its southern regions, drawing on units previously held in reserve. Two US officials said Ukraine has now deployed the “main bulk” of its forces committed to the counteroffensive.

Here are the latest developments:

Russia launched a missile attack overnight into Thursday on the port infrastructure of the southern region of Odesa, killing one person, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said on Facebook.

“Kalibr missiles were launched from a submarine in the waters of the Black Sea at a critically low altitude, which made detection difficult,” the statement said.

“A civilian employee was killed when one of the administrative buildings of the port was hit,” it said.

Production equipment in one of the cargo terminals was damaged, it added.

Oleh Kiper, the head of the region’s military administration,said on Thursday the employee who died was a security guard born in 1979. The guard building and two vehicles were also destroyed, he said.

In a separate update on Thursday, the Ukrainian Air Force said it had recordedtwo Kalibr missiles from a submarine in the Black Sea and eight Shahed-136/131 drones from the direction of Prymorsko-Akhtarsk.

It said the Kalibr missiles were not intercepted, but all eight drones were destroyed by the Air Forcein the Khmelnytskyi, Dnipropertovsk and Donetsk regions.

Ukrainian troops have made small gains along the Orikhiv-Melitopol axis of the southern front line, according to Kyiv officials.

“They had tactical successes, are entrenching themselves in the achieved frontiers and conducting reconnaissance on the areas of further actions,” he added.

The Ukrainian claims come after reports of fierce clashes in the area emerged early on Wednesday, with Russian officials and military bloggers reporting a scale-up in operations by Kyiv, with dozens of armored vehicles deployed to the front.

What Russia says: On Thursday, the head of the press center for Russia’s Vostok forces said an attack “attack in the direction of Rabotino (Russian for Robotyne) was repulsed.”

“Army aviation strikes and artillery fire destroyed enemy tanks and infantry,” he said in a briefing posted on the Russian Ministry of Defense social media accounts.

Another official, the Russian-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, claimed Moscow’s forces had been able to hold their positions.

“Our units repulsed offensive attempts, breaking enemy units,” he wrote on Telegram.

Their claims differ from the accounts of some well-connected Russian military bloggers who reported some Ukrainian advances in the Zaporizhzhia region.

“In the Zaporozhye (Russian for Zaporizhzhia) direction, Ukrainian units, after massive shelling, managed to advance northeast of Rabotino (Russian for Robotyne),” one blogger, known as “War Gonzo” wrote. “Russian troops are now holding defenses on the northern and eastern outskirts of the village.”

Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill attends a plenary session of the Economic and Humanitarian Forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said many African countries and Russia share the same “moral codes” and are ready to defend them, in remarks during aplenary session at the Economic and Humanitarian Forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

“Over the last 10 years the world has changed beyond recognition. I am not talking only about political matters but about this dangerous moral climate which is being formed sometimes in aggressive manner by some Western countries,” he said, adding “the cult of freedom which is totally wrong and the annihilation of the traditional family.”

Patriarch Kirill said the mutual understanding of “the basics of the human life” and “moral codes” bring Russia and African countries closer together.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a plenary session of the Economic and Humanitarian Forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Russia and African countries will deepen their cooperation particularly in the sphere of education, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursdayduringa plenary session at the Economic and Humanitarian Forum in St. Petersburg.

Putin said Russia’s leading universities will be opening branches on the African continent and that more than 10,000 medical students are currently studying in Russia.

Training centres for primary school teachers will be opened in 28 countries on the continent, he said.

Sport exchanges, volunteer programs and joint curricula will also be developed, he said.

Putin also invited his African guests to the World Youth Festival set to take place in Sochi in March 2024.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a plenary session of the Economic and Humanitarian Forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia can replace Ukrainian grain supplies to Africa, and announced that Russia will send grain free of charge to six African nations in the next few months.

“To be specific, I will add that in the next 3-4 months we will be ready to provide Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and Eritrea with 25,000-50,000 tons of grain [each] free of charge. We will also provide free delivery of these products to consumers,” Putin told African leaders, and received applause.

Putin also said Russia and African countries will deepen their cooperation in the spheres of agriculture, energy, science and education.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Western sanctions are making Russian food deliveries to Africa more difficult and reiterated that Russia pulled out from the Black Sea Grain Deal, because none of Moscow’s the conditions were met.

Speaking at the opening of a plenary session at the Economic and Humanitarian Forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday, Putin said “none of the conditions of the deal regarding the withdrawal from the sanctions of Russian exports of grain and fertilizers to world markets were fulfilled, not a single one.”

Putin went on to say that “the illegitimate sanctions made it much more difficult for Russia to send food to Africa,” in terms of logistics, banking and transfers.

Out of the 262,000 tons of fertilizers blocked in European ports, he said only two batches were actually sent - only 20,000 tons to Malawi and 34,000 tons to Kenya. “The rest remained in the hands of the Europeans,” he said.

Trade between Russia and Africa reached $18 billion last year, Putin said, adding “Africa’s potential is clear to everyone, the growth potential is higher than anywhere else in the world.”

Representatives from 49 African countries are attending Thursday’s two-day summit in St. Petersburg, according to the Kremlin.

Yuri Ushakov, assistant for foreign affairs to Russian President Vladimir Putin, told state news agency TASS that all but five African states would attend, and that Putin would use the occasion to “assess the system of international relations, talk about the initiatives and prospects for relations between Russia and Africa.”

17 heads of states are among the 49 representatives, including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Putin said he plans to “meet separately with each leader of the African states.”

Low turnout: This turnout, however, is far lower than the 45 heads of states who attended the last Russia-Africa summit in 2019 – a sign of unease among many leaders around aligning themselves too closely with their Russian counterpart.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed what he described as “brazen” interference by the West for the poor summit turnout.

“This is indeed a fact, and this is absolutely outrageous. But this will in no way interfere with the success of the summit,” he added.

But some African politicians – further than simply not attending the summit – have expressed grave concerns about Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine.

“I don’t think that this moment in time is a good time for summits in Russia. Because Russia is involved in a war, a conflict,” said Raila Odinga, the Kenyan opposition leader.

What’s on the agenda?: Cameron Hudson, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNN that many leaders of African countries will come to St. Petersburg seeking “a return to normal… of world grain markets, world fertilizer markets.”

The summit comes in the wake of Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Deal, which had secured the safe passage of grain from Ukraine’s southern ports – much of which is exported to Africa.

Not only has Russia blockaded Ukraine’s ports – but it has started to bombard its infrastructure and target its storage facilities, destroying large quantities of grain and sparking fears of global food security.

He said he expects Putin will try “to cut deals directly with African states” in order to create a “dependency relationship.” On Thursday, Putin was quick to reassure leaders that “Russia is still a reliable supplier of food to Africa.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi before a meeting on the sidelines of Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on July 26, 2023.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the heads of the African Union and the African Union Commission that Moscow supports the bloc’s G20 membership.

“We expect that this decision will be made as early as September during the G20 summit in New Delhi,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country will remain a “reliable” food supplier to Africa during his meeting with African leaders.

Many of the leaders attending the summit in St. Petersburg are seeking assurances that their countries will be able to secure food and fertilizer, after Russia allowed the Black Sea Grain Deal to lapse earlier this month.

Russia has since launched a barrage of missile strikes on Ukraine’s ports and storage facilities, including at a site on the Danube River near NATO ally Romania.

In ordinary circ*mstances, Ukraine is a major supplier of grain to many African countries.

Putin said “practical decisions” in various areas of cooperation will be discussed, including trade, economic cooperation, as well as food security.

Following this initial meeting, the leaders will take part in the plenary session of the Economic and Humanitarian Forum, where Putin is expected to deliver a “voluminous speech.”

After the plenary session, Putin will hold bilateral meetings with the heads of Mozambique, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Eritrea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Africa will become one of Russia’s key partners “in a new multipolar world,” during his opening remarks at the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg.

The Russian president is hosting 17 African heads of state, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, with Russia’s withdrawal from a key grain deal likely to be a key part of the agenda.

Such high-level summits are a rarity for Putin, who has been left diplomatically isolated by the Ukraine war. The number of African heads of state attending is less than half the number at a similar summit in 2019.

We will bring you more on this story as it develops.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is visiting the city of Dnipro amid reports of a large push by Kyiv’s forces less than a hundred miles south, along the Zaporizhzhia frontline.

His visit and remarks come as Ukrainian forces continue their “offensive operation on Melitopol and Berdyansk axes, consolidating their positions, and inflict fire damage,” according to the military’s General Staff.

Kyiv adds combat power: It also follows comments from US officials that Ukraine has committed more forces to its counteroffensive in the southeast after nearly two months of slow progress, according to two US officials —a sign that they may have identified potential weaknesses in Russian defensive lines to exploit.

The newly committed units had been held in reserve until now. The military still has additional combat power in reserve, but this is the “main bulk” of the forces committed to the counteroffensive, one of the officials said.

In the southeast, the Ukrainian counteroffensive has broken through some elements of Russian defensive lines, the official said, and the reserve units have come in to capitalize on the opportunity.

Major push forward: On Wednesday, Ukraine appeared to have launched a major push south of Orikhiv, along the Melitopol axis, with Russian officials and bloggers saying Kyiv had committed up to 100 armoured vehicles to the offensive.

A member of the Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia military-civilian administration, Vladimir Rogov, wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces, backed by armored vehicles and tanks, had managed to “wedge in three sections of our first line of defense” near Robotyne.

Ukraine has yet to comment on the specifics of the push. Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliar, said only that offensive operations along the southern front were “gradually advancing,” with similar, gradual progress also taking place further east in the area of Staromaiorsk.

Zelensky concluded his nightly address on Wednesday with a cryptic message that Ukrainian forces were seeing success at the front line.

Lloyd Austin speaks during a news conference in Washington, Tuesday, on July 18.

USDefense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukraine has “a number of options available” as Kyiv commits more forces to its ongoing counteroffensive against Russia.

Austin didn’t comment on the status of the counteroffensive or specific battlefield details, but he said that Ukraine has been “preserving manpower and equipment,” even as their forces deliberately work their way through minefields and other obstacles.

CNN reported earlier that Ukraine has committed more forces to its counteroffensive in the southeast after nearly two months of slow progress, according to two US officials, a sign that they have identified potential weaknesses in Russian defensive lines to exploit.

The Ukrainian military still has additional combat power in reserve, but this is the “main bulk” of the forces committed to the counteroffensive, one of the officials said.

Heavy fighting continues in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, especially around the village of Robotyne, where Ukrainian forces have been trying to break through heavily mined Russian defensive lines, according to Ukrainian and Russian accounts.

Ukrainian forces are also “gradually advancing” in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said. Farther east, Ukraine is “making progress” and consolidating its positions in the area ofStaromaiorske, she added.

Ukrainian forces have made only modest territorial advances in the south since the counteroffensive began at the end of May, committing more forces in the southeast afternearly two months of slow progress, according to two US officials — a sign that they have identified potential weaknesses in Russian defensive lines to exploit. Additionally, the Ukrainian Air Force saysit intercepted 40Russian missiles Wednesday.

If you’re just now catching up, here’s what else you should know:

Ukrainian servicemen prepare for a flight of a Leleka reconnaissance UAV in Ukraine's Donetsk region on June 27.

More than 40 Ukrainian companies have contracts to develop drones for use in the war against Russia, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

Shmyhal appeared at a forum marking the first anniversary of the “Army of Drones” project that brought together Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers. The prime minister said the production of UAVs has since increased tenfold.

Both surveillance and attack drones have played a critical role for both sides in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, assisting with targeting enemy weapons, tracking the movement of units and taking out armor.

Shmyhal said the Ukrainian government has allocated about $1 billion this year for investing in Ukrainian UAV manufacturers.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian minister of digital transformation, displayed some 1,700 UAVs at the forum that are being sent to the front lines.

The program has so far trained 10,000 operators at 26 training centers, and another 10,000 are slated to be trained in the future.

However, some Ukrainian military officials have recently noted that Russia’s advantage in electronic warfare has blunted the effectiveness of drone operations, as Moscow is able to jam the UAVs.

Heavy fighting continues in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, especially around the village of Robotyne, where Ukrainian forces have been trying to break through heavily mined Russian defensive lines, according to Ukrainian and Russian accounts.

“We came close to Robotyne. Have not yet entered the settlement itself. Fighting continues in trench positions in front of Robotyne,” Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, which is involved in the offensive, told CNN.

Ukrainian forces are also “gradually advancing” in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said. Farther east, Ukraine is “making progress” and consolidating its positions in the area of Staromaiorske, she added.

Ukrainian forces have made only modest territorial advances in the south since the counteroffensive began at the end of May.

Russia attempted to attack Ukrainian forces in the Kupyansk and Lyman directions, but Ukraine has “stabilized the situation,” Maliar added, saying it was Russia’s attempt to divert Kyiv’s troops from the Bakhmut area. The Ukrainian military’s General Staff also said Wednesday that Russia attempted an assault in the Lyman direction, but it was foiled.

In the eastern Donetsk region, Maliar said Russians suffered “huge losses in equipment and personnel” in an attempt to go around the town of Avdiivka.

A container filled with wheat is seen aboard a cargo ship in a sea port in Ukraine's Odesa region on March 24.

The United States and its allies are working with Kyiv on alternative land routes to deliver critical grain to the world after Russia pulled out of the grain deal that had permitted Ukrainian grain to travel through the Black Sea, the White House said Wednesday.

“The best way for this grain to get to market is through maritime lanes,” he said. “But we’re working to see what we can do.”

Some background: The US has previously warned that Russia could targetcivilian ships in the Black Sea and blameUkraine after the Kremlin withdrew participation from the Black Sea grain deal earlier this month. The deal was originally brokered by Turkey and the United Nations last year to ensure the safe passage of grain from Ukrainian ports.

Ukrainian grain is critical to global food supplies, especially for developing countries. Grain prices have risen sharply since the deal collapsed and as Moscow targets Ukrainian port infrastructure.