Russian-appointed officials report another assassination attempt in occupied Melitopol
From CNN’s Uliana Pavlova
A dog walks on the debris of a destroyed building after an air bombing in the town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region, on May 7. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
The Russian-appointed governor of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region said an assassination attempt was made on a Russian-appointed court chairman there.
“As a result of the assassination attempt, the judge was not injured, but two guards were injured, they are in a medical facility, they are provided with all the necessary assistance,” the governor, Yevgeny Balitsky, said on his Telegram channel.
The Zaporizhzhia judge is the latest target in a string of assassination attempts in Russian-occupied Melitopol in the last few weeks.
Last week, the deputy head of Melitopol's regional police department was hospitalized after an improvised explosive device went off outside a gate of a residential building.
On April 27, another police chief in Melitopol, Oleksandr Mishchenko, was killed when an improvised device exploded at the entrance to an apartment building.
12:37 p.m. ET, May 11, 2023
Areas captured by Wagner around Bakhmut are being lost to Ukraine, Russian warlord complains
From CNN's Tim Lister, Julia Kesaieva and Katharina Krebs
Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut, an eastern city where fierce battles against Russian forces have been taking place, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 3. Libkos/AP
The head of the Wagner private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has again complained that areas captured by his fighters around the eastern city of Bakhmut at the expense of heavy casualties are now being lost to the Ukrainians.
“The situation on the western flanks is developing according to the worst of the predicted scenarios. Those territories that were liberated with blood and lives of our comrades every day progressing by dozens or hundreds of meters during many months, today are abandoned almost without any fight by those who are supposed to hold our flanks," Prigozhin said in a Telegram message Thursday.
His perspective is in stark contrast to the views of one Ukrainian battalion commander in the area, who told CNN that it was Russian regular forces that were putting up the stiffest resistance, while Wagner units had been the first to run.
According to one well-known Russian military blogger in the area, the task of defending the flanks around Bakhmut was passed to regular Russian forces, while Wagner has consolidated its presence in the city itself.
One Ukrainian commander in the Bakhmut area said Thursday that Ukrainian units had struck at the Russians’ flanks and the enemy had retreated. However, Taras Deyak of the Karpatska Sich tactical group told Radio Liberty, that the situation remains "very difficult, very tense and at times uncontrollable.”
Geolocated footage published since Tuesday also shows that “Ukrainian forces likely conducted successful limited counterattacks north of Khromove (immediately west of Bakhmut) and northwest of Bila Hora (southwest of Bakhmut) and made marginal advances in these areas,” according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Here's a look at the state of control:
12:32 p.m. ET, May 11, 2023
UN, Turkey and Ukraine stress need to prolong vital grain deal expiring next week
From CNN’s Richard Roth in New York, Victoria Butenko in Kyiv, Isil Sariyuce in Istanbul and Xiaofei Xu in Paris
Cargo ships anchored in the Marmara Sea await to cross the Bosphorus Straits in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. Khalil Hamra/AP
The United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine have called for the extension of a crucial grain deal agreement that enabled the passage of Ukrainian ships carrying agriculture products to depart the country, as the latest negotiations in Istanbul between the three parties and Russia ends Thursday.
Turkey, alongside the UN, helped broker the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July. The agreement, which is set to expire on May 18, established a procedure that guaranteed the safety of ships carrying Ukrainian grain, fertilizer and other foodstuffs through a humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea.
Moscow stopped the ships from leaving in the early days of the war, exacerbating a global food crisis.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said after Thursday’s meeting that the implementation of the Russian part of the agreement is “unsatisfactory,” Russian state media TASS reported.
“So far, we can say that a lot has been said and promised. We appreciate the efforts of the UN and the UN Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres]. However, no concrete results for us have been observed yet," Vershinin said, according to the state media.
The UN's representative Martin Griffiths said on Thursday: "The United Nations will continue to work closely with all sides to achieve the continuation and full implementation of the Initiative, in pursuit of their broader shared commitment to addressing global food insecurity."
Griffiths added that over 30 million tons of grains and other food have been exported from Ukraine since the beginning of the initiative in July 2022.
All parties at the meeting agreed to "engage with those elements going forwards," according to the statement.
Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday "our wish is the extension of the grain agreement," according to Turkish state media Andalou Angency.
Kyiv wishes to see the deal not only be extended but also expand to cover more ground, according to a statement from Ukraine's Vice President Oleksandr Kubrakov, adding that future talks will take place virtually at the proposal of UN and Turkey.
12:28 p.m. ET, May 11, 2023
Ukrainian commander says Wagner fighters "ran away" from Bakhmut first, countering claims made by mercenary chief
From CNN's Nic Robertson and AnneClaire Stapleton in eastern Ukraine
Apartment blocks in Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on April 26. (Libkos/AP)
The Ukrainian commander of a battalion involved in the country's attack on Russian positions near Bakhmut this week has told CNN the first Russians to abandon the area were Wagner fighters, contradicting claims by the mercenary group's chief that regular Russian troops initially fled the battleground in eastern Ukraine.
The commander of the First Battalion of the 3rd Assault Brigade, whose call-sign is Rollo, told a CNN team in eastern Ukraine that while Wagner units left their station southwest of the city of Bakhmut, the troops of the Russian army’s 72nd Brigade stayed and fought.
His remarks contradict those of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who accused the 72nd Brigade of deserting their positions.
At one point, Rollo said, Kyiv's forces used powerful HIMARS rockets against Russian infantry, who were gathering to reinforce positions. HIMARS rockets, provided by the United States, are normally used on more long-range targets such as ammunition depots and have a reputation for pinpoint accuracy.
Rollo added that the Russian soldiers only capitulated after being surrounded. “We spent two hours trying to persuade them to surrender."
He said Prigozhin wanted to blame the Russian army for the failure, but they were good soldiers and fought hard. Prigozhin was a liar, he added.
Much of the fighting occurred in close quarters, and sometimes the enemy was just 20 meters away, according to Rollo.
Rollo commented that at least 200 to 300 Russian soldiers were killed and it may have been more.
CNN was not on the ground in Bakhmut to independently verify the death toll.
Some background: Prigozhin accused Moscow's troops of "abandoning their positions" in front-line Bakhmut, laying bare deep fissures between the Wagner head and the Kremlin amid Russia's faltering invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this week, he said that “one of the units of the Ministry of Defense fled from one of our flanks, abandoning their positions. They all fled and [laid] bare a front nearly 2 kilometers wide and 500 meters deep.”
In comments on Tuesday, Prighozhin claimed the “72nd brigade f***ed up three square kilometers today, on which I had about 500 people killed. Because it was a strategic bridgehead. They just ran the hell out of there.”
CNN's David VonBlohn and Olha Konovalova contributed reporting from eastern Ukraine.
10:55 a.m. ET, May 11, 2023
Japan pledges $1 billion to help Ukraine’s neighbors take in refugees
From CNN's Xiaofei Xu in Paris
Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki delivers a speech at the G7 High-Level Corporate Governance Roundtable in Niigata, Japan, on May 11. (Kazuhiro Nogi/Reuters)
Japan will provide $1 billion to help Ukraine's neighbors in taking refugees from the war-stricken country, Japanese finance minister announced Thursday.
"Besides confirming the results of our financial aids [to Ukraine] so far, we would also like to discuss how to strengthen our cooperation with international financial institutions and help Ukraine's neighboring countries, including in taking in Ukrainian refugees," Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told reporters, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
Suzuki was speaking at the G7 Finance Minister and Central Bank chief meeting in Niigata.
"I would like to achieve concrete results and bring them forward to the Hiroshima summit," Suzuki said.
Japan is scheduled to host this year's G7 summit in Hiroshima starting on May 19.
10:01 a.m. ET, May 11, 2023
Artillery and rocket fire intensifies in Zaporizhzhia as Russia claims it’s eliminating Ukrainian positions
From CNN's Katharina Krebs in London and Olga Voitovych in Kyiv
Firefighters work at a site of a residential house destroyed by a Russian military strike in the village of Malokaterynivka, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on May 11. (Reuters)
The Ukrainian official leading the regional military administration in Zaporizhzhia, Yurii Malashko, said Thursday that the Russian military had shelled several towns and villages in the region, injuring civilians and damaging property. The Russians have claimed they are eliminating deployment points of the Ukrainian military.
Indirect fire in the region has intensified ahead of what observers expect to be a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
"After 70 attacks, more than three dozen destructions were recorded in 20 settlements," Malashko said on Telegram. "The enemy fired 60 times from artillery, 5 times from multiple rocket launchers, launched 3 air strikes and one missile attack, and carried out one attack from a UAV."
Malashko said that in the village of Malokaterynivka, eight people were injured by cluster shells. Three of them were ambulance workers who went to the scene, he said. There was also damage in the settlements of Huliaipole, Orikhiv and Stepnohirsk.
What Russia says: The Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday issued a statement claiming that Russian air defenses and Akatsiya self-propelled artillery crews had destroyed Ukraine’s temporary deployment point close to Huliaipole. The ministry claimed that an ammunition depot of the Ukrainian’s 102th Artillery Brigade had been destroyed.
"In South Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia directions, the attacks, launched by aviation and artillery of the Vostok Group of Forces have resulted in the neutralisation of the enemy units close to Vuhledar and Prechistivka (Donetsk People's Republic), Malinivka, Huliapole, Novodanilivka and Kamianske (Zaporizhzhia region)," the ministry claimed.
A Russian military blogger said that elsewhere in the south – in Kherson region – the Russian air force had used powerful FAB-500 bombs to attack Ukrainian storage facilities. CNN is unable to independently verify the claim.
9:33 a.m. ET, May 11, 2023
UK confirms donation of Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine
From CNN's Niamh Kennedy and Lindsay Isaac in London
Visitors pass behind the French made Storm Shadow/Scalp EG cruise missiles at the opening of the five-day Dubai Air Show in Dubai on November 20, 2005. (Rabih Moghrabi/AFP/Getty Images)
The UK has donated Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine, the British defense ministry confirmed Thursday.
This follows exclusive CNN reporting earlier Thursday that the UK had supplied Ukraine with multiple Storm Shadow cruise missiles, citing conversations with senior Western officials.
The donation of the Storm Shadow missiles "complements" long-range systems previously gifted to Ukraine as well as Ukraine's own Neptune cruise missiles, Ben Wallace told lawmakers Thursday.
"The donation of these weapon systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia's continued brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law," Wallace said in parliament.
8:43 a.m. ET, May 11, 2023
It’s mid-afternoon in Kyiv. Here’s what you need to know
From CNN staff
For weeks, a question has hung over the war: When will Ukraine launch its long-anticipated counteroffensive? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tried to pour cold water on the speculation Thursday, claiming that his forces needed “a bit more time” to wait for equipment to arrive. But, after Ukrainian troops made significant gains around Bakhmut this week, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed the counteroffensive is already underway.
Here are the latest developments:
Has the counteroffensive begun?: Despite Zelensky’s claims that Ukraine needs “more time” before launching its counteroffensive, Prigozhin said the Ukrainian president is “lying.” “The counteroffensive is in full swing,” he said Thursday. The Ukrainian military confirmed its troops are conducting “effective” advances in the Bakhmut area after inflicting heavy losses on Russian forces, driving them back 2 kilometers (1 mile) on Wednesday.
CNN Exclusive: The United Kingdom has supplied Ukraine with multiple Storm Shadow cruise missiles, giving Ukrainian forces a new long-range strike capability they have yearned for since the start of the war. The new missiles – with a firing range in excess of 250km or 155 miles – could allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine. The UK government confirmed CNN’s report Thursday.
Russia hits back: The Kremlin has warned its armed forces will provide an “adequate response” to the UK’s decision to supply these missiles to Kyiv. Spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said Russia’s military will make “relevant decisions” in light of the UK’s move. Moscow also hit out at the International Criminal Court judges who issued an arrest for Russian President Vladimir Putin, placing each of them on Russia’s wanted list.
Zaporizhzhia evacuations: Russian forces have evacuated more than 12,000 people from frontline areas in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region – home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – according to Russian officials. Evacuations began last week, amid rumors that Ukraine is preparing to attempt to reclaim the region.
Trump’s remarks: Former President Donald Trump would not say Wednesday night who he thinks should prevail in the war, telling New Hampshire GOP primary voters that he doesn’t “think in terms of winning and losing.” Speaking at a CNN town hall, Trump would not commit to sending further aid to Ukraine, should he win back the presidency. Zelensky has since said he is not worried about the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election and what it could mean in terms of Washington’s support for Kyiv, because he believes Ukraine will win by then.
Cross-border strikes: Russian authorities claimed Ukraine launched several attacks on the border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod on Thursday – the second consecutive day of such allegations. Local governors claimed the alleged attacks caused damage, but there have been no reported casualties in any of the attacks.
8:06 a.m. ET, May 11, 2023
More than 12,000 evacuated from frontline areas in Zaporizhzhia, say Russian officials
From CNN's Olga Voitovych in Kyiv
Russian forces have evacuated more than 12,000 people from frontline areas in the Zaporizhzhia region, a member of the Russian-installed main council of the military-civilian administration Vladimir Rogov said Thursday.
“Over 12,000 residents of frontline districts left for safe areas of Zaporizhzhia region,” Rogov said on his official Telegram account on Thursday. “More than 4,000 of them left by buses and more than 8,000 by their own vehicles.”
CNN could not independently verify the numbers put forward by the local Russian administration.
Rogov called on those still in these areas to take advantage of the opportunity to evacuate under what he called the “temporary relocation program,” with residents being given 10,000 rubles ($130), accommodation and meals.
Some background: Russian authorities began evacuating towns and cities in the occupied region of Zaporizhzhia last week, amid rumors that Ukraine is set to launch a long-anticipated counteroffensive to reclaim territory seized by Moscow’s invasion.
