May 26, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

US President Joe Biden's administration has reiterated in conversations with Ukraine that it does not support attacks on Russian soil, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN Thursday.

“We have again made it very clear to the Ukrainians what our expectations are about attacking Russia — we don't want to encourage or enable that, we certainly don't want any US-made equipment used to attack Russian soil,” Kirby told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

The conversations with Ukraine didn’t involve “outlining consequences” but were “simply a reaffirmation," Kirby told CNN. He added that these discussions have happened "as recently as over just the last day or so."

Some context: Kirby's comments come on the heels of a CNN report that anti-Putin Russian fighters, fighting alongside Ukrainian armed forces, conducted a raid inside Russian territory. 

In an interview with CNN’s Sam Kiley, one of the Russian nationals said the raid was conducted using American-manufactured equipment purchased on the open market. Kirby said Thursday that he could not confirm that.

He instead said the US is providing equipment "to be used to defend Ukrainian soil."

The Russian reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs was seemingly hit by an unmanned surface vessel in the Black Sea, new video shows, disputing a claim by Moscow, which said on Wednesday it had been able to thwart a Ukrainian attack on the craft.

Footage shared by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on social media Thursday and analyzed by CNN appeared to show the moments just before the impact. 

The video is filmed from a camera placed on the surface vessel. It shows the vessel as it approaches a larger ship at high speed.  

CNN analysis determined the ship is likely to be the Ivan Khurs. It also shows the tip of the unmanned surface vessel, similar to the unmanned surface vessels seen in video posted by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Thursday.

The feed cuts as the vessel comes within a few yards of  the ship. 

More background: On Wednesday, the Russian defense ministry acknowledged the attack on the Ivan Khurs but said all the surface vessels had failed to hit the ship. 

"Today at 5:30 a.m., the armed forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the Ivan Khurs ship of the Black Sea Fleet with three unmanned speedboats," said the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov. "All enemy boats were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of a Russian ship 140 kilometers northeast of the Bosphorus."

The Russian Ministry of Defense also shared footage that appears to show one of the surface vessels exploding as it is hit by gunfire. 

"The ship ‘Ivan Khurs’ of the Black Sea Fleet continues to fulfill its tasks," Konashenkov added. 

It is unclear what happened after the surface vessel seemingly hit the Ivan Khurs and how damaged the reconnaissance ship may have been during the attack.

CNN has reached out to Ukrainian sources for additional details but has yet to hear back. 

The head of the Russian paramilitary company Yevgeny Prigozhin told CNN Thursday that he has handed the body of a retired US Army Special Forces soldier who was killed in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut over to Ukraine. 

In a response to CNN asking if Wagner had returned the body of Retired Army Staff Sgt. Nicholas Maimer as promised by Prigozhin last week, Prigozhin said in an audio recording: “Today at 1500 hours we handed over the body of the American Nicholas Maimer to the Ukrainian side.” 

In a video shared with CNN by Prigozhin’s press service, the Wagner boss stands next to two coffins, one draped with an American flag and one with a Turkish flag, and says: “The American died in battle in the 'nest'” — one of the last contested areas in west Bakhmut — and added that the second coffin contained the body of a Turkish citizen who was in Bakhmut with his female partner. 

CNN cannot independently verify the location in the video or the date it was filmed. 

Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed to CNN that Maimer’s body, along with the body of a Turkish citizen, had been returned to Ukraine on Thursday during a POW exchange. A video shared by the group showed a coffin covered with an American flag which matched the coffin seen in the video with Prigozhin. 

CNN is unable to independently confirm that the coffin contains Maimer’s body, or the circumstances in which he died.

Maimer's decades in uniform: According to Maimer’s service record provided to CNN, he served more than 20 years in uniform before retiring in 2018, according to his service record provided to CNN.

He served more than two years in the active-duty Army, leaving in December 1998; he then joined the National Guard in November 2000, and served about 18 years between three different Guard units before retiring in December 2018.

Among his awards and decorations are the Special Forces Tab, Army Commendation Medal and four Army Achievement Medals.

His uncle Paul Maimer told the Idaho Statesman his nephew had gone to Ukraine “as a humanitarian trying to do good for this world” and that the family wanted to bring him home for a “proper burial.”

“I think he’s deserving to be put to rest in a veterans cemetery,” he told the Statesman. “He might not have been fighting for our country, but he was fighting for the right reasons.”

CNN's Josh Pennington, Sandi Sidhu, Jennifer Hansler, Haley Britzky and Alex Marquardt contributed to this post.

The transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus has begun, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday, according to state news agency BelTA.

Lukashenko also promised the safety of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying: “Don’t worry about nuclear weapons. We are responsible for this. These are serious issues. Everything will be all right here.”

Some background: This comes after Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement on deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, one of Russia's neighbors and most loyal allies. Lukashenko raised the possibility of Russia placing strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus during a national address in March, while baselessly accusing Western countries of “preparing to invade” Belarus and “destroy” it.

Finland on Thursday pledged to send additional military equipment to Ukraine.

Finland’s 16th defense package to Ukraine will include anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition and will be worth 109 million euros (about $117 million), a Finnish defense ministry spokesperson told CNN.

That brings the total defense aid from Finland to Ukraine since Russian invasion began last year to 1.1 billion euros (about $1.18 billion).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Finnish government for the aid in a tweet:

Soldiers from the Russian mercenary organization Wagner are being “replaced” by regular Russian troops on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut but, as of Thursday, Wagner fighters remain in the city itself, according to Hanna Mailar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister.

Mailar added that Russian forces are trying to stop the gains made on the flanks by Ukrainian troops over the last week with artillery shelling, and the Russians are reinforcing in those areas.

She maintained that Ukrainian forces still “control the outskirts of the city in the southwestern part of the 'Airplane' area.”

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said earlier that the withdrawal of his fighters from Bakhmut had begun and would last until June 1.

On Saturday, Prigozhin claimed to have captured the city and announced that he would hand control of it over to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Russian officials in occupied Berdiansk said Ukrainian forces have struck the city with a missile.

Ukraine's military "launched a massive strike" on the city, Vladimir Rogov, a member of Russia's local administration in Zaporizhzhia, posted on Telegram on Thursday. 

Rogov said he still did not have information on casualties, adding that response teams were on site.

If Ukraine was behind the alleged strike, the use of Storm Shadow missiles are a likely option, given Berdiansk is deep in Russian-controlled territory, around 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) from the front line. 

About the missiles: The Storm Shadow is a long-range cruise missile with stealth capabilities, jointly developed by the UK and France, which is typically launched from the air. With a firing range in excess of 250 kilometers, or 155 miles, it is just short of the 185-mile range capability of the US-made surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, that Ukraine has long asked for. The United Kingdom said it delivered multiple of the Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine earlier in May.