July 11, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

NATO allies on Tuesday reaffirmed their support for Ukraine’s push for membership of the alliance, according to a final declaration issued by the 31-member group at a summit in Lithuania. 

NATO allies also reiterated their condemnation of Russia's war and its "blatant violations of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, and OSCE commitments and principles.” 

Support for Kyiv was clear around the Lithuanian capital. Messages were even displayed on the windows of shuttle buses carrying people to and from the summit venue. 

“While you are waiting for this bus, Ukraine is waiting to become a NATO member,” read a message written on the window of one of the buses.

Here are the latest developments from the summit:

US President Joe Biden President congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the agreement reached with the Swedish prime minister that would allow for Sweden's membership in NATO, according to the White House.

Biden and Erdogan met at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday.

The leaders "discussed efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation, welcoming the latest round of discussions in the strategic mechanism and exchanging views on defense and economic priorities,” the White House said in a readout of the meeting.

“They also discussed regional issues of shared interest, including their enduring support for Ukraine and the importance of preserving stability in the Aegean," it added.

Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu warned of retaliation if the United States continues with plans to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine.

"In the event that the United States supplies cluster munitions to Ukraine, Russia will be forced to respond in a reciprocal manner," Shoigu said, according to Russian television network Channel 5, which carried his comments.

Former President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now on the Russian Security Council, said on Telegram it had been reported that the Ukrainians were already using the munitions on the southern front.

Tokmak is a town near the frontlines in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.

Russian military bloggers have claimed that the munitions are already being used by Ukrainian forces. Neither Ukraine nor the United States has said they are already deployed.

The White House said Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine was a “temporary” one. 

In comments published late Sunday, the Russian embassy in Washington said the United States “de facto” admitted to committing war crimes by supplying cluster munitions to Ukraine.

The embassy added that the decision shows that “the US is ready to annihilate all life far from its own borders and are using the Ukrainians to do it.”

Some more context: The US confirmed last week that it will send cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package, following months of debate within the Biden administration about whether to provide Kyiv with the controversial weapons banned by over 100 countries, including key US allies.

The Russian Foreign Ministry described the transfer of cluster munitions as “an act of desperation and evidence of failure of the highly publicized Ukrainian 'counteroffensive.'”

How do they work? Cluster munitions, also called cluster bombs, are canisters that carry tens to hundreds of smaller bomblets, also known as submunitions. The canisters can be dropped from aircraft, launched from missiles or fired from artillery, naval guns or rocket launchers.

The canisters break open at a prescribed height, depending upon the area of the intended target, and the bomblets inside spread out over that area. They are fused by a timer to explode closer to or on the ground, spreading shrapnel that is designed to kill troops or take out armored vehicles such as tanks.

Both the Ukrainians and the Russians have used cluster bombs since Moscow’s forces invaded in February 2022. More recently, Ukrainian forces have begun using Turkish-provided cluster munitions on the battlefield.

US President Joe Biden will skip tonight’s Heads of State and Government Dinner at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Pressed by reporters traveling with the president why Biden is a no-show, an official said the president “has four full days of official business and is preparing for a big speech tomorrow in addition to another day at the summit.” 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend tonight’s dinner in Biden’s stead.

It’s not the first time Biden skipped a dinner at a major summit. At the G-20 in Indonesia last November, the president skipped a gala dinner with world leaders after a day of meetings.

On Biden's schedule: On Monday, he met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street and King Charles at Windsor Castle before traveling to Vilnius, while on Tuesday, he participated in a series of leader meetings at the summit.

He delivers an address in Vilnius on Wednesday before traveling to Helsinki, where he’ll attend the Nordic Leaders’ Summit on Thursday and take questions in a news conference. 

The reported death of a senior Russian commander, Lt. Gen. Oleg Tsokov, in Ukraine would deprive Russia of one of its most experienced generals. Tsokov would also be the most senior Russian general to have been killed in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have said that Tsokov was killed in a missile attack on a Russian headquarters in the occupied city of Berdyansk. CNN has been unable to confirm his death.

However, a Russian Telegram channel, Military Informer, wrote:

Military Informer has more than 600,000 subscribers. 

The Southern Military District has been heavily involved in the invasion since it began in February 2022. The Southern is one of four land districts into which the Russian armed forces are organized.

Amid persistent turmoil in Russia’s command structure, Tsokov continued to be promoted through the campaign. A presidential decree in February promoted him to the rank of general lieutenant.

He remained in the armed forces despite reports by Russian military bloggers that he’d been wounded last September in the Svatove area of Kharkiv. At that point he appears to have been the commander of the 20th Guards Army, having been recently promoted from command of the 144th Motorized Rifle Division.

Russian military bloggers said he received treatment in a St Petersburg hospital.

Tsokov, age 51, appears to have been a rising star in the Russian military. In 2021 he addressed a ceremony at the Kremlin attended by President Vladimir Putin for military cadets.

Thanking Putin for driving the modernization of Russia’s military, Tsokov said: “For us, the profession of an officer is not just service. This is the calling and meaning of all life, the willingness to sacrifice life for our great Motherland.”

Independent analysts and CNN’s own tally indicate that Russia has lost about 10 generals in combat since the invasion began.

The Ukrainian military said it is making progress on the southern front and has “conducted both offensive and effective defense operations.”

Valerii Shershen, a spokesperson for the forces in the south, said the Russians had been forced to “pull up reserves as a result of the onslaught by our strike units.”

CNN cannot verify the Ukrainian claims of battlefield gains.

Ukrainian officials have made it clear that minimizing losses is their priority as they try to break down complex Russian defenses developed over a period of months.

In the east, Russian attacks continue around Marinka and Avdiivka, Shershen said. “We are fighting back and holding our ground. Over the last day, 18 combat engagements took place here, most of them in the area of Marinka.” 

He claimed 74 Russian troops were killed, 85 wounded and 19 surrendered.

NATO allies gathered at the summit in Lithuania have approved the military alliance's most "comprehensive defense plans" since the Cold War, the group's chief Jens Stoltenberg said in a tweet on Tuesday. 

“Allies took key decisions at a critical moment for our security. We agreed a package to strengthen Ukraine & provide a clear path towards NATO. We also approved our most comprehensive defence plans since the Cold War, backed by an enduring commitment to invest more in defence,” he wrote.

NATO allies have called on China to abstain from supporting the Russian war effort in Ukraine "in any way," stressing that China’s "deepening" partnership with Russia runs against the alliance’s values. 

In a joint communiqué published Tuesday, NATO allies said the “stated ambitions and coercive policies” of the People's Republic of China (PRC) challenge the alliance’s “interests, security and values.” 

NATO allies issued a specific call to China to “act responsibly and refrain from providing any lethal aid to Russia” for use in the war in Ukraine. 

Some background: China has refused to condemn Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine or call for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine’s territory.

In late May, China’s envoy for the war in Ukraine, Li Hui, carried out a two-week tour of Europe in which China stressed resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Although China has adopted a neutral stance toward the conflict, NATO leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have publicly expressed their hope that Chinese President Xi Jinping could “reason” with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. 

Xi last met with Putin during a state visit at the Kremlin in March, and the two leaders touted the close ties and strategic visions shared by their countries.

NATO allies on Tuesday reaffirmed their support for Ukraine’s push for membership of the alliance, according to a final declaration issued by the 31-member group at a summit in Lithuania. 

NATO allies also reiterated their condemnation “in the strongest terms (of) Russia’s blatant violations of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, and OSCE commitments and principles.” 

“There can be no impunity for Russian war crimes and other atrocities, such as attacks against civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure that deprives millions of Ukrainians of basic human services,” according to the declaration.