Zelenskyy slams Ukrainian officials for revealing tactics; Ukraine destroys last bridge over Dnipro

Ukraine's military destroyed the last remaining bridge over the Dnipro River in order to deny Russian forces the opportunity to advance with their equipment.

"Today, the Armed Forces of Ukraine targeted the fourth and last bridge that connected the right and left banks of the Dnipro river," wrote Serhii Hlan, a member of Ukraine's local government in Kherson, on Facebook. "That is, the Russians no longer have any opportunity to fully transfer their equipment to the right bank."

Last month, British intelligence said it had indications that Russian forces were scrambling to create makeshift bridges to ferry militarized vehicles and equipment across the river.

— Amanda Macias

The Biden administration this week promised Ukraine $1 billion in additional military aid, including ammunition for precision-guided missile systems mounted on trucks, anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft artillery and short-range rockets, as well as medical supplies and medical vehicles.

The package brings to $9.8 billion the total for U.S. military aid so far since Russia invaded its much smaller neighbor.

One of the most powerful technologies being supplied to Ukraine is the Lockheed Martin-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, used by the U.S. Army since 2007, said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a national security think tank. It has a range of 47 miles and hits targets at a precision of 20 feet.

The other is the Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, a surface-to-air defense system developed by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and Raytheon Missiles & Defense, which can detect targets 75 miles away and engage them at 19 miles. 

Read more about the weapons systems the U.S. has pledged to send and whether experts believe they meet Kyiv's needs as it battles a military with many times its own firepower here.

— NBC News

Three British citizens, a Swedish citizen and a Croatian citizen who fought for the Ukrainian armed forces will face a criminal trial next week, according to Russian state news agency Interfax.

"The court hearing is scheduled for August 15, it will be held behind closed doors," Interfax reported, citing a court representative.

If the court finds the defendants guilty, they may face the death penalty.

— Amanda Macias

The State Department urged African countries not to buy Russian fuel despite lucrative offers from the Kremlin.

"As you've seen, since February Russia has attempted to seize the territory of Ukraine by wrecking terrible damage on the civilians and the infrastructure of the country of Ukraine. In an effort to stop that aggression and to deter Russian attempts to seize Ukraine, we have agreed to an embargo on Russian oil," said Molly Phee, assistant secretary of State for African affairs, on a conference call with reporters.

"It is true that we are seeking to deprive Russia of the revenue that it receives from oil sales, which it is using to conduct this terrible, illegal campaign in Ukraine," Phee added.

She told reporters that U.S. officials including U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield have issued fresh warnings while traveling through the African continent.

"We worked very hard to exempt all Russian food products from sanctions because we knew they were important to many consumers around the world, including those here in Africa," Phee said.

— Amanda Macias

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on Russian forces to depart the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and to "stop using this plant as a military base."

"We are very concerned about the situation around this plant. We've asked that the Russians leave this plant and allow for the IAEA to go in and do investigations to ensure that the plant is safe," Thomas-Greenfield said during an interview with the BBC, referencing a nuclear watchdog agency.

"We want the IAEA to get in there to see exactly what is happening on the ground. If there's a conflict going on around the plant, it needs to stop," she said, adding, "We will insist that they allow for the IAEA to have access to the plant. And that they stop using this plant as a military base."

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom says pregnant women and children should leave the Zaporizhzhia region in case there is an accident at the nuclear power plant there.

"As a result of a possible catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant the zone of radiation contamination will be 2 million square kilometers and 1 million people will be affected by radiation and not only in Ukraine," Energoatom wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

"Therefore, children should be taken out of the Zaporizhzhya region right now, because it is they and pregnant women who suffer the most from radiation," the company added.

Russian forces took over the nuclear power plant in March and have since lobbed missiles at the facility.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke to Pope Francis and gave the leader of the Roman Catholic Church an update on Russia's war.

"Grateful to the pontiff for his prayers for Ukraine. Our people need support of world spiritual leaders who should convey to the world the truth about acts of horror committed by the aggressor in Ukraine," Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.

Pope Francis has criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has urged an end to the conflict.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska honored eight young Ukrainian children who have shown heroism since Russia invaded Ukraine.

"Today we are awarding our small, but great Ukrainians, our future," Zelenskyy said at a special ceremony in Kyiv. "You are great. The whole country applauds you. Thanks for each life protected by you. Glory to heroes."

The ceremony, held in Kyiv's Mariinsky Palace, took place on the Day of Youth. The children were given gifts by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Among those awarded was Egor Shemet from the Chernihiv region, who helped guard his street from Russian troops.

Shemet dreams of restoring his house, which was destroyed by Russian shelling, and helping his brother recover from psychological trauma sustained during the war, according to Zelenskyy's office.

— Associated Press

The organization overseeing the export of agricultural products from Ukraine said it has approved two more vessels to leave the besieged country.

The vessel Star Laura is carrying 60,150 metric tons of corn and is destined for Iran. The vessel Sormovskiy is carrying 3,050 metric tons of wheat and is destined for Turkey.

The Joint Coordination Center, an initiative of Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey, also separately authorized the movement of two more ships from the port of Odesa for departure on Saturday, pending inspections.

— Amanda Macias

Estonian Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur galvanized allies during a 24-nation meeting in Copenhagen to continue supporting Ukraine as the war-weary country fights back a full-scale Russian invasion.

"Estonia's assistance to Ukraine has been significant, but we must not tire," Pevkur said.

"I, therefore, appreciate the initiative of the allies to bring together the various contributors and find ways in which we can further support Ukraine by increasing the training provided to it and the production of European arms industries," he added.

Estonia, NATO's smallest member country, has given Ukraine nearly $250 million in military assistance since Russia invaded in late February. The Baltic country has delivered Javelin anti-tank missile systems, howitzers, anti-tank mines, anti-tank grenade launchers, mortars and other equipment.

Pevkur also said that Estonia joined Germany in donating a field hospital and medical supplies worth nearly $10.2 million to Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias

Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv was hit with Russian shelling overnight, city administrator Oleh Sinegubov wrote in a post on Telegram.

"Last night, the Russians launched rocket attacks on Kharkiv," his post said. "Four rockets were fired from Belgorod at once. At around 3am, two rockets hit an educational institution in the Slobid district."

The post added details about specific infrastructure that was hit, including a road next to an administrative building and areas in villages around Kharkiv, though there were no casualties in the district. One 51-year-old woman was killed by the shelling in the western Zolochiv community, which is near Lviv, the post said.

CNBC was not able to independently verify the information.

By mid-March, Kharkiv's population of 1.4 million had already dropped by 50% due to people fleeing the violence, Ukrainian officials said.

— Natasha Turak

A fresh shipment of M270 multi-launch rocket systems (MLRS) tanks arrived in Ukraine from the U.K., Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet, thanking the U.K. and its Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.

Reznikov also thanked the British people, writing, "Your support is amazing and so important for Ukraine. Our #UAarmy will skillfully use this "replenishment" at the battlefield." He added that "more 'gifts' will arrive soon."

During a Ukraine donor conference in Copenhagen on Thursday, Britain along with Denmark pledged more financial and weapons support to Ukraine. The U.K. has been the second-largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States since Russia's invasion began in late February.

— Natasha Turak

Russia's permanent representative at the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, says his country opposes the U.N.'s call for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which Russian forces have occupied since March.

"The demilitarization of the station can make it vulnerable to those who want to visit it. No one knows what their goals and objectives will be," Nebenzia said, quoted by Russian news service Interfax. "We cannot rule out any provocations, terrorist attacks on the station, which we must protect."

The plant has been frequently surrounded by Russian shelling, Ukrainian and Western officials say. Moscow denies this and insists that its Ukrainian forces shooting at their own nuclear plant. Staff operating the plant describe constant fear and working at gunpoint, and International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said that the plant was "completely out of control."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres previously said, "The facility should not be used as part of any military operations. Instead, it is necessary to urgently reach an agreement at the technical level on the establishment of a security perimeter and demilitarization in order to ensure the security of the region."

The Zaporizhzhia plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and can provide power to four million homes.

— Natasha Turak

Celebrity chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, whose humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen is dedicated to feeding vulnerable communities, called for stronger coordination of food aid for Ukraine as donations have started to weaken in the months before winter.

"The cash is sooner or later going to start finishing, that's why I'm calling on... all the countries that want to support Ukraine... that we need to become one," Andres told Reuters while working in Irpin, outside of Kyiv.

"If everybody is doing their own thing, we may be doubling efforts, wasting money, not helping Ukraine, especially as winter is coming," the Michelin-starred chef added.

The Spanish chef and restaurateur brought the World Central Kitchen to Ukraine to address the food crisis set off by Russia's invasion.

Andres' organization has provided more than 130 million meals since the war began in late February, and has continued its work despite having its facilities destroyed by Russian missile attacks.

— Natasha Turak

Eleven Russian rockets struck the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, its mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko reported via his Facebook page.

"Private homes were destroyed. There is no information about victims. Occupiers destroy everything in their path - a terrorist tactic," he wrote in a translation provided by the platform. CNBC was not able to independently verify the details.

Kramatorsk was the site of a brutal Russian rocket attack in early April on a train station packed with civilians trying to flee the conflict. It has been subjected to months of Russian shelling, and by April its population had dropped from 200,000 to roughly 40,000, according to local officials.

— Natasha Turak

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called out his country's officials for leaking information about military activities to the press, after stories in The New York Times and The Washington Post cited anonymous Ukrainian officials saying that Ukraine was behind this week's attack on a Russian airbase in Crimea that destroyed several warplanes.

"War is definitely not the time for vanity and loud statements. The fewer details you divulge about our defense plans, the better it will be for the implementation of those defense plans," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.

"If you want to generate loud headlines, that's one thing – it's frankly irresponsible. If you want victory for Ukraine, that is another thing, and you should be aware of your responsibility for every word you say about our state's plans for defense or counterattacks."

The explosions that hit the Saky airbase on Crimea would represent a major foray deep behind enemy lines for Ukrainian forces. Kyiv has not publicly taken responsibility for the attack, while Russia denies it was attacked.

— Natasha Turak

While the cause of the explosions that rocked Russia's Saky airbase in Crimea earlier this week is still unclear, Britain's Ministry of Defense believes they were "almost certainly from the detonation of up to four uncovered munition storage areas," according to its daily intelligence briefing posted on Twitter.

The ministry named the aircraft it believes was hit in the blasts, for which Ukrainian officials have not publicly claimed responsibility. Russia denies that it was attacked and that any of its planes were destroyed, despite satellite imagery released Thursday that shows eight aircraft destroyed or damaged.

"At least five Su-24 FENCER fighter-bombers and three Su-30 FLANKER H multi-role jets were almost certainly destroyed or seriously damaged in the blasts," the U.K. ministry said in its post.

"Saky's central dispersal area has suffered serious damage, but the airfield probably remains serviceable."

Eight combat jets are a small fraction of Russia's full fleet, the ministry said, but Saky is an important base for Russia's Black Sea naval fleet.

"The fleet's naval aviation capability is now significantly degraded," the post added. "The incident will likely prompt the Russian military to revise its threat perception. Crimea has probably been seen as a secure rear-area."

— Natasha Turak

National security advisor Jake Sullivan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley spoke with their Ukrainian counterparts, according to a Pentagon readout of the call.

"They discussed the unprovoked and ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine and international support for the Ukrainian armed forces. Sullivan and Milley reaffirmed the steadfast support of the United States for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the readout said of the call with Andriy Yermak of Zelenskyy's office and Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Gen. Valery Zaluzhny.

The leaders also discussed additional arms packages.

— Amanda Macias

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for all military activity around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex to end.

"Regrettably, instead of de-escalation, over the past several days there have been reports of further deeply worrying incidents that could, if they continue, lead to disaster," Guterres said in a statement.

"We must be clear that any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia or any other nuclear facilities in Ukraine, or anywhere else, could lead to catastrophic consequences not only for the immediate vicinity, but for the region and beyond. This is wholly unacceptable," he added.

Guterres also urged Moscow and Kyiv to agree on a path that would grant the IAEA, a nuclear watchdog agency, access to the site.

— Amanda Macias

Satellite images show Russian warplanes destroyed in Crimea; Latvia names Russia a terrorism sponsor