Ukraine facing 'extremely fierce' battles and 'partial success' in counteroffensive; Putin says it's failing

At least three people died after shelling destroyed seven homes and damaged dozens more in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka on Wednesday, according to a Telegram post from Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk province.

The Associated Press reported that the Ukrainian presidential office said a missile hit the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kramatorsk, where Kyiv's forces are headquartered. The office said that strike killed two civilians and wounded two others while damaging 29 homes.

Meanwhile, Russian shelling in the eastern city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine killed one civilian, with 57 houses damaged, it added.

— The Associated Press and Anatolii Stepanov | AFP | Getty Images

The House of Representatives showed bipartisan support by voting 422-0 to approve a resolution that calls for the immediate release of The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Gershkovich was detained by Russian authorities 11 weeks ago on allegations of espionage. He is currently being held at the Lefortovo Prison in Moscow. The Biden administration and The Wall Street Journal have denied claims Gershkovich was in Russia operating as a U.S. spy.

"We applaud this latest show of bipartisan support from Congress in the fight for Evan's release," wrote WSJ Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker and Almar Latour, chief executive of Dow Jones, which publishes the daily newspaper, in a statement following the vote.

"His wrongful detention is a blow to press freedom, and it should matter to anyone who values free society. We will not rest until he is free," the statement added.

The resolution also called for the immediate release of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested by Russian authorities in 2018 on espionage charges. Whelan was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years of hard labor in a camp in the remote province of Mordovia.

— Amanda Macias

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters traveling with him that Sweden has not done enough to be admitted to the NATO military alliance, according to a Reuters report.

Ankara has previously accused Stockholm of harboring terrorists. The latest revelation comes as NATO members are set to meet next month in Lithuania.

Finland and Sweden began the formal process of applying to NATO last May as Russia's war in Ukraine marched into its third month.

At the time, Ankara demanded certain concessions from both Finland and Sweden before approving NATO membership. Earlier this year, Turkey formalized the ratification of Finland to join the NATO alliance.

— Amanda Macias

Five ships left Ukraine's ports of Chornomorsk and Odesa for global destinations under the Black Sea grain deal.

The vessels carried out a combined 187,774 metric tons of corn, soybeans and sunflower meal destined for Spain, France, Italy and China.

The humanitarian sea corridor has seen the passage of 36 vessels transporting 1.4 million metric tons of agricultural goods, according to data collected by the U.N.-backed organization tasked with tracking the export activity related to the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

— Amanda Macias

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the country has received some of Russia's tactical nuclear weapons and warned he wouldn't hesitate to use them if Belarus faced an act of aggression, the Associated Press reported.

Lukashenko's comments contradict earlier statements by President Vladimir Putin who has said Russia will retain control of the weapons and is stationing them in Belarus, similar to the U.S.' agreements to deploy weapons in their allied countries, according to Reuters.

The deployment is Moscow's first move of such warheads outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, and it is being monitored closely by the U.S., its allies and China, Reuters reported.

Lukashenko, who has allowed his country to be used by Russian forces attacking Ukraine, said the nuclear deployment will act as a deterrent against potential aggressors, the AP reported. Belarus borders the NATO member countries Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.

— Melodie Warner

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to London to meet with his counterparts from the U.K. and Ukraine during the Ukraine Recovery Conference.

He will also meet with several allies on the sidelines of the conference and is expected to galvanize allies and the private sector to support Ukraine's reconstruction efforts.

— Amanda Macias

The lower house of Russia's parliament said Wednesday it had voted to give its initial backing to legislation that will allow the Defense Ministry to sign contracts with suspected or convicted criminals to fight in Ukraine.

More than 15 months into what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, Moscow — whose forces have suffered heavy losses — is trying to recruit more soldiers for what is Europe's largest land war since World War II.

Under the proposed changes, a contract could be concluded with someone being investigated for committing a crime, who is having their case heard in court or after they have been convicted but before the verdict takes legal effect, according to the database of the State Duma, the lower house.

People convicted of sexual crimes, treason, terrorism or extremism would not be able to sign up.

Those who do sign up would be exempt from criminal liability upon completion of their contract or if they receive awards for their combat prowess.

The Wagner mercenary group was previously allowed to recruit convicts from prisons to fight in Ukraine but said in February it had stopped. Prison rights activists say the Defense Ministry has taken over the process but wanted to make changes.

The new changes being examined by the Duma do not cover recruitment of people already serving their sentences. The Defense Ministry has not commented.

— Reuters

The Kremlin said it could withdraw from the grain export deal with Ukraine when the current agreement expires in mid-July.

The agreement, known formally as the "Black Sea grain Initiative," has enabled over 31 million metric tons of vital agricultural exports to leave three of Ukraine's ports amid the ongoing war.

Russia has reluctantly extended the UN and Turkey-brokered deal several times but has complained that its own own grain and fertilizer exports face continuing obstacles due to restrictions on payments and access to insurance.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked by reporters to comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin's comment yesterday that Russia is considering the possibility of withdrawing from the deal, and was asked if this could take place when it's set to expire, or before.

"At the end," the Kremlin spokesman replied, according to news agency Interfax.

Peskov was also asked why Moscow was considering withdrawing from the deal now, despite long-standing grievances about it.

"Russia has repeatedly made such gestures of goodwill [by extending participation in the deal], showing a very responsible approach, but, unfortunately, in the absence of reciprocity and the absence of the desire of the collective West to fulfil part of the agreements regarding Russia, of course, this is a manifestation of goodwill and political will cannot be endless," Peskov said, Interfax reported.

On Tuesday, President Putin said that "we are now thinking about how to get out of this grain deal. Especially since these corridors along which the ships go are constantly used by the enemy to launch drones, sea drones," he said, without presenting evidence. Ukraine says that Russia has repeatedly sought to undermine and hinder the grain export deal.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine's IT industry has been the only sector to have grown during the war, according to the country's Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Alex Bornyakov, who spoke at London Tech Week on Wednesday.

Bornyakov referred to a 6% year-on-year growth in the industry over the last year, which is small compared with the previous growth rate of between 35% and 40%, but serves as a positive indicator of the sector's strength given the extremely challenging environment in which it is currently operating.

"We hope this positive growth rate will remain in this year too," he added.

A report published by the Ukraine IT Association said that in the first 10 months of 2022, the industry had brought $6 billion to the country's economy in export revenues, and achieved 10% growth compared with the previous year.

"These results were made possible due to the effective implementation of business continuity plans, timely relocation of teams and diversification of development centers in Ukraine and abroad," the report said.

Bornyakov also painted a picture of the daily logistical difficulties of working in a war zone, with meetings often disrupted by air sirens and app alerts warning of incoming dangers.

"It's sad to say but we kind of get used to it," Bornyakov said, adding most Ukrainians now considered it part of a "daily routine."

"When you hear air sirens you don't panic anymore," he said.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

Ukrainian forces are facing "extremely fierce" battles as their counteroffensive experiences "partial success," according to Ukraine's deputy defense minister.

Commenting on Telegram, Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian fighters had advanced up to 500 meters in the Bakhmut area over the past 24 hours, and up to 350 meters in the Zaporizhzhia area in southern Ukraine.

"Our troops are moving in the face of extremely fierce battles, aviation and artillery superiority of the enemy," Maliar said Wednesday.

She said fighting was continuing near the village of Makarivka in the direction of the southern port city of Berdiansk, as well as in the areas of Novodanylivka and Novopokrovsk in the Mariupol direction. CNBC was unable to immediately verify the information.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian rocket attacks on the region of Donetsk have killed three people and wounded others, Ukrainian officials said Thursday.

"At dawn, the Russians launched a rocket attack on Kramatorsk — 2 people were killed and 2 were wounded," Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, said on Telegram.

Five houses were destroyed, and at least 17 were damaged in the attack, he added.

The city of Kostyantynivka was also hit by a rocket, leaving one person dead and another injured, he said. Two houses were destroyed and 55 damaged.

In the wider Donetsk area, 21 houses were damaged as a result of shelling on the Kurakhiv community. Kyrylenko said the towns of Krasnohorivka, Maksimilyanivka and Avdiivka are under fire.

"In just one day, the Russians killed 3 residents of Donetsk region, wounded another 6," Kyrylenko said.

CNBC was unable to immediately verify the report.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine's agricultural sector could take 20 years or more in parts to recover from the ravages of Russia's full-scale invasion, according to a Kyiv-based research center.

Ukraine is a major global grower and exporter of wheat, corn, sunflower and sunflower oil, but its production has fallen sharply since the war started in February 2022.

"According to the modelling results, some of the sectors will not reach the pre-war levels even after seven years of peace," Kyiv School of Economics said in a report.

It said the sunflower, barley and wheat sectors were expected to recover by 2040, while the maize, rye, oats and rapeseed sectors were expected to recover by 2050.

"This means that it may take as long as 20 years for Ukraine to regain its strength in agriculture after the devastation brought by the Russian military assault," it said.

Ukraine harvested 106 million tonnes of grain and oilseed in 2021 before the invasion, but output could decrease to around 65 million tonnes in 2023, the agriculture ministry has said.

— Reuters

Germany's Defense Ministry said it had no information on Leopard 2 tanks that Russia claims to have captured in Ukraine.

Russia's Defense Ministry released footage this week purportedly showing Leopard 2 tanks and U.S.-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles that it said had been captured by Russian forces in a battle with Ukrainian troops in southern Ukraine. Russia called the equipment "our trophies."

In response to a request by NBC News for confirmation or comment on the purportedly captured tanks, a spokesperson for the German Defense Ministry said "we have no knowledge of this." No further comment was given.

— Holly Ellyatt

A senior commander of Russia's Chechen forces fighting in Ukraine has been wounded, Russia's Defence Ministry television channel Zvezda reported on Wednesday, citing the press service of the State Duma lower house of parliament.

Adam Delimkhanov, who is a member of the State Duma as well as commander of the Chechen division of the Russian national guard, is widely seen as the Caucasian region's second most senior official, behind Ramzan Kadyrov.

— Reuters

A planned visit by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine has been reportedly delayed by a day.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti cited a source familiar with the situation as saying the visit, due to take place Wednesday, had been delayed without giving a reason why.

IAEA Director-General Grossi traveled to Ukraine on Monday, saying he was due to meet President Zelenskyy and to present a program of assistance in the aftermath of the Nova Kakhovka dam flooding last week.

While in the country, he said he would asses the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has frequently been at the center of fighting during the war, prompting fears in the IAEA that a nuclear disaster could occur.

The IAEA said last Sunday it wanted to access a site near the plant to clarify the reason for "a significant discrepancy between different measurements of the height of the reservoir that is supplying water to cool the facility's six reactors and spent fuel storage," it said in a statement.

The level of the Kakhovka reservoir had been dropping rapidly since the downstream dam was severely damaged, the IAEA said, but the ZNPP reported over the weekend that it had been stable for about a day at a measurement point where water is pumped into a channel for use at the nuclear power plant.

— Holly Ellyatt

Britain's Ministry of Defense noted an uptick in Russian tactical combat air sorties — especially over southern Ukraine — over the past week as a likely response to Ukraine's counteroffensive.

The ministry said in an intelligence update on Twitter that the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) was likely attempting to support ground troops with air strikes. 

"Despite the uptick, VKS' daily sortie rate remains much lower than the peak of up to 300 daily missions early in the war," the U.K. noted.

"Since the start of the invasion, the south of Ukraine has often been more permissible for Russian air operations compared to other sectors of the front."

The ministry added that, over the last year, VKS has increased its use of air-to-surface weapons, such as glide bombs, which allow attack aircraft to remain well away from their targets.

— Holly Ellyatt

The Ukrainian port city of Odesa was the target of a Russian missile strike overnight that left three people dead and at least 13 injured, according to officials.

The National Police of Ukraine said on Telegram that Russia had launched four Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea toward Odesa. CNBC wasn't able to verify the claim.

"Civil infrastructure objects were damaged: a business centre, an educational institution, a residential complex, a restaurant, shops and a warehouse of one of the retail chains. In the latter, after the fire has been extinguished, the debris under which people may [still] be is being sorted out," the police said, according to an NBC translation.

The latest attack is being investigated, the police said. Russia denies targeting civilian infrastructure despite numerous instances of it doing so.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine's counteroffensive is failing, saying Kyiv has failed to achieve any success.

"This is a large-scale counteroffensive, using reserves that were trained for this purpose, it has been underway since the 4th of June and is still underway, right now," Putin said Tuesday at a meeting with war correspondents.

"[Ukrainian troops] have not reached the front line," Putin said, claiming that "the adversary was not successful in any sectors. They have huge losses."

Ukraine says it has liberated a number of settlements in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday night that "there is advancement in different areas," but there are also reports that Russia is contesting several villages that Kyiv claimed to have retaken.

Ukraine's deputy defense minister said Tuesday that "the enemy will do everything to keep the positions he has occupied" and "actively uses assault and army aviation, leads intense artillery fire."

"Our troops face solid mine fields during the advance that are combined with anti-tank rifles. All of this comes together with the constant counterattacks of enemy units on armored technology and the mass use of PTURs [anti-tank guided missiles] and kamikaze drones," she said on Facebook.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War noted Tuesday evening that Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in at least three directions and made further limited territorial gains yesterday.

Ukrainian General Staff Spokesperson Andriy Kovalev said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces have liberated over 100 square km of territory in southern and eastern Ukraine since the beginning counteroffensive operations.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Telegram that approximately 2,757 people have been evacuated in the Kherson region following the attack on the Kakhovka dam last week, according to an NBC News translation.

The ministry said that about 263 children and another 77 people with limited mobility were evacuated from the rising flood waters.

According to the data collected by the agency, more than 3,000 houses were flooded in the Kherson region.

— Amanda Macias

President Joe Biden met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House ahead of the NATO summit in Lithuania next month.

The two discussed additional security assistance for Ukraine, Sweden's ascension into the NATO alliance and a financial-burden sharing minimum of 2% GDP of NATO member states for the alliance's common defense, according to a readout provided by the White House.

It was not immediately clear if the two discussed whether Stoltenberg will extend his post at NATO, which is set to conclude at the end of September. Stoltenberg has led NATO for nearly a decade, following three extensions.

— Amanda Macias

Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for Ukraine's Air Force said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda 23 that Russia has restarted its production of missiles, according to an NBC News translation.

Ihnat said that the Russians are ramping up production of the Iskanders and Kinzhals missiles, citing the Kremlin's ability to circumvent Western sanctions on some of the components needed to produce the weapons system.

"Therefore, I hope that Russia will be squeezed by sanctions. If the sanctions work comprehensively and are controlled, then Russia can be put in its place," Ihnat added, according to an NBC News translation.

— Amanda Macias

The Biden administration announced a new security assistance package for Ukraine worth $325 million, the 40th such tranche since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

"This security assistance package includes critical air defense capabilities, additional munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons, armored vehicles, and other equipment essential to strengthening Ukraine's forces on the battlefield," wrote Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement announcing the new weapons package.

In a separate release, the Pentagon detailed the new support:

• Additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS
• Stinger anti-aircraft systems
• Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS
• 155 mm and 105 mm artillery rounds
• 15 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles
• 10 Stryker armored personnel carriers
• Javelin anti-armor systems
• Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided, or TOW, missiles
• AT-4 anti-armor systems
• More than 22 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades
• Demolition munitions for obstacle clearing
• Tactical secure communications support equipment

— Amanda Macias

Editor's note: This post contains graphic images depicting death from Russian missile strikes in Kryvyi Rih.

A day of mourning will take place in Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday following what was described as a "massive missile attack" this morning.

Ten people are now known to have died in the attack, in which a five-story residential building and warehouse were hit.

As of 1 p.m. local time, 10 people have died and 28 are injured with 12 of the casualties in hospitals and some in a very serious condition, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih city military administration.

Kryvyi Rih is President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia's Defense Ministry released video footage Tuesday of what it said were German-made Leopard tanks and U.S.-made Bradley fighting vehicles captured by Russian forces in a battle with Ukrainian troops.

Reuters could not immediately verify the location and timing of the footage, which the Defense Ministry said was filmed on the Zaporizhzhia front in southern Ukraine, one of the areas where Ukrainian forces have been trying to counterattack.

What appeared to be two German-made Leopard tanks were shown in the footage, which was released on the ministry's official channel on the Telegram messaging application, along with two damaged U.S.-made Bradley fighting vehicles.

In a short statement accompanying the footage, the ministry called the captured military hardware "our trophies" and said the video showed soldiers from its Vostok (East) military grouping inspecting the equipment.

It noted that the engines of some of the vehicles were still running, evidence it said of how quickly their Ukrainian crews had fled.

Reuters cannot verify such battlefield accounts.

Ukraine said Monday its troops had recaptured a string of villages from Russian forces along an approximately 100 km (60 mile) front in the southeast since starting its long-anticipated counteroffensive last week.

— Reuters

Ukrainian forces say part of Donetsk has been liberated; Zelenskyy’s hometown hit in missile attack