Ukraine war updates: Ukraine's survival is in danger, Pentagon chief warns; Putin could make China his first visit of new term

At least five people were killed and more were injured in Ukraine's Kharkiv on Wednesday as a fire broke out in an industrial building following Russian shelling in the area. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional state administration, shared the figures on Telegram.

CNBC was not able to independently verify the report.

Pictures published via Getty Images showed the aftermath of the missile attack.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday said he discussed Ukraine's peace formula and bilateral relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a post on social media platform X, Zelenskyy said he expressed his gratitude for India being supportive of Ukraine's territorial sovereignty, humanitarian aid and meetings about the peace formula.

"It will be important for us to see India attend the inaugural Peace Summit, which is currently being prepared in Switzerland," he said.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine was keen to develop its trade and economic relationship with India.

"Ukraine is interested in strengthening our trade and economic ties with India, particularly in agricultural exports, aviation cooperation, and pharmaceutical and industrial product trade," he said.

It comes just hours after Russian media reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and India's Modi discussed Ukraine, as well as their own trade relations which have remained close throughout the war.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Ukraine succeeding against Russia in the war has become a question of U.S. credibility, Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, told CNBC.

"The success of Ukraine is now a matter of U.S. credibility. And if U.S. support for Ukraine were to stop, I think U.S. allies around the world would notice and would start hedging," he told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick Tuesday.

Aid for Ukraine has become a highly contested topic among U.S. lawmakers in recent months, with an aid package that would see around $61 billion worth of support for the country currently being stuck in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Read the full story here.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Russia shot down 419 Ukrainian drones and 67 missiles during the presidential election that took place last weekend, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday.

“During the election events, 419 unmanned aerial vehicles and 67 missiles were shot down,” Shoigu said at a ministry meeting, news agency Interfax reported. Shoigu did not present evidence to support his claims.

“To prevent terrorist attacks, Russian troops have strengthened the security of government and social facilities and strengthened the air defense system,” Shoigu said.

Shoigu accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt voting by targeting sites where polls were taking place from Friday to Sunday. Russian media reports said there had been several instances in which Ukrainian drones targeted polling stations in partially-occupied regions in Ukraine, including Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Russia declared that it had annexed the regions in Sept. 2022, along with Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. It has since made efforts to "Russify" the regions, including by handing out Russian passports and holding elections there. Ukraine and its allies have said such moves are illegal.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia is illegally consolidating its control over occupied Ukrainian territory by creating a "climate of fear" with practices such as arbitrary detention, killings and torture, the head of a U.N. reporting mission in Ukraine told Reuters.

Speaking before the release of a comprehensive UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) report on the territories Russia occupied in its full-scale invasion since 2022, the mission's head, Danielle Bell, said Russia's breaches of rights there were used to terrify local residents into co-operating.

"These combined actions of censorship, surveillance, political oppression, repression of free speech, movement restrictions ... created a climate of fear in which the Russian Federation could systematically dismantle the Ukrainian systems of government and administration," she said in an interview.

In Moscow, Russian authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the main points of the U.N. report. Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities or deliberately attacked civilians during the invasion, which it says is a "special military operation".

Russia occupied the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and its proxy separatist groups occupied two regional capitals in east Ukraine in the same year. The 2022 invasion led to Moscow's capture of further swathes of land in Ukraine's east and south. It currently controls more than 17% of Ukraine's territory, where several million people remain.

— Reuters

The European Commission on Wednesday disbursed an initial 4.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion) to Ukraine as part of a wider 50 billion funding package for the embattled nation.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal hailed the EU's "continued solidarity" during a joint press conference with Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday.

The long-awaited funding package was finally agreed in February after facing months of pushback from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

It comes as the European Commission is expected to announce plans to funnel proceeds from seized Russian assets to Ukraine.

— Karen Gilchrist

The Kremlin criticized on Wednesday the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Russians from the opening parade of the Paris Olympics this summer.

"We perceive this negatively. Of course, this is the destruction of the ideas of Olympism, this is an infringement of the interests of athletes, Olympians. Of course, this is absolutely contrary to the entire ideology of the Olympic movement. This does not look good on the IOC," Peskov told reporters, news agency Interfax reported Wednesday.

The IOC announced on Tuesday that Russian and Belarusian athletes, who are competing in the Olympic Games in late July-early August as neutral competitors, will not be allowed to participate in the opening ceremony of the competition.

In a statement, the IOC said "an opportunity will be provided for them to experience the event" but did not provide further details. It said it has not yet made a decision regarding participation in the closing ceremony.

— Min Maddison

Russian forces have taken control over several supply routes for Ukraine's armed forces in areas around the villages of Berdychi, Orlivka and Umanske near Avdiivka in Donetsk, a Russian official said Wednesday.

Igor Kimakovsky, an advisor to the head of the pro-Russian, self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine, told Tass news agency that Russian units were continuing to "to put pressure on the enemy in the Avdiivka direction."

"We managed to take several supply roads near the villages of Berdychi, Orlovka and Umanskoye under fire control," Kimakovsky said, Tass reported. Russian officials use Soviet-era spellings for Ukrainian place names, a custom rejected by Ukraine, which sees it as a negation of its national identity.

Kimakovsky claimed that the strikes would significantly complicate logistics in this area of the front. Russia's military said Tuesday that the village of Orlivka had ben captured. Ukraine has not confirmed or commented.

CNBC was unable to verify the claims or the battlefield situation in the area around the industrial city Avdiivka, which Russia captured back in February after months of intense battles. The capture of Avdiivka has been a precursor to Russian forces advancing to the west of the city.

Ukraine did not comment on the villages in the area around Avdiivka in its latest military update Wednesday.

— Holly Ellyatt

Pope Francis on Wednesday issued a fresh call for peace through negotiation as he deplored the bloody conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, and once again limited his public speaking at his weekly audience in St Peter's Square due to lingering health issues.

"We should never forget that war is always a defeat, we cannot continue in war, we should make all efforts to mediate, to negotiate an end to the war, let's pray for this," the pontiff said in brief remarks at the end of the audience, citing "martyred" Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The 87-year-old Francis, who has mobility problems and has been suffering in recent weeks from colds and bouts of bronchitis, once again skipped reading most of his pre-prepared texts for the audience. He delegated the task to an aide, telling the faithful he was still forced to limit his public speaking.

Earlier this month, Francis caused controversy by suggesting in an interview with Swiss broadcaster RSI that Ukraine should "show the courage of the white flag" and open talks with Russia. His deputy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, later clarified that Russia should first halt its aggression.

— Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed Ukraine in a phone call, the Kremlin said Wednesday, Russian media reported.

"Both sides noted with satisfaction that mutually beneficial ties in the trade, economic and investment fields, in the fields of energy and transport are progressively and dynamically developing in line with a particularly privileged strategic partnership," read a statement reported by Ria Novosti new agency on Wednesday.

Russia and India have maintained close business ties despite the war in Ukraine. India has remained one of the largest buyers of Russian oil at a time when Western nations have looked to restrict Russian energy imports.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian President Vladimir Putin said late on Tuesday that he will consider China for his first overseas trip during his new presidential term that he secured in weekend election.

On Tuesday, Reuters exclusively reported that Putin will travel to China in May for talks with Xi Jinping, in what could be the Kremlin chief's first overseas trip of his new presidential term.

Russia's TASS state news agency reported that at a meeting with parliamentary factions on Tuesday the leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, asked Putin to choose Beijing for the trip.

"I hope that your first visit will be to the East, and not to the West. Comrade (Chinese President) Xi Jinping is waiting for you to visit, he loves our country very much," TASS cited Zyuganov as saying.

Putin promised to consider the trip.

"I will definitely — without any jokes — take into account what you just said," Putin responded with a smile, according to TASS.

Western governments lined up on Monday to condemn Putin's landslide weekend election victory as unfair and undemocratic, but China and North Kore congratulated the veteran Russian leader on extending his rule by a further six years.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine's survival is at stake amid an ongoing funding impasse in the U.S. Congress, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Tuesday. He said additional aid for Ukraine was a matter of "honor" for the United States.

"Today, Ukraine's survival is in danger and America's security is at risk. They don't have a day to waste, and we don't have a day to spare either," Austin said at a press conference after a meeting of the Ukraine defense contact group meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday, with representatives from Ukraine and around 50 allied countries attending.

"I leave here today fully determined to keep U.S. security assistance and ammunition flowing. And that's a matter of survival and sovereignty for Ukraine. And it's a matter of honor and security for America. And make no mistake, Putin is watching. The world is watching and history is watching," Austin said.

Speaking to CNBC separately Tuesday, Poland's foreign minister called on America to act, warning that the success of Ukraine in the war against Russia was now a matter of U.S. credibility.

"We wouldn't be on the backfoot if the American supplemental came through, and I again, appeal to Speaker Johnson to let it go to the vote. And let democracy take its course," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told CNBC Tuesday.

— Holly Ellyatt

France on Tuesday said recent remarks made by Sergei Naryshkin, chief of Russia's foreign intelligence service, that any French military sent to Ukraine to help fight Russia would be a 'priority target' for Russian troops were an 'irresponsible' provocation.

"We consider these kind of provocations irresponsible", an official of the French Armed Forces Ministry said, adding the remarks were a further example of Russian 'disinformation.'

— Reuters

A legal agreement on sending income from Russian assets to Ukraine could be finalized this week, Poland's minister of foreign affairs told CNBC Tuesday.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, around $300 billion of Russian central bank reserves were frozen by the G7 and its partners in March 2022.

"Some people say that the Russian central bank assets should be given to Ukraine after the war for the rebuilding of Ukraine, well I say well how about better to use them to defend Ukrainian citizen infrastructure to prevent the destruction first," Radoslaw Sikorski told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick.

Russia has already been told that it will not see this money as it will be required by Ukraine to rebuild after the war, Sikorski said.

"The only question remains is if we give this money to Ukraine after the war or when she needs it the most, which is to say now," he added.

The foreign minister said that, this week, European foreign ministers decided that "the income from the principal will be given to Ukraine."

There is an ongoing debate about the legalities and procedures of using income from frozen Russian central bank assets, which are being held by Belgian central securities depository provider Euroclear.

Earlier on Tuesday, Josep Borrell, high representative for foreign affairs and security policy for the European Union, said a proposal about using profits from the frozen assets to fund Ukrainian military aid would be presented to EU member states this week. The assets could bring in around 3 billion euros ($3.25 billion) of profit a year, he said.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Putin's reelection to a fifth term in office at the weekend was one of the least surprising political events so far this year, but it has prompted questions as to what we can expect from another six years of the strongman's leadership.

Analysts share their views on what we can expect now that Putin has strengthened his grip on power, with the Ukraine war, domestic economic reforms and a possible government reshuffle key factors to watch.

Read more on the story here: War, reforms and a possible successor? Here's what we could see from 6 more years of Putin

— Holly Ellyatt

If the Ukraine war continues for another one or two years, the Russian economy could be in "serious trouble," Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's minister of foreign affairs, told CNBC Tuesday.

"I think if Ukraine can sustain it for a year or two, the Russian economy will be in serious trouble and then perhaps President [Vladimir] Putin might make different decisions ... as to this act of aggression," he told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick.

Sikorski added that Russia had already spent around half of its reserve budget.

"If you put your economy on a crisis or war footing, your GDP rises because you are producing more shells and tanks and all the things that are going to get destroyed, but you're also wasting the resources and the wealth of your country, and this has limits," he said.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly instructed the FSB, Russia's security service, to identify and punish anti-Kremlin "traitors" who carried out cross-border raids against Russia, saying they had "committed crimes against Russia."

At a meeting of the board of the FSB Tuesday, Putin discussed recent attempts by several Russian rebel groups — labeled as "sabotage and terrorist groups" by Moscow — to cross the border from Ukraine into Russian territory. 

"When I spoke about these traitors, I ask ... [the FSB] not to forget who they are, to identify them by name," Putin said, according to comments reported by TASS and translated by Google.

Russian border officials reported last week that rebel groups had conducted cross-border raids into the Belgorod and Kursk border regions but Russia's defense ministry said it had repeled attempted incursions into Russian territory. Ukraine said a number of Russian anti-war armed groups had acted independently.

"We will punish them without a statute of limitations, wherever they are," said Putin, a former officer in the KGB, a forbear of the FSB, said. Putin has remained close to the security services throughout his 24 years in power.

— Holly Ellyatt

Putin tells security service to hunt anti-Kremlin ‘traitors’; Russian border region evacuates children