July 23, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots will begin in August.

Reznikov, speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN over the weekend, added that the training will take “a minimum of 6 months” and that Ukraine still needs to add some infrastructure for the fighter jets.

The defense minister said he thought, optimistically, pilots could be operating F-16s in the skies of Ukraine by spring of next year.

Speaking to CNN’s Alex Marquardt in the Ukrainian capital, Reznikov, a lawyer turned defense official, did concede that if Ukraine had these fighter jets now they would “certainly” have helped Ukraine make more progress in the ongoing counteroffensive.

“If you have more sophisticated, more modern weaponry will be more efficient,” he said.

The training — which Reznikov said will likely be held in Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as possibly in the United Kingdom or Poland — will also include intensive sessions for technicians. The defense minister said the maintenance of the jets is a "serious task”.

He said the trainings may be split between countries, but the final plans were still being finalized.

The minister joked that the group of 11 nations that have committed to helping Ukraine train pilots on the F16s are called “Ocean’s 11,” after the popular film.

Another round of Russian attacks on the port city of Odesa killed at least one person and wounded 19 others overnight into Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials. Kyiv's air defense systems are struggling to fend off the assaults because they're ill-equipped to knock down certain types of missiles, the defense ministry said.

Fighting also continues elsewhere near the front lines, with Russia shelling Kharkiv in the north and Zaporizhzhia in the south.

Here's what to know:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Sunday that the NATO-Ukraine Council will meet Wednesday.

The news comes one day after Zelensky urgently called for a meeting with the military alliance, saying the council should convene to discuss the crisis caused by Russia pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal. The Ukrainian leader said the council needs to decide on steps “to unblock and ensure the stable operation of the grain corridor.”

The meeting will also come on the heels of several consecutive nights of Russian strikes on the southern port city of Odesa, which has further threatened Kyiv's ability to export food.

About the council: The NATO-Ukraine Council is the joint body where Zelensky formally meets with leaders from the alliance for crisis consultation, input on key issues and updates on Ukraine's ongoing membership efforts.

The council was created at the 2023 NATO summit as part of a package of support and assurances bringing Ukraine closer to the alliance.

CNN's Mariya Knight contributed to this report.

Ukraine’s defense minister says he is eyeing next year’s NATO summit as possible timing for Ukraine to be admitted to the alliance. 

Oleskii Reznikov noted that next July’s summit in Washington, DC, will be the 75th anniversary of the alliance. 

The United States and other NATO countries have said it is impossible to admit Ukraine now because of the ongoing war. The alliance’s Article 5 says allies will come to the aid of a member if attacked.

Reznikov acknowledged that Ukraine will only be able to join the alliance once the war is over, referencing Article 5 and saying "we have no options to have a unanimous vote" while the conflict is ongoing.

When asked if he thought the war would be over by next summer he quickly answered, “Yes. We will win this war.” 

Reznikov downplayed the Biden administration’s refusal to commit to Ukraine getting admitted immediately after the war’s end.

“I think it's not necessary,” he said. Ukraine will have a streamlined admission process and in the meantime will continue to work on the necessary reforms, Reznikov added.

The defense minister emphasized that the benefits of admitting Ukraine to the alliance have only grown given its fight against Russia.

Criminals, volunteer fighters and arms traffickers in Ukraine stole some Western-provided weapons and equipment intended for Ukrainian troops last year before it was recovered, according to a US Defense Department inspector general report obtained by CNN.

The plots to steal the weaponry and equipment were disrupted by Ukraine’s intelligence services and the items were ultimately recovered, according to the report, titled “DoD’s Accountability of Equipment Provided to Ukraine.” CNN obtained the report via a Freedom of Information Act request. Military.com first reported the news.

But the inspector general report noted that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the Defense Department’s ability to track and monitor all of the US equipment pouring into Ukraine, as required by law under the Arms Export Control Act, faced “challenges” because of the limited US presence in the country.

According to the report, which examined the period of February-September 2022, the Office of Defense Cooperation-Kyiv “was unable to conduct required (end-use monitoring) of military equipment that the United States provided to Ukraine in FY 2022.”

“The inability of DoD personnel to visit areas where equipment provided to Ukraine was being used or stored significantly hampered ODC-Kyiv’s ability to execute” the monitoring, the report added.

The report is dated October 6, 2022. In late October, the US resumed on-site inspections of Ukrainian weapons depots as a way to better track where the equipment was going. The department has also provided Ukraine with tracking systems, including scanners and software, the Pentagon’s former under secretary of defense for policy, Colin Kahl, told lawmakers in February.

But the report underscores how difficult it was in the early days of the war for the US to track the billions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment it was sending to Ukraine.

Read more here.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is visiting Equatorial Guinea to discuss food security in Africa nearly two weeks after Russia pulled out of a critical deal to allow safe passage of Ukrainian grain exports.

Experts and world leaders have warned that Russia leaving the Black Sea grain deal could jeopardize food sources for many places around the world.

Kuleba's visit to Equatorial Guinea will be the first in the history of diplomatic relations of the two countries, Ukraine's foreign ministry said in a statement. 

Kuleba is expected to "hold talks with the country’s leadership on the development of bilateral relations, increasing the volume of trade, ensuring food security in Africa and supporting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula," the ministry said. 

Some context: The Black Sea grain deal has allowed for the export of almost 33 million metric tons of food through Ukrainian ports, according to data from the United Nations. The collapse of the pact threatens to push up food prices for consumers worldwide and tip millions into hunger.

Before the war, Ukraine was the fifth-largest wheat exporter globally, accounting for 10% of exports, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Ukraine is among the world’s top three exporters of barley, maize and rapeseed oil, says Gro Intelligence, an agricultural data firm. It is also by far the biggest exporter of sunflower oil, accounting for 46% of the world’s exports, according to the UN.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday that the Wagner mercenaries who are in his country have begun to "stress" him, because they want to "go to the West" on "an excursion."

“Why do you need to go to the West? 'Well, go on an excursion to Warsaw, to Rzeszow,'” Lukashenko said. “I keep them in the center, as agreed, of Belarus." 

Lukashenko is a close ally of Putin and he was apparently joking with him. A video showed Putin smiling at the comments.

Key context: The Wagner private military group is in Belarus after Lukashenko helped broker a deal to end the group's short-lived rebellion against Moscow. Ukraine says as many as 5,000 fighters are already in the country.

This week, Belarus announced its forces will hold exercises with Wagner fighters near the border with Poland, raising tensions.

On Friday, Putin, without providing any proof, accused Poland of wanting to annex parts of Belarus, saying any aggression would be met with "all the means at our disposal."

Western allies have responded in kind, with Germany publicly pledging that NATO will defend its alliance member Poland if there is an attack on its eastern flank from the Wagner troops in Belarus.

Russia has "already lost the war" in Ukraine in terms of what Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to achieve, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN.

“The objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, its sovereignty, to subsume it into Russia. That failed a long time ago,” the secretary said in an exclusive interview that aired Sunday.

Blinken acknowledged that Ukraine’s mission to regain territory captured by Moscow — which has gotten off to a slow start, by its own estimation — would be “a very hard fight.” He predicted that the war, which recently surpassed the 500 days mark, would continue for “several months.”

However, he said, along with the aid, military equipment and training Ukraine is receiving from various countries, Kyiv’s cause represents “the decisive element.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his call for more air defense systems following another Russian attack on the port city of Odesa overnight, saying Sunday that "a full-fledged sky shield" is "the only way to defeat Russian missile terror."

Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 9 of the 19 missiles of various types that Russia launched on Odesa overnight, the Ukrainian defense ministry said Sunday. But certain weapons — including Moscow's Oniks cruise missiles and Kh-22 anti-ship missiles — are proving almost impossible for Ukrainian air defenses to shoot down.

At least one person was killed and at least 19 others were wounded in the latest strikes on the southern port city, according to Ukrainian officials.