September 8, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukraine’s president says the example of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary leader who died in a plane crash last month, shows what happens when you try to make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Ukraine’s counteroffensive so far has resulted in only modest gains, but Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN he rejected suggestions it was time to negotiate peace with the Kremlin. 

The Wagner leader’s fiery end, after apparently receiving promises over his freedom to continue operating, just weeks after leading a revolt against Putin’s handling of the war, was a warning to be heeded, Zelensky suggested.

While the United States and other key Ukrainian allies continue to supply weapons to Kyiv, stressing that conditions to pursue a “just and durable” peace are not yet in place, several other prominent world leaders, such as Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, have put the onus on Ukraine to end the war.

Ukraine’s leader pointed to examples of other countries that have been attacked by Russian soldiers and continue to be partly occupied by Moscow, as support for his position.

“Did you see any compromise from Putin on other issues? With Georgia? With Moldova?” Zelensky asked rhetorically.

A Russian missile strike on the center of Kryvyi Rih killed one person and injured a further 72 people on Friday, Ukrainian officials said.

The head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, Serhii Lysak, said there was also extensive damage.

“Three administrative buildings were damaged. 7 residential buildings were damaged, including a multi-story building,” he said.

Klymenko later confirmed that "search and rescue operations have been completed in Kryvyi Rih."

Earlier, Klymenko said nine police officers were among the injured.

Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Editor's note: The number of injured has been updated to reflect the latest information provided by authorities.

The Russian Ministry of Defense says it foiled what it called another attempt by Ukraine to “carry out a terrorist attack” with drones — this time over Bryansk. 

“Around 5:30 p.m., an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack by an aircraft-type UAV on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted,” the ministry said in a statement Friday. “Air defense forces on duty over Bryansk intercepted three unmanned aerial vehicles, two of which were destroyed in the air.”

The Bryansk region borders both Ukraine and Belarus.

Earlier today, the ministry said it had repelled another Ukrainian drone attack attempt in Belgorod. 

Kyiv has launched several strategic aerial strikes in Russian territory in the last few months.

Sixty miles northeast of Melitopol, a Ukrainian counteroffensive is grinding laboriously through Russian-held territory, hoping to liberate regions from the grips of Moscow’s rule.

But in this city – one of the first captured by Russian forces after their invasion last February – another operation is in full swing. There is one key difference: everyone knows how this one is going to end.

Voting is underway in Russia-occupied parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, as Moscow attempts to exert authority with elections the international community have widely dismissed as a sham.

Campaign material has apparently been dropped in from Russia to give the appearance of a proper contest. “It seems like there is nothing left in the city except the headquarters of (Russia’s ruling party) United Russia, the military and the billboards,” said a Melitopol resident in her early 30s who has refused to flee the city. CNN is referring to the woman by the pseudonym Baska, because of concerns for her safety.

Russia held similar sham referendums in the four regions of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk last year, in an attempt to project authority over the parts of Ukraine its troops had captured. The new round of elections is being held alongside local votes inside Russia.

While Melitopol was struck earlier in the year by Ukrainian missile attacks on Russian targets, recently, it has been quiet. “People here do not feel the war. If last year almost every person standing at the queue at the market was talking about Mariupol or Crimea, now people have different feelings,” Baska added. “There are now fewer local people in the city than newcomers … soon there will be a complete replacement of the local population (by Russians), it feels like.”

Few residents in Melitopol are interested in the bogus elections taking place, Baska told CNN. But to Moscow, the votes across occupied Ukraine are another tool through which to enforce control – even if international observers are unmoved.

Read more here.

The first 10 German-made Leopard 1 tanks pledged by Denmark have arrived in Ukraine, the Danish Armed Forces said in a statement on Friday. 

An additional 10 tanks have since been delivered from the factory after undergoing renovation, and they should be sent to Ukraine soon, it added. 

Denmark has joined efforts with Germany to donate the vehicles, first introduced in 1960s, most of which had been decommissioned in the early 2000s. They will also provide training to the Ukrainian crews that are going to be operating them once they reach Ukraine.

Around 135 of the vehicles are expected to be donated to Ukraine after undergoing refurbishment, having been in storage for nearly 20 years. 

Remember: In late January, the United States and Germany each announced they would send contingents of tanks to Ukraine, reversing their longstanding trepidation at providing Kyiv with offensive armored vehicles. The announcement by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he will send Leopard 2 tanks was coupled with an announcement from US President Joe Biden that he was providing 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

The modern German Leopard 2 tanks were introduced in 1979 and have been upgraded several times since, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

Lithuania has announced it has donated 4.5 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, the country’s Ministry of Defense announced on Friday. 

“NASAMS missile launch systems, anti-drones, logistical equipment and other support will soon be transferred to Ukraine,” it added. 

Lithuania has also been regularly training Ukrainian soldiers, and its contribution are among the highest in terms of percentage of GDP.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday said he will highlight the “devastating impact” of Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the upcoming G20 Summit in the Indian capital New Delhi this weekend.

Speaking to Indian news agency ANI on Friday, Sunak said, "When it comes to Ukraine and Russia and their conflict, one thing I will be doing is highlighting the devastating impact that Russia's illegal invasion is having on millions of people around the world, particularly on food prices and Russia has recently pulled out of the grain deal that we are shipping grains to many poor countries around the world and now you see food prices go up, that is causing suffering to millions of people and that's not right. So one of the things we are doing is making people aware of the impact of Russia's illegal war."

Some context: India has repeatedly called for diplomacy and dialogue to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have had at least seven official phone calls since the start of the Russian invasion and a bilateral on the side lines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Samarkand last September, according to past statements issued by the Indian government.

Modi has spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky five times since the start of the war, including a meeting on the side lines of the G7 Summit in Japan earlier this year.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office at the time read, Modi had “noted that the conflict in Ukraine has had a significant impact on the whole world,” reiterating India's “clear support for dialogue and diplomacy to find a way forward.”

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused a group of Chinese bloggers of violating its state borders and entering the country illegally, after opera singer Wang Fan was filmed singing the Soviet war song “Katyusha” inside the Mariupol Drama Theater where hundreds were killed. 

“The performance of the song "Katyusha" by Chinese "opera singer" Wang Fan on the ruins of the Mariupol Drama Theater, where the Russian army killed more than 600 innocent people, is an example of complete moral degradation,” the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleg Nikolenko said in a Facebook statement on Friday. 

Wang was part of a group of Chinese bloggers visiting the occupied Ukrainian city, which Ukraine says is illegal. 

The Ukrainian Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko echoed criticism of the visit. 

China has not yet commented on the incident. 

More background: On March 16, the theater was struck by a heavy bomb while hundreds of people were taking shelter there. At the time, Mariupol was under siege by Russian forces. The theater was struck even though it had a large sign spelling out "children" on the ground outside.

The number of casualties was never confirmed, but several investigations estimated that as many as 600 people were killed.

The Russian military denied striking the building, and some Russian-appointed officials accused Ukrainian militants of carrying out the attack. No evidence for that claim has emerged.

The Russian Ministry of Defense says it foiled what it called an attempt by Ukraine to “carry out a terrorist attack” with a drone over Belgorod. 

“On September 8, at about 15.00, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack by an aircraft-type UAV on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped,” the ministry said in a statement on Friday. 

“An unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed over the territory of the Belgorod region by air defense systems on duty,” it added. 

Kyiv has launched several strategic aerial strikes in Russian territory in the last few months.