April 29, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. Read more about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here, or scroll through the updates below.

Satellite imagery reviewed by CNN and other news organizations shows Russia is developing multi-layered defenses in a large swath of southern Ukraine, with long lines of anti-tank ditches, obstacles, minefields and trenches.

All eyes are on the south of the country ahead of Ukraine’s anticipated counteroffensive, which may aim to cut off the annexed Crimean peninsula from the Russian-occupied portions of Ukraine and the rest of the country.

Nova Kakhova — a Russian-occupied town in the south that is home to an important hydroelectric project on the Dnipro River — experienced “severe artillery fire” by Ukrainian forces this weekend, according to the local Russian-backed administration.

As Sunday nears in Ukraine, this is what we’ve been tracking today:

Anticipated counteroffensive: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview posted on his Telegram Saturday that Ukraine is prepping for a counteroffensive against Russian troops, stressing that it “will happen.” He demurred on giving any exact start dates in an interview with reporters. He said Ukraine is still in need of “certain weapons,” and the main risk for his troops is whether they will have enough of the ammunition they need.

Satellite imagery reviewed by CNN and other news organizations shows Russia pumping up its defenses in parts of southern Ukraine, with layers of anti-tank ditches, obstacles, minefields and trenches.

Meanwhile, Nova Kakhova — a Russian-occupied town in the south that is home to an important hydroelectric project on the Dnipro River — experienced “severe artillery fire” by Ukrainian forces, according to the local Russian-backed administration.

Massive fire in Crimea: In the early hours of Saturday, the Russian-backed governor of Sevastopol says a suspected drone attack hit an oil depot in the Crimean port city. Mikhail Razvozhaev said “only one drone was able to reach the oil reservoir” and another one was downed. No one was injured in the blaze, according to the governor.

The Russian Defense Ministry has yet to comment on the incident.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian defense ministry’s military intelligence service cautioned residents of Crimea against going near any military sites for the time being.

Apartment strike in Uman: The search and rescue operation in the central Ukrainian city was declared over, following Friday’s deadly missile strike that hit an apartment building, killing at least 23 people — including six children, according to authorities. Two residents who are still missing are presumed dead, according to a local police official.

A makeshift memorial was set up, according to a CNN team on the ground, as rescuers dug through rubble and family members waited for news of loved ones.

The strike is believed to have been the deadliest attack on Ukrainian civilians in months.  

Czech Republic President Petr Pavel on Saturday visited internally displaced people in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to posts on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. 

“Because of the war, many Ukrainians lost their homes. About 200,000 of them found refuge in the Dnipro,” Pavel tweeted, adding that his country will focus on humanitarian and development aid in the area.

The Czech president called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “barbaric.”

“I hoped I would never see pictures like this again,” Pavel tweeted.

One of the photos from the Czech president’s account shows Pavel writing the words “Russia, Go Home!” on a military vehicle with a marker. 

“We are with you. You will avenge your fallen, you will regain your freedom. Russia, Go Home!” he wrote.

Pavel and Slovakian President Zuzana Čaputová visited Ukraine Friday in their first joint visit abroad.

Some background on Pavel: He won the Czech Republic’s presidential election in January and took office in March of this year, after a campaign featuring strong backing for NATO and the European Union and support for aid to Ukraine.

A former army chief, Pavel became chairman of NATO’s military committee for three years before retiring in 2018.

A mural by French street artist Christian Guemy, who is known by the pseudonym C215, has appeared in the center of Kyiv on an administrative building of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament said on Facebook Saturday. 

The mural depicts Oleksandr Matsiyevsky, a prisoner of war who shouted, “Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine)” before he was executed by Russian forces on December 30, 2022. Video of the execution surfaced and prompted outrage across the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posthumously awarded Matsiyevsky with the country’s highest honor, the Hero of Ukraine medal, later in March. 

More about the video: Zelensky vowed last month to “find the murderers” involved in the video, as officials in Kyiv roundly condemned the incident as a war crime. The clip showed an unarmed soldier allegedly in Russian captivity wearing Ukrainian combat fatigues and smoking a cigarette, near what appears to be a fighting position. The man is then shown pulling the cigarette from his mouth, blowing out the smoke and saying the battle cry before being executed, with fighters off camera firing several shots at him.

Vyacheslav Shtuchnyi, the parliament’s secretary general, said the Kyiv mural is a tribute to all those who defend Ukraine every day against Russian aggression.

The parliament noted that a delegation visited a Guemy exhibition in the National Assembly of the French Republic in January, and “there, a common idea arose to create a mural in Kyiv.”   

According to parliament, this is not Guemy’s first work in Ukraine. He had already created street art in Lviv, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, and hard-hit areas of the Kyiv region, such as the towns of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin. 

Pope Francis met with refugees, many of whom are from Ukraine, and people facing poverty at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in central Budapest on Saturday morning.

Around 600 people participated in the meeting inside the church, and 1,000 more gathered in the square outside.

During his address, the Pope appealed to the importance of charity and heard testimonies from the refugees. 

“The memory of love received rekindles hope and inspires people to embark upon a new journey in life. Even amid pain and suffering, once we have received the balm of love, we find the courage needed to keep moving forward: We find the strength to believe that all is not lost, and that a different future is possible,” Francis said as part of his address.

Hungary and Ukraine: Hungary has angered allies since the war in Ukraine began. The country, which shares a border with Ukraine, has refused to back military aid for Kyiv while maintaining relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Pope Francis arrived in Budapest on Friday, beginning his three-day papal visit to Hungary, and met with President Katalin Novák, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and representatives of the clergy. 

In a speech during his first public address of the visit, the Pope urged Hungarians to accept migrants and refugees. Quoting Saint Stephen, he said, “I urge you to show favor not only to relations and kin, or to the powerful and wealthy, or to your neighbors and fellow countrymen, but also to foreigners and all who come to you.” 

Russia has had nearly six months to prepare the ground for Ukraine’s anticipated counteroffensive this spring, building an elaborate array of defenses in occupied territory near the front lines.

Breaking through will present a huge challenge for Kyiv’s troops, with obstacles extending hundreds of miles across the meandering southern front – where Ukrainian forces are expected to concentrate their attacks in the coming weeks.

Satellite imagery reviewed by CNN and other news organizations shows the extent of Russia’s defenses: layers of anti-tank ditches, obstacles, minefields and trenches.

The challenge for Ukrainian troops will be to bypass or overcome such obstacles at speed, creating momentum that causes Russian command and control to melt down.

Months of preparation: Ground defenses began to appear after Russian forces withdrew from part of the Kherson region in November, and they essentially established a new defensive line stretching across largely rural areas of southern Ukraine.

The defenses, including concrete “dragons’ teeth” tank obstacles, are only as good as the Russian forces assigned to each sector. On their own, they are a limited impediment.

Moscow has pushed more units into southern Ukraine over recent weeks, but it remains to be seen how many Russian troops – and of what quality – are assigned to each section of such a long front line.

No surprises: Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that unlike last September’s sudden sweep through much of the northeastern Kharkiv region, they may lack the element of surprise in any larger counteroffensive.

Ukraine does have the advantage of choosing where and when to go, and with what concentration of forces. Once the assault begins, other factors could come into play: everything from the weather to Russia’s capacity and desire to counterattack, plus aerial fighting.

Read more and view satellite images of Russia’s defenses here.

The Ukrainian defense ministry’s military intelligence service urged residents of Crimea to stay away from military facilities following a massive fuel depot fire sparked by a suspected drone attack in Sevastopol on Saturday.

Calling the blaze “bavovna,” which is used as another word for an explosion in Ukrainian, Andrii Yusov, a representative for the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, said the fire “is God’s punishment, in particular for the civilians killed in Uman.”

Yusov was referring to the Russian missile strike on an apartment block in the central Ukrainian city of Uman Friday that killed at least 23 people.

“This punishment will be long-lasting,” he said in an interview with Ukrainian media on Saturday. 

“It is advisable for all residents of temporarily occupied Crimea not to stay near military facilities or facilities providing for the aggressor’s army in the near future,” he added.

Yusov claimed the fire “destroyed more than 10 tanks with oil products with a capacity of 40,000 tonnes.” According to Yusov, the oil products were intended for use by the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

CNN cannot independently verify claims on the extent of the fuel depot’s damage.

What Russia says: The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the incident. But the city’s Russian-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said the now-extinguished blaze was the result of a drone attack. He said “only one drone was able to reach the oil reservoir” and another one was downed. Four fuel tanks were hit, but no one was injured, he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview released Saturday that Ukraine is preparing for a counteroffensive, but declined to say when it would happen. He has repeatedly pledged to “liberate” Crimea from Russia. Moscow declared the peninsula annexed since 2014.

Ukrainians in the central city of Uman have set up a makeshift memorial for victims of the Russian missile strike that hit an apartment block Friday.

A CNN team at the site of the attack saw family members waiting for any news of their loved ones Saturday, including a woman clutching a teddy bear. Residents dropped off flowers and stuffed animals at the growing memorial; others brought photos.

Investigators spoke to residents who were impacted and lost their valuables, gathering evidence for potential war crime charges against Russia.

At a playground next to the site of the attack, young children played.

Grassroots humanitarian efforts continued, with piles of donated clothing, mattresses and shoes growing at a school next door.

All the while, rescuers worked through each level of the nine-story building, digging through belongings, clothing and rubble, hoping to find any further signs of residents.

Eventually, authorities said search and rescue efforts had concluded. At least 23 people were killed, including six children, and two missing women were presumed dead, according to a local police official.

Officials were unable to identify some bodies recovered from the rubble because they were severely burned, said Yulia Norovkova, a spokesperson for the region’s emergency services.

The devastating strike is thought to be the deadliest attack on Ukrainian civilians in months.

A massive fire that started at a fuel storage facility in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol early Saturday has been “completely extinguished,” the Russian-backed governor of the city, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said on Telegram.

Razvozhaev, who claimed that the fire was the result of a drone attack, said “only one drone was able to reach the oil reservoir” and another one was downed.

No one was injured in the blaze, according to the governor. Four fuel tanks were hit, he said in an earlier video. 

More on Crimea: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to fully retake the peninsula from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to annex Crimea in 2014 in a so-called referendum that was condemned by the West. The process was then mirrored in Putin’s 2022 announcement of the annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

Sevastopol, an important port and a major naval base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, has seen multiple suspected Ukrainian attacks during the war.

The search and rescue operation in the Ukrainian city of Uman has concluded, following Friday’s deadly missile strike that hit an apartment building, according to regional emergency services and Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko.

The strike left at least 23 people dead — including six children — and they have all been identified, Klymenko said.

Three boys — including a one-and-a-half year old, and two teens who were 16 and 17 — and three girls — aged 8, 11 and 14 — were killed, he said.

Two women remain missing, Klymenko said. They are also presumed dead, Vasyl Kozynenko, Uman’s deputy police chief, told CNN.

The strike is believed to have been the deadliest attack on Ukrainian civilians in months.

A challenging rescue: Seventeen people were pulled from the rubble, with nine suffering injuries, according to Klymenko.

“I am grateful to the rescuers, police, utility workers, and dozens of Uman residents who joined in the dismantling of the collapsed building. The work went very quickly because everyone was in a hurry. We were hoping to find someone alive under the rubble until the last minute,” Klymenko said in a post on Facebook.

The building kept collapsing during the rescue operation and parts of it could not be accessed, according to Yulia Norovkova, a spokesperson for the region’s emergency services. About 150 officers were involved in the recovery efforts.

“More than 100 people have already received psychological help,” Norovkova added.

The Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Nova Kakhovka is under “severe artillery fire” by Ukrainian forces, the local Russian-backed administration said on Telegram Saturday.

Shelling has left the town without power, the Russian-installed officials claimed, citing emergency services.

The officials’ statement urged residents to stay in shelters. Work to repair the damage and restore power “will begin immediately after the end of the shelling,” it said.

On Thursday: Nova Kakhovka reportedly saw heavy explosions that left the city without power supply, according to the Russian-installed administration. CNN was unable to confirm what targets might have been struck.

Why the town is important: Nova Kakhova is home to an important hydroelectric project on the Dnipro River.

Back in November 2022, Vladimir Leontie, a Russian-installed official in Nova Kakhovka, alleged on Russian state TV that the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant had received “enormous” damage as a result of shelling by Ukrainian forces, with repairs to take at least a year. Pro-Russian officials claimed the evacuation of civilians and the retreat of Russian troops from the west bank to the east bank of Dnipro River was due to the threat of flooding that could occur from plant.

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview posted Saturday that a highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian troops is in the works and “will happen.”

“There will be a counteroffensive,” Zelensky said, while speaking to reporters from Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. A video of the interview was shared to his Telegram account.

Zelensky said he believes in the mission’s success and that “we will be able to de-occupy our territories.”

But the Ukrainian president said he is “not ready to say in detail when it will happen and how.”

Ukraine is still in need of “certain weapons,” he said, and the main risk for his troops is whether they will have enough of the ammunition they need.

“Weapons are decisive in the moments of de-occupation,” Zelensky said.

Some background: Ukraine has made extraordinary efforts to conceal the start of its strategically vital counteroffensive.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar stated last week that the counteroffensive would not be announced.

Much of the focus of recent speculation centers on the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where Kyiv’s forces could attempt to separate the Russia-annexed peninsula of Crimea from occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and the Russian mainland.

CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh contributed to this report.

The fire that started at a fuel storage facility in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol in the early hours of Saturday has been largely contained, the Russian-backed governor of the city, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said in an update on Telegram.

Early on Saturday, Razvozhaev said reports indicated the fire was caused by a drone attack.

Razvozhaev said the “open burning was extinguished in an area of 1000 square meters,” praising firefighters who worked on it. 

No one was injured in the blaze, according to the governor.  

“The four fuel tanks that were hit, they are practically burnt out already,” he said in an earlier video. 

Razvozhaev said the fire will not have an effect on fuel supply in Sevastopol, and the reserves were not used to supply fuel to gas stations. 

Some context: Crimea was declared annexed by Russia in 2014, and it is internationally recognized as being part of Ukraine.

An important port and a major naval base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol has endured multiple suspected Ukrainian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly vowed to “liberate” all of the country’s territory, including the Russian-occupied peninsula.

Svetlana Maniovich is a woman of expensive tastes: invite-only Parisian jewelers, couture clothing and yacht vacations on the Mediterranean.

The lifestyle isn’t unusual for people in her elite Russian circle, and her lavish spending has been on display on social media and in Russia’s society pages. But she’s no ordinary Moscow high-flyer.

Her former partner, Timur Ivanov, is a senior architect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – a man who, on paper, reportedly has an official income of around $175,000 per year. He’s also the subject of European Union and American sanctions over the war on Ukraine.

Maniovich is the subject of an extensive investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), an investigative team founded by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

The ACF alleges it is Ivanov, and ill-gotten gains from his government position, that have funded Maniovich’s lifestyle.

Read the full story here.

New research has revealed the extent to which Iran has built a powerful weapons industry based on Western technology, and how that technology is being used by Russia against Ukrainian cities.

Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a UK-based organization which investigates weapons’ components, has established that the Shahed-136 drones sold to Russia by Iran are powered by an engine based on German technology – technology illicitly acquired by Iran almost 20 years ago.

The finding – made through detailed examination of components recovered in Ukraine and shared exclusively with CNN – underlines Iran’s ability to mimic and finesse military technology it has obtained illegitimately.

Western officials are also concerned that Russia may share Western-made weapons and equipment recovered on the Ukrainian battlefield with the Iranians.

So far, there’s no firm evidence that has happened.

Read the full story here.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it delivered notes to the Polish and European Union representatives in Ukraine on Friday over the limiting of Ukrainian grain imports into some EU countries, calling the situation “unacceptable.”

“Such restrictions, whatever the reasons, do not comply with the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the principles and norms of the EU Single Market,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. 

“There are all legal grounds for the immediate resumption of exports of Ukrainian agricultural goods to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria, as well as for the continuation of unimpeded exports to other EU member states and, in general, unimpeded transit of all Ukrainian products to other countries both within and outside the EU,” the statement said. 

The statement comes after several European countries, including Poland and Hungary, banned the imports of grain and other food products from Ukraine following a surge in cheap goods. The European Commission condemned the move, saying it was not for individual members to decide trade policy.

In its statement on Saturday, Ukraine’s foreign ministry called for its partners to find a “balanced solution.”

“This is the only way to successfully counteract Russia’s full-scale aggressive war against Ukraine and strengthen the EU Single Market, which Ukraine will become a member of,” the statement said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky has offered condolences to the families killed in Russian missile strikes on Friday, almost all of them victims of a cruise missile that struck an apartment building in the city of Uman.

Zelensky said that “our Air Force managed to shoot down most of the Russian missiles – 21 out of 23. If not for this, the terrorist state would have managed to claim many more casualties, more lives.”

He said Ukraine could “save people only with weapons. Air defense, modern aircraft, without which there is no fully effective air defense.”

Zelensky also mentioned what he called the “destructive” impact of bans on the import of Ukrainian grain by several European countries on the grounds that it was undercutting domestic prices.

A fuel tank is on fire in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, the Russian-backed governor of the annexed city, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said on Telegram early Saturday.

Razvozhaev said the fire has spread to around 1,000 square meters and that initial reports indicate it was caused by a drone.

The fuel tank is in the Cossack Bay neighborhood, he said, adding response teams are working on site.

Five children are among the dead in the central Ukrainian city of Uman after a missile strike hit an apartment building, said Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs.

Investigators and forensic experts have identified 22 of the at least 23 people killed in the attack early Friday, Klymenko said. 

He said identification revealed five children, including two boys, aged one and 16 years old, and three girls, aged 8, 11 and 14, were among those killed. 

The rubble is still being cleared, he added. 

Russia’s attack on the central city is believed to be the deadliest on Ukrainian civilians in months.

The assault, which drew international condemnation, came around 4 a.m. local time, when a Russian aircraft launched a barrage of long-range cruise missiles in the Caspian Sea area, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reiterated the country’s call for F-16 fighter jet training from allies in a meeting with foreign ministers from eight countries Thursday.

Kuleba, during a joint news conference at the summit in Odesa, asked allies “to make every effort to speed up the decision to start training Ukrainian pilots on such aircraft.”

Getting military training on how to maneuver the aircraft could be the first step in the country gaining access to the jets, Kuleba said.

“We have to get Russia out of the sky,” the foreign minister told reporters. “To do this, we need not only air defense systems, which our friends have already provided us with, but also combat aircraft. We need combat aircraft to cover our brigades that will carry out a counteroffensive. We need combat aircraft to protect the Black Sea and our coastal areas.”

Foreign ministers from Latvia, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and Finland attended the joint meeting.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, emphasized the need for advanced military equipment and pointed to the death toll in Friday’s strike in Uman, which killed at least 22 people, including three children.

“Every day that the decision to supply Ukraine with modern combat aircraft is delayed means delaying the end of the war,” he said in a tweet.

Some context: Ukraine has long lobbied for the US and other Western allies to send the country F-16s to help stunt Russia’s invasion, but the fighter jets are sophisticated and can take months to learn how to fly.

The US and other Western allies have been skeptical of providing the jets to Ukraine. Russia has extensive anti-aircraft systems that could easily shoot the planes down, and some officials warn providing such equipment could be seen as provoking Russia.

CNN’s Natasha Bertrand and Alex Marquardt contributed to this report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he appealed to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, this week for help returning Ukrainian children who were deported by Russia.

Zelensky shared new details about the diplomatic call, which was held Wednesday, during a joint press conference with the presidents of Slovakia and the Czech Republic Friday. 

Zelensky said he used the “important conversation” to raise the plight of roughly 20,000 Ukrainian children who Kyiv accuses Russia of forcibly deporting. The Ukrainian president said foreign countries, including China, need to help Ukraine bring the kids home. 

Key background: A report published in February by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab outlined the expansive network of camps where Russia has allegedly detained Ukrainian children since the start of the war last year.

In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another Kyiv official, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of playing key roles in the scheme.

Beijing and Moscow: Zelensky’s call with Xi comes at a time of increased Western scrutiny on China’s relationship with Russia.

Putin and Xi posed as peacebrokers during a recent visit in Moscow, but the Chinese leader’s proposals on ending the war have not included a call for Moscow to withdraw its troops from Ukrainian land.

Zelensky said Wednesday’s call included a discussion of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

The Ukrainian leader said he also received a “positive response” from China after outlining the risks faced by any country that supplies weapons to Russia. 

US officials have warned in recent months that China could be considering crossing the “red line” and providing lethal military aid to Russia. While the countries have strengthened ties, US officials say they have not seen evidence that China has provided extensive material support to the Kremlin.

CNN’s Sam Fossum contributed to this report.