April 30, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Pope Francis holds a news conference aboard a plane as he returns to the Vatican following his journey to Hungary on April 30.

Pope Francis told journalists Sunday that the Vatican is part of a mission to end the war in Ukraine.

Francis made the remarks during a news conference after a three-day trip to the Hungarian capital.

During his trip to Budapest, the Pope met with a representative from the pro-Kremlin Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion. When the Pope was asked if that meeting and the meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán could accelerate peace, he said, “I believe that peace is always made by opening channels; peace can never be made by closure.”?

A reporter asked if the Pope was willing to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia. “The Holy See is willing to act because it is right; it just is,” he said.?

Last week, the Pope met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who requested his help with the kids’ return.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his French counterpart held a phone call Sunday, discussing what Emmanuel Macron’s readout called France’s “commitment to provide all necessary assistance to Ukraine in order to restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”?

The Ukrainian readout said Zelensky shared details about the situation on the conflict’s front lines and how it might develop in May and June, as anticipation builds for Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

Zelensky also laid out the highest priority aid his military needs to defeat Moscow’s forces, according to the readout.

The world leaders discussed the upcoming NATO Summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, where Zelensky said he anticipates members will make security guarantees for his country, and where he also hopes to begin the process of formally inviting Ukraine to join the alliance. The NATO Summit in Lithuania will take place in mid-July.

Zelensky’s readout said he thanked “France for its comprehensive and effective support for Ukraine in the face of ongoing full-scale Russian aggression.”

At least one person was killed and two were injured when Russian forces shelled the southern city of Nikopol on Sunday, Serhii Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, wrote on Telegram.

The governor said Russia’s assault damaged six high-rise buildings and the same number of private homes, plus agricultural buildings, two gas pipelines and a power line.

The Ukrainian army fires grad shells in the direction of Bakhmut on April 28. Wagner mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin said Sunday that his fighters may have to withdraw from Bakhmut.

Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive appears imminent —?and the way each side is preparing speaks volumes about their readiness.

Kyiv’s frontlines are abuzz with vehicle movement and artillery strikes, with regular explosions hitting vital Russian targets in occupied areas.

Its defense minister has said preparations are “coming to an end” and President Volodymyr Zelensky has assured a counteroffensive “will happen,” while demurring on any exact start date.

It may have already started; it may be weeks away. We don’t know — and that fact is a strong measure of Ukraine’s success as this begins.

Moscow, on the other hand, is in the closing-time bar brawl stage of their war. After losing Kharkiv and Kherson, they have had at least seven months to ready the next likely target of Ukrainian attack: Zaporizhzhia.

That has happened, with vast trench defense networks that can be seen from space. That recognition of their enormity is not necessarily a compliment in 2023. They are big, yes, but they are also something anyone can peruse on Google. That’s not great in an era of precise rockets and speedy armored advances.

But it’s the last 72 hours that have perhaps most betrayed Russia’s lacking readiness:

First, the apparent firing of the deputy defense minister in charge of logistics, Mikhail Mizintsev. The Russian Ministry of Defense has not spelled out his dismissal, merely issuing a decree that Aleksey Kuzmenkov now has his job.

The “Butcher of Mariupol,” as Mizintsev is known, surely had enough failings over Russia’s disastrous war to merit his firing. But this fails to satisfy the question: Why now?

By removing key ministers in the moments before its army faces Ukraine’s counter-assault, Moscow sends a message of disarray.

Yevgeny Prigozhin arrives to pay respects to slain Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky on April 8 in Moscow.

And then there’s Yevgeny Prigozhin’s new round of criticism. The Wagner mercenary warlord chose Sunday to give another long interview in which he laid bare the sheer extent of the issues his mercenaries face.

According to the Wagner head, his fighters are so low on ammunition that they may have to withdraw from Bakhmut —?the strategically unimportant city they have squandered thousands of lives trying to take.

(A caveat: Prigozhin is not the most trustworthy source, and provides little evidence for what he says. But this sort of public spat isn’t something Moscow would encourage at this sensitive moment).

Russia’s eroding ammunition supplies were long known, but to suggest imminent failure just ahead of the counteroffensive smacks of a major bid to shift blame.

Bottom line: The hours before Ukraine moves are shrinking. The amount we know about their emotional state, or target, is almost zero. And the extent of Moscow’s internal indecision, rivalries and disunity only grows.

Smoke rises above Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Wednesday, April 26.

Fighting in the long-contested eastern city of Bakhmut is “very intense,” Ukrainian military press officer Mykyta Shandyba said Sunday on national TV.

“The Russian military is trying to take the city by May 9. They are currently failing,” Shandyba said. “They are using artillery, mortars and tank shelling to destroy the city. Often, battles with them are close-contact battles. Destroying the enemy with small arms and grenades, not artillery.”

The military spokesperson said Russian forces are constantly shelling Ukrainian positions:?

CNN cannot independently verify battlefield developments in Bakhmut.

A sprint to capture the city: A Ukrainian fighter in Bakhmut named Yurii Syrotiuk —?call-sign “Mamai” — told national TV that Russian fighters seem pressed to conclude the battle quickly.?

“The enemy is in a rush; the enemy is trying to put pressure, trying to attack the areas of high-rise buildings in Bakhmut,” he said.

Syrotiuk claimed Moscow’s troops are running out of supplies and faith in their mission, so they have turned more destructive, demolishing homes and buildings.

Russia’s fighters cannot attack along the entire width of the front line in Bakhmut, so battles focus on narrow areas, he continued. Syrotiuk claimed his team had managed to advance almost half a mile in one sector.

Ukrainian servicemen run to take cover during shelling near Bakhmut, on April 30.

Perilous supply routes: Ukraine’s troops struggle to carry out logistical operations under the cover of dark, hoping to avoid shelling on the roads in and out of town, the military spokesperson Shandyba said.

The most danger comes from a key supply route between the towns of Chasiv Yar and Khromove, where Ukrainian military officials have previously described constant Russian shelling.

“Only armored vehicles can get to Bakhmut. So it is complicated,” Shandyba said.

Wagner’s call for supplies: Syrotiuk also addressed a claim from Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military company that has played a key role in Bakhmut, who says his mercenaries are running out of ammunition.

The Ukrainian fighter said Wagner forces seem to have an “unlimited number” of shells, but “their artillery is firing every minute, every few seconds.”

“The do not choose targets, they just cover the squares,” he said.

Despite the constant barrage, Syrotiuk claims Prigozhin’s fighters are now having a hard time penetrating high-rise buildings occupied by Ukraine’s forces.

Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, pictured in 2018, will be replaced by Aleksey Kuzmenkov.

The?Russian?Ministry of Defense?has replaced its deputy defense minister for logistics, making a change in military leadership just as Russian forces gear up for a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The ministry announced the move in a Telegram post Sunday, saying Aleksey Kuzmenkov —?a colonel-general who has held a variety of leadership roles in Russia’s military —?has been appointed to the position, which was previously held by Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev.

Moscow did not immediately provide a reason for Mizintsev being replaced. The move comes as Ukrainian officials signal their spring counteroffensive could be launched imminently.

More on Mizintsev, “The Butcher of Mariupol”: Russia’s outgoing logistics commander developed a reputation for brutality and an ominous nickname among Western officials for his role in the siege of Mariupol, the site of some of the invasion’s most notorious strikes and alleged atrocities.

Why the logistics role is important: Moscow’s logistical chains will likely play a key role in its attempted defense of occupied Ukrainian territory, with Kyiv’s forces seeking to disrupt supply lines with long-range fire.

The Russian military has struggled to keep frontline forces consistently supplied with both weapons and other equipment, and recent reports have indicated that officials are bringing older tanks out of storage.

Despite that, and its heavy consumption of shells and rockets, analysts say Russia has so far been able to keep munitions flowing to the front.

More on Kuzmenkov: The incoming logistics chief graduated from the Volsk Higher Military School of Logistics in 1992, according to Russian officials.

Over the years, Kuzmenkov served in Russia’s armed forces as head of logistics headquarters, as a commander for logistics in the Southern Military District, and in a deputy director position for the Russian National Guard.

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02:48 - Source: CNN

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a flood of refugees. Many of them were pet owners who had to leave their dogs and cats behind, hoping it would only be a matter of days before they were able to return to them.

But as that exodus grew longer for many families, Ukrainian veterinarians Valentina and Leonid Stoyanov soon learned of pets locked in nearby homes.

After one or two weeks, neighbors started to hear “a lot of different animals around them screaming,” Valentina told CNN.

At the time, the couple specialized in exotic animal and wildlife rescue. With the invasion came a new mission: caring for these beloved but abandoned pets.

The Stoyanovs began working with local police to access homes to rescue dogs and cats. Within a week of the invasion, Leonid said they were caring for some 400 animals in their Odesa clinic.

For the last decade, the couple has worked together treating more unusual animals and wildlife. Before the war, their videos of the monkeys, snakes, owls, and other creatures they rescued and cared for found a growing audience on their “Vet Crew”?TikTok?and?Instagram?feeds.

Valentina said their “simple life” has changed drastically.

“All our family – mother, father – have to leave Ukraine,” Leonid said. “But we decided we stay here and help animals – a lot of animals.”

Read more about the vets’ story here.

Police and city authorities are seen at the Russian embassy school in Warsaw on Saturday.

Russia’s foreign ministry warned it will retaliate after?Polish authorities seized a Russian embassy school Saturday, marking a new chapter in diplomatic tensions that have intensified during the war in Ukraine.

Polish police and staff from the Warsaw city hall entered the campus Saturday morning, asking employees to leave the premises, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Moscow described the action as “controversial, illegal and provocative,” in a statement.

A Polish foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters that while Russia had a right to protest the seizure, the government was acting within the law.

“Our opinion, which has been confirmed by the courts, is that this property belongs to the Polish state and was taken by Russia illegally,” Lukasz Jasina said.

The?school?will continue to operate from a different part of the Russian?embassy, RIA Novosti reported, quoting Russia’s ambassador to Poland, Sergei Andreev.

Some context: Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has been a staunch ally to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, leading the charge on supplying advanced weaponry to Kyiv.

Warsaw’s relationship with Moscow has soured in turn, and the two countries have traded diplomatic slights, including each government expelling 45 diplomats from the other’s country shortly after the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Read more about Poland’s relationship with Ukraine and Russia here:

Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Polish first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska pose for a picture at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel

Related article 'You stood with us shoulder to shoulder': Zelensky visits key ally Poland | CNN

President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Correspondents' dinner on Saturday, April 29.

US President Joe?Biden?advocated?for?press?freedom?and called?for?the?release?of wrongfully detained journalists during his?remarks?at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“We all stand with you,” Biden said, acknowledging the family of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich during his remarks in Washington, DC, Saturday.

Biden?also?invoked Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who the Biden administration says is wrongfully detained?in?Russia.

“I am working like hell to get them home,” he said, adding that he was glad to see Brittney Griner, who was?released after spending ten months?in?Russian detention,?in?attendance at the event.

Biden?and first lady Jill?Biden?also participated in a pull-aside meeting with Gershkovich’s family at the annual dinner.

The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Russian detainees: Gershkovich’s detention signaled a significant ratcheting of both Moscow’s tensions with the United States and its campaign against foreign news media, which has been under intense pressure since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

Detentions of other Americans have led to lengthy and difficult negations between Washington and Moscow, and raised fears that they could be used as pawns in the geopolitics surrounding Russia’s war.

CNN’s Sarah Dean, Julia Horowitz and Eliza Mackintosh contributed to this report.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin speaks to the media on April 18.

Ireland?voiced its “unwavering support” for Ukraine after the Russian embassy?in Dublin?took issue with an Irish government official paying tribute to an Irishman killed fighting in Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin expressed his condolences to the family of Finbar Cafferkey, who was killed fighting Russian forces in Ukraine, saying he was “obviously a young man of clear principles.”?

This sparked ire from the Russian embassy in?Ireland,?which?responded in a statement Friday, saying it is the Irish government and media “who bear responsibility for the death of Finbar Cafferkey.”

The statement accused Irish institutions of “promoting anti-Russian propaganda” and “misleading” people like Cafferkey.

The Russian Embassy said it wasn’t clear “if Mr. Martin’s remarks signify support for the Irish to take part in combat in Ukraine,” adding that, if that is the case, “then?Ireland?would be the direct participant of the conflict with all the ensuing consequences.”??

The chair of the Irish parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Charlie Flanagan, called it a “threatening, intimidating & chilling statement,” in a tweet Friday.??

Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs said in its own statement Saturday that the Irish government’s “position in respect of Russia’s brutal and illegal aggression against Ukraine is crystal clear.”?

Controversial ambassador: As some Irish politicians call for Russian Ambassador Yuriy Filatov to step down, the Irish government said it holds the view that?“diplomatic channels between?Ireland?and the Russian Federation should remain open,” calling it in the interest of Irish citizens in Russia.

Filatov made headlines last year after a journalist with the Irish national broadcaster asked him why the Irish government should allow him to remain in?Ireland?when he is acting “as an apologist for slaughter.”

“You might ask your government,” Filatov responded. “It’s up to them. I can leave any time.”

The death toll has increased to four people following Ukrainian shelling on a village in the Bryansk region in Russia, Alexander Bogomaz, the local governor said.

“According to initial information, one residential building was completely destroyed and another two houses were partially damaged. Response teams continue to work at the site,” Bogomaz said on his Telegram channel early Sunday.

The Ukrainian military’s attack hit residential buildings in the village of?Suzemka, the governor said. The Bryansk region shares a border to its south with Ukraine, and to its west with Belarus.?

Bogomaz posted a video on Telegram showing people emerge from a damaged building at night. “They pulled a woman out. They’re still checking for a kid. Not sure. Horrible,” a person speaking in the video says.

CNN has not verified this video at this time.?

The news comes amid warnings from Ukraine that its preparations are almost complete for a spring counteroffensive, which many experts believe could mark a?pivotal moment?in the conflict.

Rockets hit the?center?of?Kupyansk, the northern part?of?the front line in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Sunday morning, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head?of?the regional military administration.?

The Ukrainian official said the attack was fired from multiple rocket launchers and hit the city around 6:45 a.m. local time (11:45 p.m. ET Saturday).

The assault comes a day after Russian?forces fired on the Kharkiv, Chuhuiv and?Kupyansk?districts?of?the region, Syniehubov said.

Crews are working through liberated areas of Kharkiv to clear the ground of mines, with pyrotechnic crews defusing some 123 explosive devices over the past day, the regional leader added.

Russia also shelled Nikopol in southern Ukraine overnight, damaging seven private houses, a power line, a minibus, a greenhouse and a car, Serhii Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram Sunday. Lysak said there were no casualties.?

Yevgeny Prigozhin attends a funeral in Moscow, Russia, on April 8.

The head of the Russian private military company Wagner has threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut if they don’t receive more munitions to continue the fight.

Those responsible for weapons procurement in Russia “stopped giving us ammunition,” Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed in an interview with the Russian pro-Kremlin blogger Semyon Pegov, who blogs under the alias WarGonzo.

The pointed warnings for Russian defense officials, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, come as Bakhmut remains heavily contested.

The mercenary leader has a track record of misleading statements and did not provide evidence for his statements.?CNN cannot independently verify the situation on the ground in Bakhmut.

“Do we go on with our assaults or not? Do we stay or go?” Prigozhin continued, vowing that his fighters will defend Bakhmut “until the very last round of ammunition,” but saying their supplies have dwindled to a matter of days, not weeks.

Prigozhin and Moscow: Prigozhin, whose forces have played a key role in Russian assaults on Ukrainian territory including Bakhmut, has often clashed with Putin’s generals and other defense officials in Moscow.

He has complained for well over a month of receiving insufficient support from the Kremlin in the grueling fight for the eastern city.

Prigozhin, who often speaks sarcastically, in the interview suggested his rifts with Moscow have not healed.

Two people have been killed and 12 injured in shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, officials there say.

“Twelve civilians were wounded to varying degrees of severity in the Petrovsky and Leninsky districts of?Donetsk, Yasinovataya,” the self-proclaimed Donetsk?People’s Republic said in a statement.

Donetsk has been held by Russian-backed separatists for eight years and it is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow annexed last year, in a move widely denounced as illegal under international law.

There have been a flurry of alleged Ukrainian attacks this weekend. Two civilians were killed in a village in Russia’s Bryansk region following?Ukrainian shelling, the local governor said.

Two civilians have died in a village in Russia’s Bryansk region following?Ukrainian shelling, the local governor Alexander Bogomaz said.

One residential building had been completely destroyed and another two houses were partially damaged, he said.

The Bryansk region shares a border to its south with Ukraine and to its west with Belarus.

On Saturday, officials in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine reported attacks. A suspected drone triggered a fire in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol while the southern Ukrainian town of Nova Kakhovka came under “severe artillery fire.”

The news comes amid warnings from Ukraine that its preparations are almost complete for a spring counter-offensive that many experts believe could mark a?pivotal moment?in the conflict.

President Zelensky?speaks at a news conference in Warsaw on April 5.

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.

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.