From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio and Ivana Kottasova in London
A MiG-29 supersonic fighter of Slovak army on April 14, 2005, in Sliac, Slovakia. (CTK/AP/File)
Slovakia has completed the transfer of its 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, the country’s Defense Minister, Jaroslav Nad' said on Monday.
Slovakia had already announced the transfer of four of the 13 aircraft back in March, after Ukrainian pilots traveled to the country and flew them into Ukraine. The remaining nine aircraft were shipped over land.
“This transfer was carried out by land, in order to maintain the highest levels of security,” Nad' said on his official Facebook account. “Huge thanks to all the forces involved in this important and demanding logistical operation.”
Nad' went on to say the MiG-29 aircraft will be a significant support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s military aggression.
"We are doing the right thing,” he said.
9:00 a.m. ET, April 17, 2023
Russia attacks Bakhmut suburbs as heavy fighting continues inside city, Ukrainian military says
From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio, Olga Voitovych and Allegra Goodwin
Drone footage of Bakhmut, Ukraine, in this screen grab obtained from a handout video released on April 15, 2023. (Adam Tactic Group/Reuters)
Russian forces have launched what the Ukrainian military said were “unsuccessful attacks” against the Bakhmut suburbs, as heavy fighting continues inside the embattled city.
“Heavy fighting is ongoing in Bakhmut,” the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in an update on Monday morning. “The enemy launched unsuccessful attacks in the vicinities of Khromove and Ivanivs’ke," referring to the suburbs around the outskirts of Bakhmut.
The move suggests an attempt by Moscow to encircle Ukrainian soldiers within Bakhmut. Despite claims Russian forces are advancing inside the city, footage geolocated by CNN on Monday shows Ukrainian fighters holding positions in central Bakhmut.
“Despite heavy losses the Russian Federation does not give up on plans to occupy our territory,” the General Staff said. “The adversary continues to focus its main efforts on offensive actions on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mar’yinka axes."
Ukraine also says it repelled 60 Russian attacks in Bakhmut and Mary’inka over the past 24 hours.
Some context: The eastern city of Bakhmutis currently the scene of the fiercest fighting between Russia and Ukraine’s troops. It has been rocked by heavy shelling and dozens of firefights in recent days as both militaries wage street-by-street — and even house-by-house — battle for control of the city, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, of the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
2:58 a.m. ET, April 17, 2023
Some Ukrainians who fled Russia’s war ended up in Siberia. It’s unclear if or when they’ll return home
From CNN's Scott McLean, Lauren Kent, Roman Tymotsko and Oscar Featherstone
A year ago, Natalia’s life was upended by war. With her family, she fled the fighting in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Mariupol and crossed into Russia.
From there, she and many other Ukrainians were encouraged by Russian authorities to take a 4,000-mile train journey east to the very edge of Siberia, to a coastal town called Nakhodka on the Sea of Japan, a stone’s throw from North Korea. It’s closer to Alaska than to the front lines.
In the absence of a reliable evacuation corridor to Ukrainian-held territory, going to Russia was the only option for many people in Mariupol at that time. Ukraine describes these refugees as forcibly deported, though Natalia says no one forced her to leave.
“It was our decision,” she told CNN by phone from Russia’s far east, where she has resettled since arriving last spring.
No longer a home: Russia has tried several experiments to attract people to its resource-rich far east, including from ex-Soviet states. Now, state programs are being repurposed to accommodate fleeing Ukrainians. Those who agree to go to Russia’s far east are promised a cash payment, housing assistance, Russian citizenship and potentially even free land.
Natalia, who was an office worker in Mariupol, has now found work in a local food-processing plant. She told CNN she’s struggling with the cost of rent. She hopes to find a job that better matches her skills, but for now it’s all she can find. She misses home, but at least the maritime climate reminds her of coastal Mariupol. Her husband and daughter are with her, and she says she has no family remaining in Ukraine.
“Nothing’s changed (in the past year) except the place,” she said. “But I no longer have a job that I love and a home I love.”
Russian authorities took her Ukrainian passport and swapped it with a Russian one, Natalia says. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality” and that everyone has a right to leave any country, even their own.
It's morning in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know
From CNN Staff
The embattled city of Bakhmut— currently the scene of the fiercest fighting between Russia and Ukraine’s troops — is reporting bloody street fighting and continuous shelling, according to a Ukrainian army spokesperson.
Here are the latest headlines:
Battles in Bakhmut: Ukraine's military reports hundreds of attacks daily on the eastern front line as Wagner mercenaries claim to have made incremental gains in fiercely contested Bakhmut. Both militaries are waging a street-by-street — and even house-by-house — battle for control of the city, said Serhii Cherevatyi, of the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Ukraine shoots down fighter jet: Ukrainian paratroopers shot down a Russian Su-25 aircraft over the nearby town of Chervonopopivka on Sunday, which is located between Lyman and Kupyansk, according to a Ukrainian army spokesperson. The area was recaptured by Ukrainian forces six months ago, and constitutes the northernmost stretch of the front line.
Putin meets Chinese defense minister: Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu in Moscow on Sunday, with both sides hailing their close military cooperation, according to the Kremlin. The latest diplomatic sit-down between Russian and Chinese officials comes at a time of increased Western scrutiny about the two governments’ relationship — and how it plays into the war in Ukraine.
Deportation of children: Russian forces are trying to remove children from their families in occupied southeast Ukraine in an effort to “intimidate people,” a Ukrainian military spokesperson claimed Sunday. Telegram users have shared unverified reports about children getting deported to Russian-occupied Crimea, using Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant buses as transport.
Ukrainian grain bans: The European Commission denounced a decision by Poland and Hungary to ban imports of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine. The Polish prime minister’s office said the move was “to protect the Polish agricultural market against destabilization.”
12:53 a.m. ET, April 17, 2023
Hungary and Poland's bans on Ukrainian grain are unacceptable, EU Commission says
From CNN's Jorge Engels in London
A dump track unloads grain in a granary in the village of Zghurivka, Ukraine, August 9, 2022. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)
The European Commission denounced a decision by Poland and Hungary to ban imports of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine.
“Unilateral actions are not acceptable. In such challenging times, it is crucial to coordinate and align all decisions within the EU,” EU Commission spokesperson Arianna Podestà told CNN in a statement Sunday.
Podestà said trade policy is an “exclusive competence” issue, referring to the alliance’s policies around decisions that must be made as a group, and not by individual member states.
The commission is requesting more information from the involved countries to assess the measures, the spokesperson said.
The bans in question: On Saturday, Poland banned imports of grain and other food products from Ukraine “to protect the Polish agricultural market against destabilization,” the Polish prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Hungarian Agriculture Minister István Nagy announced Sunday that Budapest would take similar steps, temporarily banning the import of grain, oil seeds and other agricultural products from Ukraine.
“The government is committed to representing the interests of the Hungarian economic society,” Nagy said in a Facebook post Sunday, adding he was taking the step “in the absence of meaningful EU measures.”
What led up to the bans: When Russia invaded Ukraine, it blocked ports and sea routes used to export Ukrainian grain to Africa and the Middle East. Fearing widespread famine, the European Union lifted duties on grain from Ukraine to ease distribution to those global markets.
Ukrainian grain has since flowed into Poland, but much of it has remained in the country, bringing down the price and causing Polish farmers to suffer significant financial losses.
That’s spurred protests and calls for the European Commission — effectively the EU’s cabinet government — to intervene. But the international body only spurred further anger when it announced a draft decision to extend duty-free and quota-free imports of Ukrainian grain until June 2024.
CNN’s Mariya Knight and Jonny Hallam contributed to this report.
12:53 a.m. ET, April 17, 2023
Death toll rises to 15 in Russian strikes on Sloviansk, Ukrainian official says
From CNN’s Mariya Knight
A view shows a residential building damaged by a Russian military strike in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine April 14. (Anna Kudriavtseva/Reuters)
The death toll from Friday’s Russian missile barrage on residential buildings in Sloviansk, Ukraine, has reached 15, according to a regional Ukrainian official.
A further 24 people were wounded in the strikes, up from the previously reported total of 22, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk region’s military administration, said in a Telegram post Sunday.
Kyrylenko said rescuers pulled five people, including a 14-year-old girl, from under the rubble. The bodies of 10 of the victims were recovered.
At least eight explosions rocked the city Friday afternoon local time, as Russian forces targeted it with S-300 rockets, according to Sloviansk Mayor Vadym Liakh. The strikes hit apartment buildings, houses, administrative buildings and a schoolyard.
12:53 a.m. ET, April 17, 2023
Army spokesperson details street-by-street fighting in the "unprecedented" battle for Bakhmut
From CNN's Maria Kostenko and Andrew Carey
In this drone footage smoke is seen in Bakhmut on April 15. (Adam Tactic Group/Reuters)
The embattled city of Bakhmut— currently the scene of the fiercest fighting between Russia and Ukraine’s troops — has been rocked by nearly 100 shellings over the last 24 hours, a Ukrainian army spokesperson told CNN.
Some 30 firefights have taken place as both militaries wage street-by-street — and even house-by-house — battle for control of the city, said Serhii Cherevatyi, of the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
New video released by Ukraine’s military illustrates the intensity of the fighting.
In one, Ukrainian soldiers from the 3rd Assault Brigade can be seen firing from a position inside a shattered first-floor apartment, its corner entirely blown away.
The constant sound of gunfire exchanges and explosions speaks to what Cherevatyi described yesterday as the “bloodiest of battles, unprecedented in recent decades.”
Russia reports gains: Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed Sunday that Wagner mercenaries have captured two more blocks in the north and the south of Bakhmut, according to RIA Novosti. Units of Russia’s Airborne Forces, the VDV, were providing support, the Defense Ministry added.
CNN is unable to independently verify the report, but the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, DC, appeared to back up the Russian claims, based on geolocated footage.
Russia targets supply route: Moscow’s troops launched an assault Saturday on the town of Khromove, which lies along Bakhmut’s main supply route from Chasiv Yar to the west, Cherevatyi said.
Logistics operations were not easy, the spokesperson told CNN, but they continued.
“We can still deliver ammunition, provisions, medicines, food, and take our wounded out. Of course it is difficult, but it is possible,” he said. “Our artillerymen are engaged in counter-battery operations to prevent the enemy from constantly firing on the delivery routes.”
12:53 a.m. ET, April 17, 2023
Ukraine shot down a fighter jet as Russia launches constant attacks on eastern front, military official says
From CNN's Maria Kostenko and Andrew Carey
Russian forces continue to mount heavy attacks on Ukrainian towns and positions in the eastern part of the country, according to new information from a Ukrainian army spokesperson.
The area between Lyman and Kupyansk — which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces six months ago, and constitutes the northernmost stretch of the front line — is under the heaviest fire with 300-400 attacks per day, Serhii Cherevatyi, of the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told CNN.
Ukrainian paratroopers shot down a Russian Su-25 aircraft over the nearby town of Chervonopopivka, Cherevatyi said.
All Russian offensives in the area were unsuccessful Saturday, the Ukrainian military claimed.
Kyiv’s forces also reported Russian mine-laying operations in four eastern locations.
