Ihor Smilianskyi CEO of the Ukrainian post holds the new postage stamp immortalizing the famous exchange on Snake Island between Russian and Ukrainian forces at the postal headquarters in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 14. (REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
The sinking of Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva in the Black Sea comes days after Ukraine issued a stamp immortalizing the famous exchange on Snake Island between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser confirmed on Thursday the Moskva was one of the vessels involved in the exchange in February.
The island was hit by Russian missile strikes after Ukrainian defenders responded to the threat of Russian invasion with the words: “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.”
The stamp: Ukrposhta, Ukraine’s postal service, announced on Tuesday it had issued a postage stamp with the slogan. It shows a Ukrainian solider standing defiant, facing down a Russian warship in open water.
Roman Hrybov — the Ukrainian soldier who uttered the phrase — was invited to the ceremony unveiling the stamp, the service said in a statement.
Some context: It was initially believed the Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a subsequent attack, but were instead forced to surrender “due to the lack of ammunition,” according to the Ukrainian navy. Hrybov was later released as part of a prisoner exchange.
The phrase has become a popular Ukrainian slogan during the invasion and used as a symbol of defiance.
“There would be neither postage stamp nor such strong resistance as exemplified by soldiers from Zmiinyi Island (Snake Island) without him,” the statement read.
The warship: Conflicting accounts have emerged over the sinking of the warship, which was reported Thursday by Russian state news agency TASS.
Ukraine’s Operational Command South claimed Thursday that the Moskva had begun to sink after it was hit by Neptune anti-ship missiles.
Russia claimed a fire broke out, causing munitions aboard to explode, inflicting serious damage to the vessel and forcing its crew to be evacuated.
CNN has not been able to independently verify what caused the damage to the ship.
The worst thing I have seen since arriving in Kyiv nearly a month ago would have to be the body of a man we were shown in a backyard in Borodianka, northwest of Kyiv.
We were led to the site by the owner of the house, who had fled town in the first few days of war. She returned as the invading troops withdrew, only to find her home had been ransacked by Russian soldiers.
Behind her garden shed, she showed us a man, with a bag over his head, his hands tied behind his back and his trousers pulled down, exposing his underwear and heavily bruised leg.
He had a gunshot wound to the head, and a single bullet case was still lying next to his body.
He appeared to have been tortured and executed by Russian soldiers, although we do not know for sure what happened to him.
By this time, we had already seen the now infamous mass grave in Bucha, but the image of that man has stuck with me – I find the individual more relatable than the collective. It is easier to compartmentalize, to dissociate a group from the humanity they were robbed of.
Some context: Borodianka was home to 13,000 people before the war, but most fled after Russia’s invasion. What was left of the town, after intense shelling and devastating airstrikes, was then occupied by Russian forces, which moved in on Feb. 28. The town came back into Ukrainian control on April 1.
Read more about what CNN journalists have witnessed in Ukraine here:
Thursday marks 50 days since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and there has been a marked shift in Moscow’s approach. Ukrainian officials have warned for days they expect a major offensive by Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region.
The US and EU have pledged a combined $1.3 billion more in military aid for Ukraine as Russia prepares to launch an eastern offensive.
Meanwhile, organizations like the United Nations have warned that the prolonged war in Ukraine could lead to more problems in an already struggling global economy with food insecurity as a top concern.
Here are the latest developments:
Casualties of war: As of April 12, the civilian death toll in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24 stood at 1,932, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said Thursday. It warned that “the actual figures are considerably higher.”
Global impact: The United Nations secretary-general has warned that the world is on the brink of a “perfect storm” as the war in Ukraine exacerbates an already struggling global economy. In a news release Wednesday, the UN said the war could lead to a “three-dimensional crisis” of food, energy and finance — areas that have already been hit hard by Covid-19 and climate change. “We are now facing a perfect storm that threatens to devastate the economies of developing countries,” Secretary-General António Guterres said.”The people of Ukraine cannot bear the violence being inflicted on them. And the most vulnerable people around the globe cannot become collateral damage in yet another disaster for which they bear no responsibility,” he said.
Key Russian warship damaged: One of the Russian Navy’s most important warships has been badly damaged in the Black Sea, a massive blow to a military struggling against Ukrainian resistance 50 days into Russia’s invasion of his neighbor. Russian sailors evacuated the guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, after a fire that detonated ammunition aboard, Russia’s defense ministry said. Ukraine’s Operational Command South claimed Thursday that the Moskva had begun to sink after it was hit Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles. Russia’s defense ministry said Thursday that the Moskva “remains afloat” and that measures were being taken to tow it to port. The ministry said the crew had been evacuated to other Black Sea Fleet ships in the area. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told CNN’s Brianna Keilar that “there was an explosion” on the Moskva, but said the United States cannot say at this point if the ship was hit by a missile. Whatever the reason for the fire, analysts say it strikes hard at the heart of the Russian Navy as well as national pride, comparable to the US Navy losing a battleship during World War II or an aircraft carrier today.
Ukrainian National Security Advisor Oleksiy Danilov told CNN Thursday that the alleged strike on the cruiser was a very important mission for his country’s military and vowed there would be more such dramatic actions. “It is a very important mission for us. The Moskva was there near the Snake Island and was hit yesterday by two powerful Ukrainian-made missiles,” Danilov told CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen in an interview. “[Putin] came to kill our children, our women, our civilians. That is our gift to him. And this is just the beginning. There will be more than one Moskva.” The Ukrainian national security advisor went on to commend the Ukrainian military for the way they were defending the country but cautioned against underestimating the Russian military. Danilov also reiterated his country’s request for the international community to send more weapons. “We are, first of all, grateful for what we already have been given,” he said “We need helicopters, planes, powerful weapons, howitzers… We need a lot.”
Potential meeting between Zelensky and Putin: Turkey is still working on organizing a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish news channel NTV on Thursday.“We know critical topics will be decided at leader level, so we will try to bring leaders together,” he said. Cavusoglu said that Turkey continues to approach the negotiations with “cautious optimism,” particularly after recent events of alleged war crimes in Bucha and Irpin which “negatively affected the process.”
The condition for a possible meeting between Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky is an agreement document ready for the two leaders to sign, the Kremlin said Thursday. Since the start of Russia’s invasion, Zelensky has repeatedly called for talks with the Russian president, but there have been no talks at the highest level so far.
Russian opposition figure urges the West to wage a social media against Putin regime: Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has issued a series of tweets urging a new front of “truth and free information” against Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he calls the “war criminal from the Kremlin.”
Navalny, who is serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian penal colony after being convicted of fraud last month, said in his tweets that “truth and free information hit Putin’s insane regime just as hard as Javelins,” the US anti-tank weapons being used by Ukrainian forces against Russian armor.
Increased international defense aid for Ukraine: The Pentagon is working to move the $800 million worth of weapons, ammunition and other security assistance for Ukraine announced by US President Joe Biden yesterday into Ukraine as quickly as possible, a senior defense official said Thursday. “We’re under no illusion of the size and the scale of this thing. But we’re also mindful of the clock. We know time is not our friend. And we’re going to do the best we can to move this, to move these shipments as fast as we can,” the official told reporters during an off-camera briefing.
The European Union has approved an additional 500 million euros ($544 million USD) for military equipment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Wednesday, according to a news release from the European Council of the European Union.
“The next weeks will be decisive. As Russia prepares for an offensive on the East of Ukraine, it is crucial that we continue and step up our military support to Ukraine to defend its territory and population and prevent further suffering,” said Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Conflicting reports have emerged from the Russians and Ukrainians about an incident involving a Russian warship in the Black Sea.
No evidence has emerged to support either claim and CNN is unable to independently verify what took place.
What the Russians say: The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Wednesday that the warship Moskva was evacuated after a fire onboard detonated ammunition, seriously damaging the vessel, according to Russian state media.
What the Ukrainians say: Hours earlier, Odesa state regional administrator Maxim Marchenko claimed in a post on Telegram that Ukrainian forces hit the ship with “Neptune” missiles causing serious damage to it.
Poor weather: Due to large storms over the Black Sea obscuring satellite imagery and sensory satellite data, CNN has not been able to visually confirm the ship has been hit. The Russian Defense Ministry has also not posted any official statement to its Telegram channel acknowledging the evacuation, or fire onboard.
Russian state media outlets TASS and RIA reported the ship’s crew was evacuated and that the cause of the fire was still being established. According to the Defense Ministry, the Moskva is a missile cruiser that was built and commissioned in 1982.
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies showed the ship just northwest of Sevastopol, Crimea on April 10.
Conflicting reports have emerged from the Russians and Ukrainians about an incident involving a Russian warship in the Black Sea.
No evidence has emerged to support either claim and CNN is unable to independently verify what took place.
What the Russians say: The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Wednesday that the warship Moskva was evacuated after a fire onboard detonated ammunition, seriously damaging the vessel, according to Russian state media.
What the Ukrainians say: Hours earlier, Odesa state regional administrator Maxim Marchenko claimed in a post on Telegram that Ukrainian forces hit the ship with “Neptune” missiles causing serious damage to it.
Poor weather: Due to large storms over the Black Sea obscuring satellite imagery and sensory satellite data, CNN has not been able to visually confirm the ship has been hit. The Russian Defense Ministry has also not posted any official statement to its Telegram channel acknowledging the evacuation, or fire onboard.
Russian state media outlets TASS and RIA reported the ship’s crew was evacuated and that the cause of the fire was still being established. According to the Defense Ministry, the Moskva is a missile cruiser that was built and commissioned in 1982.
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies showed the ship just northwest of Sevastopol, Crimea on April 10.
One of the Russian Navy’s most important warships is either floating abandoned or at the bottom of the Black Sea, a massive blow to a military struggling against Ukrainian resistance 50 days into Vladimir Putin’s invasion of his neighbor.
Russian sailors have evacuated the guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, after a fire that detonated ammunition aboard, Russian state media reported Wednesday.
State media outlets TASS and RIA, citing the Russian Defense Ministry, said the Moskva had been seriously damaged in the incident and that the cause of the fire was being investigated. The Russian reports gave no information on possible casualties.
But hours earlier, a Ukrainian official claimed the Russian warship had been hit by cruise missiles fired from Ukraine.
Due to large storms over the Black Sea obscuring satellite imagery and sensory satellite data, CNN has not been able to visually confirm the ship has been hit or its current status, but analysts noted that a fire on board such a ship can lead to a catastrophic explosion that could sink it.
Whatever the reason for the fire, the analysts say it strikes hard at the heart of the Russian navy as well as national pride, comparable to the US Navy losing a battleship during World War II or an aircraft carrier today.
“Only the loss of a ballistic missile submarine or the Kutznetsov (Russia’s lone aircraft carrier) would inflict a more serious blow to Russian morale and the navy’s reputation with the Russian public,” said Carl Schuster, a retired US Navy captain and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center.
“Massive blow”: Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy at King’s College in London, said losing the warship would be a “massive blow” for Russia.
“Ships operate away from public attention and their activities are rarely the subject of news. But they are large floating pieces of national territory, and when you lose one, a flagship no less, the political and symbolic message — in addition to the military loss — stands out precisely because of it,” he said.
Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour joined CNN on Monday to talk about why the band decided to record its first music in nearly 30 years — a song in support of Ukraine featuring vocals by a Ukrainian soldier.
The legendary rock band released the new single “Hey Hey Rise Up” last week in support of the people of Ukraine, the band said in a statement. It’s the first new music from the band since 1994, and all proceeds will go to Ukrainian humanitarian relief, the statement added.
The song is performed by Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason, with bass player Guy Pratt and Nitin Sawhney on keyboard. The song features vocals by Andriy Khlyvnyuk from the Ukrainian band Boombox. The band used audio of Khlyvnyuk singing in central Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, where he performed “a rousing Ukrainian protest song written during the first World War which has been taken up across the world over the past month in protest” against the Russian invasion.
Gilmour, who has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren, said in the statement that he felt moved by Khlyvnyuk’s performance “in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful gold-domed church and … in the silence of a city with no traffic or background noise because of the war.”
On Monday, Gilmour talked about how his family members sent him the clip of Khlyvnyuk singing that song in the square.
“It’s just a very, very striking performance and of course, due to the fact it’s a cappella and there’s no other instruments backing it. So you can easily take it to a studio and do something with it,” he said.
Gilmour said at the time he was “already very frustrated by my own inability to do anything much” for Ukraine. He called Russia’s attack on Ukraine “appalling.”
Gilmour said it is an “awful thing that’s going on in Ukraine” and this song “seemed like a great thing to arrive at my feet that I could then turn it into something which was actively, I hope, do some positive good.”
Asked if he could imagine the band doing a live performance with Khlyvnyuk in the future, Gilmour said, “I certainly wouldn’t rule it out.”
“It would be great if we can make something like that work. And he’s very keen on the idea. I have spoken to him several times in the last three weeks,” he added.
Gilmour said that one of those conversations he had with the singer, who is fighting in the war, happened while “he was in a hospital bed having been struck by a piece of mortar shrapnel.”
“He was there with a big black eye, a bandage all over his face. The reality of what he’s living, other people are living through there is just beyond what most of us can really understand or believe can happen in the world.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Office of the President of Ukraine)
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed his nation Sunday, calling Ukrainians “the bravest people of the best country in the world.”
“We are coming to an end of another week,” Zelensky said in his speech, which he has given regularly during Russia’s attack on the country. “Our fight for freedom, for the state. Another week that Ukraine stayed alive, despite all the efforts of Russia to destroy us. We are fighting. We are defending. We are repelling the attacks.”
Zelensky said the nation is doing all it can to win the war and accused Russian leadership of “lying” in efforts to shift the blame away from them.
“When cowardice grows, everything turns into catastrophe,” he continued. “When people don’t have the courage to recognize their mistakes and apologize, to conform to reality, and to see that they are turning into monsters.”
The Ukrainian president said Russia has lost touch with reality, acting as aggressors yet blaming Ukraine for the actions committed by Russian troops, including the killings in Bucha, the missile strike on the train station in Kramatorsk, and “every destroyed city and burnt village.”
“They have destroyed the lives of millions. They started a full-scale war and act as if we are to blame for this,” Zelensky continued.
He added Russia, fearing defeat, will launch more full-scale combat actions in Ukraine’s east.
“But we are ready,” the president said, promising Ukraine will ensure it has enough weapons and demand stronger sanctions against Russia so that justice will be served.
Moments prior to his address, Zelensky said he honored “18 defenders of Ukraine” — including members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Special Communications Service and police officers — for their heroism. He also thanked the journalists sharing the truth of what is unfolding in the country.
“The truth will win and Ukraine will win,” Zelensky said. “This is for certain. Glory to Ukraine.”
In this pool photo taken on Thursday, March 17, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, poses with Col. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov during an awarding ceremony in Moscow’s Kremlin, Russia. (Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool/AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed a new general to direct the war in Ukraine as his military shifts plans after a failure to take Kyiv, according to a US official and a European official.
The officials told CNN Army Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, commander of Russia’s Southern Military District, has been named theater commander of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine
“It speaks to a Russian acknowledgement that it is going extremely badly and they need to do something differently,” the European official said.
A new theater commander with extensive combat experience could bring a level of coordination to an assault now expected to focus on the Donbas region, instead of multiple fronts.
Dvornikov, 60, was the first commander of Russia’s military operations in Syria, after Putin sent troops there in September 2015 to back the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. During Dvornikov’s command in Syria from September 2015 to June 2016, Russian aircraft backed the Assad regime and its allies as they laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo, bombarding densely populated neighborhoods and causing major civilian casualties. The city fell to Syrian government forces in December 2016.
Russian forces have used a similarly heavy-handed approach in parts of Ukraine, striking residential buildings in major cities and demolishing much of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
“We will see how effective that proves to be,” the European official said. “The Russian doctrine, the Russian tactics remain pretty much as they’ve been since Afghanistan.” “They do things in the same old way,” the official added.
Military analysts and US officials familiar with intelligence assessments have speculated Russia’s generals have a goal of presenting Putin with some tangible battlefield progress ahead of Victory Day on May 9, when Russia observes the defeat of Nazi Germany and traditionally marks the occasion with a parade in Moscow’s Red Square.
The European official described it as a “self-imposed deadline,” that could lead the Russians to make additional mistakes.
But it could also potentially lead Russian forces to commit more atrocities, as allegedly happened in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha while under Russian occupation. “The stench of these war crimes is going to hang over these Russian armed forces for many years,” the official said.
Former UK ambassador to Russia Sir Roderic Lyne told Sky News on Saturday Moscow has appointed a new general with a “pretty savage track record in Syria to try to at least gain some territory in Donetsk that Putin could present as a victory.”
Assigning a new overall commander for Russia’s war in Ukraine may be an attempt to create a more cohesive strategy. CNN previously reported that Russia had no theater-wide commander for Ukraine operations, meaning units from different Russian military districts have been operating without coordination and sometimes at cross purposes, according to two US defense officials.
The US has previously assessed Putin would likely name a general whose forces have been operating in Ukraine’s south because that is where the Russians have taken and held more territory, as opposed to the Russian bid to encircle Kyiv and cities in northern Ukraine, an effort that recently ended with a withdrawal.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Friday Russian forces had completed their withdrawal from Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, while continuing a buildup of forces in the country’s east.
Workers remove the remains of a missile after the strike. Kareem Khadder/CNN
Editor’s note: This post contains descriptions that may be upsetting.
Cleaning crews have arrived at the railway station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, where dozens of Ukrainians were killed by a Russian missile strike on Friday while waiting to flee fighting.
CNN saw workers wearing plastic gloves gather scattered human remains. Others looked through papers and documents that were strewn across the station. Plastic bags filled with food lay on the ground, alongside shredded hats, gloves and shoes.
Several points of impact from the strike were visible, including what appeared to have been a direct hit on a car. Pools of blood and a deceased dog, partially covered by white sheeting, lay by the tracks.
At least 50 people, including five children, were killed in the attack, Ukrainian officials said Friday, with dozens more taken to local hospitals.
The remains of the missile were picked up and transported by specialists.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strike a war crime in a message on Friday, and said it would be investigated in detail.
“This is another war crime of Russia, for which everyone involved will be held accountable,” he said, adding that Russian state propaganda had tried to blame Ukrainian armed forces for the attack.
“We expect a firm, global response to this war crime,” Zelensky said. “Like the massacres in Bucha, as well as many other Russian war crimes, the missile strike on Kramatorsk must be one of the charges at the tribunal, which is bound to happen.”
Some context: Russia’s military and senior officials have issued blanket denials of attacks against civilians, including claiming — without evidence — that the massacre of civilians in Bucha was staged. The killing of civilians during the Russian occupation of the town has been extensively documented.
