Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

The Ukrainian port city of Odesa was the target of a Russian missile strike overnight that left three people dead and at least 13 injured, according to officials.

The National Police of Ukraine said on Telegram that Russia had launched four Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea toward Odesa. CNBC wasn’t able to verify the claim.

“Civil infrastructure objects were damaged: a business centre, an educational institution, a residential complex, a restaurant, shops and a warehouse of one of the retail chains. In the latter, after the fire has been extinguished, the debris under which people may [still] be is being sorted out,” the police said, according to an NBC translation.

The latest attack is being investigated, the police said. Russia denies targeting civilian infrastructure despite numerous instances of it doing so.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine’s counteroffensive is failing, saying Kyiv has failed to achieve any success.

“This is a large-scale counteroffensive, using reserves that were trained for this purpose, it has been underway since the 4th of June and is still underway, right now,” Putin said Tuesday at a meeting with war correspondents.

“[Ukrainian troops] have not reached the front line,” Putin said, claiming that “the adversary was not successful in any sectors. They have huge losses.”

Ukraine says it has liberated a number of settlements in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday night that “there is advancement in different areas,” but there are also reports that Russia is contesting several villages that Kyiv claimed to have retaken.

Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said Tuesday that “the enemy will do everything to keep the positions he has occupied” and “actively uses assault and army aviation, leads intense artillery fire.”

“Our troops face solid mine fields during the advance that are combined with anti-tank rifles. All of this comes together with the constant counterattacks of enemy units on armored technology and the mass use of PTURs [anti-tank guided missiles] and kamikaze drones,” she said on Facebook.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War noted Tuesday evening that Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in at least three directions and made further limited territorial gains yesterday.

Ukrainian General Staff Spokesperson Andriy Kovalev said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces have liberated over 100 square km of territory in southern and eastern Ukraine since the beginning counteroffensive operations.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Telegram that approximately 2,757 people have been evacuated in the Kherson region following the attack on the Kakhovka dam last week, according to an NBC News translation.

The ministry said that about 263 children and another 77 people with limited mobility were evacuated from the rising flood waters.

According to the data collected by the agency, more than 3,000 houses were flooded in the Kherson region.

— Amanda Macias

President Joe Biden met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House ahead of the NATO summit in Lithuania next month.

The two discussed additional security assistance for Ukraine, Sweden’s ascension into the NATO alliance, and financial burden sharing minimum of 2% GDP of NATO member states for the alliance’s common defense, according to a readout provided by the White House.

It was not immediately clear if the two discussed whether Stoltenberg will extend his post at NATO, which is set to conclude at the end of September. Stoltenberg has led NATO for nearly a decade, following three extensions.

— Amanda Macias

Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda 23 that Russia has restarted its production of missiles, according to an NBC News translation.

Ihnat said that the Russians are ramping up production of the Iskanders and Kinzhals missiles, citing the Kremlin’s ability to circumvent Western sanctions on some of the components needed to produce the weapons system.

“Therefore, I hope that Russia will be squeezed by sanctions. If the sanctions work comprehensively and are controlled, then Russia can be put in its place,” Ihnat added, according to an NBC News translation.

— Amanda Macias

The Biden administration announced a new security assistance package for Ukraine worth $325 million, the 40th such tranche since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“This security assistance package includes critical air defense capabilities, additional munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons, armored vehicles, and other equipment essential to strengthening Ukraine’s forces on the battlefield,” wrote Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement announcing the new weapons package.

In a separate release, the Pentagon detailed the new support:

• Additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS
• Stinger anti-aircraft systems
• Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS
• 155 mm and 105 mm artillery rounds
• 15 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles
• 10 Stryker armored personnel carriers
• Javelin anti-armor systems
• Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided, or TOW, missiles
• AT-4 anti-armor systems
• More than 22 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades
• Demolition munitions for obstacle clearing
• Tactical secure communications support equipment

— Amanda Macias

Editor’s note: This post contains graphic images depicting death from Russian missile strikes in Kryvyi Rih.

A day of mourning will take place in Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday following what was described as a “massive missile attack” this morning.

Ten people are now known to have died in the attack, in which a five-story residential building and warehouse were hit.

As of 1 p.m. local time, 10 people have died and 28 are injured with 12 of the casualties in hospitals and some in a very serious condition, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih city military administration.

Kryvyi Rih is President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown.

Russia’s Defense Ministry released video footage on Tuesday of what it said were German-made Leopard tanks and U.S.-made Bradley fighting vehicles captured by Russian forces in a battle with Ukrainian troops.

Reuters could not immediately verify the location and timing of the footage, which the Defense Ministry said was filmed on the Zaporizhzhia front in southern Ukraine, one of the areas where Ukrainian forces have been trying to counterattack.

What appeared to be two German-made Leopard tanks were shown in the footage, which was released on the ministry’s official channel on the Telegram messaging application, along with two damaged U.S.-made Bradley fighting vehicles.

In a short statement accompanying the footage, the ministry called the captured military hardware “our trophies” and said the video showed soldiers from its Vostok (East) military grouping inspecting the equipment.

It noted that the engines of some of the vehicles were still running, evidence it said of how quickly their Ukrainian crews had fled.

Reuters cannot verify such battlefield accounts.

Ukraine said Monday its troops had recaptured a string of villages from Russian forces along an approximately 100 km (60 mile) front in the southeast since starting its long-anticipated counteroffensive last week.

— Reuters