Russia-Ukraine war updates for July 5, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin said late Tuesday that the country’s economy was exceeding expectations, following an update from Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

During a meeting at the Kremlin, Mishustin reported that GDP growth may top 2% in 2023 while inflation might not exceed 5% annually. The International Monetary Fund has projected 0.7% GDP growth this year after a 2.1% contraction in 2022.

According to a transcript on the Kremlin’s website, Putin said “at least for the time being” that the results were “better than previously expected, better than predicted.”

Russia has been on the receiving end of several waves of sweeping economic sanctions from Ukraine’s allies since the unprovoked invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

— Elliot Smith

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he had warned French President Emmanuel Macron that Russia was planning “dangerous provocations” at the Moscow-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

“Now we have information from our intelligence that the Russian military has placed objects resembling explosives on the roof of several power units of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Perhaps to simulate an attack on the plant. Perhaps they have some other scenario,” Zelenskyy added alongside the video posted on Twitter.

“But in any case, the world sees – can’t but see – that the only source of danger to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is Russia and no one else.”

Russian troops seized the power station, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, in the early days of the invasion in February 2022, and both sides have since frequently accused one another of endangering it via shelling.

Russian state news agencies quoted an advisor to Russia’s nuclear network as claiming that the Ukrainian military is planning to attack the station using “long-range precision equipment and kamikaze attack drones,” though no evidence was offered in support of this allegation.

— Elliot Smith

Ukraine’s military claimed late on Tuesday to have destroyed a Russian unit in Makiivka, a Moscow-held territory in the Donetsk region.

“As a result of precision firing by Defence Forces units, another formation of Russian terrorists in the temporarily occupied Makiivka ceased to exist,” the strategic communications office for Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on the Telegram messaging app, alongside a video of apparent explosions in the distance.

The Russian-installed head of the region, Denis Pushilin, claimed on Telegram that the Ukrainian shelling had resulted in civilian casualties.

“Late in the evening, the enemy launched fierce attacks on residential areas and the hospital complex of the Chervonogvardeisky district of Makeevka. The blast wave was felt by the majority of residents of Makeevka and Donetsk,” Pushilin said.

“At the moment, 25 victims are known, including two children wounded: a girl 2 years 9 months old. and a 7 year old boy.”

Neither claim could be independently verified. Since the start of the Russian invasion, both sides have accused one another of targeting civilians and denied doing so themselves.

— Elliot Smith

At least 31 people, including nine children, were wounded in Russian shelling on the small town of Pervomaiskyi in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, officials said Tuesday.

The windows of multi–story buildings were smashed and cars were set alight in the shelling which occurred at 1:35 p.m. Kyiv time, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia did not immediately comment on the incident and CNBC was unable to independently verify the reports.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russia said Tuesday that “certain contacts” had been made with the U.S. regarding the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Speaking a day after U.S. ambassador Lynne Tracy visited Gershkovich in a Moscow prison, the Kremlin said that it did not want to make its conversations with the U.S. public.

“We said that there are certain contacts on this matter, but we do not want to make them public, they must be carried out and continued in complete silence,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to a Reuters translation.

“As for the legal right to consular contacts, this right, of course, must be ensured on both sides.”

Russia has accused Gershkovich of espionage, something he denies.

— Karen Gilchrist

Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin appears to have resurfaced on social media after being exiled to Belarus since his failed insurrection 11 days ago.

A voice recording said to be of Prigozhin was posted on the Grey Zone Telegram page — an account supportive of Russian mercenaries, with more than 500,000 subscribers.

NBC News is unable to authenticate the audio message.

“Today, more than ever, we need your support. Thank you for that,” the voice said.

“I want you to understand that our “March of Justice” was aimed at fighting traitors and mobilizing our society. And I think we have achieved a lot of it,” it added.

“In the near future, I am sure that you will see our next victories at the front. Thanks guys!”

NBC’s Moscow bureau said the voice does sound like Prigozhin’s, but that he is speaking more slowly than usual.  

The mercenary leader has not been seen in public since the uprising 11 days ago.

— Karen Gilchrist

NATO on Tuesday agreed to extend Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s term by a further year after members were unable to agree on a new leader.

Stoltenberg, 64, who has been in the role since 2014, said he was honored by the decision, despite recently saying he had no plans to remain in situ beyond his current term, due to end October 1.

Stoltenberg’s reappointment had been widely expected since last month. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said last week that “the new NATO secretary-general is the good old NATO secretary-general.”

Kallas was one candidate under discussion to replace Stoltenberg, alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, though neither candidate drew sufficient support.

The extension of Stoltenberg’s term comes one week before NATO leaders gather in Vilnius, Lithuania, for their annual summit.

— Karen Gilchrist