Holding ground in some
areas and moving forward in others.
That's how
President Volodymyr
Zelensky described
Ukraine's counteroffensive
as it continues to unfold.
But Russia is putting up a fierce
fight
Air raid sirens
rang out
throughout Kiev overnight
for more than 3 hours.
Ukraine says
the council came under intense
Russian aerial bombardment, but claims
most of the drones were indeed shot down.
Other areas,
including those far away
from the front lines, were also targeted,
including the western Lviv
region, as well as separatists.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us live now.
So, Fred, just walk us through
what more you know
about these airstrikes
overnight in both Kiev and Lviv,
especially as Russians
continue to focus on military
and infrastructure targets.
Hi there, Zain.
Well, that's that's,
I think, a key point with Russia.
Russia is trying to focus
on those military
infrastructure installations,
especially if you look at those strikes
that took place
in the western part of Ukraine,
in the Leviev area, where, of course,
a lot of that infrastructure,
there is key critical infrastructure
for the Ukrainians.
But then you have the situation
here in the capital of Kiev,
which, of course, very often as these
air raid alerts, pretty much
every night that they go off.
And last night,
they were indeed very long going on
for several hours.
And the Ukrainians are saying
that they detected 35 drones
coming towards
the area of the Ukrainian capital
and that they were able
to take down 32 of those.
So that obviously
seems to very much indicate
that the air defenses here
in the Ukrainian capital are very strong.
But the Russians
certainly trying
to bring those drones
here into the city
and hit targets in the city
with the Russians
would call command and control
structures of the Ukrainian military,
but of course of the Ukrainian state
as well.
And then, of course,
this is also for the population,
something that can also be very traumatic
nevertheless,
the Ukrainians are very confident
they continue to take these drones down
and protect the capital
and protect other areas as well.
Nevertheless, all this does, of course,
tie in with Ukraine's counteroffensive.
One of the things that we have
seen is a lot of these aerial attacks
have been even more increasing
since the Ukrainians
have been pushing the Russians
on several areas in the front.
And one of the places
that you mentioned, Zakaria,
is, of course,
fairly close to the front line
that would say about
40 to 45 kilometers away
from the actual frontline areas,
and that was targeted
by a barrage of missiles overnight.
The Ukrainians on those front lines
are indeed saying
that they are
the ones who have the initiative.
The president of this country,
Vladimir Zelensky, did indeed say
that the Ukrainians
were not losing
territory anywhere
but gaining territory in a lot of places.
And that's
certainly
the main
focal point where that is
happening is the south of the country
where the going is pretty tough
for the Ukrainians.
There it's
something that they have acknowledged.
They say the battles are very tough.
Russian air power is very strong
and the defenses are very strong as well.
There's a lot of minefields,
a lot of barriers,
and of course, also a lot of troops
that are down there from the Russians.
Nevertheless,
when we were down in that region,
it certainly seemed to us
that the morale of the Ukrainian troops
who were fighting down
there was very hard
they acknowledge is extremely difficult.
It's very difficult
for them to move forward,
especially when they're being targeted
by Russian air power.
But they did believe that in the end
they were going to be able
to make this counter offensive a success.
So that's certainly
listening to the Ukrainian soldiers
who are down there on the ground
right now.
They certainly seem to believe
that this is something
that they can see through.
But at the same time,
it is extremely difficult.
And the Ukrainians also say
they are under
no illusions
that this is going to be
something that can happen quickly.
In fact,
they say this counteroffensive
is going to take a very long time Zain.
All right.
Fred Pleitgen live for us. Thank you.
Ukraine says Russia's
major battlefield focus right now
is in the east with dozens
of combat engagements on Monday alone.
Ukrainian military officials say
Russia is throwing everything at them
infantry units,
air units, assault
units made up of Russian convicts.
But despite the pressure,
Ukraine's president
is painting a hopeful picture,
adjusting enough for him,
given that in some sectors
our forces are moving forward.
In others
they are defending positions
or resisting assaults
and intensified attacks
from the occupiers.
We have no loss positions,
only liberated once.
They only have losses or further south.
Battles are very hard going.
One Ukraine fighter
says Russians are digging in
and are unleashing massive firepower
from all directions.
They've also set up
tents, minefields along those front lines
you see there.
Let's talk about all of this,
Osama Abdul Aziz and Nic Robertson.
Nic, let's start with you
because Blinken's trip to Europe,
we've just had the big NATO's summit
with the defense ministers.
Is it going to be development of that,
do you think?
Well,
there's a Ukraine recovery conference
taking place in London begins
later today.
And tomorrow is the main day.
And I think that will be the big focus
for Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
And James Cleverly,
who is British foreign
secretary, is meeting with today
is World Refugee Day.
Today They'll meet Mark
that of a press conference early
in the day. But after that
day takes
a little bit more of a Ukraine turn.
Secretary Blinken meets
with Ukrainian foreign minister
and he gets a royal reception
with King Charles.
But tomorrow is about trying
to energize the business community,
not just governments,
because we know governments
have been giving billions
and billions of dollars
of military support,
humanitarian support,
and essentially paying the you
the Ukrainian government's bills,
but looking ahead, there's
going to be a need
to rebuild, recover Ukraine.
And the estimate is
that cannot be left to governments alone.
That needs business
and civil society input.
So that's
what tomorrow's conference will be about.
And just the sort of headline number
of how much
money is going to be required to do this
last year
after just a few months of what
Ukraine has estimated,
the total bill for recovery
was going to be $100 billion.
So you can imagine
what it's going to be like
in extraordinary numbers.
And they need to keep that support.
I don't know
if either of you have seen them,
but when I was driving into London
the other day,
I saw a large Ukrainian flag and
sort of
advertisements, I
suppose, from the Ukrainian government
saying Thank you, Britain,
for your support.
And it's widely felt in Ukraine.
I mean, I was in Ukraine a month ago
and you go
and when you're on the frontline,
whether it's
whether it's a frontline soldier,
all the the commanders, the colonels
and suchlike, you meet behind the lines,
they all say thank you to the UK.
They recognize us.
And I think this is part
of Secretary Blinken's
mission here as well, is to continue
to strengthen the partnership
and the big role that the UK is paying
and you to support Ukraine.
And you see Ukrainian flags
in the oddest of places
around the UK
on small farms and gas stations.
And I think that is witness
to the political support
that has been engendered
by the leaders of Ukraine's
allies, the UK,
France, Germany,
you know, the Baltics, the United States.
But that is at stake
also that that domestic
political support
UK goes into an election next year,
so does the United States,
that these
leaders policies on
Ukraine need to be seen to be effective.
They're talking about a long fight and
this is, you know,
going to be a difficult message
if Ukraine doesn't take territory,
big territory on the battlefield.
So I think you're right.
You're absolutely right.
It's a lot at stake
politically here as well.
And on that note, Sam is joining us
from London to discuss that.
So, Salma,
in order to retain that support
and garner more momentum
in this counteroffensive,
Ukraine needs
tangible successes and gains
which it can demonstrate
to the international community
which supports it. What is the latest?
Absolutely.
Between us of dollars
have been poured in by Nieto,
there is an expectation
that that will be reciprocated
with a major breakthrough on the ground
where several weeks
into this offensive
and yes, we've seen very modest
gains, Ukraine claiming
that it's been able
to retake territory, particularly south
of that region,
that it's been able
to push into the front lines of Bermuda.
But again, no major breakthrough.
We know from Ukrainian officials
that for Russian forces,
the focus remains on the eastern
front line. So that's the Bermuda region.
But Ukrainian officials also say
that Moscow's forces are relocating
towards the south, towards
that zapper region.
Access,
where Ukraine seems
to be
extremely focused on an attempt
to punch through Russian defenses
and potentially sever
or disrupt that land
bridge that connects
Crimea
to the rest of those Russian
occupied territories.
But they are absolutely facing
stiff resistance from Moscow's forces.
There are landmines laid.
There are
anti-tank equipment in the ground.
There are more soldiers arriving,
according to Ukrainian officials.
This is going to be a major challenge.
Of course,
Abdulaziz and Nic Robertson,
thank you both so much.