A U.S.
Army official
says the
first batch of American Abrams
tanks for Ukraine
was approved
for shipment over the weekend
and as is expected.
Are expected
those tanks to start arriving
in the early fall.
Meanwhile,
Ukraine's security service
says it has detained
a Russian informant involved in a plot
to assassinate the Ukrainian president,
Volodymyr Zelensky.
For more on this,
I'm joined now by CNN's Fred Pleitgen.
Fred, tell our viewers
what you're hearing
there. Wolf.
Certainly some pretty
troubling accusations coming there
from the Ukrainian security service.
The spewed today
about that
alleged plot to kill Vladimir Zelensky
in all
this is going on
as the fighting continues
to escalate in Ukraine,
not just in the south of the country,
but in the east of the country as well.
But we're now hearing
that the Russians are expanding
massive quantities of ammo.
What we're learning
Nearly half a million munitions.
That's how much the Ukrainians say
the Russian army fired at them.
And only a week's time
on the Eastern Front,
Still, Moscow reporting only modest gains
in Detroit over the past three days.
The advance of Russian troops
in this direction
amounted to 11 kilometers along the front
and more than three kilometers
into the depth
of the enemy's defense,
the Army spokesman says.
But the Ukrainians say in most areas
they are the ones advancing.
And Kiev
is hitting
Putin's military
behind the front lines as well.
After Ukrainian sea drones
hit both a Russian tanker and a warship.
In the past days.
Now, an air attack
damaging a vital bridge
connecting occupied Crimea
to Ukraine's mainland
A local Moscow installed official
trying to downplay the significance
of Baudelaire to get bored, Blinky.
But because of that,
I mean, these are sneaky punches,
he says. Really sneaky.
They can't be forgiven.
They are just snarls
from a wounded animal.
Strikes like these often
made possible
by Western
supplied, air launched cruise missiles.
Glory to Ukraine, President
Alinsky wrote on a French model
during a visit to his air
force this weekend.
But now Ukraine's intelligence
service says it foiled a Russian plot
to assassinate Zelensky,
using an informant
trying to scout out his whereabouts
The Ukrainian say questioning revealed
the person was involved
in other attempted plots as well.
The Ukrainian say
their troops have been making some gains
on the southern front,
putting pressure
on entrenched Russian forces there.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
meeting with the boss of one of Russia's
top arms makers, urging him
to speed up
manufacturing of modern weapons
manufacturers,
promised me that they would increase
the amount of production.
He says
they deliver on that promise,
but it needs to be increased even more.
This Russian drone footage
shows the aftermath
of some of the fighting
in Ukraine's south.
Very little territory won or lost,
but nearly every building
completely destroyed.
And, Wolf, there was a phone call today
between Ukraine's top
general, Valery
Illusionary, and the chairman
of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, Mark Milley.
And in that phone call,
the Ukrainian the delusional
he told Milley that by and large,
and it still is the Ukrainians
who have the initiative
on the battlefield Wolf.
All right.
We shall see.
Fred Pleitgen reporting for us.
Thank you very much.
Let's get some more
in all of these developments.
Joining me now, CNN
senior national security
correspondent Alex Marquardt,
who has just returned
from several weeks reporting in Ukraine.
Also, with us, the former
deputy assistant secretary of defense
for Ukraine and Russia, Evelyn Farkas.
Alex, let me start with you.
There have been many reported attempts
not to try to assassinate
President Zelensky
since the start
at the beginning of this war.
How significant
is this foiled assassination
plot right now?
Well, Wolf, it's very significant.
It's another reminder
of how much risk there is to even
and perhaps
especially the leader of Ukraine.
And it's another reminder
of the counterintelligence challenges
that Ukraine also faces
in terms of trying to root out
Russian spies and Russian sympathizers.
This was,
as you noted,
a major goal of the Russians
early on in the war.
They wanted to capture
and kill
President Zelensky
and then eventually take over
the whole country.
President Zelenskiy has significant
security measures in place.
He takes different
kinds of transportation,
never tells anyone
where he's going ahead of time.
You were just at the NATO
summit in Vilnius.
We thought that he might be going,
but there was no announcement
until he was there on the ground.
So, you know,
I've been at these frontline
cities and towns
where there are very few
people remaining.
There's a huge level of suspicion
to two to four people
who are still in those towns
because of what they might
be telling the Russians.
So whether it is revealing to Russians
the location of ammunitions depots
or any other logistical hubs
or even the location of the president,
there is there is no sense
that that spying is ending any time soon
that the Russian effort to to kill
Zelensky is going to end anytime soon.
Very worrisome indeed.
Glad you're back. Safe and sound. Alex.
Thank you.
Evelyn,
how much of a threat
do you believe
this does pose to Zelensky?
This attempted alleged attempted
assassination attempt
Well, Wolf, I think
this is really interesting,
first of all,
because I think the threat might be less
than we think
in the sense that the Ukrainians nabbed
this person.
They clearly were able to use technology
to spy on the communications
that this person had,
this woman
had with
whoever was controlling her
in the Russian government.
So it is a victory
for Ukrainian counterintelligence.
So maybe he is safer than
he was yesterday
or maybe he is safer than we thought
all along.
But what's really interesting about this,
I think, is, is
we have to remember,
when you're looking at a battlefield
in the military,
you look at the other side
and you try to assess
what is their center of gravity.
They call it their strength.
The strength for Ukraine
is the will of their people.
And the guy who really rallies the people
and not just the Ukrainian people,
but all of us
and the entire world, as we saw
even in Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia this past weekend,
where they're okay,
they're not all on Ukraine side.
But President Zelensky is the man
who has led this huge effort
to make sure that everybody keeps Ukraine
in the forefront of their thoughts,
keeps Ukraine on CNN's screen. Right.
And keeps
and keeps as many people on board
and tries to expand that,
which is what he tried to do this
weekend. Yes.
He did.
Very, very impressive performance
from the Ukrainian president.
Alexei, as I said,
you just back from the front lines
in Ukraine, and I'm glad you're back
safe and sound.
What's your assessment right now
of Ukraine's counteroffensive strategy?
How is it unfolding?
Well,
you know,
when you talk to everyone
from the defense minister,
as I did, down
to the soldiers
of the front line,
you know, what they'll tell you
is that this is an extremely tough fight.
And they really want to downplay
the expectation
that this is going to be fast
and that they're going
to achieve a major victory anytime soon.
This is very much, Wolf,
a grinding war of attrition.
And the strategy
that we're seeing in place right now
is one where the Ukrainians believe
that they have to
just keep pushing forward
using the weapons
that they've gotten from the West,
the ammunition,
you know, as much ammunition
as they can gather.
And and they're meant to try to pierce
through that line,
both on the southern front end
and the eastern front.
And they know that
that is going to take some time.
So they are trying
to grind away at the Russians
There's no ace up their sleeve.
That is that is their tactic.
And they believe that at some point
they will be able to pierce
through those lines
and that
their efforts in the counter-offensive
will accelerate
at the same time, Wolf,
we're seeing these extraordinary attacks
inside Russia, inside Russian
occupied Crimea,
both at sea, in the Black Sea
against these ships and Russian ports
from the air with these aerial drones.
And more and more of these drone
strikes, both in the sea
and in the air that that Ukraine
is is claiming responsibility for.
So they're trying to put pressure
from the rear,
both in terms
of affecting Russian morale,
but also affecting those
those that ammunition
and other kinds of weapons,
logistical lines
that will help the Russian effort
in the south
and the eastern part of the country.
So they're trying to squeeze that
so that that effort
in the counter-offensive
can really achieve some success.
Yeah, it's a sensitive,
clearly critical moment
right now in this war.
Alex, thank you very much.
Evelyne, thanks to you as well.