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https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-05-10-22/index.html
Almost all the howitzers the US agreed to give Ukraine have been transferred, defense official says
From CNN's Ellie Kaufman
A senior US defense official told reporters Tuesday that 89 of the 90 howitzers the US agreed to give to Ukraine have been transferred to Ukrainian possession.
"Almost 370 Ukrainian soldiers" have completed training on those M777 howitzer artillery systems in locations outside of Ukraine conducted by the US and other NATO allied countries, and 29 Ukrainian soldiers "are completing, wrapping up their maintenance course," on the howitzer systems, the official added.
"It’s a two-week course, so about 29 have finished it; there’s another 17 going through it right now," the official said.
The official said 120,000 rounds of ammunition out of the United States' commitment of 184,000 rounds of ammunition have been transferred to Ukraine from the US. One of the 11 Mi-17 helicopters the US plans to give to Ukraine "is going in" to Ukraine today, the official said.
In other ongoing trainings, 60 Ukrainian soldiers "have completed training on the M1-13, the armored personnel carrier," the official said. Training on the US Phoenix Ghost, an unmanned aerial system, is also ongoing.
"There is training for a small number ongoing outside of Ukraine on the Phoenix Ghost, there have been others ahead of them that have already returned to Ukraine. So that’s ongoing," the official added.
Ukrainian intelligence says grain stolen by Russians is already in the Mediterranean
From CNN's Tim Lister in Lviv
The intelligence arm of the Ukrainian defense ministry said that grain stolen by Russian troops in occupied areas is already being sent abroad.
The intelligence directorate claimed that a "significant part of the grain stolen from Ukraine is on dry cargo ships under the Russian flag in the Mediterranean."
"The most likely destination is Syria. Grain may be smuggled from there to other countries in the Middle East," it said.
The directorate also said the Russians "continue to export food stolen in Ukraine to the territory of the Russian Federation and the occupied Crimea."
It said that in one of the main grain-producing areas — around Polohy in the Zaporizhzhia region — grain and sunflower seeds in storage are being prepared for transportation to Russia.
A column of Russian trucks has left the town of Enerhodar, which is also in the Zaporizhzhia region, under the guard of the Russian military, the directorate claimed. The final destination of the column was Crimea, it said.
Grain was also being stolen in the Kharkiv region, and 1,500 tons of grain had been taken from the village of Mala Lepetykha in the Kherson region to Crimea.
Last week, the defense ministry said nearly half a million metric tons of Ukrainian grain had already been stolen.
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Ukraine says Russia is diverting troops north into Kharkiv region
From CNN's Tim Lister in Lviv
The Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the Russians have sent about 500 troops from occupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions north into the Kharkiv region.
They gave no explanation for the move, but CNN reported earlier Tuesday comments by local officials in the Kharkiv region that suggested some Russian troops were being sent northward to reinforce supply lines from the border.
Local authorities said there is "a mass withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Borova and Bohuslavka in the direction of Kupyansk."
Kupyansk is an important Russian logistics hub inside Ukraine and may become vulnerable if a Ukrainian counterattack in the region is sustained.
That attack made further progress Tuesday, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with four more settlements to the north and east of Kharkiv falling under Ukrainian control.
CNN has geolocated video from one of those settlements, showing the Ukrainians in control. The new gains put Ukrainian units within a few kilometers of the Russian border in several areas.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the Ukrainians said Russian forces continue to try to take the town of Rubizhne in Luhansk region, but without success. Officials said Ukrainian units had withstood several attacks in the Luhansk region.
In the Donetsk region, the General Staff said the Russians were trying to break through Ukrainian defenses north of Sloviansk, around the settlements of Oleksandrivka and Shandryholove.
This area has seen almost constant fighting for around two weeks, but the Russians appear to have made minimal progress on the ground.
Overall, the General Staff's report suggests that Ukrainian units are under pressure but resisting on most fronts while taking territory in Kharkiv as the Russians fall back toward the Oskil river.
American nonprofit says it freed US citizen detained in Ukraine from Russian forces
From CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler
A US nonprofit involved in rescue and evacuation operations in Ukraine during the Russian war said that it has freed an American citizen and his family from Russian forces on Tuesday.
Florida-based nonprofit Project Dynamo said in a statement that on Tuesday, in the vicinity of southern Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region, one of its exfiltration teams "successfully rescued" Kirillo Alexandrov, a 27-year-old American citizen, and his family.
Their release comes after more than a month of negotiations, the group said.
Bryan Stern, co-founder of Project Dynamo, told CNN that Alexandrov and his Ukrainian wife and mother-in-law were taken by Russian forces more than a month ago in the Kherson region. They had been held in a building occupied by the Russians and the Russian security services would not allow them to leave, Stern said.
The Russians had charged Alexandrov with spying, Stern told CNN.
Russia’s defense and foreign ministries have not yet responded to CNN's request for a comment.
Stern said he has been in regular contact with the US State Department about his efforts.
“We are aware of these reports. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment,” a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday.
Stern, in a press release, described the extensive operation to secure Alexandrov’s release:
“We’ve had more than a dozen team members from Project DYNAMO spread out across Poland, Ukraine, Romania, and the U.S. developing an array of plans from airborne operations in Russia to maritime extraction options within Ukraine. Nothing was off the table and countless hours were spent navigating the murky world of international security services and diplomacy between two countries at war, all with a young American in the middle.”
Stern said that Alexandrov and his family members are healthy and were fed by the Russians while they were detained.
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