8:08 p.m. ET, May 9, 2023
Russian strikes, a killed journalist and other headlines you should know
From CNN staff
All but two of the 25 cruise missiles
fired by Russia overnight Tuesday were intercepted by the Ukrainian Air Force, officials said. According to
the Pentagon, the Ukrainian military downed a Russian missile using the
Patriot missile defense system.
Here are other headlines you should know:
Anticipated counteroffensive: There's been recent rumors of a looming
Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia. UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Tuesday that the planned move won't be a
decisive breakthrough and that people shouldn't expect a film-like counteroffensive because, he says, "the real world doesn't work like that." At a joint news conference with Cleverly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he thinks Ukraine
has the resources it needs to retake territory in the anticipated counteroffensive. Blinken’s comments come on the same day the US announced
an additional $1.2 billion in aid to Ukraine intended to bolster air defenses and keep up ammunition supplies.
Journalist killed near Bakhmut: Arman Soldin, a video journalist for Agence France-Presse was killed near the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the French news agency
said on Twitter. Soldin, who was a French citizen with Bosnian origins, was killed by rocket fire on the outskirts of the town of Chasiv Yar, near Bakhmut, AFP said, citing colleagues who witnessed the incident. He was with four colleagues at the time of the attack but the other journalists were not injured, the news agency said. French President Emmanuel Macron
mourned Soldin's death in a tweet on Tuesday.
Ukraine's grain: Bridget A. Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, accused Russia on Tuesday of “again blocking ships from loading grain in Ukraine’s ports to feed people who need it around the world.” The US official
referenced similar comments on the topic made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier on Tuesday, where he accused Russia of "using people's hunger as a weapon in its war against Ukraine.