Ukraine's foreign minister compares Bakhmut offensive to a thief breaking into a house

Six months after US authorities in New York seized three metal swords and a stone axe head that had been stolen from Ukraine, the cultural artifacts were returned to the people they belong to.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, DC, accepted the artifacts Friday, according to a Twitter post.

“Honored to host the repatriation ceremony of the ancient Ukrainian (artifacts) that had been stolen from Ukraine,” the embassy said.

Ukrainian officials thanked US Customs and Border Protection officials “for helping (Ukraine) repatriate our cultural property and a part of our history,” the post added.

The items were seized in early September by CBP officers working at the John F. Kennedy International Airport’s International Mail Facility, according to a news release from the agency.

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Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Ukraine will fight on in the city of Bakhmut, comparing the Russians advance to a thief breaking into your house and trying to "steal everything."

He made the comments in an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper on Sunday.

Speaking on who is behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Kuleba said: “I can say that the Ukrainian government is not behind it that they didn't do it.

"This was not a government-directed action.”

Kuleba also expressed disdain for protests in Germany calling for an end to the war and to stop the Berlin government from providing Ukraine with more weapons.

A group of Russian wives and mothers have called on President Vladimir Putin to stop sending their husbands and sons “to the slaughter” by forcing them to join assault groups without adequate training or supplies.

In a video shared by the independent Russian Telegram channel SOTA, the women said their loved ones had been “forced to join assault groups” at the beginning of March despite having just four days training since their mobilization in September.

The video shows the women holding a sign in Russian that reads, “580 Separate Howitzer Artillery Division,” dated March 11, 2023.

“My husband… is located on the line of contact with the enemy,” says one woman in the recording.

“Our mobilized [men] are being sent like lambs to the slaughter to storm fortified areas – five at a time, against 100 heavily armed enemy men,” she continued.

“They are prepared to serve their homeland but according to the specialization they’ve trained for, not as stormtroopers. We ask that you pull back our guys from the line of contact and provide the artillerymen with artillery and ammunition.”

CNN could not independently verify the claims made by the group of women in the video.

Russia’s move to send hundreds of thousands to fight on the battlefields of Ukraine has generated dissent and protest and prompted many Russians – young men in particular – to flee the country.

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Power across the Kharkiv region has been fully restored, a spokesperson for the regional military administration told CNN.

The metro in Kharkiv city has reopened but the trams remain at a standstill, the spokesperson - who asked not to be named for security reasons - added. 

Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said Saturday that power to all customers in the Kharkiv region was expected to be restored in full by the end of the day.

"We have almost completely eliminated the consequences of the enemy attack that took place on March 9," he said.

"Our power engineers have been working for two days -- first to stabilize the situation, then to restore and eliminate the consequences of these enemy attacks.

"At the moment, I can say that the power supply has been restored by 100% for the population of Kharkiv [city]. And, of course, the power supply to Kharkiv's critical infrastructure, including the water utility and sewage treatment plants, has also been restored.

"Yes, there is an issue with the city's electric public transportation, but this issue is being resolved."

The outage follows a barrage of Russian missiles last week, including a type Ukraine finds difficult to defend.