March 4, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. You can read more on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here, or scroll through the updates below.

Ukraine is planning to use more than $460 million worth of assets seized from Russian banks to rebuild the country and compensate Ukrainians, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a conference in Lviv Saturday.

In a Facebook post about the conference, Shmyhal said Ukraine is developing procedures for using the confiscated assets to help Ukrainian citizens and their communities recover in the wake of Russia’s invasion.

The government is working with allies to develop a system based on an international treaty, which will help decide how to issue reparations to Ukrainians.

The system will include an international register of losses from the war, a commission to consider applications for compensation and a fund from which compensation will be paid.

Aid from abroad: The prime minister also said Saturday that Ukraine is using billions of dollars worth of assistance from the United States and European Union to rapidly restore the country’s battered energy infrastructure and other ailing sectors.

Kyiv expects additional aid to come from Norway and Japan.

Ukrainian forces are battling to hold on to the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut.

Ukraine’s military said Saturday it is holding the front line and has not ordered any mass withdrawal, despite what the UK Ministry of Defence described as “increasingly severe” pressure. The Russian mercenary group Wagner claims the city is nearly surrounded.

Elsewhere in the country, Russian forces have recently launched artillery fire on Lyman, which is north of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine’s military said. Further attacks were reported near?the city of Kupyansk in Kharkiv region and Kreminna in the Luhansk region.

In the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, Ukraine said Russia “is on the defensive, attempting to improve their tactical position to resume the offensive.”

This map shows the latest state of control in Ukraine:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a press conference on February 24, in Kyiv, Ukraine.?

A viral video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrongly implies that he demanded Americans send their sons and daughters to fight in the war in Ukraine.

The out-of-context, 19-second video has been viewed millions of times on Twitter, and a right-wing US politician repeated the debunked narrative this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual Republican gathering.

The clip shows Zelensky speaking at a news conference last week as an interpreter translates his words into English: “The US will have to send their sons and daughters, exactly the same way as we are sending, their sons and daughters to war. And they will have to fight, because it’s NATO that we’re talking about. And they will be dying, God forbid, because it’s a horrible thing,” the Ukrainian leader says.

Critics of US military and financial support for Ukraine pounced on the remarks, claiming Zelensky was demanding the US send its young people to defend Ukraine from Russia’s ongoing invasion.

Here’s the key context: Zelensky was not saying Americans will have to fight or die in Ukraine. Rather, he predicted that if Ukraine loses the war against Russia, Moscow will proceed to enter NATO-member countries?in the Baltics (a region made up of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), which the US will have to send troops to defend.

Under the treaty that governs NATO, an attack on one member?is considered an attack on all. Ukraine is not a NATO member.

In leaving out the context that Zelensky was discussing this hypothetical situation, which he used to support his argument for sustained US aid in Ukraine’s defense, posts featuring the shortened clip twisted his meaning.

Since going viral, it has been fact-checked by CNN,?Reuters?and BBC journalist?Shayan Sardarizadeh, among others.

Yet the claims are still circulating: While some elected officials have removed posts about the video after learning it was taken out of context, other voices in US politics have amplified the falsehoods.

At CPAC on Friday, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said the Republican Party has a duty to protect children. Listing supposed threats to kids, she referenced “Zelensky saying he wants our sons and daughters to go die in Ukraine.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks at CPAC on Friday, March 3.

Later in her speech, she said, “I will look at a camera and directly tell Zelensky: You’d better leave your hands off of our sons and daughters, because they’re not dying over there.”

Read CNN’s full fact check here.

A 57-year-old man was killed by Russian shelling on the village of Lvove in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region Saturday, Ukrainian officials said.

Several other civilian houses and the area’s Palace of Culture were also damaged, according to Kherson regional military administration.

CNN uncovered more details this week about a teen girl from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol who spoke on stage at a pro-war rally attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on February 22.

The girl, named Anna, was seen getting emotional and then encouraged by an organizer to hug a uniformed man described as her rescuer.

The group of children, who were also described as being rescued from eastern Ukraine, were ushered to hug the man.

CNN’s Melissa Bell reported that Anna’s mother, a single parent of three, was killed in besieged Mariupol after leaving a basement shelter.

Bell said she was able to track down a family member and a woman who sheltered in the city for weeks with Anna.

Bell also reported that the girl has faced abuse online for her appearance.

Anna has been “several times over a victim of this war,” the woman said.

“It’s an extraordinary story of a child completely unprotected, and open to very public abuse ever since,” Bell said.

According to?a new report released in mid-February, the Russian government has been operating a network of camps?where it has held thousands of Ukrainian children and undertaken a campaign of political re-education.

Watch here:

- Source: CNN " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/4d5eb3a4-e72b-400c-8db1-8fc324084b36.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/4d5eb3a4-e72b-400c-8db1-8fc324084b36.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2023-03-04T16:49:48.408Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="" data-first-publish-slug="" data-video-tags="" data-details="">

Video Ad Feedback

5aa939d4-2fcb-4701-9d6a-845e96a3353b.mp4

03:04 - Source: CNN

Russia is being accused of exporting influence on Ukrainian streets with teenage gangs inspired by a Japanese anime show.

Ukrainian?authorities are accusing?Russia?of trying to export an unlikely phenomenon: teenage gangs inspired by a Japanese anime game who are taking to the streets for mass brawls.

These gangs have become known as “Redan PMC,” combining the name of a Japanese anime character with the acronym for Private Military Company, made infamous by the?Wagner?mercenary group.

They appear to have started in Moscow as a vehicle for teenagers to fight organized gangs of football fans. The teenagers organize through Telegram channels and turn up at designated venues as flash mobs. A recent video showed a?running battle?at a shopping mall in the Russian capital. Russian news agencies also reported a brawl at a subway station in Moscow.

Redan gangs have also begun appearing on the streets of several Ukrainian cities – giving more work to an already overstretched police force. Groups of teenagers have gathered in the capital, Kyiv, as well as Lviv and Kharkiv; a 16-year-old alleged ringleader was detained in Dnipro.

Redan’s emergence has even gotten the Kremlin talking. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday it was important to stop “illegal actions,” referring to the gangs as a “pseudo-subculture” that “does nothing good for our youth.”

But Ukraine’s national police claim the Russians are trying to export Redan’s negative influence to Ukrainian teenagers through a disinformation campaign on Telegram channels.

Read more here.

The front line in Bakhmut has been stabilized over the past few days by Ukrainian troops, despite intense and ongoing attacks by Russian forces, a deputy commander in the National Guard of Ukraine said Saturday.

According to the Svoboda battalion’s Volodymyr Nazarenko, Russian forces have not crossed the Bakhmutka River, and the city center remains under control of Ukrainian forces.

Near the village of Ivanivske, southwest of Bakhmut, “the Kostiantynivka-Bakhmut road is under the control of Ukrainian forces. They are doing this with enormous efforts,” he said.

Russian forces lack ammunition and are resorting to “chaotic shelling” and are attempting to bomb supply lines.?Moscow’s troops, however, still have more ammunition than the Ukrainians, he added.

Ukrainian soldiers drive towards frontline positions near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Saturday, March 4.

Russia has not taken control of the eastern city of Bakhmut, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Armed Forces told CNN Saturday.

“The fighting in Bakhmut is more on the outskirts, with the city controlled by Ukrainian defense forces: the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Border Guard and the National Guard,” according to Serhiy Cherevatyi, the spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the armed forces.

Ukrainian troops are rotating positions in Bakhmut in?controlled, planned rotations, he said in response to reports of the withdrawal of some units.?

So far on Saturday, he said there have been hostilities surrounding Bakhmut, in the villages of Vasiukivka and Dubovo-Vasylivka to the north of the city, and in the villages of Ivanivske and Bohdanivka to the west.?

“There were 21 enemy attacks with the use of various artillery systems and MLRS near Bakhmut alone, and 9 combat engagements. 131 attacks and 38 combat engagements took place on this front in total,” Cherevatyi said.

Over 150 Russian soldiers were killed and 239 were wounded, and three were taken prisoner, he added.

An empty street and buildings are seen damaged by a Russian military strike Bakhmut on Friday.

Russian forces are continuing their efforts to encircle the eastern city of?Bakhmut?in the Donetsk region. The city sits toward the northeast of the Donetsk region, about 13 miles from Luhansk region, and has been a target for Putin’s forces for some time, but why is the city so important for Russia?

Since last summer the city has been a stone’s throw from the front lines, so its capture would represent a long sought-after success for Moscow’s forces – and bring some limited strategic value.

The city has important road connections to other parts of the Donetsk region; eastwards to the border with Luhansk, northwest to Sloviansk and southwest to Kostiantynivka.?

For several weeks, the routes into Bakhmut have gradually come under the control of Russian forces. Rather than drive directly toward the city center, Wagner groups sought to encircle the city in a wide arc from the north. In January, they claimed the nearby town of Soledar, and have since taken a string of villages and hamlets north of Bakhmut.

If the Russians can take the high ground to the west of the city, nearby industrial towns Kostiantynivka and Kramatorsk would be at the mercy of their artillery and even longer range mortars. And it is unclear where exactly Ukrainian forces would fall back to should they retreat from the city.

But the battle for Bakhmut has been costly for the Russians, which will come as some consolation to Kyiv.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu awards service members deployed in Ukraine, in this handout image published March 4.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei?Shoigu?made a rare visit to Russia’s forces deployed in Ukraine, the country’s defense ministry said on Saturday.

In a statement, the ministry said?Shoigu?“inspected the forward command post of one of the formations of the Vostok forces in the South Donetsk direction.”

In a video from the ministry,?Shoigu?is seen handing out medals to Russian military personnel and inspecting damaged buildings with the Eastern Military District’s commander, Colonel-General Rustam Muradov.?

“Awards deserved, earned. You fight with dignity! There is still a lot of work ahead. I really hope that you will continue to faithfully serve our country,”?Shoigu?told the military.

Shoigu and other members of Russia’s defence establishment have faced criticism from the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and military bloggers.

Prigozhin has since the start of the Ukraine war been openly taking credit for Wagner’s efforts to secure some territorial gains, particularly in the battles raging around the eastern Ukrainian?city of Bakhmut.

His unexpected rise prompted speculation about possible infighting among Moscow’s elite as Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine sputtered.

A mural depicting mercenaries of Russia's Wagner Group that reads: "Wagner Group - Russian knights" vandalized with paint on a wall in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Jan. 13, 2023.

Related article Russian warlord's feud with Putin's generals explodes into the open with gruesome PR campaign | CNN

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei?Lavrov?speaks in New Delhi on Friday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drew laughter from a crowd in India after he made a false claim about the war in Ukraine.

Lavrov had been pedaling the Kremlin’s narrative of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, falsely stating that the invasion was actually launched against Russia.

“You know, the war that we are trying to stop and which was launched against us using the Ukrainian people…”

His words were drowned out by the sound of laughter coming from the audience of top diplomats who were gathered for a G20 meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.

Watch the full video clip here.

Ukraine’s army is under “increasingly severe” pressure in Bakhmut, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the war, the UK Ministry of Defence says.

According to the UK intelligence, Russian forces and Wagner troops have made further advances into the northern suburbs, making the Ukrainian-held section of the city vulnerable to Russian attacks on three sides.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s military says numerous attacks in various areas of the eastern Donetsk region, including Bakhmut, have been repelled.

“Over the past day, our troops repelled numerous attacks in the areas of Vasiukivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka, Bohdanivka, Bakhmut and Ivanivske in the Donetsk region,” the General Staff said. “In the Bakhmut sector, the enemy continues attempts to encircle Bakhmut.”

On Friday, Russian forces blew up a vital supply bridge to Bakhmut linking the besieged city to a nearby village.

Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut for months. Its military significance is limited, however a Russian victory would be a symbolic boost for the Kremlin after a series of costly setbacks.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks alongside US President Joe Biden meets in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday.

US President Joe Biden said that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s support for Ukraine has “made a world of difference” during the war, as the two leaders met at the White House on Friday.

“You stepped up and provided?critical military support and you know, I would argue that beyond your?military support, the moral?support you gave to Ukrainians has been profound.?And you’ve driven historic?changes at home — increase in defense spending and?diversifying away from Russian energy sources — I know that has not been?easy, very difficult for you,” Biden said, noting they had moved in “lockstep” in supporting Kyiv.

Scholz said Germany will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

“This is a very,?very important year because of?the very dangerous threat to?peace that comes from Russia?invading Ukraine, and it’s really?important that we acted together, that we organized in lockstep, and that we made it feasible that we can give the necessary support to Ukraine during all this?time,” said Scholz, who added he felt the transatlantic partnership was in “very good shape.”??

Germany and the US were in a standoff earlier this year over sending tanks to Ukraine, but both countries announced plans to send the vehicles after intense pressure on Berlin and prolonged diplomacy between Germany, the United States and other European allies.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listens as National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Thursday.

China could still take the escalatory step of providing lethal military aid to Russia, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday.?

On fighter jets for Ukraine: Kirby also said that F-16 fighter jets are not a “key part” of the agenda for US President Joe Biden’s meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this afternoon, but the two leaders will speak extensively on what Ukraine will need this spring and summer for the tough fighting ahead.?

About US detainee in Russia: Asked about detained American Paul Whelan, Kirby said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “absolutely” brought it up with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, despite Russian claims otherwise.?

“Paul Whelan needs to be home with his family and with his friends,” Kirby said. “We’re going to keep working to get him released and get him back home.”

Dasha?Navalnaya speaks to CNN on Friday.

Dasha?Navalnaya, the daughter of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey?Navalny, on Friday shared a message for Russian President Vladimir Putin:

Navalny, a Kremlin critic and activist, was sentenced to nine years in prison on fraud charges that he said were politically motivated.

Navalnaya said once her father is released from prison,?“he will continue fighting until Russia is a country that’s able to have free and fair elections.”

Navalnaya, 21, said she has not seen her father in person in over a year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and?Latvian?President?Egils Levits shake hands during a joint news briefing, in Lviv, Ukraine on Friday.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he met with the president of Latvia Friday on the sidelines of a conference in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.?

He thanked Ukraine’s allies and politicians who have helped the country “for understanding the price that the Ukrainian people pay for their freedom and that of all Europeans.”

In addition to meetings at the United for Justice Conference, Zelensky visited a Lviv hospital Friday, where wounded soldiers are being rehabilitated.

“I had the honor to communicate with the soldiers and present them with state awards,” he said. “I also presented awards to doctors who save the lives of our soldiers.”

Left to right: Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, US Attorney General Merrick Garland, and National Prosecutor of Poland Dariusz Barski meet in Lviv, Ukraine, with a group of international prosecutors on Friday.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland made?an unannounced trip to Ukraine?on Friday, his second trip to the country since Russia invaded a little more than a year ago.

The trip was not announced for security reasons, according to a Justice Department official.

Garland was invited to Lviv?by the Ukrainian prosecutor general, the official said, and joined President Volodymyr Zelensky at the “United for Justice Conference.”

The attorney general “held several meetings and reaffirmed our determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in its unjust and unprovoked invasion against its sovereign neighbor,” the official said.

The trip comes nearly two weeks after President Joe Biden made his first trip to Ukraine since the war began and is one of several trips made by members of Biden’s Cabinet. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also recently made a trip to Ukraine to meet with Zelensky.

The Justice Department has taken several steps to hold the Russian government and its supporters accountable since the invasion began.

On Wednesday, Garland testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he believed the Russian government was committing crimes against humanity and said the Justice Department supports efforts by The Hague to investigate and prosecute those crimes.

The United States announced a new?security assistance package for Ukraine on Friday that is valued at up to $400 million.

This is the thirty-third presidential drawdown on US inventories, totaling more than $32 billion, used to aid Ukraine since Russian’s full-scale invasion began more than one year ago.

In a drawdown, the Defense Department pulls weapons and equipment from US inventories to send abroad, rather than purchasing new weapons from manufacturers.

CNN reported earlier Friday key details of the package, including that the aid would include Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges for the first time, a system used to launch bridges to cross trenches and narrow water obstacles.

Here’s a look at the weapons, munitions and equipment included in the package:

Last week, the US announced $2 billion in aid under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which contracts with the industry to procure the supplies and takes more time.

Ukrainian officials have also been pushing to obtain US F-16 fighter jets, which President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have opposed so far.?