March 8, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Explosions were heard in southwestern Kyiv on Thursday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his official Telegram account.?

Missiles struck the Odesa region’s energy infrastructure and damaged residential buildings early Thursday, according to?Maxim Marchenko, head of the Odesa regional military administration.

Northwest of Odesa, missiles also struck in the Khmelnytskyi region.?

In Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said there was a series of explosions.

Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv’s military administration, wrote there were at least 15 strikes.

Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a meeting in Kyiv, on March 8.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky can’t currently envisage a situation in which he would meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Personal life: The Ukrainian leader also spoke about how he and his family are dealing with the war, which is now in its second year.

“My daughter joined the university and she studies there, and my son is attending school in Ukraine,” he said. “They’re both in Ukraine. They’re very much like other Ukrainian kids. We live with sirens.”

“We want victory. We don’t want to get used to war, but we got used to the challenges. Everyone wants one thing — to end the war,” he said.?

John Kirby, White House national security spokesman, said the US is focused on providing Ukraine with the necessities of artillery, armor, ammunition and air defense.

The US is focused on providing Ukraine with the necessities: artillery, armor, ammunition and air defense, said John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, when asked about sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

He said Ukrainians are using the air defense systems they currently have “quite effectively.”

He noted the Russians “have not achieved anything near, or even approaching, air superiority over the skies of Ukraine” and attributed it to the support provided to Ukraine by the US and its allies.

President Volodymyr Zelensky?is inviting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Ukraine to see the situation on the ground firsthand – an invitation that comes as the Republican Party?faces a divide?over whether the United States should continue to provide aid to the country under attack from Russia.

How McCarthy responded: When asked about the invitation, McCarthy told CNN’s Manu Raju that he does not plan to visit Ukraine, and he argued that President Joe Biden has not acted quickly enough to aid the country. McCarthy, a California Republican,?has said he supports Ukraine but does not support “a blank check,”?a position he repeated on Tuesday – even though there is federal oversight of all the dollars that are spent there.

“Let’s be very clear about what I said: no blank checks, OK? So, from that perspective, I don’t have to go to Ukraine to understand where there’s a blank check or not,” McCarthy told CNN.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer he is “very grateful” for US President Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine last month.?

“It’s an important signal to the whole world that the US is supporting us. And I think that US believe that we will prevail,” Zelensky said.

But on the question of whether the US will send Ukraine F-16 fighter jets to help the battle for control in the skies, Zelensky said, “The fighter jets issue is difficult. We’re waiting for this decision to be taken.”

Asked if the supply of Western jets will “make or break” a Ukrainian success in the war, Zelensky said: “Yes, we believe so.”

Recalling a discussion with Biden over jets, Zelensky said Biden and his aides felt jets “were not needed” at the moment.

“And I said, ‘No, we need those jets,’” Zelensky said.

“What fighter jets could do, they could help us to defend ourselves,” Zelensky said. “That’s why we need it urgently.”

More on Ukrainian pilots: The US is working with Ukrainian pilots in the United States to determine how long it would take to train them to fly?F-16 fighter jets, three sources briefed on the matter told CNN.

Two Ukrainian pilots are currently at a military base in the US having their skills tested in flight simulators to see how much time they would need to learn to fly various US military aircraft, including F-16s.

A US military official added that “there are no updates to provide regarding F-16s to Ukraine” and there are no immediate plans to increase the number of Ukrainian pilots in the US.

Russian troops will have “open road” to capture key cities in eastern Ukraine if they?seize control of Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in an interview with CNN, as he defended his decision to keep Ukrainian forces in the besieged city.

“This is tactical for us,” Zelensky said, insisting that Kyiv’s military brass is united in prolonging its defense of the city?after weeks of Russian attacks left it on the cusp of falling to Moscow’s troops.

Zelensky said his motivations to keep the city are “so different” to Russia’s objectives.

“We understand what Russia wants to achieve there. Russia needs at least some victory – a small victory – even by ruining everything in Bakhmut, just killing every civilian there,” Zelensky said.

He said that if Russia is able to “put their little flag” on top of Bakhmut, it would help “mobilize their society in order to create this idea they’re such a powerful army.”

Read more about Zelensky’s warning here.

The?United?States?has obtained a?warrant?to seize an?airplane owned by Igor Ivanovich Sechin, who heads a Russian oil company and has been described by the European Union as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “most trusted and closest advisors, as well as his personal friend.”

The?US Justice Department announced Wednesday the unsealing?of?a?warrant?for the?seizure?of?a Boeing 737-7JU aircraft?owned?by?PJSC Rosneft?Oil Company, according to a DOJ news release.

The US District Court?for?the Eastern District?of?New York authorized the seizure of the airplane after “finding probable cause that?the Boeing aircraft was subject to?seizure?based on violations?of?the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) and the recent sanctions issued against Russia,” the release said.

The aircraft is believed to be worth approximately?$25?million,?the Justice Department said.

Ukrainian servicemen walk along a muddy road near the frontline town of?Bakhmut, Ukraine on Wednesday, March 8.

Russian forces continue to advance in the battered eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, relying heavily on artillery supported by multiple launch rocket systems and some air power, the Ukrainian military said Wednesday.

Fighters of the private military company Wagner are the predominant forces in the area “with occasional support from Russian regular forces, and that appears to be dwindling down at the moment,” Western officials said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday he can’t rule out that Russian forces will soon take over Bakhmut. And Avril Haines, the US director of National Intelligence, told Congress Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin could carry on the war in Ukraine possibly for years.

If you’re just now catching up, here’s what you need to know:

Visits to Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to Kyiv for discussions on extending the grain initiative that allows Ukraine to export its agricultural produce from Black Sea ports. And one of Ukraine’s top military commanders Colonel General Oleksandr?Syrskyi visited the city of Bakhmut for the third time in less than a week, according to a video posted on his official Telegram account on Wednesday.

Invite to Ukraine: Zelensky invited US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Ukraine to see the situation on the ground firsthand, as the Republican Party faces a divide over whether the United States should continue to provide aid to the country. But when told of the invitation, McCarthy told CNN he does not plan to visit Ukraine, and argued that President Joe Biden has not acted quickly enough to aid the country.?

Support for Ukraine: Zelensky thanked Georgian protesters for holding his country’s flag and playing the national anthem during demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday. Georgians have been coming out in force, protesting a foreign agents law they say will leave Georgia further from joining the European Union and NATO.?On Wednesday, the EU’s Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said the organization is “at the decisive moment now” for the bloc’s support to Ukraine. He urged that “it is absolutely mandatory that we move towards a sort of war economy mode in terms of supply and defense industry.”

Nuclear weapons: US intelligence agencies said in their unclassified annual threat assessment report that Moscow will grow more dependent on its nuclear, cyber and space capabilities. Heavy losses on the battlefield in Ukraine “have degraded Moscow’s ground and air-based conventional capabilities and increased its reliance on nuclear weapons,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in the report.

Colonel-General Oleksandr?Syrskyi posted a video on his official Telegram account on Wednesday reportedly showing him Bakhmut.

One of Ukraine’s top military commanders visited the city of Bakhmut for the third time in less than a week, a video posted on his official Telegram account on Wednesday showed.?

Colonel General Oleksandr?Syrskyi, who is the second highest-ranked general, said his men were doing everything they could to ensure Russian forces made the wrong move, referencing a chess strategy.?

“Zugzwang in chess is a situation where any move by a player leads to a deterioration of his position,” the post read. “We are doing everything we can to ensure that the enemy is in this situation in this war.”

He went on to say Ukrainian forces were holding their ground. Other military leaders have said it is a priority for Ukraine to continue defending Bakhmut, where fighting has intensified.

CNN could not independently verify where the video was recorded but metadata on the file suggested it had indeed been recorded Wednesday.

Syrskyi?organized and lead the defense of?Kyiv, successfully driving back Russian forces that had nearly encircled the Ukrainian capital at the beginning of Russia’s invasion.?He has paid regular visits to frontline units in the Donbas and elsewhere, including Bakhmut. His previous visit to the city was at the end of last week.

Protesters wave the Georgian, Ukrainian and European flags during a demonstration outside Georgia's Parliament in Tbilisi on March 8.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Georgian protesters for holding his country’s flag during demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday.?

Georgians have been coming out in force, protesting a foreign agents law introduced by the country’s ruling party that’s widely seen as very similar to legislation currently in place in Russia.?

Protesters say the law will leave Georgia further from joining the European Union and NATO.?

Ukrainian forces may have repaired a bridge on the main road connecting the village of Chasiv Yar to the city of Bakhmut, according to video and a still image geolocated by CNN.?

The bridge had been hit by Russian artillery, which left a large crater that made the road unusable and forced Ukrainian forces to use dirt roads to supply their forces defending the fiercely contested city.

The footage shows a temporary bridge has been placed on top of the crater, and a vehicle is seen driving over it.

CNN could not independently verify when the video was filmed but the potential repair of the bridge could mean the re-opening of a vital supply line for Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut.

Officials pose for a group photo during a meeting of European Union defense ministers on Wednesday.

The European Union is “at the decisive moment now” for the bloc’s support to Ukraine, its Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said Wednesday.?

Speaking at the EU defense ministers meeting in Stockholm, Breton urged that “it is absolutely mandatory that we move towards a sort of war economy mode in terms of supply and defense industry.”

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called for EU defense leaders to work on a standard procurement scheme in the short term and increase defense capacity in the long term.?

In a separate interview with CNN Wednesday, Borrell’s spokesperson Peter Stano said the EU’s top diplomat proposes that the bloc spend $1 billion on joint procurement of “crucially needed” ammunition for Ukraine.

“Right now, at this particular point, the ammunition is something the Ukrainians are needing most,” Stano said.

During the meeting, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson echoed Borrell’s called for a plan, saying, “The Ukrainians direly need the ammunition in order to continue this war. And the other aspect of it is that we have to ramp up production in Europe.”?

“There are some talks about the EDA (European Defence Agency). I think it’s very important that the European Defence Agency has a coordinating role. There are also being proposals launched,” Jonson said.?

Meanwhile, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur urged leaders to make sure they are not “digging into the bureaucracy,” adding that “the aim is 1,000,000 rounds for Ukraine.”?

CNN’s Mostafa Salem in Abu Dhabi contributed reporting to this post.

The Ukrainian military has acknowledged that Russian forces continue to advance in the battered eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, its General Staff said in an evening update Wednesday.

“The enemy continues to advance in the Bakhmut sector. They do not stop storming the city of Bakhmut,” according to the update.??

The Ukrainian military also said it had been able to hold Moscow’s forces in several areas in and around the city.?

“Our defenders repelled attacks in the areas of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka, Bakhmut and Ivanivske,” it said.?

According to Ukraine, Russia continues to rely heavily on artillery, supported by multiple launch rocket systems and some air power.?

“During the day, the enemy carried out 22 air strikes and fired 29 times from multiple launch rocket systems. In particular, the enemy used 1 Shahed-136 UAV. The drone was eliminated,” it said.?

What Russia said: Earlier Wednesday, Yevgeny?Prigozhin, the head of the Russian private military company Wagner, claimed that the eastern part of Bakhmut is now under its control.?CNN cannot independently confirm Prigozhin’s claim.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday.

The US intelligence community believes that Russia “probably does not want a direct military conflict with U.S. and NATO forces, but there is potential for that to occur,” according to the?unclassified annual threat assessment report?of the intelligence community on Wednesday.?

“Russian leaders thus far have avoided taking actions that would broaden the Ukraine conflict beyond Ukraine’s borders, but the risk for escalation remains significant,” the report said.?

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told Congress that the war in Ukraine has become a “grinding attritional war in which neither side has a definitive military advantage,” but said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely to carry on, possibly for years.?

Haines said that Russia will likely be unable to sustain even its currently modest level of offensive operations in Ukraine without an additional mandatory mobilization and third-party ammunition sources.

“They may fully shift to holding and defending the territories they now occupy,” she said.

But Haines cautioned that a potential spring offensive by Ukraine may be limited by “the extent to which Ukrainian forces are having to draw down their reserves and equipment as well as suffer further casualties” defending against current Russian operations.

Haines and the other top intelligence officials — CIA Director William Burns, FBI Director Chris?Wray, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier and National Security Agency Director Gen. Paul Nakasone – testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday at the panel’s annual public worldwide threats hearing.

A group of Ukrainian sports stars paid tribute to a Ukrainian soldier who appeared to be executed by Russian troops in a video, reciting the Ukrainian battle cry “Heroyam Slava (Glory to the heroes).”?

The athletes involved include tennis star Elina Svitolina and Premier League soccer players Oleksandr Zinchenko and Mykhailo Mudryk.

The?athletes’ video?comes in response to an impassioned call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Monday evening address where he implored people to “respond to his (the soldier’s) words in unity: ‘Glory to the hero. Glory to heroes. Glory to Ukraine.’”

The?original video that provoked Zelensky’s plea shows an unarmed troop allegedly in Russian captivity wearing Ukrainian combat fatigues and smoking a cigarette, near what appears to be a fighting position. The man is then shown pulling the cigarette from his mouth, blowing out the smoke and saying, “Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine),” before being executed, with fighters off camera firing several shots at him.

Oleksandr Usyk, former boxing heavyweight world champion and Olympic gold medalist, separately issued a video of himself reading a poem in tribute to the soldier via his?Telegram.

“Glory to Ukraine,” the poem reads. “You took a bullet for saying that. And you are gone.”

“But eternal memory, warrior, to you. You crushed the enemies for the homeland, you showed the strength, the strength of the AFU. Yes, glory to heroes, and to you in heaven.”

As Russia deals with “extensive damage” from its war in Ukraine, Moscow will grow more dependent on its nuclear, cyber and space capabilities, US intelligence agencies said in their?unclassified annual threat assessment report.

Heavy losses on the battlefield in Ukraine “have degraded Moscow’s ground and air-based conventional capabilities and increased its reliance on nuclear weapons,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in the report, which intelligence officials testified on before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.

“Although its cyber activity surrounding the war fell short of the pace and impact we had expected, Russia will remain a top cyber threat as it refines and employs its espionage, influence, and attack capabilities,” according to the report.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “nuclear saber-rattling” an attempt to “deter the West from providing additional support to Ukraine.”

“He probably will still remain confident that Russia can eventually militarily defeat Ukraine and wants to prevent Western support from tipping the balance and forcing a conflict with NATO,” she said before Congress on Wednesday.

Yana Rykhlitska, a 29-year-old paramedic of the 93rd brigade, died near Bakhmut, Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr?Zelensky expressed gratitude on International Women’s Day to all the women who have fought or died for Ukraine as the war with Russia continues.

Zelensky dedicated his message to “all the women who work, teach, study, rescue, heal, fight — fight for Ukraine,” as well as?“all the women who gave their lives for our country.”??

A Ukrainian woman who recently died, Yana?Rykhlitska, was a 29-year-old paramedic working with the?93rd?Separate Mechanized?Brigade. She was killed on March 3 near the embattled city of Bakhmut, the country’s defense ministry said in a post featuring several pictures of Rykhlitska.??

One of Rykhlitska’s friends,?Tetiana Samsonova,?who is a volunteer, told CNN on Monday that Rykhlitska worked at a stabilization point in Bakhmut, which “is a place where the wounded are being prepared for the long journey to the doctors to ensure their survival.”

“A few days before she died, I texted to her, ‘take care of yourself’. There was some sense of anxiety for her. Later I saw that other people were texting her the same thing at the same time,” she said.??

“The last time we spoke with Yana was the same day she passed away, a few hours earlier. I texted her and asked how she was doing. She replied, ‘fun,’ which meant that there was a lot of work, and that ‘everyone was still alive’,” Samsonova said.?

Samsonova said she met Rykhlitska eight years ago.

“I taught her drawing. She had her own unique magic. Even when she wasn’t wearing makeup or costumes. This, of course, helped her at the front. This magic, and her sense of humor,” she said.?

“When we asked her parents if they needed help, they flatly refused. They said that all the money people wanted to raise would go to help the Ukrainian army, just like Yana wanted,” she said. “She was extremely heroic. I don’t know who among my acquaintances has done more for Ukraine than she has.”?

Rykhlitska’s funeral was on Tuesday in the western-central city of?Vinnytsia, where she lived before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.?

Polish President Andrzej Duda talks to CNN’s Becky Anderson on Wednesday.

The training of Ukrainian pilots to operate F-16 fighter jets is “necessary,” Poland’s President Andrzej Duda told CNN’s Becky Anderson.?

The Polish president said he believes that Ukraine’s armed forces will want to be “up to the NATO standard” and therefore will want to use F-16 fighter jets.?

In the US: The United States is working with Ukrainian pilots in the US to determine how long it would take to train them to fly F-16 fighter jets, three sources briefed on the matter?told CNN. Two Ukrainian pilots are currently at a military base in the US having their skills tested in flight simulators to see how much time they would need to learn to fly various US military aircraft, including F-16s.

Duda is also in Abu Dhabi on Poland’s first bilateral visit in 13 years to warn Emirati leaders of Russian propaganda and to relay how the situation in Ukraine looks from his “very close perspective.”

More than a year since Russia launched its war on Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates’ wider policy — as is the case with much of the Middle East — is one of neutrality. Energy-rich Gulf states have benefited from the rise in prices brought by the war in Ukraine, which has added tens of billions of dollars to their coffers, while Russia continues finding financial escape routes into UAE markets.??

“I’m convincing them to be very sensitive to Russian propaganda,” Duda said about his meetings with Emirati leaders.?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, and Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres attend the joint press conference following their meeting on March 8, in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Ukrainian?President?Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to Kyiv for discussions on extending the grain initiative that allows Ukraine to export its agricultural produce from Black Sea ports.

“We are interested in ensuring that there is no hunger in the world, and our common policy is to extend the grain initiative corridor. We also raised the issue of the future prolongation of the initiative,” Zelensky told a news conference.

Background on grain initiative: Russia suspended its participation in an agreement that?guarantees safe passage?for ships carrying vital grain exports from Ukraine in October 2022, but quickly reversed course a few days later. Turkey, alongside the United Nations, helped broker the deal in July 2022.

The US also announced three new partnerships last week as an effort to boost Ukraine’s agricultural sector and help supply the?country’s grain?to the world, USAID officials told CNN.

According to the UN, Ukraine normally supplies the world with around 45 million tons of grain every year. It ranks among the top five global exporters of barley, corn and wheat. It’s also by far the biggest exporter of sunflower oil, accounting for 46% of the world’s exports.

Gas emanating from a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea on September 27.

The German federal prosecutor’s office searched a boat in January that was suspected of carrying explosives used in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipeline detonations in September, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office.

“The Office of the Attorney General of Germany had a ship searched from January 18 to 20, 2023 in connection with a suspicious ship rental,” the statement details.

Investigations are ongoing, and reliable statements cannot be issued yet, particularly as to whether a state controlled these plans, it added.

It comes after a media report cited new intelligence that a “pro-Ukrainian group” may have been behind the attack last year.

“There are no grounds for suspecting employees of the German company that leased the ship,” the office said.

More details from German public broadcaster’s report: The boat left the Baltic sea port of Rostock, Germany, on September 6, 2022, according to German public broadcaster ARD, citing its own investigation. The ARD reporting cited unnamed security sources from five countries.

ARD said the boat carried six people: one captain, two divers, two assistant divers and a doctor.?The nationalities of those six are not known, according to ARD. The broadcaster said the group was using professionally falsified passports to rent the boat.

A truck delivered the group’s gear to the harbor beforehand, it said.?

ARD said the investigators, according to its research, were able to piece together the route of the boat after September 6: It went to Wieck, a German municipality east of Rostock, and could also be pinned on the Danish island of Christians?, northeast?of Bornholm.?

The boat was – according to ARD — returned in a dirty state and the investigators, according to the broadcasters’ research, were able to find traces of explosives on the cabin table.

The German prosecutors’ office declined to give any more information when asked for any further details.

CNN also approached the port of Rostock and is awaiting a response, but it is a public holiday today.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to the press upon arrival to the informal meeting of EU Defence Ministers on March 8, in Marsta, Sweden.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said he can’t rule out that Russian forces will soon take over the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU defense ministers in Stockholm, he said he “cannot rule out that Bakhmut may eventually fall in the coming days.”?

Stoltenberg said that “this does not necessarily reflect any turning point of the war,” adding the conflict in the eastern Donetsk region “just highlights that we should not underestimate Russia.”?

Let’s recap: The head of the Wagner private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that the eastern part of the Ukrainian city of?Bakhmut is now under his mercenary group’s control.?CNN cannot independently confirm Prigozhin’s claim. While the Ukrainian military did not address his claims, it said that Russian attacks in the Bakhmut area continue, but?described them as unsuccessful?and incurring heavy losses. Wagner, the predominant forces in the Bakhmut area, is also running out of prisoners?to recruit, according to Western officials.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky?is inviting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Ukraine to see the situation on the ground firsthand – an invitation that comes as the Republican Party?faces a divide?over whether the United States should continue to provide aid to the country under attack from Russia.

“Mr. McCarthy, he has to come here to see how we work, what’s happening here, what war caused us, which people are fighting now, who are fighting now. And then after that, make your assumptions,” Zelensky told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview.

But when told of the invitation on Tuesday, McCarthy told CNN that he does not plan to visit Ukraine, and argued that President Joe Biden has not acted quickly enough to aid the country. McCarthy, a California Republican,?has said he supports Ukraine but does not support “a blank check,”?a position he repeated on Tuesday – even though there is federal oversight of all the dollars that are spent there.

As speaker, McCarthy must navigate competing views within his party over sending additional assistance. There is widespread bipartisan support for Ukraine in Congress, but some House Republicans are calling for an end to further military and financial aid to the country.

“When the Democrats and Republicans come to us, they see the supply roots – every shell, every bullet, every dollar,” Zelensky said.

Read more here.

Watch here:

- Source: CNN " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/1ba1104d-a434-48d2-9876-356c10287e5d.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/1ba1104d-a434-48d2-9876-356c10287e5d.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="2023-03-08T13:47:11.086Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="" data-first-publish-slug="" data-video-tags="" data-details="">

Video Ad Feedback

d4e0b9bd-23e6-40ee-9ba3-055da239da79.mp4

03:29 - Source: CNN

Fighters of private military company Wagner are the predominant forces in the Bakhmut area “with occasional support from Russian regular forces, and that appears to be dwindling down at the moment,” western officials said.

Death rates among Wagner fighters “have been significantly higher than of the Russian Armed Forces,” they added.

Officials also said Bakhmut “doesn’t hold any operational strategic significance” for either Russia or Ukraine, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s trip to Bakhmut in December has politicized it.

They acknowledged that Russia has “taken territory,” but said that the said area is “open ground — wasn’t an urban area or built-up area. And there were no Ukrainian defensive lines there.”

The Western officials said Ukraine “conceded ground to the Russians” and is “surrounded by three sides because they traded that space for time.”

Discussing a timeline, they said Ukraine can still get forces in and out of Bakhmut. “It may well last another month, or the Ukrainians could decide to leave within a week. They could withdraw to prepare defensive lines which they have to the west of Bakhmut.”

“They have shown previously that they are very adept to withdrawing when they need to, or when they feel they need to,” the officials later added.

A Ukrainian serviceman carries a shell for a 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled howitzer before firing towards Russian troops outside the frontline town of?Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 5.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Wednesday his country needs 1 million rounds of ammunition “as soon as possible” to deter Russian forces and?launch a counteroffensive.

Speaking to reporters before a European Union defense ministers meeting in Stockholm, Reznikov said Ukraine requires?1 million 155-millimeter as well as 105-millimeter shells that would cost about 4 billion euros ($4.22 billion).

Reznikov said he supports a plan proposed by Estonia for EU countries to jointly secure those rounds of ammunition. Ukraine needs?90,000 to 100,000 artillery rounds per month, he said.

The defense minister also said air defense systems, tanks and ammunition are among the priorities he will discuss with the EU defense ministers during Wednesday’s meeting.?

Reznikov said time is a decisive factor that can save lives, therefore?“we need to move forward as soon as possible.”

Russian and Ukrainian troops continue to fight fiercely in the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has claimed the eastern part of Bakhmut is now under his fighters’ control. Ukraine hasn’t address the claims, but has said that Russian forces incurred heavy losses.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities have denied any involvement in sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines after a media report cited new intelligence that a “pro-Ukrainian group” may have been behind September’s attack.

Here are the latest developments:

NATO Secretary General?Jens?Stoltenberg?talks to journalists upon arrival to the informal meeting of EU defence ministers at the Scandinavian XPO in Marsta outside Stockholm, Sweden, on March 8.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said there is no identified perpetrator of the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines which were damaged last September.

Stoltenberg’s comments come after a report by the New York Times Tuesday citing?new intelligence reviewed by US officials, which suggested a group loyal to Ukraine but acting independently of the government in Kyiv was involved in the operation.

The pipelines, a crucial source of revenue for Russia, were closed at the time of the attack, which occurred months after Moscow launched its full-scale?invasion of Ukraine.?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky makes an address on International Women's Day, March 8, from his office in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine both issued statements marking International Women’s Day on Wednesday amid the war between the two countries.

Both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin directly addressed women involved in the conflict.

Putin said he wanted to honor Russian women who have chosen “the highest mission — defending the Motherland.”

Zelensky said it was “important to express gratitude today” to the women who fight for Ukraine and have given their lives for the country.

Zelensky expressed gratitude toward the women in his life, including his wife and mother, and those who work with him. He also stressed the importance of gender equality in the workplace.

“It is very important that we are equals as colleagues,” Zelensky said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated his claims that?Russia is facing “direct threats” to its security, and praised those who are?ready to?“protect the people and the very future of our state,” during an event at the Kremlin marking International Women’s Day on Wednesday.

Among the women being honored were female doctors and medical workers who had served in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.

Ukrainian soldiers fire a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 7.

More than 100 Russian soldiers have been killed?in the past 24 hours around?the city of Bakhmut, the spokesman for the Ukrainian military in the east of the country has said.

Serhiy Cherevatyi told?Ukrainian television Wednesday that 102 Russian shellings and?72 combat assaults took place Tuesday in and around Bakhmut, but that the enemy was “not allowed to move on and achieve any tactical victories.”

Referring to the leading role of private military company Wagner in the Russian attack, Cherevatyi said?that “in connection with the heavy losses of the Wagnerians, they were reinforced by units of airborne troops, mechanized units and artillery and aviation.”

The head of the Russian private military company Wagner has issued a video message from inside the city of Bakhmut, standing in front of a tank monument situated in the eastern part of the city.

Yevgeny Prigozhin dismissed Ukrainian claims that Wagner was taking heavy losses in the fight for Bakhmut and was close to finished as a fighting force.

“We will conquer this frontier with dignity,” he said.

“The [Russian] Defense Minister has told you that after capturing Bakhmut, the operational space will open. And the world has not yet faced the Russian army, which is well prepared, with those units that have not yet entered into battle, with all possible modern weapons, intelligence, ideally prepared,” he added.

“They are waiting for their time. Right after the opening of the operational space by PMC Wagner after Bakhmut. Then the whole world will shudder.”

Prigozhin also addressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with an appeal.?

“The only request — take out the elderly, children. And (send) here normal combat-ready units.”?

“We need to deal with you here now,” he said.

Some background: Prigozhin shared an audio clip on Telegram earlier Wednesday, claiming that the eastern part of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is now under Wagner’s control.?CNN cannot independently confirm Prigozhin’s claim. While the Ukrainian military did not address his claims, it said that Russian attacks in the Bakhmut area continue, but described them as unsuccessful and incurring heavy losses.

German Defence Minister?Boris?Pistorius?visits NATO-enhanced Forward Presence battle group German troops in Rukla, Lithuania, on March 6.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said people should be wary of drawing conclusions too hastily after the recent release of media reports alleging that a “pro-Ukrainian group” may have been behind last year’s attack on the Nord Stream pipelines.

In an interview with the German public radio station Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Pistorius said it is also possible that the attack was a false-flag operation.

“It does not help us to think about the impact this would have on our support for Ukraine on the basis of such research, which has undoubtedly been done painstakingly and meticulously,” Pistorius said.

Some context: Mystery has surrounded who might be responsible for the brazen sabotage last September, which damaged two pipes transporting Russian gas into the European Union and targeted a crucial source of revenue for Moscow. Both pipelines were closed at the time of the attack.

A report by the New York Times Tuesday cited new intelligence that a “pro-Ukrainian group” may have been behind the attack. Ukraine has denied any involvement.

“Although I enjoy collecting amusing conspiracy theories about (the Ukrainian) government, I have to say: (Ukraine) has nothing to do with the Baltic Sea mishap and has no information about ‘pro-(Ukraine) sabotage groups,’” Mykhailo Podolyak, top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on Twitter.

European Union member states must quickly reach a consensus on funding for ammunition for Ukraine, Estonia’s defense minister said Wednesday.

“When we bring this fresh money, then this will also increase the capacity of the industry, and this is what we need anyway also for the future, that the European industries are capable of producing more shells.”

Some of that new money is expected to be used to purchase 155-millimeter artillery shells.

Some background: Last week, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky met with top government officials from the Netherlands and Estonia in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

Zelensky expressed his gratitude for the “significant defense, financial, energy and legal support” provided by both countries since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, his office said in a statement.

Ukrainian soldiers fire a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 7.

The Ukrainian military says that Russian attacks in the Bakhmut area continue, but describes them as unsuccessful and incurring heavy losses.

The Ukrainian General Staff update Wednesday spoke of offensive actions by Russian forces around several settlements west of Bakhmut. It did not address the claim by the head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, that his fighters now hold the eastern part of the city.

The General Staff said that “our defenders repelled more than 100 enemy attacks” along the front line in?Donetsk region on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that, were the Russians to capture Bakhmut, they would have an open road to Ukraine’s larger industrial cities further west.

Some Ukrainian soldiers in the Bakhmut area have said that getting in and out of the city has become almost impossible because the Russians have all the routes to the west under their fire control. The?dirt track being used has become almost impassable for any organized military column.

What Russia could do with Bakhmut: The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based military organization that closely monitors the conflict in Ukraine, assesses that “Russian forces lack the capability to exploit the tactical capture of Bakhmut.”

The ISW analysis said that the Russians’ growing use of “small assault detachments using simplified tactics, combined with mounting losses among the most effective Russian troops, will likely greatly limit the ability of Russian forces to properly exploit any paths of advance opened by the capture of Bakhmut.”

Georgian police detain a protester during a protest outside the Georgian parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia, on March 8.

Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs detained 66 people on Tuesday evening during protests against a so-called anti-foreign agents bill at the parliament building in Tbilisi, the country’s public broadcaster First Channel reported Wednesday.??

The ministry said those held are being charged with petty hooliganism and disobeying police, according to First Channel.?

Protests erupted in the?Georgian capital on Tuesday as the first reading the draft law on foreign agents was adopted in parliament. Critics say the law would?limit press freedom and restrict civil society.?

The ministry said the protest went beyond the framework of a peaceful assembly and turned violent. The protesters tried to block entrances to parliament, threw stones, smashed glasses and damaged iron fences, according to First Channel.?

Police were forced to use what authorities called proportional force to restore public order, the ministry said, according to Fist Channel.?

The United States Embassy in Georgia said Tuesday was a “dark day for Georgia’s democracy,” while?EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said the Georgian Parliament’s passage of the legislation was a “very bad development” for?Georgia?and its people.?

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), during a panel session on day three of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on January 19.

The International Monetary Fund has drawn criticism for forecasting that?Russia will see stronger economic growth this year than either the United Kingdom or Germany, despite rising pressure from Western sanctions.

But Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, told CNN’s Poppy Harlow that the economic outlook for Russia beyond 2023 is “quite devastating.”

In January, the IMF projected that Russia’s economy would expand by 0.3% this year and 2.1% the next. That was much more optimistic than the latest forecasts from both the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Economists at those groups have penciled in contractions of 3.3% and 5.6% in 2023, respectively.

Even Russia’s own central bank, which extended emergency capital controls for another six months on Monday, has said gross domestic product might contract by 1% this year.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor, wrote?in Fortune magazine?Monday that the “IMF has been asleep at the switch” and parroting propaganda from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read more here.

Protests erupted in Georgia’s capital city on Tuesday after parliament passed the first reading of a controversial draft law that would require some organizations receiving foreign funding to register as “foreign agents.”

Protesters’ chants, with insults aimed at both Georgian politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin, underline fears that the bill follows the model of a controversial law in neighboring Russia that has already imposed draconian restrictions and requirements on organizations and individuals with foreign ties.

Thousands of protesters could be seen outside the parliament building on Tuesday night, holding not just the Georgian flag but also European Union and Ukraine flags, as longstanding tensions in the country – parts of which are occupied by Russia – bubbled to the surface.

A Georgian flag lays on the ground in front of a cordon of riot police during clashes with protesters near the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi on Tuesday.

Some protesters threw stones and petrol bombs, as security forces responded with tear gas and water cannon. Video posted on social media also showed protesters storming a barricade at the entrance to the parliament building and tearing it down.

There are fears the law could impede the country’s hopes of closer ties with the European Union.

Protesters waving a European Union flag are sprayed by a water canon during clashes with riot police near the Georgian parliament.

The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, threw her support behind protesters, in a video message posted on Facebook, saying “the path of European integration must be protected. Those who support this law today, all those who voted for this law today are violating the Constitution. All of them are alienating us from Europe,” she said.

Riot police spray tear gas towards a protester as they form a cordon.

Zourabichvili called it “an unnecessary law that did not come out of nowhere, but was dictated by Moscow,” telling protesters that she was “standing next to you because you are the very people who represent free Georgia today. The Georgia which sees its future in Europe and will not let anyone take this future away from it.”

Protesters show cellphone flashlights as they demonstrate in front of the Georgian parliament.

The Georgian bill has been widely criticized as posing a potential chilling effect for Georgian civil society, and particularly NGOs and news organizations with links to Europe.

A woman reacts while standing in front of riot police who are blocking the street.

The former Soviet republic has played a balancing act between its citizens’ pro-European sentiment and its regional positioning next to Russia. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev?said in 2011?that had Russia not invaded Georgia in 2008, NATO would have expanded into Georgia.

A woman who was affected by tear gas receives medical aid on the street.

The invasion only lasted a?couple?days, but it appeared to have the same pretext Russian President Vladimir Putin used to invade Ukraine in 2014 and last year, writes think tank?European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

“In the last few years, and especially over the past 18 months, Georgia’s ruling coalition has made a series of moves that seem designed to distance the country from the West and shift it gradually into Russia’s sphere of influence,” ECFR writes in a report where it attributes much of the drift to the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Yevgeny?Prigozhin, head of the Russian private military company Wagner, claimed on Wednesday that the eastern part of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is now under its control.?

CNN cannot independently confirm Prigozhin’s claim and has reached out to the Ukrainian military for its response.

On Tuesday, footage geolocated by CNN showed Wagner fighters plant the group’s flag on top of a monument in eastern Bakhmut.

The monument is located 500 meters from the Bakhmutka?river, suggesting that Ukrainian forces may have withdrawn from the eastern part of the city to consolidate their positions west of the river.

Gas bubbles from the?Nord?Stream?2 pipeline leak reach the surface of the Baltic Sea near Bornholm, Denmark, on September 27, 2022.

Reports that a “pro-Ukrainian group” carried out the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines last year are part of a “misinformation campaign,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Wednesday.?

His comments come after the New York Times on Tuesday published a report citing new intelligence reviewed by US officials that a “pro-Ukrainian group” may have been behind last September’s attack targeting Russia’s gas deliveries to Europe.

Ukraine has denied any involvement in the sabotage.

Peskov also “expressed bewilderment” as to how US officials could “make assumptions about terrorist attacks” on the pipelines without an investigation, RIA reported. He called for an “urgent, transparent investigation” into the incident, RIA said.?

Some context: Mystery has surrounded who might be responsible for the brazen sabotage, which damaged two pipes transporting Russian gas into the European Union and targeted a crucial source of revenue for Moscow. Both pipelines were closed at the time of the attack, which came months after?Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.

A source familiar with the US intelligence told CNN the assessment cited in the New York Times’ report was not made with high confidence and is not the predominant view of the intelligence community. The US has not yet identified a culprit for the attack, the source said.

Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian armed Forces?Valerii?Zaluzhnyi?attends a session of the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv on December 28, 2022.

Ukraine’s top military leader, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, discussed the situation in Bakhmut with US and NATO military leaders, he said in a Telegram post on Tuesday.

Present in the meeting were Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of US European Command general Christopher G. Cavoli, UK Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Anthony Radakin; Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces General Rajmund Andrzejczak and Commander of US of Security Assistance Group–Ukraine Gen.-Lt. Antonio Aguto.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joins CNN to talk about the battle for Bakhmut, President Biden’s recent visit to Kyiv and more. Watch the full exclusive interview on Wednesday, March 8 at 9 p.m. ET.

Russian troops will have “open road” to capture key cities in eastern Ukraine if they?seize control of Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in an interview with CNN, as he defended his decision to keep Ukrainian forces in the besieged city.

“This is tactical for us,” Zelensky said, insisting that Kyiv’s military brass is united in prolonging its defense of the city?after weeks of Russian attacks left it on the cusp of falling to Moscow’s troops.

A weeks-long assault from?Wagner mercenary troops, which has picked up pace in recent days, has forced thousands from the city and decimated its infrastructure. But Ukrainian troops have also mounted a dogged defense of the area, stalling Russia’s progress.

Zelensky said his motivations to keep the city are “so different” to Russia’s objectives. “We understand what Russia wants to achieve there. Russia needs at least some victory – a small victory – even by ruining everything in Bakhmut, just killing every civilian there,” Zelensky said.

He said that if Russia is able to “put their little flag” on top of Bakhmut, it would help “mobilize their society in order to create this idea they’re such a powerful army.”

Read more here.

Ukrainian forces have continued to repel Russian attacks on the battered city of Bakhmut, the military’s General Staff said in a situation update Tuesday.

“The enemy continues its assaults in the Bakhmut direction,” it said. “They do not stop assaulting the city of Bakhmut. Our defenders repelled attacks in the areas of Ivanivske, Klishchiivka, and Bakhmut.”

According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces continue to focus their offensive not just on Bakhmut but also on Kupiansk, Lyman, Avdiivka, and Shakhtarsk.

Ukraine has denied any involvement in the sabotage of the?Nord Stream pipelines?following a media report citing new intelligence that a “pro-Ukrainian group” may have been behind last year’s attack targeting Russia’s gas deliveries to Europe.

The dismissal by a senior Ukrainian official on Tuesday came in response to a?report by the New York Times, which cited new intelligence that had been reviewed by United States officials.

The New York Times said the new intelligence reviewed by US officials suggested a group loyal to Ukraine but acting independently of the government in Kyiv were involved in the operation.

Mystery has surrounded who might be responsible for the brazen sabotage last September which damaged two pipes transporting Russian gas into the European Union and targeted a crucial source of revenue for Moscow. Both pipelines were closed at the time of the attack, which came months after?Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A source familiar with the US intelligence told CNN the assessment was not made with high confidence and is not the predominant view of the intelligence community, and that the US has not yet identified a culprit for the attack.

There is a section of the US intelligence community that believes that pro-Ukrainian actors would have had the motive to sabotage the pipelines because of how Russia was weaponizing them against Ukraine and Europe.

The intelligence community has no evidence, however, that Ukrainian leaders, including Zelensky, had any knowledge of or involvement in the pipeline sabotage, the source said.

The incident, in which underwater explosions occurred before the pipelines burst in several places, remains a major point of contention between Russia and the West.

Read more here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting Tuesday with Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed acting governor of the Zaporizhzhia region — which was declared annexed by Putin last year — where they discussed security issues and a volunteer battalion, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov also said that “Balitsky raised the issue of the status of the Sudoplatov Volunteer Battalion with the President.”

In an interview with the Crimea 24 TV channel on Monday, Balitsky said the “unresolved issue” of the status of volunteer battalions makes it difficult for them to receive weapons.

Some background on Russia’s claims of annexed regions:?In September last year, Putin announced Russia would seize?nearly a fifth of Ukraine, including the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The move followed so-called referendums in the regions that were universally dismissed as “shams” by Ukraine and Western nations.

While most attention is focused on the battle for the city of Bakhmut, fierce battles are also raging a short distance to the north, according to Ukrainian officials.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, said the situation “is difficult [in the Luhansk region] but controlled by the Defense Forces of Ukraine.”

He said on Ukrainian television that “the most difficult areas are Bilohorivka and Kreminna,” where there were constant assaults and shelling by Russian troops.?

“They are trying to push out our defenders to reach Stelmakhivka, Nevske, and recapture these settlements,” he said.

Stelmakhivka and Nevske are villages on the borders of the?Luhansk?and?Kharkiv?regions that were recaptured by Ukrainian forces in September.

“When they [the Russians] lose personnel and their hardware is damaged, they take time to “recover” for about a day, replenish their supplies, and then go on the offensive again,” Hayday said.

Hayday said the Russians were regularly changing their tactics. “There were small groups; there were offensives with up to three companies of exclusively infantry; there was an offensive using ‘armor’ with up to two companies supported by ‘heavy’ hardware,” he said.

In that way, the Russians were constantly trying to test the strength of Ukrainian defenses, he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to?“find the murderers”?involved in a video that he said?showed the execution?of a Ukrainian soldier by Russian troops, as officials in Kyiv roundly condemned the incident as a war crime.

The video shows an unarmed troop allegedly in Russian captivity wearing Ukrainian combat fatigues and smoking a cigarette, near what appears to be a fighting position.

The man is then shown pulling the cigarette from his mouth, blowing out the smoke and saying, “Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine),” before being executed, with fighters off camera firing several shots at him.

The Ukrainian Army’s 30th Mechanized Brigade named the soldier on Tuesday as Tymofii Mykolayovych Shadura.

The brigade said in a Facebook post that Shadura was part of the contingent and had been missing since Feb. 3 after fighting near the eastern city of Bakhmut, as the battle for control of the eastern Donetsk region intensifies.

Zelensky denounced the video and said it shows “how the occupiers brutally killed a warrior.”

“Today, a video has been released showing how the occupiers brutally killed a warrior who bravely said to their faces: ‘Glory to Ukraine,’” Zelensky said in his nightly address on Monday. “I want us all to respond to his words in unity: ‘Glory to the hero. Glory to heroes. Glory to Ukraine.’”

CNN has not been able to independently verify who the executed soldier is, where he was shot, and who shot him. CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian defense ministry to get further details on the incident, and to the Russian defense ministry for a response. Russia has consistently denied accusations that its soldiers have committed war crimes during its invasion, despite evidence to the contrary.

Read more here.