March 17, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Turkey has decided to start the process of ratifying Finland's accession to NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a news conference in Ankara Friday.

"We have decided to start the parliamentary ratification process of Finland's NATO Accession Protocol," Erdogan said.

Finland — along with Sweden — both announced their intention to join NATO in May, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sudden shift in attitudes toward joining the bloc.

Erdogan said he believes NATO "will become even stronger through Finland's membership" and "will play a more efficient role in preserving global security and stability."

Ukrainian intelligence says Russia has created a powerful defensive grouping in the annexed territory of Crimea.

Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of Defense Intelligence of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, said the "Russians have created a defense group on the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula and are preparing for defensive actions."

"The infrastructure on the temporarily occupied peninsula is maintained in combat readiness. A powerful land and aviation component is deployed in Crimea. For example, there are about 90 combat aircrafts and 60 combat helicopters," Skibitskyi said.

Remember: Ukraine has frequently said that it intends to reclaim all Russian-occupied territory, including Crimea, which was annexed by Russia after a so-called referendum in 2014 that was slammed by Ukraine and most of the world as illegitimate. Troops, dubbed “little green men,” had poured over the border from Russia into the peninsula ahead of the annexation.

Meanwhile, satellite imagery has shown the creation of extensive trench systems in the region. 

"They are preparing for defensive actions on the territory of the peninsula," said Skibitskyi, and "have chosen the most dangerous areas where a sea landing operation may be conducted, and now they are preparing defensive lines there."

Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu has presented state awards to the pilots of the combat aircraft involved in the incident Tuesday over the Black Sea that led to the downing of a US military drone into the water.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the pilots of the Su-27 aircraft had "prevented the violation by the American MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle of the borders of the area of ​​the temporary regime for the use of airspace, established for the purpose of conducting a special military operation," Russia's term for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

The ministry said that "in order to identify the intruder, fighters from the air defense forces on duty were dispatched."

"As a result of sharp maneuvering ... the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface," the ministry said on Telegram. "The Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their base airfield."

Footage released by the US military on Thursday shows the Russian fighter jets rapidly approaching the drone, pouring fuel on it, and appearing to damage the drone’s propeller. The US was forced to take the drone down over the Black Sea after the impact made it effectively inoperable, officials said. 

Watch here:

Russia and China are planning to strengthen relations and agree to a plan for developing further economic cooperation — with military cooperation also on the table — when the leaders of the two countries meet next week in Moscow. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will sign documents attesting to the closer ties and also plan to discuss the war in Ukraine, according to Putin’s adviser on international relations, Yuri Ushakov.

In an interview with Russian state media TASS, Ushakov said “Moscow highly appreciates the balanced position of the Chinese leadership.” 

Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu, as well as the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Dmitry Shugaev, will take part in the discussions around “military-technical cooperation,” Ushakov said. 

“Russia and China are satisfied with the highest level of relations that continue to develop, Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow will give them a new impetus,” he added.

The leaders will each publish articles in Russian and Chinese media respectively to “express their assessments of relations” between the nations following the talks. Xi’s visit is expected to be straightforward with “no additional protocol,” according to TASS.

American officials say they will be watching intently for signs that China is moving forward with providing weapons to Russia during next week’s summit between Chinese President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The summit itself did not come as a surprise to the White House since there have been reports such a meeting could occur for weeks. Still, there remain deep concerns the “no limits” partnership Xi and Putin have cemented during previous meetings could deepen during face-to-face talks.

So far, officials have said there hasn’t been any indication that Beijing has made a final decision to assist Moscow’s war efforts with lethal aid. But they have been considering it, according to American officials, who have been monitoring intelligence on a day-to-day basis for indications that Xi is going forward.

Next week’s meeting could provide a venue for such an announcement.

The concern among US officials is not that Chinese weapons would help Russia land a decisive win in Ukraine. Instead, the worry is that lethal aid from Beijing could prolong the conflict, which US officials believe favors Putin.

A drawn-out war could also benefit China if American resources and attention are consumed in Ukraine, instead of in Asia, where Beijing has become increasingly assertive militarily.

Meanwhile, US officials say they are working to get Xi on the telephone with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, believing that hearing directly from him could prove useful.

"We think that it's important that China has the perspective of Ukraine," Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told CNN. "Clearly, Russia's motivations are nefarious. They illegally invaded and have occupied Ukraine. We hope that President Xi and the Chinese government would be able to have the benefit of understanding what exactly the impact of their support to Russia is having.”

CNN's Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.

The independent UN human rights commission released a report on Thursday that concluded Russia committed abuses and atrocities that likely amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

While the bulk of the evidence gathered concerned the conduct of Russian forces, the commission said it had also documented "a small number of violations committed by Ukrainian armed forces, including likely indiscriminate attacks and two incidents that qualify as war crimes."

The report's findings include:

The commission said that in the course of gathering evidence it visited 56 cities, towns and settlements and conducted several hundred interviews in person and remotely. It also "inspected sites of destruction, graves, places of detention and torture, as well as weapon remnants; and consulted documents, photographs, satellite imagery and videos."

A US surveillance drone is operating over the Black Sea, according to data from FlightRadar24, a flight tracking website. 

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is seen flying at 52,000 feet over the southern Black Sea. Its flight track shows that it entered international airspace over the Black Sea from Romania and traversed from west to east. According to FlightRadar24 data, the flight track shows the drone operating in international airspace southeast of Crimea and west of the Russian coastal city of Sochi. 

Asked at a news conference Thursday when the US would fly drone missions again, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said, “I’m not going to get into talking about specific missions, routes, timelines of operations. I think Secretary [Lloyd] Austin was pretty clear that we’re going to continue to fly and operate in international airspace where international law allows, and that includes the Black Sea region.”

Some background: The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a spy drone capable of high-altitude, long-endurance missions with a suite of surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities. It has a wingspan of 130 feet and a maximum takeoff weight of 32,000 pounds, making it far larger than the MQ-9 Reaper that went down on Tuesday. 

On Thursday, CNN reported that the US was conducting an assessment of drone operations over the Black Sea following a collision between a Russian fighter jet and a US spy drone that forced the drone down.

The US military was “taking a close look” at the drone’s routes and assessing how to better deconflict with the Russians, who have been regularly flying their fighter jets in and out of Crimea, officials said. The Pentagon has asked European Command to justify surveillance flights in the area going forward in part to assess risk, a senior US military official said.

The US military had not stopped the drone flights entirely amid the assessment. The military sent the same model of drone, an MQ-9 Reaper, on a mission in approximately the same area over the Black Sea shortly after the collision occurred in an effort to survey the crash site and monitor Russians looking for the debris. 

If you're just joining us, here's everything you need to know on Friday's developments in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has brushed off Poland and Slovakia's donations of fighter jets to Ukraine, and accused NATO of increasing its involvement in the war.

This week, the two nations announced further pledges of weapons to support Ukraine, including MiG-29 fighter jets. Poland has promised four of the planes, and Slovakia 13.

"It seems that these countries are thus engaged in the disposal of old unnecessary equipment," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

He told reporters that the move is "yet another example" of how NATO members are "increasing their level of direct involvement in the conflict."

Peskov said it would not chance the outcome of what Moscow consistently calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, adding that the move could cause more problems for Kyiv.