February 18, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Kharkiv faced more attacks from Russian forces Saturday, as newly drafted Russian soldiers appear to be replacing Wagner fighters, local military leaders said.

“The number of the Wagners has significantly decreased nowadays compared to what we saw a few months ago. Most likely they were killed in the Bakhmut and Soledar sectors,” Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, wrote on Telegram.

Hayday added that the eastern city of Kreminna is one of the areas seeing the most fighting, saying that "the overall situation is difficult but fully controlled. The number of attacks and shelling of our positions has indeed increased."

Russian forces are jamming Ukrainian drone signals while also deploying suicide squads to detect Ukrainian forces’ positions, according to Hayday.

In Kharkiv: Towns in the Kharkiv region, northwest of Luhansk, were also shelled by Russian forces on Saturday, killing one civilian and injuring two, according to Oleh Synehubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US Vice President Kamala Harris concurred during their meeting at the Munich Security Conference the war in Ukraine is global in scale.

“They agreed that Putin’s war in Ukraine is a global war, both in terms of its impact on food and energy security and in terms of its implications for internationally accepted norms like sovereignty. The prime minister and Vice President Harris condemned those countries who have supported Putin’s efforts politically and militarily," according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

Downing Street added that the two also discussed how to increase international action on Ukraine to secure peace for the future.

"They agreed on the importance of thinking beyond Ukraine’s immediate needs to how the international community can ensure Ukraine never faces the same threats again," the spokesperson said.

Moscow is displeased that Moldova appears to be moving closer to the European Union, Russian state media reports, amid growing US concerns that Russia could attempt to destabilize the small eastern European country.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Saturday that Moscow remains open to "constructive and pragmatic" dialogue with the Moldovan government in Chișinău, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

“Unfortunately, Chișinău's course toward Russia is unlikely to change," she continued. 

Moldova’s parliament this week approved a pro-Western government.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of plotting to destabilize the country, which Russia’s foreign ministry has dismissed as “completely unfounded and unsubstantiated.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced "deep concern" this week about the prospect of further Russian meddling with Moldova.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also expressed the body's "unwavering solidarity" with Moldova in an open letter on Tuesday. "The place of the Republic of Moldova is with us, in the European family," he said.

Why Moldova is important: The small country, situated between Ukraine and Romania, was part of the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, a handful of “frozen conflict” zones in eastern Europe emerged, including a sliver of land along Moldova’s border with Ukraine known as Transnistria.

The territory declared itself a Soviet republic in 1990, opposing any attempt by Moldova to become an independent state or to merge with Romania. When Moldova became independent the following year, Russia quickly inserted a so-called “peacekeeping force” in Transnistria, sending troops to back pro-Moscow separatists there.

This supposed “peacekeeping” presence has mirrored Moscow’s pretext for invasions in Georgia and Ukraine.

Alarm bells in Moldova and the West grew louder when the Kremlin began to claim the rights of ethnic Russians are being violated in Transnistria – another argument used by Putin to justify his February 2022 invasion of Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine, which contained two breakaway Russian-backed statelets.

In the context of the war today, the Russian-backed separatist enclave at the southwestern edge of Moldova could now present a bookend to any westward Russian assault from eastern Ukraine.

CNN's Elise Hammond and Michael Conte contributed to this report.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said allies need to “double down” on military support for Ukraine in order for Russian President Vladimir Putin's goals in Ukraine to fail.  

The EU chief appealed to allies to work together and speed up production of items that Ukraine has said it needs, such as ammunition.

"It cannot be that we have to wait months and years til we are able to replenish, until we are able to deliver that to Ukraine," von der Leyen said.

The European Commission president suggested using production approaches similar to those seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, when governments worked with pharmaceutical companies to scale up supply.

“We could think of, for example, advanced purchase agreements that gives the defense industry the possibility to invest in production lines now to be faster and to increase the amount they can deliver,” von der Leyen said. 

Ukraine’s foreign minister said Saturday that he was certain the country's allies would eventually supply fighter jets to help it fend off the Russian invasion.

"I will take a risk of saying that Ukraine will receive planes, it's a matter of time and procedure," Dmytro Kuleba said during a press conference at the Munich Security Conference.

"It will take more time than tanks. We understand that, but the very kind of logic, the basic sense of how the situation evolves, will take all of us to the decision on planes,” the Ukrainian foreign minister said.

Kuleba asked allies that may potentially send fighter jets to first prioritize pilot training.

Near the end of his press conference, Kuleba asked those in the room to show more faith in Ukraine when talking about its lack of resources. 

"A year ago, people here in Munich were telling me that we are not going to stand for more than 24, 48 hours — that we know you are not going to make it, you're not going to survive. You have to be rational. We've been there. We've seen it. Have trust in us, be with us, and we will win," Kuleba said. "Impossible is nothing. We proved it so many times over the last year of the year." 

Some background: Since securing pledges for hundreds of modern battle tanks from Western allies, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has turned his attention to modern fighting planes.

It was a key element of his pitches during visits to London and a European Union summit last week.

The United Kingdom will soon begin training Ukrainian pilots on NATO-standard fighter jets, though the country's defense secretary has cautioned that any move to send British jets to Ukraine is likely years away.

Other Kyiv allies, while signaling openness to discussing the possibility, have also cautioned a decision to supply the military planes would not come quickly.

In a statement Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed comments from Vice President Kamala Harris in declaring Russia has committed crimes against humanity in its war against Ukraine.

The determination was “based on a careful analysis of the law and available facts," Blinken said in the statement released by the US State Department.

Earlier Saturday, Harris announced the US declaration on Russia at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, which Blinken is also attending.

“We reserve crimes against humanity determinations for the most egregious crimes,” Blinken said. “There can be no impunity for these crimes. All those responsible must be held accountable.”

Beijing is ready to present its peace proposition for Ukraine, its top diplomat announced Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, in a rare remark that referred to the Ukraine conflict as a war.

Territorial and sovereignty integrity of all countries will be respected in China’s proposal, Wang said, adding that Beijing will continue to work for peace.

Some key context: Many European Union leaders in Munich remain wary of Beijing’s intentions, as Wang called on European countries to change their approach to the war.

US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday said the US was “troubled” by China’s continued support of Russia since the war in Ukraine began.

And European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen told CNN on Saturday: "We need more proof that China isn't working with Russia, and we aren’t seeing that now."

China has repeatedly refused to condemn Russia's aggression in Ukraine. In late 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that their partnership was more important than ever in the face of “unprecedented pressure” from the West. Xi echoed Putin’s message of unity, saying that the two countries should “strengthen strategic coordination” and “inject more stability into the world,” according to Chinese state media Xinhua.

In September 2022, Putin conceded Beijing had “questions and concerns” over the invasion, in what appeared to be a veiled admission of diverging views on the war.

China’s top diplomat will also visit Russia this month, according to its foreign ministry, in the first visit to the country from a Chinese official in that role since the war began.

US Vice President Kamala Harris pledged the United States' enduring support to Ukraine during a speech Saturday in Munich, Germany.

“The United States will continue to strongly support Ukraine and we will do so for as long as it takes,” the vice president said during the Munich Security Conference.

Harris, whose trip precedes the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, praised the Ukrainian people’s resolve and resilience.

As questions continue to swirl about how much more funding the US will provide to Ukraine’s war effort, now that Republicans are in charge of the House of Representatives and have promised no “blank checks,” Harris noted how many congressional leaders were at the conference. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was spotted on camera, while GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and other Republicans were also in attendance.

In conversation with Germany's Amb. Christoph Heusgen, the chairman of the conference, Harris reassured the crowd that funding will continue to flow from the US to support the war effort.

“You only have to look at where we were a year ago and where we are today,” she said, referring to weapons that the US has provided to Ukraine — including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, Abrams tanks, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and Javelin missiles.

Harris said “the largest delegation, bipartisan and bicameral, of the United States Congress” was with her in Germany.

“Our priority is to ensure Ukraine's strength on the battlefield. And that is our commitment,” she said.

Earlier in the conference: Harris announced that the US government has officially declared Russia committed crimes against humanity during its war in Ukraine.

Russia has launched four cruise missiles at Ukraine from the Black Sea on Saturday, the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed forces said Saturday on Telegram.

“On February 18 Russian occupation forces launched four Kalibr-type cruise missiles at Ukraine from the Black Sea area,” it said. “Two missiles were intercepted by the air defense.”

Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia “is using strategic aircraft, in the airspace over the occupied territories in particular, launching missiles.”

Two explosions were reported in the Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi on Saturday, Serhiy Hamaliy, the head of the region's military administration, said in a post on Telegram.

One strike hit a military facility and the other hit near a public transport stop, the head of the regional military administration said in a Telegram post.

“The shock wave damaged civilian buildings, three educational facilities, hundreds of windows were shattered, and 11 cars were damaged,” said Serhiy Hamaliy, the head of the Khmelnytskyi region military administration.

“Two civilians have asked for medical help, a man and a woman. The man who received a shrapnel wound was inside the bus at the time. They both are in stable condition, and received necessary medical assistance,” Hamaliy’s post added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also addressed the attack in a Telegram post on Saturday, saying, "The terrorist state does not stop trying to intimidate the civilian population."

He added that 10 regions of Ukraine have been shelled by Russian forces within the last day. 

"Fair punishment will be for anyone who perpetrates this continued terror. You will definitely have to answer. For every destroyed life. For every missile fired at Ukraine. For all the evil and suffering that Russia brought to our land," Zelensky added.