February 27, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

The wreckage of three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was found in Belgorod, Russia, Mayor Valentin Demidov said on Monday.

No injuries were reported, he said. The source of the UAVs is not yet clear.

Belgorad is about 26 miles from the Ukraine border.

One of the UAVs crashed into the window of an apartment complex, Demidov said.

People on the property were moved to a safe location and given hotel accommodations while security services were on site, the mayor added.

The area is currently cordoned off and restoration to the property is set to begin on Tuesday.

The wreckage of two other drones was found in the streets. Three cars were reportedly lightly damaged, Demidov said.

The situation in the eastern city of Bakhmut is “getting more and more challenging,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday.

“The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions, to secure and defend it,” Zelensky said, soon after military commanders spoke of hundreds of Russian strikes in the area.

“Our soldiers defending the Bakhmut direction are true heroes,” Zelesnky said in his daily video update.

Here are the latest headlines:

The situation is “extremely difficult” around the eastern city of Bakhmut, a Ukrainian commander said Monday.

“It’s hard on all directions in Bakhmut today, February 27. They want to encircle us. The situation is extremely difficult on the far northern flank. There are non-stop enemy assaults there. They want to cut one of the roads, I will not specify which one,” Col. Yuriy Madyar, commander of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said in a video message on Telegram.

Russian forces have been gradually advancing north and west of Bakhmut and Ukrainian units are struggling to maintain access to the city. 

“We do not have enough means for offensive actions. There are not enough shells, not enough hand grenade launchers,” the commander said.

The weather is also an issue for the Ukrainian forces, Madyar said. “It is always foggy, you can’t see anything at night. The temperature is above zero for the third consecutive day, everything is melting. The humidity is terrible. It rains constantly during the day, which affects the performance of tasks.”

Madyar insisted that the city was not under siege.

“Let me tell you about the new tactics of the Russians. The regular troops came in, and after a few days, they pulled back the Wagner advance units.

“Regular troops are afraid to move forward. Now groups of 5-10-20 Wagners are moving forward, taking up positions… The Wagners are attacking in all directions in Bakhmut as advance groups that have no right to turn back. Then the regular troops come in.”

The situation in the eastern city of Bakhmut is “getting more and more challenging,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday.

“The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions, to secure and defend it,” Zelensky said, soon after military commanders spoke of hundreds of Russian strikes in the area.

More on this: Earlier today, Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the Armed Forces, told Ukrainian television: “Bakhmut remains the epicenter of the enemy’s attack, where they are focusing on breaking through our defense. In particular, in the area of such settlements as Dubovo-Vasylivka, Yahidne, Ivankivske, and Pivnichne.”

The named places are all to the west of Bakhmut.

Cherevatyi said: “There were 300 attacks from various types of artillery and multiple rocket launchers on this section of the frontline. 60 combat engagements took place, where the enemy lost 63 servicemen killed and 141 wounded of varying severity.”

European low-cost carrier Wizz Air is suspending all its flights to the Moldovan capital of Chisinau starting on March 14 due to some “recent developments” in the country, the airline said. 

“As a result of recent developments in Moldova and the high, but not imminent, risk in the country’s airspace, Wizz Air has taken the difficult but responsible decision to suspend all flights to Chisinau starting on March 14,” it said in a statement on Monday. 

The company didn’t specify the recent developments it was referring to. 

Tensions have been mounting in Moldova, as the country’s President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of using “saboteurs” to stoke unrest amid a period of political instability, echoing similar warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

With previous reporting from Radina Gigova.

Turkey’s talks with Sweden and Finland on the Nordic countries’ NATO accession bid will resume on March 9, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. 

Cavusoglu said in a televised news conference that “there are commitments (Sweden made) for NATO membership. It is not possible for us to say yes to Sweden’s NATO membership without seeing these steps.”

More on the talks: Ankara in January had suspended talks with Stockholm and Helsinki over the burning of the Quran at a protest in Sweden. 

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but all 30 member states, including Turkey, must approve their bids. 

Turkey has said Sweden in particular must first take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt. 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says the country’s budget deficit this year is expected to amount to $38 billion, but that the US is committing to provide more than $10 billion in budget support by September.

Shmyhal was speaking after talks in Kyiv with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

“In 2022, the United States was the leader among all partner countries in terms of financial assistance provided,” Shmyhal said, providing $13 billion in grant support for the budget.

“These funds were allocated for healthcare, education, social and humanitarian aid programs.”

This year, he said, “The United States has committed to provide Ukraine with more than $10 billion by September. In addition, the United States supports Ukraine in its rapid recovery. Namely, they have allocated $1.5 billion for this purpose, and another $1.1 billion to support the rapid recovery of the energy sector of Ukraine and Moldova.”

Shmyhal said a new platform was being introduced to help coordinate the work of the G7 countries and international financial organizations, including the IMF and the World Bank, with regard to financial support for Ukraine.”

Shmyhal said he and Yellen had also discussed the financial and sanctions impact on the Russian budget. “We also discussed the continuation and effectiveness of sanctions on the supply of high-tech items to be used in the military sphere of Russia.”

The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said he spoke to the top US general on Monday and reiterated the need to strengthen Kyiv’s air defense through the F-16 multi-role fighter aircraft.

The United States has consistently said that it has no plans to send F-16s to Ukraine. 

Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said he also spoke to Gen. Mark Milley about the supply of military equipment, weapons and ammunition, the situation on the front lines, and further plans of the forces regarding the defense of Ukraine.

“Each shell received — each piece of material — mean the preserved lives of the Ukrainian soldiers and peaceful civilians. We’re hanging in there because of the support of our partners and we will definitely prevail,” Zaluzhnyi added.

While the Russian economy has not yet buckled under the wide array of sanctions from the United States and other Western countries, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday she expects it to grow weaker over time as the country loses foreign investment and runs through its reserves and rainy-day funds.

“We will see an increasing toll on Russia’s economic trajectory over time,” she told CNN in an exclusive interview during her unannounced visit to Kyiv. “And their ability to replenish the military equipment that’s been destroyed in their attacks on Ukraine — that’s been very greatly jeopardized.” 

Still, recent US intelligence has shown that China is considering increasing its support of the Russian economy and war efforts, including supplying drones and ammunition.

Such a move would bring “severe” consequences, Yellen said.

“We have been extremely clear that we will not tolerate systematic violations by any country of the sanctions that we have put in place that are intended to deprive Russia of access to military equipment to wage this war,” she said. “And we have been very clear with the Chinese government and have made clear to Chinese firms and financial institutions that the consequences of violating those sanctions would be very severe.”

The United States “very much” hopes that Russia is still interested in arms control, but recent comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin call that interest into question, a top State Department official said Monday.

“It’s obviously in their domestic interest, and in our interest, and in the global security interest for us to continue to have these discussions,” Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance Mallory Stewart said at an event at Brookings Institution.

“We will meet with them. We need to meet with them. It’s something that both countries need to do to continue to focus on international stability and risk reduction,” she said. 

However, Stewart noted that “the communications that we’ve heard from Putin seem to place in doubt the assumptions that we’ve always had that they do value arms control.”

“By tying it to Ukraine right now, tying it to an immovable object in the sense that our support for Ukraine will not be limited by their New START decision, they’re really placing in doubt their support for the treaty itself,” she said.

More context: Putin announced last week that Russia would suspend its participation in New START – the only remaining agreement between the world’s largest nuclear arsenals. 

Stewart said Monday that the message about the willingness to sit down on arms control had been conveyed at every level.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made an unannounced trip to Kyiv Monday “to reaffirm our unwavering support of the Ukrainian people,” she wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times, stressing US economic support to Ukraine is “more vital than ever.”

“We cannot allow Ukraine to lose the war for economic reasons when it has shown an ability to succeed on the battlefield. Ukraine’s military resistance depends on a government that can function effectively, as well as a stable economy that can help finance defense efforts over the long term. By fortifying the ‘home front,’ our economic assistance is helping make possible Ukraine’s stalwart frontline defense against Russia,” she wrote.

“While in Kyiv, Secretary Yellen is announcing the most recent transfer of a tranche of $1.25 billion in economic and budgetary assistance from the U.S. to Ukraine,” a Treasury Department official said.

Yellen met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss ongoing US economic support and “highlighted the efforts of the U.S. and its global coalition to impose severe sanctions on Russia to degrade its war machine and limit the revenue it has to fund its brutal war,” according to a Treasury Department readout.

Yellen will also meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the official said.

Yellen’s trip comes on the heels of US President Joe Biden’s trip to Kyiv last week.

“Mr. Putin is counting on our global coalition’s resolve to wane, which he thinks will give him the upper hand in the war. But he is wrong. As President Biden said here last week, America will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Yellen wrote in the New York Times.

While Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, a group of refugees in The Hague, Netherlands, have used their talents to help preserve Ukrainian culture and raise awareness for the dire situation in their country.

The United Ukrainian Ballet was formed soon after Russia invaded Ukraine just over one year ago. At the time, two Ukrainian dancers, Stanislav Olshanskyi and Alexis Tuttunique, were touring with Dutch prima ballerina Igone de Jongh and the pair sought refuge in The Hague with the help of fellow dancers, according to the non-profit ballet company’s website.

With aid from organizations like the Salvation Army and Senf Theaterpartners, a Dutch production company, provisions were made for a group of Ukrainian dancers and their families to find refuge and training in the Netherlands, Stefan Stolk, producer and managing director of operations of the United Ukrainian Ballet, told CNN.

Stolk, who works for Senf Theatepartners, said the company had connections to ballet companies in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Lviv, and were able to get in touch with dancers and let them know about the safe haven.

The ballet company and its partners, including mayor of The Hague, Jan van Zanen, were able to temporarily secure and renovate the former Hague Conservatory — which was set to be demolished — as a location to house refugees and allow them to continue ballet training.

Initially the conservatory housed only women dancers and their families, due to Ukraine restricting men ages 18 to 65 from traveling out of the country. By the middle of April 2022, they had about 35 to 40 women, Stolk told CNN.

At its peak, the conservatory housed more than 200 refugees, 70 to 75 of which were dancers, he added. Today, the company still is home to more than 60 dancers.

An outlet in a dark time: Stolk said many dancers came with a heavy weight on their hearts, but once they began training again, “you could see everyone forget all the sorrow and trouble.”

“I thought, ‘This is what we’re working at, this is what we do.’ It was really breathtaking,” he told CNN.

Later in 2022, the company received special permission from the Ukrainian government, with help from Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, to allow some young men to join the company. Stolk said the government sanctioned the exception in an effort “to keep the story alive of Ukraine and Ukrainian culture.”

As the number of refugees grew, a foundation was formed to help support and sustain the project’s efforts.

Bringing Ukraine to the world: Since last March, the company has performed around the world, a feat that would take an average company years to organize. With the help of renowned choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, dancers have performed “Gisele” in the Netherlands, London, Singapore and the United States, with plans to perform a new show in Taiwan and other countries later this year.

“Bringing the story of Ukraine, and that is really what the mission statement is,” Stolk said. “We know one thing: When we come perform there in a certain country, we are front page, and this helps to keep this all alive.”

Stolk said it’s important to show the world that Ukraine is more than just the war.

The company is also trying to make sure that a generation of Ukrainian dancers aren’t forgotten, given that a dancer’s career is usually only about 10 years, and many were already stifled by Covid-19 shutdowns before the war broke out.

“It would be a complete forgotten generation of dancers, and now we give them wings,” Stolk said.

A painful anniversary: While the group’s triumphs hearten the refugees, the war still weighs heavy on the dancers as they have daily reminders of the war through contact with loved ones back in Ukraine. Last week brought the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, and the ballet company dancers requested use of the old conservatory’s main stage area, to perform and be with one another as a form of support.

They said “we want to have a day with each other,” Stolk said. They performed Ukrainian folk dances, song and read poems, and “no one could keep dry eyes.”

The company’s latest show, “Dancing in Defiance,” is more catered to the Ukrainian dancers and features three performances. The first performance “Wartime Elegy” is described as a celebration of Ukrainian culture. Stolk said it’s the choreographer, Kamansty’s, response to the war. The music composed for the show also has influence of Ukrainian folk music.

“It’s tribute to joy,” Stolk told CNN. “How people are still there. They are resilient.”

Russia’s suspension of participation in a key nuclear arms control treaty hasn’t come into force yet, a top State Department official said Monday, but she expects certain treaty notifications will cease once it’s finalized.

“The suspension hasn’t been officially affected yet in the sense that we’re still receiving notifications, as recently as today, under the treaty, regular notifications,” Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance Mallory Stewart said at an event at Brookings Institution.

“But we expect that as soon as that suspension has been formalized, that those will stop,” she said. 

Some more context: Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that Russia would suspend its participation in New START – the only remaining agreement between the world’s largest nuclear arsenals. US officials have condemned this move as “irresponsible.”

Stewart said the United States is “trying to follow up” with the Russians “to truly understand what else could be included in the suspension, and what could be continued.”

“Right now we expect it will just be the launch notifications under that 1988 agreement, and that they said they’ll abide by the actual numerical limitations,” she said.

Under the treaty, both sides give “pre‑launch notifications of the launch of treaty‑accountable ballistic missiles,” according to the State Department.

Two Ukrainian rescue workers have been killed amid a wave of Russian drone attacks, although air defenses shot down 11 of 14 drones launched by Moscow, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Elsewhere, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said that the Russian invasion has set off “the most massive violations of human rights.”

Here are the latest headlines:

Moscow is concerned about the situation in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria and is closely monitoring developments there, the Kremlin said Monday.

Speaking on a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said “the situation in Transnistria is the object of our closest attention and cause for concern.”

Peskov alleged that the situation has been “provoked externally” and warned of possible “provocations” from Kyiv and European countries.

Tensions have been mounting in Moldova, as the country’s President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of using “saboteurs” to stoke unrest amid a period of political instability, echoing similar warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Some context: Russia has been accused of laying the groundwork for a coup in Moldova, a small country on Ukraine’s southwestern border, that could drag the nation into the Kremlin’s war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has meanwhile baselessly accused Kyiv of planning its own assault on a pro-Russian territory in Moldova where Moscow has a military foothold, heightening fears that he is creating a pretext for a Crimea-style annexation.

At least two people have been wounded by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine over the last 24 hours, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk region military administration.

One person was wounded in Kurakhove and several buildings in the area were also damaged, he said.

One person was wounded and three houses were damaged in Kostiantynivka, added Kyrylenko.

And in Avdiivka “there were sporadic incomings during the night, and in the morning - two massive attacks on residential and industrial areas,” Kyrylenko said. 

The towns of Vuhledar, Novoukrainka and Bohoiavlenka also came under fire, he added. 

Two rescue workers who were responding to a drone attack in Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi region were killed when Russian forces struck the same site for a second time, according to Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs.

“Today, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry team lost two rescuers: 21-year-old Vladyslav Dvorak and 31-year-old Serhii Sevruk,” Ihor Klymenko said Monday.

“Together with their colleagues from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, they were eliminating the consequences of a Russian UAV attack in Khmelnytskyi region overnight. And then the enemy attacked again. Deliberately at our unarmed heroes,” he added.

“Two of them died. Three more rescuers were wounded. Now doctors are providing them with all the necessary assistance,” said Klymenko.

The Kremlin has declined to comment on CNN reporting that China is considering providing drones and ammunition to Russia for use in the Ukraine war.

“I don’t see the need to comment. This information was refuted by the Chinese side,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN during a regular press briefing on Monday.

Pressed further if Moscow had asked China for military equipment and aid, Peskov repeated that “all this information as a whole was refuted by the Chinese side” and he had nothing to add.

CNN reported Friday that the US has intelligence that negotiations between Russia and China are ongoing around the price and scope of equipment to be supplied, but Beijing has not made a final decision yet.

The US is “confident” that China is considering sending lethal equipment to Russia, according to CIA director William Burns.

Separately, Peskov said Moscow paid “great attention” to a “peace plan” proposed by China, but so far there are none of the necessary conditions for peace in Ukraine.

“At the moment, we do not see any prerequisites for the transition of this whole situation into a peaceful direction,” Peskov said.

“The special military operation continues, we are moving towards achieving the goals that were set,” he added.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered “the most massive violations of human rights we are living [through] today,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Monday.

“It has unleashed widespread death, destruction and displacement,” Guterres continued.

“The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented dozens of cases of conflict-related sexual violence against men, women and girls,” he added.

Guterres made the speech at the UN Human Rights Council’s meeting commemorating the 75-year anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Geneva.

He called on international governments to respect and revitalize the declaration, which he said is often “misused and abused.”

Some context: Russian war crimes and human rights abuses during the war in Ukraine add up to a “litany of violations of international humanitarian law,” Human Rights Watch said in January.

In the rights group’s annual report, it said that evidence of war crimes in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, were part of a pattern that “has been repeated countless times.”

HRW’s World Report 2023 also highlighted the bombing of a theater in Mariupol, despite signs warning that children were sheltering there, as well as strikes on other non-military targets.

Russian forces are focusing their efforts on conducting offensive operations in eastern Ukraine, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Monday. 

Ukrainian forces repelled 81 Russian attacks around Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk over the last 24 hours, it said, adding “the threat of Russian missile strikes remains high throughout Ukraine.”

“The enemy is trying to destroy the critical infrastructure of our country, continues to carry out strikes and artillery shelling of civilian facilities and civilian houses,” the General Staff said. “The enemy is constantly conducting aerial reconnaissance to adjust its strikes.”

Two of the Russian attacks were conducted by using Shahed-136 UAVs against civilian infrastructure, the General Staff said. Both drones were shot down. 

Russian forces also fired more than 50 times from multiple launch rocket systems targeting civilian infrastructure in the Donetsk region and the Kherson region, in the south of the country, the General Staff said.

“There are killed and wounded civilians, civilian buildings were destroyed and civilian infrastructure was damaged,” it said. 

Russian attacks have killed at least one person and injured two others in the Kherson region in the last 24 hours, according to the regional military administration.

“They fired from multiple rocket launchers, mortars, artillery, tanks, UAVs and infantry fighting vehicles,” it said. 

At least two people were killed and four others wounded Monday in a Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi, local officials have said.

In a Telegram post, mayor Oleksandr Symchyshyn said one of the deceased was a rescue worker with Ukraine’s State Emergency Service who “died in the line of duty” in the city, located about 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Kyiv.

“Another massive terrorist attack on the Khmelnytskyi community. This time the enemy used a UAV. As of now, there are 1 killed and 4 wounded. A number of buildings were damaged. Fires are being extinguished,” Symchyshyn said. 

Later Monday, Serhiy Hamaliy, the head of the Khmelnytskyi region military administration, said that another person had died as a result of the attack.

“Unfortunately, there is one more death in the hospital,” Hamaliy said in a Telegram post. “The doctors could not save the life of another rescuer.”

Ukrainian authorities said earlier that 11 of 14 Shahed drones launched by Russia were shot down Monday, with the majority destroyed near the capital, according to preliminary estimates.

Ukraine scrambled its air defenses early Monday after Russia launched attacks with Iran-made drones, the Ukrainian military said in a Telegram post.

Ukrainian authorities said 11 of 14 Shahed drones launched by Russia were shot down, with the majority destroyed near Kyiv, according to preliminary estimates.

“The drone attack was actually carried out in two waves, prolonged as much as possible… That’s why the night air raid alarm in Kyiv lasted for a long 5 and a half hours,” the Kyiv city military administration said in a statement. 

No casualties or strikes against infrastructure facilities have been reported so far, according to Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration.

One year ago, when Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine and began Europe’s biggest land war since 1945, it waged another battle at home — intensifying its information blockade in an effort to control the hearts and minds of its own citizens.

Draconian new censorship laws targeted any media still operating outside the controls of the Kremlin and most independent journalists left the country. A digital Iron Curtain was reinforced, shutting Russians off from Western news and social media sites.

And as authorities rounded up thousands in a crackdown on anti-war protests, a culture of fear descended on Russian cities and towns that prevents many people from sharing their true thoughts on the war in public.

One year on, that grip on information remains tight — and support for the conflict seemingly high — but cracks have started to show.

Some Russians are tuning out the relentless jingoism on Kremlin-backed airwaves. Tech-savvy internet users skirt state restrictions to access dispatches and pictures from the front lines. And, as Russia turns to mobilization to boost its stuttering campaign, it is struggling to contain the personal impact that one year of war is having on its citizens.

“In the beginning I was supporting it,” Natalya, a 53-year-old Moscow resident, told CNN of what the Kremlin and most Russians euphemistically call a “special military operation.” “But now I am completely against it.”
“What made me change my opinion?,” she contemplated aloud. “First, my son is of mobilization age, and I fear for him. And secondly, I have very many friends there, in Ukraine, and I talk to them. That is why I am against it.”

CNN is not using the full names of individuals who were critical of the Kremlin. Public criticism of the war in Ukraine or statements that discredit Russia’s military can potentially mean a fine or a prison sentence.

Read more here.

Ukraine’s commander of joint forces operation has been dismissed from his post, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a decree Sunday.

Major Gen. Eduard Mykhailovich Moskalov had been appointed to the position last March when Lt. Gen. Oleksandr Pavliuk was appointed head of the Kyiv regional military administration.

Zelensky did not provide an explanation for Moskalov’s dismissal, but it’s the latest in a long line of recent leadership changes made by his administration.

Ukrainian authorities have conducted a series of anti-corruption searches and crackdowns across the country, and a variety of high-profile dismissals have followed.

It is not yet clear if Moskalov’s firing was connected to the recent corruption purge.

For the first time since the two countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, a Saudi foreign minister has visited Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office released a video of him meeting Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Sunday.

Zelensky said he expected the meeting would “provide a new impetus to further intensification of our mutually beneficial dialogue.”

“Thank you for supporting peace in Ukraine, our sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” he continued. “This is very important for us and our society.”

Saudi Arabia has steered a neutral course in the conflict. The Kingdom mediated a prisoner exchange last year, in which two American and five British citizens were released from Russian detention. 

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office, called the meeting successful in a message on Telegram.

“Ukraine will receive real help from Saudi Arabia,” the Ukrainian official said. “The Presidential Office signed two documents formalizing a $400 million aid package to Ukraine: $100 million in humanitarian aid and $300 million in oil products.”

“Ukraine and Saudi Arabia have common challenges and experiences in dealing with them. We are talking about Iranian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones) that were supplied to certain ‘rebels’ and attacked Saudi oil facilities,” Yermak said, in a reference to the use of Iranian drones by Houthi forces in Yemen.

“Since last year, the same Iranian UAVs have been in possession of Russian terrorists and have been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.”

CIA Director William Burns said in an interview Sunday that the alliance between Russia and Iran is developing rapidly, an emerging narrative that he called “disturbing.”

“It’s moving at a pretty fast clip in a very dangerous direction right now, in the sense that we know that the Iranians have already provided hundreds of armed drones to the Russians, which they’re using to inflict pain on Ukrainian civilians and Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. We know that they’ve provided, you know, ammunition for artillery and for tanks as well,” Burns said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” 

Burns said the CIA is also seeing signs that Russia is proposing to help the Iranians on their missile program, and at least considering the possibility of providing fighter aircraft to Iran, in exchange for military aid in their ongoing invasion.

Meeting with Russia’s spy chief: Burns also described his conversation with the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, and said Russian President Vladimir Putin is “too confident” in his ability to grind down Ukraine.

He called the discussion with Naryshkin “pretty dispiriting,” but said he got some key points across.

“My goal was not to talk about negotiations. That’s something that Ukrainians are going to need to take up with the Russians when they see fit. It was to make clear to Naryshkin — and through him, to President Putin — the serious consequences should Russia ever choose to use a nuclear weapon of any kind as well. And I think Naryshkin understood the seriousness of that issue, and I think President Putin has understood it as well,” Burns said. 

Asked why the conversation was dispiriting, Burns added: “There was a very defiant attitude on the part of Mr. Naryshkin as well, a sense of cockiness and hubris, reflecting Putin’s own view — his own belief today that he can make time work for him, that he believes he can grind down the Ukrainians, that he can wear down our European allies, that political fatigue will eventually set in.” 

There is one thing that Russian and Ukrainian accounts agree upon: The fighting around the eastern city of Bakhmut is relentless, and the casualties — on both sides — are high. 

A fierce fight in the streets: Until a few weeks ago, the battle was waged largely with tanks, artillery and mortars. But Bakhmut has increasingly become a field of urban combat, with every street and building in the suburbs and surrounding villages contested.

Russian forces — including fighters from the Wagner private military company — have edged toward the center of the city from the east, south and north.

Ukrainian units have launched frequent counter-attacks to try to reclaim some territory and preserve their precarious access to Bakhmut from the west. That access has become gradually more complicated as routes into the city have come under control of Russian forces.

Ukrainian soldiers on unofficial social media accounts have said they are increasingly reliant on dirt roads to reach — and leave — Bakhmut, tracks that may become impassable as the frost turns to mud.

Russia aims to encircle Ukraine’s troops: Rather than drive directly toward the city center, Wagner groups have sought to surround the city in a wide arc from the north. In January, the groups claimed the nearby town of Soledar, and have since taken a string of villages and hamlets north of Bakhmut.

That process appears to have gone a step further in recent days, with Wagner apparently reaching the village of Yahidne immediately to the northwest of Bakhmut. The village sits on a route that, until recently, was used by Ukrainians to get in and out of the city.

The next target for the Russians could be the town of Chasiv Yar, a straggling collection of Soviet-era apartment blocks, sitting on high ground which has already been extensively damaged. Ukrainian officials said it came under artillery fire again Sunday.

How long will Ukraine defend the city? The conundrum for the Ukrainian military is whether it remains feasible to continue defending Bakhmut.

At the beginning of February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “No one will surrender Bakhmut. We will fight as long as we can. We consider Bakhmut our fortress.”

More recently, in an interview with Italian media, Zelensky’s tone was slightly different. “It is important for us to defend (Bakhmut), but not at any price and not for everyone to die,” he was quoted as saying.

If Bakhmut can no longer be held, it will be important to note where Ukrainians choose to draw their next defensive lines. The cities of Kostiantynivka and Kramatorsk are not far to the west of Bakhmut and have already registered an uptick in Russian missile attacks.  

For now, there’s no sign of a withdrawal of Ukrainian units from the Bakhmut area and the brutal fighting wears on.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday vowed there would be “real costs” for China if the country went forward with providing lethal aid to Russia in its war on Ukraine.

“From our perspective, actually, this war presents real complications for Beijing. And Beijing will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides military assistance. But, if it goes down that road, it will come at real costs to China. And I think China’s leaders are weighing that as they make their decisions,” Sullivan told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

In diplomatic conversations with China, he added, the US is “not just making direct threats. We’re just laying out both the stakes and the consequences, how things would unfold. And we are doing that clearly and specifically behind closed doors.”

Sullivan’s comments come at a critical juncture in the war in Ukraine. The US has intelligence that the Chinese government is considering providing Russia with drones and ammunition for use in the war, three sources familiar with the intelligence told CNN.

It does not appear that Beijing has made a final decision yet, the sources said, as negotiations between Russia and China about the price and scope of the equipment are ongoing.

Since invading Ukraine, Russia has repeatedly requested drones and ammunition from China, the sources familiar with the intelligence said, and Chinese leadership has been actively debating over the last several months whether or not to send the lethal aid, the sources added.

Read more here.