February 20, 2024 - Russia-Ukraine news

A Russian helicopter pilot Maxim Kuzminov who defected to Ukraine in a dramatic operation is dead, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) tells CNN.

The statement comes as Spanish authorities investigate the killing of a man shot dead in Spain a week ago.

Initially, the Spanish Civil Guard said the victim was a 33-year-old Ukrainian but later said the man’s identity was still part of an investigation, which had been sealed by a judge. 

A source at Ukraine’s GUR confirmed to CNN the body was that of Kuzminov, but would not comment on how he had died.

Asked Tuesday whether Russia had any knowledge of the death, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had no information on the matter.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Director Sergey Naryshkin would also not comment directly on Kuzminov’s death, but told reporters the defector had become “a moral corpse the moment he began planning his dirty and terrible crime,” Russia’s RIA Novosti reported.  

Some context: Last September, CNN reported on how the Russian pilot flew his Mi8 combat helicopter across the border – in an operation directed by Ukraine’s GUR. In an interview, carried out under the auspices of the GUR, Kuzminov explained how he planned his defection and why he did it, telling reporters he was opposed to the war.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says the nation is staunchly committed to democracy, even as it is unclear if elections will be held this year during the country's war against Russia.

Elections usually occur every five years in Ukraine — with the last held in 2019, when President Volodymyr Zelensky was elected — but do not take place while the country is under martial law, as it has been since Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.

In November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said holding elections during wartime would be "irresponsible." Elections were scheduled for March 31 this year.

Speaking to CNN's Christiane Amanpour in Kyiv on Tuesday, Kuleba said that "people will be simply afraid to go and cast their votes."

Amanpour asked what it would mean for democracy in the country if no elections were held.

"This is not an issue of willing or not willing to hold elections. This is an issue of finding answers to very specific questions. How do you ensure the security of voters who will go to the voting station?" he said.

On Navalny: Kuleba also commented on the death of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be considered a legitimate ruler if he "does not stick to his word."

The X account of Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, was briefly suspended on Tuesday morning.

The page @Yulia_Navalnaya displayed the following message: 

About 30 minutes later, however, Navalnaya's account had been restored, with seemingly no explanation. Later in the day, X's safety team said the platform accidentally flagged Navalnaya's account as spam. In a post, they said they rectified the issue as soon as it came to light and would be updating their defense system.

While it was suspended, Alexey Navalny's foundation, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, took to X, tagging the platform's owner, Elon Musk, and asking, "Please explain exactly which rules were violated by @yulia_navalnaya."

The account was online Tuesday morning, when Navalnaya responded to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov said her comments blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for Navalny's death were "boorish" and "absolutely unfounded," prompting Navalnaya to respond:

"I don't care how the killer's press secretary comments on my words. Give back Alexey’s body and let him be buried with dignity, don’t stop people from saying goodbye to him," she posted on X. 

CNN has asked her team for comment.

This post has been updated with Navalnaya's account being restored and comment from X's safety team.

Ukraine on Tuesday slammed the scattering of Ukrainian grain on railroad tracks by protesters in Poland.

Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov posted a video that shows demonstrators opening railway carriages and allowing the grain to pour onto the tracks. 

Farmers in Poland have vowed to continue their demonstrations, which started on February 9, for 30 days. They have also been blocking access routes to border crossings with Ukraine.

Why are farmers protesting: Farmers in central and eastern Europe have been speaking out since 2023 against the impact of cheap Ukrainian grain imports, which have undercut domestic prices and hit the sales of local producers. They cannot compete with the price of Ukrainian grain, they say, and have demanded compensation from the European Commission.

Ukraine is often called the “breadbasket of Europe” due to the vast quantities of grain it produces. When Russia blocked Ukrainian Black Sea ports, it sparked fears about global food supplies and prompted the European Commission to set up what it called “solidarity lanes” in May to facilitate exports. The commission also temporarily eliminated all duties and quotas on Ukraine’s exports, allowing a glut of cheap grain to flow into Europe.

Anger grew after the European Commission announced a draft decision to extend duty-free and quota-free imports of Ukrainian grain until June 2024.

CNN’s Christian Edwards, Alex Hardie and Antonia Mortensen contributed reporting.

In a 2022 CNN Films documentary, Alexey Navalny delivered a message to the Russian people. If he was killed, he said, “You’re not allowed to give up.” 

Following his death Friday, the task that Navalny set himself, of opposing and exposing the ills of Putin’s regime is now left to Russia’s disparate, disunited, and partially dismantled opposition, with a new figurehead: Navalny’s widow Yulia.

On Monday, Yulia Navalnaya rebranded herself as a political force, vowing to pick up where her husband left off. 

This is a first for Navalnaya. She has always been by her husband’s side, through campaigns, protests, and incarcerations, but until now she has never tried to claim the spotlight, a point she emphasized at the start of her recording. “I should not have been in this place, I should not have recorded this video.”

And yet, behind the scenes, she proved herself an effective operator. After her husband’s poisoning in 2020, Navalnaya took the first flight available to the Siberian city of Tomsk where his plane had landed, and wrote a direct appeal to President Vladimir Putin to allow his evacuation to Germany. Even after that, her resolve to stand by him was unshaken. Less than two months later she told Russian journalist and YouTube star Yuri Dud, “I absolutely support what Alexey does. I’m being completely sincere. And quitting halfway is not great.”

A North Korean ballistic missile fired last month by the Russian military in Ukraine contained hundreds of components that trace back to companies in the US and Europe, according to a new report by UK-based investigative organization Conflict Armament Research (CAR).

The findings mark the first public identification of North Korea’s reliance on foreign technology for its missile program and underscore the persistent problem facing US President Joe Biden's administration as it tries to keep cheap, Western-made microelectronics intended for civilian use from winding up in weapons used by North Korea, Iran and Russia.

CAR directly examined 290 components from remnants of a North Korean ballistic missile recovered in January from Kharkiv, Ukraine, and found that 75% of the components were designed and sold by companies incorporated in the United States, according to the report shared first with CNN.

A further 16% of the components found in the missile were linked to companies incorporated in Europe, the researchers found, and 9% to companies incorporated in Asia. These components primarily comprised the missile’s navigation system and could be traced to 26 companies headquartered in the US, China, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland and Taiwan, the report says.

Last year, as CNN previously reported, CAR determined that 82% of components inside Iranian-made attack drones fired by Russia inside Ukraine were made by US companies.

Keep reading about CAR's report on the weapons Russia is using in Ukraine.

Lychakiv military cemetery in Ukraine's western city of Lviv opened shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. It is now a sea of hundreds of graves and flags for fallen soldiers. 

Liubov told CNN that her son returned from abroad to volunteer for the fight. He was killed last month in the Donetsk region. 

“He went to liberate our Ukraine,” she cried. “He said ‘Mom, I’m going to defend you.’"

Liubov’s son was killed last month in the Donetsk region. 

Ahead of the second anniversary of the war, families are wrestling with the prolonged absence and often loss of their loved ones.

It comes as parliament debates whether there needs to be a call to mobilize more troops to the front. Ukraine is under mounting pressure on the battlefield, where lack of ammunition has become a crucial problem. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke candidly about this at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend. 

At a recruitment office for the Army’s Third Assault brigade, CNN found 43-year-old Volodymyr, a builder, signing up for the fight. 

When Sergent Pavlo Dokin, who oversees recruitment in this office, was asked about morale, he said:

Watch Christiane Amanpour's report below:

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Mark Phillips and Olha Konovalova contributed to this report.

Alexey Navalny's widow has urged the European Union to not recognize next month's Russian elections.

A transcript released Tuesday revealed Yulia Navalnaya's passionate plea to the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union as she blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for killing her husband.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Navalnaya's allegations against Putin were "absolutely unfounded" and "boorish."

In her address, Navalnaya also asked the EU and the wider global community to rethink its strategies against Putin.

Some background: The Kremlin leader is running for a fifth term as Russia’s president in next month’s election in which he's expected to secure a term that will keep him in office until 2030. He is now the longest-serving Russian ruler since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Alexey Navlany's younger brother has been added to Russia's wanted list, according to Russian state media TASS. 

Oleg Navalny now appears as "wanted" on the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs' database for alleged unspecified charges under criminal law.

Some context: Alexey Navalny died on Friday in a Russian penal colony in Siberia after being imprisoned upon returning to Russia in February 2021, according to the Russian prison service. The cause of his death is not known. Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has called for the release of his body and vowed to continue her late husband's work.