February 26, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved 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 region 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 firings have followed.

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

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis once strongly supported arming Ukraine to fight Russia, urging then-President Barack Obama to do so as a deterrent to Russian aggression in eastern Europe – a position at odds with his statements this week questioning the United States’ involvement in the conflict.

As a conservative congressman, DeSantis, now a likely presidential hopeful, urged sending “defensive and offensive” weapons to Ukraine in 2014 and 2015, according to a review of his past comments by CNN’s KFile. He also voted to refuse to fund a new missile defense treaty with Russia until they withdrew from Ukraine.

Once an advocate of a hardline, hawkish approach to Russia by supporting Ukraine, the Florida governor shifted course this week in anticipation of a potential presidential run, where he will vie for the nomination of a changed, more isolationist Republican party.

In new comments, the Florida governor criticized what he called a “blank check” approach to aid for Ukraine, and questioned whether it was in the United States’ interest to remain involved if the conflict came down to “things like the borderlands or over Crimea.”

In comparison to China, DeSantis said Russia was not “the same threat to our country, even though they’re hostile” and downplayed the threats that Russia could invade NATO countries.

DeSantis’ foreign policy pivot from being a self-described follower of the “Reagan school” of foreign policy to a more Trumpian worldview comes as the Republican Party’s voting base has grown increasingly isolationist. 

A recent poll from Pew Research Center shows 40% of Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters now believe the US is providing too much support for Ukraine, up from 9% last year.

A CNN KFile review of DeSantis’ past comments and actions found that DeSantis consistently supported sending aid to Ukraine and condemned the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and 2015 and as late as 2017.

Read the full review here.

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

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of using “saboteurs” disguised as civilians to stoke unrest amid a period of political instability, echoing similar warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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.

What is Russia planning? Despite Moscow’s pleas of innocence, its actions regarding Moldova bear a striking resemblance to moves it made ahead of its annexation of Crimea in 2014, and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

On Tuesday, Putin revoked a 2012 foreign policy decree that in part recognized Moldova’s independence, according to Reuters.

Then on Thursday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence accused Ukraine of “preparing an armed provocation” against Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria “in the near future,” state media TASS reported.

No evidence or further details were offered to support the ministry’s accusation, and it has been rubbished by Moldova.

But the claim has put Western leaders on alert, coming almost exactly a year after Putin made similar, unsubstantiated claims that Russians were being targeted in the Donbas – the eastern flank of Ukraine where Moscow had supported militant separatists since 2014 – allowing him to cast his invasion of the country as an issue of self-defense.

Russia’s existing foothold in the country: Central to Russia’s interests in Moldova is Transnistria, a breakaway territory on the eastern flank of the country that has housed Russian troops for decades.

The territory – a 1,300 square mile enclave on the Dniester River – declared itself a Soviet republic in 1990, opposing any attempt by Moldova to become an independent state or to merge with Romania after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

When Moldova became independent the following year, Russia quickly inserted itself as a so-called “peacekeeping force” in Transnistria, sending troops in to back pro-Moscow separatists there.

War with Moldovan forces ensued, and the conflict ended in a deadlock in 1992. Transnistria was not recognized internationally, even by Russia, but Moldovan forces left it a de facto breakaway state. That deadlock has left the territory and its estimated 500,000 inhabitants trapped in limbo, with the government in Chișinău holding virtually no control over it to this day.

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.”

Director of the US CIA 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.” 

In an interview Sunday, US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul urged President Joe Biden’s administration to provide more advanced weapons systems to Ukraine, and said Congress would take steps to move the process along.

McCaul warned critics of US support for Ukraine that “we can’t put our head in the sand.”

“We can certainly write into our appropriations bills, prioritizing weapons systems. We intend to do that,” McCaul said on “ABC This Week,” when asked what Congress can do to push the Biden administration on providing longer-range missile systems or fighter jets.

“I know the administration says, ‘As long as it takes,’” the Texas Republican said, regarding how long US support would last. “I think with the right weapons, it shouldn’t take so long.”

McCaul said he believed the US could have already been doing more to speed up a conclusion to the conflict.

Biden and senior administration officials have said “for now” Ukraine doesn’t require advanced fighter jets, and the US has rebuffed Ukrainian entreaties for long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems over concerns they could be used by Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia.

McCaul said he recently spoke with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and that nothing is off the table right now. 

“I think with enough pressure from Congress on both sides of the aisle, we can get into Ukraine what they really need to win this fight,” the lawmaker said.

As far-right Republican criticism grows over the US’ continued support of Ukraine, and some saying the White House should be spending more energy on domestic crises like the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, McCaul said the US can walk and chew gum at the same time. 

“I think that’s a false choice. I think the president should have gone to (East) Palestine where we have this major chemical spill, but it doesn’t mean we disregard what’s happening — this struggle for the global balance of power that we’re facing right now,” McCaul said.

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 would not say whether the Biden administration would support Ukraine if it decides victory against Russia requires retaking Crimea.

Sunday marks the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula. 

“What ultimately happens with Crimea, in the context of this war and a settlement of this war, is something for the Ukrainians to determine with the support of the United States,” Sullivan told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” “But I’m just not going to get into hypothetical questions. Because what we’re facing today is a counteroffensive in the east, in the south, that we need to give them the tools to fight. And we are doing that.”

Asked directly if the US would help Ukraine take back Crimea, Sullivan punted again on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” repeating that the most critical thing right now is supplying Ukraine with the tools to take back territory in the south and east.

Asked by Bash on CNN to level with the American people on how long the war will last, Sullivan said: “War is unpredictable.”

He reiterated US President Joe Biden’s Friday statement that the administration was ruling out providing F-16 fighter jets “for now.” Sullivan would not say whether the US would provide jets down the line.

On China, Sullivan told Bash that the US has still not seen Beijing make a final decision on whether to provide Russia lethal aid for the war. He also declined to detail what consequences China would face if they made such a move. 

“President Biden has said previously, we’re 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,” he said.

The US State Department reasserted that “Crimea is Ukraine,” in a statement from spokesperson Ned Price to mark the nine-year anniversary of Russia’s occupation of the territory.

The statement also comes after the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier this month.

“The United States does not and never will recognize Russia’s purported annexation of the peninsula,” Price stated. He called Russia’s 2014 seizure of Crimea “a clear violation of international law and of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“The United States welcomes the efforts of Ukraine’s Crimea Platform to focus global attention on Russia’s continued occupation,” said Price, referring to the Ukrainian government entity that coordinates Ukrainian efforts to recover the peninsula.

Moldova fears history repeating itself: In recent weeks, concerns have risen that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be using some of the same pretext used to annex Crimea to next target the tiny country of Moldova, which sits on Ukraine’s southern border.

Russia has vehemently denied any claims it is plotting to destabilize Moldova. It defends as legitimate its annexation of both Crimea and four additional Ukrainian territories claimed during the war, in violation of international law.

For the second time in a month, men who say they are with a mobilized Russian unit deployed to Ukraine have complained about their treatment and commanders.

The men are from regiment 1439, which comes from Irkutsk in Siberia. A group from the same regiment issued a similar protest in January. It’s unclear whether the new video includes men involved in the previous complaint.

In the latest video, published Saturday, the group claimed they had been given “unlawful and criminal orders” from their command and sent to battle without “any support.”

“We are the mobilized from Irkutsk oblast (region), regiment 1439, who were sent to the (self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic) from the city of Novosibirsk on December 31, 2022,” said a hooded soldier reading a message and surrounded by other soldiers.

“We ask for help in dealing with the unlawful and criminal orders of our command … the soldiers of the territorial defense were made into assault units in a single day and were sent to assault the Avdiivka stronghold — without any support from artillery, communications, sappers, reconnaissance — to be slaughtered.” 

Avdiivka is a hotly contested city close to the front lines in Donetsk. 

“DPR commanders are firing machine guns and infantry fighting vehicles at our mobilized soldiers because (they) refuse to join the assault units. There is no point in appealing to the local military prosecutor’s office since they are in full collusion with the commanders … At this point, this battalion has been almost completely destroyed,” the hooded soldier continued.

As the video nears its end, the soldier says the unit is in a “desperate position” because the DPR “commanders do not care” about their lives. 

Another video, also purportedly from men of the 1439th, circulated at the end of January.

In it, a group of soldiers said they were being threatened and fired at by their commanders for refusing to join the front line, and were being forced into combat without adequate support.

“Our command directly tells us that we are expendable. DPR commanders fire machine guns and BMPs at our mobilized soldiers because (they) refuse to join the assault units,” said a man dressed in a military uniform. The video was published on January 26. 

The man alleged that many in his unit were sent to the front line in assault groups without any training, and that two men died as a result, while 19 more were wounded. He also claimed the soldiers were paying for food and water from their “own pockets,” living in “complete disorder” and treating themselves for injuries. 

CNN cannot independently verify the videos, or whether the group are indeed soldiers from the 1439 regiment.

TVRain — an independent Russian outlet — said it received Saturday’s video direct from the soldiers.

CNN has asked for comment from the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has reacted with skepticism to China’s plans on how to end the Ukraine conflict.

“When I hear reports – and I don’t know whether they are true – according to which China may be planning to supply kamikaze drones to Russia while at the same time presenting a peace plan, then I suggest we judge China by its actions and not its words,” he told German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.

On Friday, China’s foreign ministry issued a position paper calling for a resumption of peace talks and an end to unilateral sanctions, and stressing its opposition to the use of nuclear weapons.

But Beijing’s claim to neutrality has been severely undermined by its refusal to acknowledge the nature of the conflict – it has so far avoided calling it an “invasion” – and its diplomatic and economic support for Moscow.

Western officials have also raised concerns that China may be considering providing Russia with lethal military assistance, an accusation denied by Beijing.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian politician who advises President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Saturday hit out at China for “betting on an aggressor” after Beijing repeated its call for a political settlement to the Ukraine war.

“If you claim to be a global player, you don’t offer an unrealistic plan,” he tweeted. “You don’t bet on an aggressor who broke international law and will lose the war.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has said it is a “good thing” that China is engaging in peace efforts, as he announced plans to visit Beijing in April.

Here’s what we know about the latest fighting on the ground, with authorities in several parts of Ukraine reporting extensive Russian shelling over the past 24 hours — from the northern region of Sumy to Kherson in the south.

Much of the incoming fire was directed at settlements in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, many of which have been deserted by their residents. Russia controls much of the two territories and hopes to fully capture them.

Artillery fire on the town of Kupyansk in neighboring Kharkiv region has picked up in recent weeks, with Russian forces only some ten kilometers away.

Ukrainian officials said there were artillery attacks against several towns and villages along the hotly contested frontlines to the east of Kupyansk.

The authorities in Donetsk region said three people were killed and four wounded over the past 24 hours. They said several settlements near the flashpoint city of Bakhmut came under fire.

Serhiy Hayday, head of Luhansk region military administration, said in the area where Donetsk and Luhansk regions meet (near the town of Kreminna) “all attacks have been repelled. The Kreminna sector is a forest landscape which is why Russians are trying to manoeuvre there, going with small groups of 10-15 people. Russians are learning from us, so it varies from day to day.”

Hayday added that “enemy losses reached 70 killed and uncountable wounded. Their hospitals are overcrowded. Russians do not care about their losses at all.”

CNN can’t independently confirm losses of either side in the fighting.

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

Moldova’s President, Maia Sandu, has accused Russia of using “saboteurs” disguised as civilians to stoke unrest amid a period of political instability, echoing similar warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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.

US President Joe Biden met President Sandu on the sidelines of his trip to Warsaw last week, marking the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Although there is no sign he has accepted her invite to visit, the White House did say he reaffirmed support for Moldova’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Read the full analysis piece here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of attempting to destroy Russia.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that in an interview with Rossiya 1 Putin said the West has “one goal - to break up the former Soviet Union and its main part - the Russian Federation.”

“And then, perhaps, they will accept us in the so-called family of civilized peoples, but only separately, each part separately. For what?” Putin said.

In comments to another channel, Putin said that Russia needs to consider NATO’s nuclear capabilities.

“In today’s conditions, when all the leading NATO countries have declared their main goal as inflicting a strategic defeat on us, so that our people suffer as they say, how can we ignore their nuclear capabilities in these conditions?” Putin told Rossiya 1, according to TASS.

Putin has frequently stressed the importance of modernizing Russia’s nuclear forces. 

The Russian president remarks build on his state of the union speech earlier in the week.

“The US and NATO openly state that their goal is the strategic defeat of Russia,” he said. “And what, after that are we just supposed to let them to travel around our (nuclear) facilities?”

Although the speech revisited old themes and largely recycled his arguments for invading Ukraine, he did make one substantial announcement, that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine a year ago, most observers expected a quick victory for the invaders.

Those early predictions of Russian success have not materialized, for what experts cite as a variety of factors, including higher morale and superior military tactics on the Ukrainian side but also – crucially – the supply of Western armaments.

While recent headlines have made much of the potential for Western battle tanks or Patriot air defense systems to influence the war’s outcome, these systems have yet to be used in combat in Ukraine.

But there are other weapons that have already helped to change the course of the war.

Find out what the three key ones are here.

The director of the CIA says the US is “confident” that China is “considering” sending lethal aid to Russia but intelligence suggests there has been no final decision by Beijing.

“We also don’t see that a final decision has been made yet, and we don’t see evidence of actual shipments of lethal equipment,” Burns added.  

Some context: CNN reported Friday that the US has intelligence that the Chinese government is considering providing Russia with drones and ammunition for use in the war in Ukraine, three sources familiar with the intelligence told CNN.

Ukrainian troops are standing their ground around Bakhmut despite a significant concentration of Russian forces near the eastern town, a Ukrainian commander said Saturday.

Cmdr. Yuriy Fedorovych Madyar, a colonel in Ukraine’s military, published a video message on his Telegram channel about the state of the fighting around Bakhmut, which remains one of the most fiercely contested territories in the war.

“Ukrainian troops have retained their positions on all three suburbs of Bakhmut — the northern, eastern and southern-southwestern. The enemy had no territorial successes,” Madyar said. “Enemy assault operations were unsuccessful.” 

The colonel said Ukrainian forces “don’t see any additional accumulation” of Russian troops in these areas. Still, the concentration of Russian forces in Bakhmut is “already considerable,” allowing the Russians “to launch assault operations several times a day.”

Madyar said the situation in the southern suburbs of Bakhut is stable, and that it’s the northern suburbs that are proving “the most difficult part of the front lines to hold on to.”

“There is a large number of enemy troops and high intensity of enemy assault operations,” Madyar said, describing the situation in the northern suburbs. “Appropriate forces were sent there to prevent the enemy from implementing its plan to surround the city and its outskirts.”  

Madyar said that over the past week, the number of remaining civilians seen in the streets of Bakhmut “has fallen to zero.”

What Russia is saying: Russia state news agency RIA Novosti carried a report this week showing a Russian soldier walking through the outskirts of Bakhmut, saying that Ukrainian forces have been holding on to their lines but retreating “occasionally.”

And the Russian private military company Wagner has claimed that it now controls the village of Yahidne. The village is in the northern suburbs of Bakhmut — the same area that Madyar, the Ukrainian colonel, said was proving the most difficult to hold.

CNN has not been able to independently verify either side’s claims on recent troop movements around Bakhmut.

Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has roiled global economies and made an impact even in countries far from the frontline horrors of the war.

In the United States, Americans have felt the effects at the gas pump, paying the price for a disrupted global energy markets and the sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and its allies.

From the day before Russia’s full-scale invasion started, US gas prices shot up $1.48 a gallon, or 42%, to a record price of $5.02 by June 14.

That peak was short-lived — the national average price of gasoline, as tracked by the agency Oil Price Information Service for AAA, fell continually for 98 straight days from the day the record was set to September 20.

On Friday, the first anniversary of the invasion, the national average stood at $3.39 a gallon, compared to $3.54 on the day the war started.

Why prices shot up, then fell: To understand why gas prices are down, it’s important to understand why they went up so much — and so fast.

Crude oil prices are determined on global commodity markets. And to some extent, those markets overreacted to the start of the war.

“The market’s reaction was due to uncertainty,” said oil analyst Andy Lipow. He said that those trading oil futures thought the global market would have to find a replacement for all the Russian oil when there wasn’t an alternative available.

But Russian oil shipments continued even with the sanctions, although they were redirected elsewhere. Instead of sending much of its oil and refined products to Europe, Russia sent them to countries like China, India and Turkey.

And the sanctions never completely shut down the flow of oil to Europe, although a price cap limited the shipments and the amount that buyers in those countries would be willing to pay.

In addition, the United States and its allies announced in March they would start releasing oil from their stockpiles of crude, such as the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, putting downward pressure on prices.

The economic outlook also drove oil prices: Few things take a bite out of gas prices like a recession, or even just the fear of one. People who lose their jobs don’t have to commute, and they pull back their spending on discretionary items like travel, too. Consumption falls, followed by prices.

Rising fears of a global and US recession roiled markets in late 2022, pushing down the price of oil futures. Fears of a US recession have receded recently, with very strong reports on US job growth and retail sales, but they’re not gone — particularly not with the Federal Reserve expected to continue raising interest rates.

That has only further helped tamp down prices at the pump.

Read a full breakdown of the war’s impact on gas prices here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that the European Union’s 10th sanctions package would deal a significant blow to Russian enterprises.

“Now, new sanctions steps are in the 10th package, powerful, against the defense industry and the financial sector of the terrorist state and against the propagandists who drowned Russian society in lies and are trying to spread their lies to the whole world,” Zelensky said in his nightly address. “They definitely won’t succeed.”

The package, which the EU approved Friday, includes:

Sanctions will continue to be introduced, Zelensky said.

He added that the Ukrainian government is working “to extend global and, in particular, European sanctions to the Russian nuclear industry, Rosatom, all those involved in the missile program and nuclear blackmail of the terrorist state.”

“The partners – the United States, the UK – have already made relevant steps. We expect the appropriate steps from the European Union,” he said.

Finance chiefs at a Group of 20 conference in India this weekend issued a joint statement condemning Moscow for its war in Ukraine, with only China and Russia declining to sign.

Nearly all countries in attendance agreed to condemn Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to the chair summary and outcome issued as the meeting concluded Saturday. The countries signing the document said the war was adversely affecting the global economy and demanded Russia completely withdraw from Ukraine.

“Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy – constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks,” it continued.
“There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. Recognising that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy,” the document stated. 

The statement said “today’s era must not be of war,” adding that the United Nations Charter and international humanitarian law should be upheld.

“The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital,” it added.

India, the current chair of the G20 economies, hosted the meeting in the city of Bengaluru.

As Reuters reports, Russia and China’s holdout forced India to issue a summary document wrapping up the two days of talks, rather than reaching a consensus on an official end-of-meeting communique.

Key context on China: On Friday, China’s foreign ministry issued a position paper calling for a resumption of peace talks and an end to unilateral sanctions, and stressing its opposition to the use of nuclear weapons.

But Beijing’s claim to neutrality has been severely undermined by its refusal to acknowledge the nature of the conflict – it has so far avoided calling it an “invasion” – and its diplomatic and economic support for Moscow.

Western officials have also raised concerns that China may be considering providing Russia with lethal military assistance, an accusation denied by Beijing.

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

A Ukrainian military commander said Saturday that there are not “enough means” to push Russian forces back as they go on the offensive around the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Lt. Yevhenii Oropai, company commander of the Svoboda battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine, said on national television that the Russian military is “actively advancing” in Bakhmut and on the flanks in the area.

“Sometimes we lose our positions, and sometimes we have to attack and retake them. That is, the line of contact is constantly changing,” Oropai said.

Oropai also said the military does not have “enough means” to push Moscow’s troops back, with Russia ramping up its attack on the front line and the Ukrainians waiting for deliveries of Western weapons.

“We lack tanks, armored vehicles, airplanes and long-range artillery to make competent offensive actions without suffering heavy losses. It is very difficult to be an infantryman,” he said.

The Ukrainian military said Saturday that Russia has made “several unsuccessful attempts” on settlements in the area surrounding Bakhmut.

The Ukrainian military said Russian forces have recently launched unsuccessful assaults on its defensive lines in several regions, including around the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut.

The Russian assaults have also targeted Kupiansk and Lyman, in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, respectively, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said late Saturday.

Bakhmut: Russia has made “several unsuccessful attempts” on a cluster of settlements in the area surrounding Bakhmut, the Ukrainian military said.

The areas that have seen recent fighting include Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Berkhivka to the northwest of Bakhmut, and Ivanivske and Pivnichne to the southwest.

Ukraine’s military said “the enemy keeps trying to break through the defenses and take Bakhmut” and that the commander of Ukraine’s Eastern Military Group, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, visited units that are defending the city and surrounding villages.

“The Russian occupiers have focused their main efforts on taking Bakhmut and its surroundings. Fighting is taking place around the city and on its outskirts,” the Ukrainian Ground Forces said on Telegram.

The post included images from Syrskyi’s visit.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti carried a report showing a Russian soldier walking through the outskirts of Bakhmut. On video, he said, “The enemy is holding on, but their morale is low and occasionally they start to retreat. We have 1,740 meters (about a mile) left to go to frontline positions in the center of Bakhmut. The enemy is holding the defense but is exhausted.”

CNN is unable to verify the soldier’s claims on troop positioning.

Wagner claim: The head of the Russian private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in a Telegram audio message that his fighters took control of the village of Yahidne, a northern suburb of Bakhmut, Saturday evening.

CNN could not immediately verify Prigozhin’s claim.

Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine: The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces have also attacked defensive lines near Avdiivka, to the north of Donetsk city, and Mariinka, to the southwest.

The military gave no indication that Moscow’s troops had made any ground.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk region’s military administration, said on Telegram that Avdiivka was under heavy enemy fire.

He said that in less than 24 hours, “the Russians shelled the city twice with artillery, once with tanks, launched an anti-aircraft missile strike, and also struck with Grads (rockets).”

A recently renovated school in the city had been destroyed by an air strike, Kyrylenko said.