March 14, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian soldiers have nearly completed their training on Leopard 2 battle tanks in Munster, Germany, according to a spokesperson for the special training command of its armed forces, the Bundeswehr. 

The spokesperson — who is routinely not named — told CNN that with training now concluding, it would soon be feasible for Germany to deploy the Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Germany has so far vowed to supply Ukraine with 18 of the latest A6 model Leopard 2 tanks. 

The spokesperson said the Ukrainian soldiers were “highly motivated” and used the five-week training “more than effectively.”

The spokesperson said the soldiers were trained 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week, over the past five weeks. The spokesperson said they were trained as drivers, gunners, technicians, commanders and maintenance personnel.

The soldiers were first taught how to maneuver the main battle tank as drivers and commanders, the spokesperson said, adding the soldiers said driving the Leopard 2 tanks was like “driving a Mercedes.”

The soldiers completed their final shooting training session Monday, with the spokesperson stating that trainees achieved an 82-85% hit rate under combat conditions.

"This is a super result," he said, adding that the simulator shooting training substantially enhanced the soldiers’ progress.

The spokesperson added the Bundeswehr’s special training command benefited from the experience at a tactical level and regarding wartime experience. He said the instructors were also highly motivated as they knew “what they were making the soldiers fit for.”

The Bundeswehr’s special training command group aims to train 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers in 2023 after training 1,100 in 2022.

Remember: After weeks of squabbling, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the move to send tanks in late January, bowing to intensifying international pressure – led by the United States, Poland and a bloc of other European nations that called on Berlin to step up its military support and commit to sending their sought-after vehicles. US President Joe Biden announced at the same time that he would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

Ukraine has a large population of older people — one in four of its residents is over the age of 60 — and most of them are women. Some lived through World War II as children, only to see their lives disrupted again in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine began.

When Russia then launched its full-scale invasion last February, many of these women were unable or unwilling to leave. Of the 4.8 million Ukrainians who have registered in other European countries as refugees since the war began, most are younger women and children, while older women stayed in Ukraine.

Here are some of their stories, edited for clarity and brevity.

Valentina Tokariova, 85, was born in Russia. She lived in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine for 60 years until 2014, when she fled to Kyiv:

Yulia Hermanovska is 79 and has been living on her own in Kyiv since her husband died five years ago:

Klara Rozkishna, 94, spent 40 years teaching chemistry in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. She lives in Kyiv with her daughter:

Read more stories from Ukrainian women here.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has quietly reclassified some of its paintings. Two artists, once labeled as Russian, are now categorized as Ukrainian, and a painting by the French Impressionist Edgar Degas has been renamed from "Russian Dancer" to "Dancer in Ukrainian Dress."

For one woman in Kyiv, these changes are a vindication of sorts. Oksana Semenik, a journalist and historian, has been running a months-long campaign to persuade institutions in the United States to relabel the historical works of art she believes are wrongly presented as Russian.

At the Met, they include work by Ilya Repin and Arkhip Kuindzhi, artists whose mother tongue was Ukrainian and who depicted many Ukrainian scenes, even if the region was in their day part of the Russian Empire.

Repin, a renowned 19th century painter who was born in what is now Ukraine, has been relabeled on the Met's catalog as "Ukrainian, born Russian Empire" with the start of each description of his works now reading, "Repin was born in the rural Ukrainian town of Chuhuiv (Chuguev) when it was part of the Russian Empire."

On Semenik's Twitter account, Ukrainian Art History, which has over 17,000 followers, she wrote: "All [Repin's] famous landscapes were about Ukraine, Dnipro, and steppes. But also about Ukrainian people."

One of Repin's lesser-known contemporaries, Kuindzhi was born in Mariupol in 1842 when the Ukrainian city was also part of the Russian Empire, his nationality has also been updated. The text for Kuindzhi's "Red Sunset" at the Met has been updated to include that "in March 2022, the Kuindzhi Art Museum in Mariupol, Ukraine, was destroyed in a Russian airstrike."

Read about more reclassified Ukrainian works here.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the doubling of production of precision-guided weapons during a visit to major Russian arms manufacturer Tactical Missiles Corporation, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

"Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu noted that the Tactical Missiles Corporation adequately fulfills the state defense order. However, even taking into account the increase in production this year, he ordered to double the production of high-precision weapons," according to the statement. 

The corporation faces a "very serious task,” Shoigu said.

He added that some of the latest weapons presented today by the corporation are "missing not only from today's enemy but also from the armed forces of other countries."

The Ukrainian military said it destroyed four Russian missiles that were headed toward the Odesa region in southern Ukraine.

"The enemy conducted an airstrike in Odesa region using tactical aircraft ...The Su-24 aircraft fired four anti-radar missiles towards the coast, presumably X-31P," Operational Command South said.

"The missiles have been destroyed over the sea," the command said.

Several buildings were damaged, it added.

Russian strikes across the Donetsk region have killed at least three people, while continued fighting in Bakhmut is focused around an industrial plant in the north of the city.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has said it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court amid reports that the court is considering war crimes cases related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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The Lithuanian parliament has adopted a resolution labeling the private military company Wagner as a terrorist organization.

“Wagner is a terrorist organization, and its members and mercenaries pose a threat to the security of the state and society," according to the resolution, which was published on the parliament website. 

The parliament said that “the private military company 'Wagner,' founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a shadow tool of Russian power.”

The Lithuanian parliament said it was inviting other countries to follow suit and label Wagner a terrorist organization.

Lithuania and Russia share a border that is 297 kilometers (184 miles) long.

Some context: Wagner fighters have played an important role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine – with many involved now in the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Many were recruited from Russian prisons and offered pardons in return for a six-month tour of duty in Ukraine.

Russian forces have fired more shells across the border into Ukraine's northern Kharkiv region, according to a local official.

At least one person was killed in the town of Vovchansk, a few miles from the border with Russia, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration.

"An enemy projectile struck a civilian car during the shelling of the city fire and rescue unit. ... A 55-year old woman who was in the car has died," he continued.

More about Vovchansk: The town was occupied by Russian forces early in the invasion, but was taken back by Ukrainian forces in September. Russian forces regularly shell Vovchansk and other border towns in Kharkiv and Sumy regions. 

Vovchansk, an important railway hub, has been shelled at least four times this month. Occasionally, it has also suffered air strikes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said extending the Black Sea grain deal for 60 days was a “goodwill gesture” on the part of Russia, as its conditions have still not been met.

“The deal cannot stand on one leg," Peskov said when asked why the deal had not been extended by 120 days.

Peskov added that Russia made this step “in the hope that, after such a long time, the conditions and obligations that were taken on by the known parties will be fulfilled.”

Russia and the United Nations agreed on a 60-day extension of the Ukraine grain deal after negotiations in Geneva, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Monday, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko.

Grushko added that the condition was that all the promises given to Russia will be fulfilled, including the obligation to lift sanctions, direct and indirect, on the supply of agricultural products to international global markets.

Some context: In July last year, ministers from both Ukraine and Russia signed the agreement following months of negotiations brokered by the UN and Turkey.

Russia pledged to unblock ports on the Black Sea to allow the safe passage of grain and oilseeds – some of Ukraine’s most important exports.