March 17, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

US President Joe Biden said the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Russian President Vladimir Putin “makes a very strong point.”

The US leader acknowledged the court’s authority is not recognized by Russia or the US, “but I think it makes a very strong point,” he said. 

Putin has “clearly committed war crimes,” Biden added.

The White House said it welcomed accountability for perpetrators of war crimes but stopped short of a full-throated endorsement of the ICC’s arrest warrant when it issued an initial statement earlier Friday.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby declined to say whether Biden would tell law enforcement to arrest Putin if he came to the US. Putin traveling to the country in the first place is “very, very unlikely,” Kirby told CNN’s Jake Tapper. 

The International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes means that “the international justice wheels” have begun to turn, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova said Friday.

It’s symbolic that the first crime for which Putin now faces an arrest order is “the most horrific one,” the forceful deportation of children, she told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

The ICC said Putin and the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, are both responsible in the alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Markarova called on ICC states to uphold the warrant, warning Putin the only “safe travel” should be his journey to the Hague, where the court operates. She said all Ukrainians deserve to see Putin face trial.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova for their roles in the alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Moscow said the court has “no meaning” for the country, as Ukrainian officials praised the announcement.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Other key headlines from the war:

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley spoke with Ukrainian officials Friday, the White House said in a readout of the meeting. 

“The Ukrainian officials provided an update on battlefield conditions and expressed appreciation for the continued provision of U.S. security assistance,” the White House said. “The U.S. officials reaffirmed the unwavering support of the United States for Ukraine as defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joined at the end of the call, the White House said.

The White House says it “remains to be seen” whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will ultimately face justice for alleged war crimes after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest Friday, but the US will continue to help Ukraine document Moscow’s misdeeds.

“We’re going to stay committed to helping Ukraine as they document and analyze and preserve the kinds of evidence of the war crimes, the atrocities, the crimes against humanity that have occurred inside Ukraine at the hands of Russian forces,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday.

The United States does not recognize the ICC, but Kirby said the US is “not going to back off our belief that accountability for these war crimes has got to be had, however long that takes.”

Kirby said the US wants to see “any perpetrators of war crimes held to account,” but he declined to say if US President Joe Biden would tell law enforcement to arrest Putin if he came to the US. He said it was “very, very unlikely” the Russian leader would travel to the United States.

Asked if the US would ask other countries like Israel or India – who also do not recognize the ICC – to arrest the Russian leader, Kirby said it would “have to be sovereign decisions those leaders make.”

Remember: Russia also does not recognize the ICC, and the court does not conduct trials in absentia, so Putin would either have to be turned over by Moscow or arrested in a foreign country for him to face charges from the court.

Moscow’s ties to Beijing: Tapper also asked Kirby if there was any intelligence indicating China has decided to give Russia weapons to help with the country’s assault on Ukraine.

“We don’t believe that they’ve taken it off the table still, but we also don’t see any indication, any confirmation, that they’re moving in that direction or that … they have sent lethal weapons,” Kirby said.
“We don’t think it’s in their interest. It shouldn’t be in anybody’s interest, quite frankly, to help Mr. Putin continue to slaughter innocent Ukrainians,” he added.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will fly to Moscow next week to meet with Putin in his first visit to Russia since Putin launched his devastating invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago.

The visit will be seen as a powerful show of Beijing’s support for Moscow in Western capitals, where leaders have grown increasingly wary of the two nations’ deepening partnership as war rages in Europe.

CNN’s Nectar Gan and Anna Chernova contributed to this report.

The United States supports “accountability for perpetrators of war crimes,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement, hours after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin,

“There is no doubt that Russia is committing war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, and we have been clear that those responsible must be held accountable. The ICC Prosecutor is an independent actor and makes his own prosecutorial decisions based on the evidence before him. We support accountability for perpetrators of war crimes,” Watson said. 

Watson’s statement notably did not explicitly express support for the ICC’s efforts to prosecute Putin for alleged war crimes.

The ICC issued warrants for both Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova over an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

While 123 countries are parties to the treaty that created the ICC, they don’t include either the US or Russia.

What the US has said about alleged crimes: The US government declared last Marchthat members of the Russian armed forces had committed war crimes in Ukraine. Last month in Germany, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the US government determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It is not outside the realm of possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be tried by the International Criminal Court at some point, the ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said Friday.

“Nobody should feel they have a free pass,” he said.

“I think those that think it’s impossible fail to understand history because the major Nazi war criminals, (former Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milošević, (former Bosnian Serb politician Radovan) Karadžić, (former Bosnian Serb military officer Ratko) Mladić, former (Liberian) President Charles Taylor, (former Prime Minister) Jean Kambanda from Rwanda, Hissène Habré (former president of Chad). All of them were mighty, powerful individuals, and yet they found themselves in courtrooms whose conduct was being adjudicated over by independent judges. And that also gives cause for hope that the law can, however difficult it may be, the law can be supreme,” Khan said.

The ICC on Friday issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova relating to an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

“I think the message must be that basic principles of humanity bind everybody. And nobody should feel they have a free pass. Nobody should feel they can act with abandon, and that definitely, nobody should feel that they can act and commit genocide or crimes against humanity or war crimes with impunity,” Khan said.

The prosecutor said it was important for the ICC to start these investigations as quickly as possible with a focus on the plight of victims.

Watch the interview with Karim Khan:

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01:05 - Source: cnn

After more than a year of international outrage at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and shocking atrocities, there’s an arrest warrant out for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The International Criminal Court on Friday announced charges against Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova relating to an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Here’s a very broad look at how war crime prosecutions work:

What is a war crime? The ICC has specific definitions for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. Specifically, targeting civilian populations, violating the Geneva Conventions, targeting specific groups of people and more could be potential Russian war crimes.

Who can be tried by the ICC? Anyone accused of a crime in the jurisdiction of the court, which includes countries that are members of the ICC, can be tried. The court tries people, not countries, and focuses on those who hold the most responsibility: leaders and officials. While Ukraine is not a member of the court, it has previously accepted its jurisdiction. Putin is therefore eligible for being indicted by the court for ordering war crimes in Ukraine.

However, the ICC does not conduct trials in absentia, so he would either have to be handed over by Russia or arrested outside of Russia. That seems unlikely as long as Putin is in power.

How does the ICC bring proceedings? Court proceedings can be brought in one of two ways: Either a national government or the UN Security Council can refer cases for investigation. Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has veto power over council actions. It was requests by 39 national governments, most of them European, that sparked the current investigation.

How long do these investigations take? If justice in general moves slowly, international justice barely moves at all. Investigations at the ICC take many years. Only a handful of convictions have ever been won.

Why would a Ukraine prosecution be different? The international outcry against Russia is unique, and that could give the court the ability to operate differently, according to Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University and co-editor-in-chief of Just Security, an online forum. “It’s hard to judge the ICC’s investigation based on past practice,” Goodman said in an email after the court initially launched its investigation back in 2022. “In the Ukraine situation, the prosecutor is buttressed by an extraordinary outpouring of support from dozens of countries, which I expect will be followed by an infusion of resources.”

Read more about these investigations and read about the scheme involving Ukrainian children taken to Russia.

The arrest warrant issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “very important signal” for the world and the victims of the alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, the president of the International Criminal Court said Friday.

A warrant was also issued for Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova.

The arrest warrants are not “magic wands,” Judge Piotr Hofmański said, speaking to CNN from The Hague in the Netherlands. “But we believe in the deterrence effect of the arrest warrants issued in our proceedings, and we believe that it’s a very important signal for the world that we are doing our job, that the victims are not left alone, they are not forgotten, and we just are doing what’s expected.”

Hofmanski compared the arrest warrant for Putin to a kind of sanction for the Russian leader.

“There are 123 states — two-thirds of states of the world — in which he will not be safe,” he said.

Asked whether the ICC is asking signatory countries to arrest Putin if he travels to them, Hofmanski referred to ICC statute, saying, “All state parties have the legal obligation to cooperate fully with the court, which means that they’re obliged to execute arrest warrants issued by the court.”

He also said that these warrants are not “the end of the game,” adding that the case “can expand and also cover other atrocities allegedly committed on the territory of Ukraine.” Hofmanski said he has no knowledge of any other actions coming down the pike.

Hofmanski said the contents of the arrest warrants were secret but that the ICC had agreed to publish the information about the existence of the warrants and the crimes allegedly committed by Putin and Lvova-Belova.

Remember: The ICC does not conduct trials in absentia, so Putin would either have to be handed over by Russia or arrested outside of Russia.

CNN’s Jorge Engels contributed to this post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the decision Friday by the International Criminal Court to issue warrants for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. 

“Today we have a significant decision of international justice. In a case that has real prospects,” Zelensky said in his nightly address Friday. “This is a historic decision that will lead to historic responsibility.”

The Ukrainian president said his own country’s investigations also suggested the Kremlin had direct involvement in the forced deportation of children into Russia.

“In the criminal proceedings being investigated by our law enforcement officers, more than 16,000 cases of forced deportation of Ukrainian children by the occupier have already been recorded. But the real, full number of deportees may be much higher,” he said. “Such a criminal operation would have been impossible without the order of the highest leader of the terrorist state.”

Zelensky went on to thank the ICC and Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. He called the forced deportation of children “evil.”

So far, Ukrainian officials have been able to return 300 children who had been forcibly deported to Russia.

International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan said there are reasonable grounds to believe Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova bear criminal responsibility for the forced deportation of hundreds of Ukrainian children. 

At the time the Ukrainian children were reportedly taken out of their country, they were protected under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Khan said in a statement Friday. 

According to the US and several European governments, Putin’s administration has carried out a scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, often to a network of dozens of camps, where the minors undergo political reeducation.

“Many of these children, we allege, have since been given for adoption in the Russian Federation,” Khan also said, adding a change of the law in Russia through Presidential decrees issued by Putin had made it easier for the children to be adopted by Russian families. 

He called for accountability and for the children to be returned to their families in Ukraine, adding in the statement that “we cannot allow children to be treated as if they are the spoils of war.” 

Khan said Ukraine was “a crime scene that encompasses a complex and broad range of alleged international crimes,” explaining that while this was a first step in prosecuting war crimes, he continues to pursue other lines of investigation. 

CNN asked people on the streets of Kyiv their reactions to the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

Here’s what they said:

Tatiana Kostiuchenko, 25, massage therapist: “I think Russians will kill Putin before there is a chance for him to stand trial. He knows too much. This is the way they do stuff. The arrest warrant actually gives me a sense of calm. Because it’s like Ukrainians were alone saying all of these terrible things are happening, that Putin is a criminal. But now everyone will say it, know it. The fact that this is because of the children deportation is even better. It highlights the suffering of civilians, especially children. People think war is about two armies but it’s not — civilians are suffering, so many children.”   

Dmitro Yukhnoskyi, 29, games level designer: “I don’t know how much power they have to carry it out, but I am glad to see it. It won’t solve the problem, but it is a good start.”

Mykola Strizhak, 22, courier: “I am happy to see this news, but for now it is just words. But I hope it is followed by actions.”

Natalia Saloviova, 68, teacher: “I am happy to hear it, but I am not sure that it will be implemented because he will hide. He will hide. He will go abroad with the help of China maybe or Iran … But I hope, I hope. I want to believe in this.”

To note: It remains unlikely that a trial at The Hague will go ahead. Russia is not a member of the ICC and the court does not conduct trials in absentia, so any Russian officials charged would either have to be handed over by Moscow or arrested outside of Russia.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief is hailing the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin as “an important decision of international justice” and “just the start” in an international legal process to hold Putin accountable.

“The gravity of the crimes and the statement of the ICC speak for themselves,” Josep Borrell, high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said Friday.

“This is an important decision of international justice and for the people of Ukraine. We have always made clear at the European Union that those responsible for the illegal aggression against Ukraine must be brought to justice,” Borrell added.

He said this arrest warrant is “just the start of the process of accountability” for holding Russia and other officials responsible for potential war crimes in Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court, which operates independently, is located in The Hague, Netherlands, and was created by a treaty called the Rome Statute first brought before the United Nations.

Most countries on Earth – 123 of them – are parties to the treaty, but there are some notable exceptions, including Russia, as well as the US, Ukraine and China.

The ICC is meant to be a court of “last resort” and is not supposed to replace a country’s justice system. The court, which has 18 judges serving nine-year terms, tries four types of crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and war crimes.

Putin arrest warrant: The ICC on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

The court said there “are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility” for the alleged crimes, for having committed them directly alongside others, and for “his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts.”

Reports of Ukrainian children in Russia: The Ukrainian government says many missing children have been forcibly taken to Russia. The Russian government doesn’t deny taking Ukrainian children and has made their adoption by Russian families a centerpiece of propaganda.

Some of the children have ended up thousands of miles and several time zones away from Ukraine. According to Lvova-Belova’s office, Ukrainian kids have been sent to live in institutions and with foster families in 19 different Russian regions, including Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tyumen regions in Siberia and Murmansk in the Arctic.

In April 2022, the office of Lvova-Belova said that around 600 children from Ukraine had been placed in orphanages in Kursk and Nizhny Novgorod before being sent to live with families in the Moscow region. As of mid-October, 800 children from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas area were living in the Moscow region, many with families, according to the Moscow regional governor.

UN report on alleged war crimes: The UN on Thursday said in a report that war crimes perpetrated by Russia included “attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, wilful killings, unlawful confinement, torture, rape and other sexual violence, as well as unlawful transfers and deportations of children.”

So, will Putin actually be arrested?: Probably not.

Anyone accused of a crime in the jurisdiction of the court, which includes countries that are members of the ICC, can be tried. The court tries people, not countries, and focuses on those who hold the most responsibility: leaders and officials. While Ukraine is not a member of the court, it has previously accepted its jurisdiction.

The ICC does not conduct trials in absentia, so Putin would either have to be handed over by Russia or arrested outside of Russia. That seems unlikely.

CNN’s editorial research department contributed to this post.

Hungary’s ruling party plans to approve Finland’s accession to NATO in a vote later this month, it said in a statement Friday.

The parliamentary vote will take place March 27, and the group will vote unanimously in support of Finland’s bid, the leader of the ruling Fidesz Party, Máté Kocsis, said in a statement. 

Kocsis said the group would decide later on Sweden’s case for joining the military alliance.

Turkey, which announced earlier Friday that it would approve Finland’s membership, and Hungary have been the holdouts blocking both Nordic nations’ accession.

Western officials had generally considered getting Turkey’s blessing the most significant hurdle to NATO expansion.

More background: Finland announced its intention to join NATO in May, along with Sweden, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sudden shift in attitudes toward joining the bloc.

That announcement was welcomed by almost all of NATO’s leaders, but under NATO rules just one member state can veto a new applicant’s membership.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put a spoke in the wheel when he said he was not looking at both countries joining NATO “positively,” accusing them of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations.”

Friday’s announcement clears the way for Finland’s accession, but Sweden’s application has been stalled by Ankara’s accusations, which Sweden denies.

CNN’s Yusuf Gezer, Amy Cassidy and Jack Guy contributed to this report.

The Kremlin has called the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova “outrageous and unacceptable.”

“Russia, like a number of states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court and, accordingly, any decisions of this kind are null and void for the Russian Federation from the point of view of law,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tweeted on Friday.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and Deputy Chair of the Security Council of Russia, also dismissed the warrant in a tweet.

Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia also condemned the ICC as a “prejudiced, biased, and incompetent internal body.” 

Nebenzia called the war crimes court a puppet of the large Western countries and said since Russia is not a party to the ICC’s Rome statutes, the court’s decision to issue the arrest warrants was null and void.

Located in The Hague, Netherlands, and created by a treaty called the Rome Statute first brought before the United Nations, the ICC operates independently. Most countries are parties to the treaty — but there are very large and notable exceptions, including Russia.

This means for the trials to move ahead, Russian officials charged would either have to be handed over by Moscow or arrested outside of Russia.

CNN’s Richard Roth contributed reporting.

Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s children commissioner, dismissed an arrest warrant issued against her and Russian President Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Lvova-Belova is the official at the center of the alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

In response, Lvova-Belova said it is “great” that the international community has noticed her work, according to Russian state news agency TASS on Friday.

“It’s great that the international community has appreciated the work to help the children of our country, that we do not leave them in the war zones, that we take them out, that we create good conditions for them, that we surround them with loving, caring people,” she said to reporters according to TASS.

Key background: According to the US and several European governments, Putin’s administration forcibly deported thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, often to a network of dozens of camps, where the minors undergo political reeducation.

“Lvova-Belova’s efforts specifically include the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, the so-called ‘patriotic education’ of Ukrainian children, legislative changes to expedite the provision of Russian Federation citizenship to Ukrainian children, and the deliberate removal of Ukrainian children by Russia’s forces,” the US Treasury said in September.

CNN’s Hira Humayun contributed reporting to this post.

Human Rights Watch called the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin a “wakeup call to others committing abuses or covering them up” in a statement on Friday.

“This is a big day for the many victims of crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine since 2014. With these arrest warrants, the ICC has made Putin a wanted man and taken its first step to end the impunity that has emboldened perpetrators in Russia’s war against Ukraine for far too long,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

The ICC issued the arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the official at the center of the alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

 “The warrants send a clear message that giving orders to commit or tolerating serious crimes against civilians may lead to a prison cell in The Hague. The court’s warrants are a wakeup call to others committing abuses or covering them up that their day in court may be coming, regardless of their rank or position,” Jarrah said.

The Russian government does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC in The Hague, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to state news agency TASS.

Russia withdrew from the ICC treaty under a directive signed by Putin in 2016.

It’s been a busy day of developments related to the war in Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin getting an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, additional details released about the upcoming meeting between the Russian leader and his Chinese counterpart, and an announcement of more fighter jets for Ukraine. 

As nighttime approaches in Kyiv, catch up on what’s happened so far:

ICC issues arrest warrant for Putin: The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official at the center of the alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Moscow said the court has “no meaning” for the country as Ukrainian officials praised the announcement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff, Andri Yermak, said the arrest warrant is “just the beginning.”

Turkey, Finland and NATO: Turkey has decided to start the process of ratifying Finland’s accession to NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Finland — along with Sweden — both announced their intention to join NATO in May, dropping decades of neutrality after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While Finnish President Sauli Niinistö welcomed Turkey’s decision, he said its membership is “not complete” without Sweden.

Putin and Xi will meet: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to discuss the war in Ukraine and will sign documents attesting to their closer ties when they meet in Moscow next week, a Putin adviser told Russian state media.

US officials said they will be eyeing the meeting closely as China considers sending weapons to Russia. US officials also said they are working to get Xi on the phone with Zelensky, believing that hearing directly from him would be important for perspective.

More fighter jets for Kyiv: Slovakia announced it will send 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, making it the second NATO member to pledge the aircraft after Poland said on Thursday that it would transfer four of the jets to Ukraine in the coming days

Situation in Bakhmut: A Ukrainian soldier said that Russian forces have been “partially exhausted” in some parts of the battered eastern city of Bakhmut, but the intensity of fighting is still “extremely high.”

According to the UK’s defense ministry, while Russian and Wagner forces have obtained footholds west of the Bakhmutka River in the center of the city, “more broadly across the front line, Russia is conducting some of the lowest rates of local offensive action” since at least January.

Meanwhile, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin repeated his complaints of inadequate munitions supplies from Russia.

Here’s the latest map of control:

Moscow rejects an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Russian President Vladimir Putin, a government spokesperson said Friday.

The ICC also issued a warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, the official at the center of an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The warrants have “no meaning” for Russia, including from a “legal point of view,” said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

“Russia is not a member of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it,” Zakharova said. “Russia does not cooperate with this body, and possible (pretenses) for arrest coming from the International Court of Justice will be legally null and void for us.”

How war crime prosecutions work: Located in The Hague, Netherlands, and created by a treaty called the Rome Statute, the International Criminal Court operates independently.

Most countries on Earth are parties to the treaty, but there are very large and notable exceptions, including — pivotally — Russia, the US and Ukraine.

Anyone accused of a crime in the jurisdiction of the court, which includes countries that are members of the ICC, can be tried. The court tries people, not countries, and focuses on those who hold the most responsibility: leaders and officials.

While Ukraine is not a member of the court, it has previously accepted its jurisdiction.

However, the ICC does not conduct trials in absentia, so Putin or any other Moscow official would either have to be handed over by Russia or arrested outside of Russia to face ICC proceedings.

You can read more about how the court functions here.

With previous reporting from CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö welcomed Turkey’s decision to begin the ratification process of Finland’s application to NATO, but said its membership is “not complete” without Sweden. 

The two countries launched joint membership bids for the US-led alliance in the summer of last year.

“It is very good to hear this news,” Niinistö told reporters in Ankara on Friday, speaking alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “It is surely for all of Finland very important […] so thank you.”

“But we have a neighbor, Sweden. What I now say is not only due to the fact that they are nice people, we have excellent relations with our neighbor. But I have a feeling that Finnish NATO membership is not complete without Sweden,” he added.

The Nordic neighbors have many “common interests” and share the Baltic Sea shore, Niinistö continued, saying he would like to see Sweden become part of the alliance by the time members meet in Vilnius for the annual NATO summit in July.

Erdogan said a the news conference on Friday that Turkey’s approach towards Sweden remains the same, and that it would not change unless “positive steps” were taken.

“We handed Sweden a list of 120 terrorists and demand repatriation, which failed to deliver,” Erdogan said, adding, “what matters for us is the result. And as long as we don’t see the results in compacting terrorism or even to the point of infiltrating into their parliament, our approach would be as it is today”.

The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Russian President Vladimir Putin is “just the beginning,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, posted on Telegram.

The ICC announced Friday that it had issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, an official at the center of an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba also applauded the warrant, saying the “wheels of justice are turning.”

With the warrant, “the world has received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and that its leadership and accomplices will be brought to justice,” Ukrainian General Prosecutor Andriy Kostin said in a post on Facebook Friday. “This means that Putin must be arrested outside of Russia and brought to trial. And world leaders will think twice before shaking his hand or sitting down with him at the negotiating table.”

Kostin called the move a historic decision and said he was personally grateful to the ICC. 

“In particular, regarding forced deportation of children, [the] Prosecutor General’s Office has submitted more than 40 volumes of materials to the ICC — more than 1000 pages,” he added. “Today’s decision is a historic step. But it is only the beginning of a long journey to restore justice.”

“We expect all states that consider themselves part of the civilized world to take appropriate steps to bring those suspected of committing international crimes to justice,” Kostin added.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, a member of Putin’s government, it announced in a news release Friday.

Lvova-Belova is the official at the center of the alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The ICC said both Putin and Lvova-Belova are “allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

Some key background: According to the US and several European governments, Putin’s administration has carried out a scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, often to a network of dozens of camps, where the minors undergo political reeducation.

“Lvova-Belova’s efforts specifically include the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, the so-called ‘patriotic education’ of Ukrainian children, legislative changes to expedite the provision of Russian Federation citizenship to Ukrainian children, and the deliberate removal of Ukrainian children by Russia’s forces,” the US Treasury said in September.

Her government title is commissioner for children’s rights in the Office of the Russian President.

The ICC statement Friday said there are “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes,” both for having committed the acts directly or through others in his command, and for “his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates.”

Russia has characterized reports of forcible relocation as “absurd” and said it does its “best” to keep minors with their families.

The ICC announcement comes just days after several US news outlets reported the court was planning to open two war crimes cases tied to the invasion of Ukraine and issue arrest warrants against “several people.” According to the New York Times, the ICC was set to first open a case on Russia’s alleged abduction of Ukrainian children. Then a second case would focus on Moscow “unrelentingly” targeting civilian infrastructure, including water supplies and gas tanks.

The cases would represent the first international charges to be brought since the start of Russia’s war and come after months of work by special ICC investigation teams, according to the NYT.

CNN’s Mick Krever, Zahid Mahmood and Sugam Pokharel contributed to this report.

Russian forces have been “partially exhausted” in some parts of Bakhmut, Yurii Syrotiuk, a Ukrainian soldier, told the country’s national broadcaster Friday. 

“Last week, the enemy was furiously attacking, and the attacks were of a maximum nature. The enemy was in a hurry, threatening, telling that Bakhmut was surrounded, and sent its soldiers to be killed, in particular, on our part of the front,” Syrotiuk explained. “Accordingly, the fighting was as intense as possible, it exhausted the enemy, and indeed, as of yesterday and today night, the intensity of artillery fire has decreased.”

Ukrainian counter offensives had forced Russia to adopt a more defensive stance, Syrotiuk said, adding that Russian forces had “to move to partially defensive actions, to use barrage fire and cluster munitions. Because to conduct offensive fire at this pace means not only a lot of artillery, but also heavy losses in manpower.”

Despite this assessment, Syrotiuk said the situation in and around Bakhmut remained very active. 

“Compared to last week, we can say that the intensity has decreased. But what do we mean by a decrease in the intensity of fire? Here, where I am standing, an enemy mine flies over me about every minute,” he explained. “So we are talking in comparison to last week. Otherwise, the intensity is extremely high. The firefight lasts around the clock.”

The White House is seeking to preempt attempts by China to frame next week’s meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin as a peacemaking mission, suggesting any framework offered by Beijing would be “be one sided and reflect only the Russian perspective.”

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said a proposal from China could include some type of ceasefire, which he said would merely be a way for Russia to regroup before launching a reprisal. “A ceasefire now is effectively the ratification of Russian conquest,” he said.

“Russia would be free to use a ceasefire to only further entrench their positions in Ukraine to rebuild, refit and refresh their forces so that they can restart attacks on Ukraine at a time of their choosing,” Kirby added.

China has sought to present itself as a neutral peace broker for the war in Ukraine, including releasing a paper calling for a political settlement, but US officials have viewed such proposals with deep skepticism. “We do not believe that this is a step towards a just and endurable peace,” Kirby said.

Meanwhile, the US remains concerned that China may be considering providing Russia with lethal military assistance, but hasn’t “seen any indication, any confirmation” that such a decision has been made, Kirby said.

The US has been encouraging Xi to hold a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hear the “Ukrainian side as well,” and President Joe Biden also remains open to a phone call with Xi, but there is currently no active planning to set up such a conversation, Kirby said.

Turkey has decided to start the process of ratifying Finland’s accession to NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a news conference in Ankara Friday.

“We have decided to start the parliamentary ratification process of Finland’s NATO Accession Protocol,” Erdogan said.

Finland — along with Sweden — both announced their intention to join NATO in May, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sudden shift in attitudes toward joining the bloc.

Erdogan said he believes NATO “will become even stronger through Finland’s membership” and “will play a more efficient role in preserving global security and stability.”

Ukrainian intelligence says Russia has created a powerful defensive grouping in the annexed territory of Crimea.

Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of Defense Intelligence of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, said the “Russians have created a defense group on the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula and are preparing for defensive actions.”

“The infrastructure on the temporarily occupied peninsula is maintained in combat readiness. A powerful land and aviation component is deployed in Crimea. For example, there are about 90 combat aircrafts and 60 combat helicopters,” Skibitskyi said.

Remember: Ukraine has frequently said that it intends to reclaim all Russian-occupied territory, including Crimea, which was annexed by Russia after a so-called referendum in 2014 that was slammed by Ukraine and most of the world as illegitimate. Troops, dubbed “little green men,” had poured over the border from Russia into the peninsula ahead of the annexation.

Meanwhile, satellite imagery has shown the creation of extensive trench systems in the region. 

“They are preparing for defensive actions on the territory of the peninsula,” said Skibitskyi, and “have chosen the most dangerous areas where a sea landing operation may be conducted, and now they are preparing defensive lines there.”

Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu has presented state awards to the pilots of the combat aircraft involved in the incident Tuesday over the Black Sea that led to the downing of a US military drone into the water.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the pilots of the Su-27 aircraft had “prevented the violation by the American MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle of the borders of the area of ​​the temporary regime for the use of airspace, established for the purpose of conducting a special military operation,” Russia’s term for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

The ministry said that “in order to identify the intruder, fighters from the air defense forces on duty were dispatched.”

“As a result of sharp maneuvering … the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface,” the ministry said on Telegram. “The Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their base airfield.”

Footage released by the US military on Thursday shows the Russian fighter jets rapidly approaching the drone, pouring fuel on it, and appearing to damage the drone’s propeller. The US was forced to take the drone down over the Black Sea after the impact made it effectively inoperable, officials said. 

Watch here:

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01:10 - Source: cnn

Russia and China are planning to strengthen relations and agree to a plan for developing further economic cooperation — with military cooperation also on the table — when the leaders of the two countries meet next week in Moscow. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will sign documents attesting to the closer ties and also plan to discuss the war in Ukraine, according to Putin’s adviser on international relations, Yuri Ushakov.

In an interview with Russian state media TASS, Ushakov said “Moscow highly appreciates the balanced position of the Chinese leadership.” 

Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu, as well as the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Dmitry Shugaev, will take part in the discussions around “military-technical cooperation,” Ushakov said. 

“Russia and China are satisfied with the highest level of relations that continue to develop, Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow will give them a new impetus,” he added.

The leaders will each publish articles in Russian and Chinese media respectively to “express their assessments of relations” between the nations following the talks. Xi’s visit is expected to be straightforward with “no additional protocol,” according to TASS.

American officials say they will be watching intently for signs that China is moving forward with providing weapons to Russia during next week’s summit between Chinese President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The summit itself did not come as a surprise to the White House since there have been reports such a meeting could occur for weeks. Still, there remain deep concerns the “no limits” partnership Xi and Putin have cemented during previous meetings could deepen during face-to-face talks.

So far, officials have said there hasn’t been any indication that Beijing has made a final decision to assist Moscow’s war efforts with lethal aid. But they have been considering it, according to American officials, who have been monitoring intelligence on a day-to-day basis for indications that Xi is going forward.

Next week’s meeting could provide a venue for such an announcement.

“It’s something that we will watch for,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said this week. “Obviously, Russia has its own interests in trying to pull other countries into this conflict if it can, but our position is the same whether or not they meet.”

The concern among US officials is not that Chinese weapons would help Russia land a decisive win in Ukraine. Instead, the worry is that lethal aid from Beijing could prolong the conflict, which US officials believe favors Putin.

A drawn-out war could also benefit China if American resources and attention are consumed in Ukraine, instead of in Asia, where Beijing has become increasingly assertive militarily.

Meanwhile, US officials say they are working to get Xi on the telephone with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, believing that hearing directly from him could prove useful.

“We think that it’s important that China has the perspective of Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told CNN. “Clearly, Russia’s motivations are nefarious. They illegally invaded and have occupied Ukraine. We hope that President Xi and the Chinese government would be able to have the benefit of understanding what exactly the impact of their support to Russia is having.”

CNN’s Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.

The independent UN human rights commission released a report on Thursday that concluded Russia committed abuses and atrocities that likely amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“The Commission has concluded that Russian armed forces have carried out attacks with explosive weapons in populated areas with an apparent disregard for civilian harm and suffering,” it said, adding that the country’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and authorities’ use of torture “may amount to crimes against humanity.”

While the bulk of the evidence gathered concerned the conduct of Russian forces, the commission said it had also documented “a small number of violations committed by Ukrainian armed forces, including likely indiscriminate attacks and two incidents that qualify as war crimes.”

The report’s findings include:

The commission said that in the course of gathering evidence it visited 56 cities, towns and settlements and conducted several hundred interviews in person and remotely. It also “inspected sites of destruction, graves, places of detention and torture, as well as weapon remnants; and consulted documents, photographs, satellite imagery and videos.”

A US surveillance drone is operating over the Black Sea, according to data from FlightRadar24, a flight tracking website. 

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is seen flying at 52,000 feet over the southern Black Sea. Its flight track shows that it entered international airspace over the Black Sea from Romania and traversed from west to east. According to FlightRadar24 data, the flight track shows the drone operating in international airspace southeast of Crimea and west of the Russian coastal city of Sochi. 

Asked at a news conference Thursday when the US would fly drone missions again, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said, “I’m not going to get into talking about specific missions, routes, timelines of operations. I think Secretary [Lloyd] Austin was pretty clear that we’re going to continue to fly and operate in international airspace where international law allows, and that includes the Black Sea region.”

Some background: The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a spy drone capable of high-altitude, long-endurance missions with a suite of surveillance and intelligence gathering capabilities. It has a wingspan of 130 feet and a maximum takeoff weight of 32,000 pounds, making it far larger than the MQ-9 Reaper that went down on Tuesday. 

On Thursday, CNN reported that the US was conducting an assessment of drone operations over the Black Sea following a collision between a Russian fighter jet and a US spy drone that forced the drone down.

The US military was “taking a close look” at the drone’s routes and assessing how to better deconflict with the Russians, who have been regularly flying their fighter jets in and out of Crimea, officials said. The Pentagon has asked European Command to justify surveillance flights in the area going forward in part to assess risk, a senior US military official said.

The US military had not stopped the drone flights entirely amid the assessment. The military sent the same model of drone, an MQ-9 Reaper, on a mission in approximately the same area over the Black Sea shortly after the collision occurred in an effort to survey the crash site and monitor Russians looking for the debris. 

If you’re just joining us, here’s everything you need to know on Friday’s developments in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has brushed off Poland and Slovakia’s donations of fighter jets to Ukraine, and accused NATO of increasing its involvement in the war.

This week, the two nations announced further pledges of weapons to support Ukraine, including MiG-29 fighter jets. Poland has promised four of the planes, and Slovakia 13.

“It seems that these countries are thus engaged in the disposal of old unnecessary equipment,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

He told reporters that the move is “yet another example” of how NATO members are “increasing their level of direct involvement in the conflict.”

Peskov said it would not chance the outcome of what Moscow consistently calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, adding that the move could cause more problems for Kyiv.

The Kremlin has released the schedule of meetings planned between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Moscow next week. 

The two leaders will start with a one-on-one on Monday followed by an “informal lunch,” with negotiations set to take place Tuesday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. 

On Friday, Moscow and Beijing confirmed that Xi will travel to meet Putin in his first visit to Russia since the war in Ukraine began.

The visit will be seen as a powerful show of Beijing’s support for Moscow in Western capitals, where leaders have grown increasingly wary of the two nations’ deepening partnership as war rages in Europe.

Russian forces are carrying out fewer offensive actions in Ukraine than at any time since January, according to the UK’s defense ministry.

Russian and Wagner Group forces have obtained footholds west of the Bakhmutka River in the center of the Bakhmut, but “more broadly across the front line, Russia is conducting some of the lowest rates of local offensive action that has been seen since at least January 2023,” the ministry said in its daily bulletin Friday.

“This is most likely because Russian forces have temporarily depleted the deployed formations’ combat power to such an extent that even local offensive actions are not currently sustainable,” it added.

Ukrainian officials and other analysts have also noted a decline in Russian offensive action in recent weeks, even as fire from artillery and rocket systems, as well as airstrikes, continue.

A Ukrainian military spokesman, Col. Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, said Wednesday that Russian ground attacks have decreased from 90-100 attacks per day to 20-29 per day and two to nine at night.

“The enemy has somewhat lost its offensive potential amid significant losses in manpower and equipment,” Dmytrashkivskyi said. “In addition, it has significantly reduced the use of military equipment, especially at night.”

And the Institute for the Study of War noted earlier this week that “the overall pace of Russian operations in Ukraine appears to have decreased compared to previous weeks.”

However, indirect fire — from artillery, rocket systems and air strikes — continues to cause widespread damage across the Donetsk region.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk region military administration, said that six people were wounded in two waves of shelling in the city of Kostyantynivka on Thursday, with Toretsk and Chasiv Yar also targeted.

Slovakia will send 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said Friday, making it the second NATO member to pledge the aircraft after Poland.

“Promises must be kept and when [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky asked for more weapons including fighter jets, I said we’ll do our best. Glad others [are] doing the same,” Heger said on twitter. 

Military aid is key, he added, to ensure Ukraine “can defend itself” and Europe against Russia.

Some context: Poland has already announced that it will transfer four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming days.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said the planes – from about a dozen that it had inherited from the former German Democratic Republic – would be handed over after being serviced.

The White House said Thursday that Poland’s decision to send the fighter jets is a “sovereign decision” that won’t spur US President Joe Biden to send F-16 aircraft.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin declared a “no-limits” friendship in February last year, when the Russian President visited Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

Weeks later, Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine.

Since then, China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion — or referred to it as such, instead blaming the advance of NATO for provoking the conflict and repeating the Kremlin’s stance.

It has also provided diplomatic support for Moscow, while strengthening economic and military ties to its northern neighbor.

In recent weeks Western officials have begun publicly raising concerns that China may be considering providing Russia with lethal military assistance, an accusation denied by Beijing.

Here’s a timeline of closer relations between Beijing and Moscow:

Read more here.

Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to Russia is for “peace” and China will uphold its “objective and impartial position” on international and regional issues including the Ukraine crisis, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

Xi’s trip comes as Beijing attempts to present itself as a neutral peace broker in the Ukraine war and as it struggles to balance its “no-limits” relationship with Moscow and fraying ties with the West.

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

CNN reported last month that the US has intelligence suggesting the Chinese government is considering providing Russia with drones and ammunition for use in the war in Ukraine, with sources familiar with the intelligence saying negotiations between Russia and China about the price and scope of the equipment were ongoing.

China and Russia’s deep defense spending ties have not changed even in face of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, customs records reviewed by CNN have also showed.

Speaking at the briefing Friday, Wang said China has always taken a “prudent and responsible” attitude and controlled the export of military and civil dual-use items in accordance with the law.

Economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia is “open and transparent,” he said. 

Without naming any specific country, Wang also appeared to criticize the United States, saying China opposes “unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction without a basis in international law and without the authorization of the [UN] Security Council.”
He also accused some countries of a “double standard” on arm sales, saying they are “pouring oil on the fire” on the Ukraine issue.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s planned trip to Russia on Monday for a state visit comes as Beijing attempts to present itself as a neutral peace broker in the Ukraine war and as it struggles to balance its “no-limits” relationship with Moscow and fraying ties with the West.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Friday repeated Beijing’s often-stated position that China-Russia relations are based on the principles of “non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties.”

Wang said Xi will discuss bilateral relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and “major international and regional issues,” while drawing a new blueprint for the two countries’ relations and deepening cooperation in various fields.

Last month, China’s Foreign Ministry released a position paper on the Ukraine war that called for a resumption of peace talks, an end to unilateral sanctions, and stressed Beijing’s opposition to the use of nuclear weapons — a stance Xi communicated to Western leaders last year.

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.

Wang, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, appeared to take aim at China’s Western critics Friday, without naming any country specifically.

He said the partnership between Russia and China will “benefit both the two peoples and the world,” which is “completely different from the approach of certain countries that cling to the Cold War mentality, gang up on each other, engage in small circles and confrontations, and hegemonize and bully others.”

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will visit Russia next week at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“At the invitation of President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russia from March 20 to 22,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement on the ministry’s website Friday.

It will be Xi’s first visit to Russia since Putin invaded Ukraine last year.

The Kremlin confirmed the visit would take place, saying the two leaders would discuss “strategic cooperation.”

“During the talks, topical issues of further development of comprehensive partnership relations and strategic cooperation between Russia and China will be discussed,” the Kremlin said Friday.

“An exchange of views is also planned in the context of deepening Russian-Chinese cooperation in the international arena,” the Kremlin added. “A number of important bilateral documents will be signed.”

Some context: The visit comes as China tries to present itself as a neutral peace broker on Ukraine, but the effort has been met with skepticism in Western capitals due to Beijing’s growing partnership with Moscow.

China has refused to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine — or referred to it as an “invasion,” instead blaming the advance of NATO for provoking the conflict.

It has also provided diplomatic support for Moscow, while expanding trade and military ties to its northern neighbor.

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

Read more here.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Thursday repeated his complaints of inadequate munitions supplies from Russia in yet another sign of the mercenary group’s growing isolation from the Kremlin with his fighters locked in fierce fighting for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

“Shells are being made, but we don’t have any for some reason. But the global reason, I think, is the following. Wagner PMC is the most effective unit, and all the military know this,” Prigozhin said in a video interview published by the outlet RIAFAN.

The media group is is part of Prigozhin’s holding company Concord and believed to be associated with the troll factory he admitted having funded.

Prigozhin placed a bet on his mercenaries raising the Russian flag in Bakhmut, albeit at a considerable cost to the ranks of his force and probably to his own fortune.

He spent heavily on recruiting as many as 40,000 prisoners to throw into the fight, but after months of grinding battle and staggering losses he is struggling to replenish Wagner’s ranks, all the while accusing Russia’s Ministry of Defense of trying to strangle his force.

Many analysts think his suspicions are well-founded — that Russia’s military establishment is using Bakhmut as a “meat-grinder” to cut his forces down or eliminate him as a political force altogether.

“The merit of our work is not that our fighters are made of just anything, they are made of the same exact meat: exactly the same hands, exactly the same feet, and 40% and 50% of them are exactly the same former military personnel as those who are working now,” Prigozhin said in the interview Thursday.

Wagner has made incremental gains around Bakhmut and now holds the eastern part of the city. But it seems unable to generate enough force to expel Ukrainian forces from the rest of Bakhmut. And its fighters are spread thin as they push northwest and southwest beyond the city.

A secret plan drawn up by Russia’s security service, the FSB, lays out detailed options to destabilize Moldova — including supporting pro-Russian groups, utilizing the Orthodox Church and threatening to cut off supplies of natural gas.

The document appears to have been drawn up to thwart Moldova’s tilt to the West, which includes closer relations with NATO and an application to join the European Union. It repeatedly refers to the importance of preventing Moldova from joining NATO.

It was obtained and first disclosed by a consortium of media, including VSquare and Frontstory, RISE Moldova, Expressen in Sweden, the Dossier Centre for Investigative Journalism and other outlets.

CNN has seen the full document, which appears to have been written in 2021 by the FSB’s Directorate for Cross-Border Cooperation. Its title is “Strategic objectives of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova.”

The document sets out a 10-year strategy for bringing Moldova, a former Soviet republic sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, within Russia’s sphere of influence.

The plan includes making Moldova dependent on imports of Russian gas and stirring up social conflict, as well as trying to block Moldova’s efforts to gain influence in the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria, where some 1,500 Russian soldiers are stationed.

Ukraine border: Russia has accused Ukraine of planning to invade and take over Transnistria, which borders southwestern Ukraine. The Russian defense ministry said last month that the Ukrainians were gathering armor in several border villages. Moldova and Ukraine have both dismissed the claim.

Russia’s response: Asked about the document Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “We know nothing of the existence of such a plan. I do not rule out that this is another fake. Russia has always been and remains open to building good-neighborly, mutually beneficial relations, including with Moldova.”

Peskov added: “We are very sorry that the current leadership of Moldova is experiencing completely unjustified and unfounded prejudices against Moscow.”

Read the full story here.

Russia is ramping up its presence in the Black Sea with what Ukraine’s military says is a “rather atypical number of ships.” The increased number of vessels could be intended as a “demonstration of dominance at sea” after Tuesday’s downing of a US drone by a Russian fighter jet, the military said.

If you’re just now catching up, here’s what else you should know:

Other news:

Poland’s decision to send Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine is a “sovereign decision” that won’t spur President Joe Biden to send US F-16 aircraft, according to the White House.

Biden has said shipments of US fighter jets aren’t in the cards at the moment, though he hasn’t ruled it out entirely.

The pledge from Poland to send four jets, which is a break from other NATO partners, doesn’t alter that decision-making, said John Kirby, a top official at the US National Security Council.

“These are sovereign decisions for any country to make and we respect those sovereign decisions,” he said, adding later, “They get to determine not only what they’re going to give but how they’re going to characterize it.”

Kirby declined to endorse the decision, saying he didn’t think it was the US’ place “to characterize Poland’s decision one way or another.”

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the combative boss of Russia’s Wagner private military group, relishes his role as an anti-establishment maverick, but signs are growing that the Moscow establishment now has him pinned down and gasping for breath.

Prigozhin placed a bet on his mercenaries raising the Russian flag in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, albeit at a considerable cost to the ranks of his force and probably to his own fortune.

He spent heavily on recruiting as many as 40,000 prisoners to throw into the fight, but after months of grinding battle and staggering losses he is struggling to replenish Wagner’s ranks, all the while accusing Russia’s Ministry of Defense of trying to strangle his force.

Many analysts think his suspicions are well-founded — that Russia’s military establishment is using the Bakhmut “meat-grinder” to cut him down to size or eliminate him as a political force altogether.

At the weekend, Prigozhin acknowledged that the battle in Bakhmut was “difficult, very difficult, with the enemy fighting for each meter.”

In another video message, Prigozhin said: “We need the military to shield the approaches (to Bakhmut). If they manage to do so, everything will be okay. If not, then Wagner will be encircled together with the Ukrainians inside Bakhmut.”

Just when Prigozhin most needed the support of regular Russian forces and a reliable flow of munitions, neither appears to be available.

Wagner has made incremental gains around Bakhmut and now holds the eastern part of the city. But it seems unable to generate enough force to expel Ukrainian forces from the rest of Bakhmut. And its fighters are spread thin as they push northwest and southwest beyond the city.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank assesses that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu “is likely seizing the opportunity to deliberately expend both elite and convict Wagner forces in Bakhmut in an effort to weaken Prigozhin and derail his ambitions for greater influence in the Kremlin.”

Read the full analysis here.

The US believes Russia has recovered some debris in the Black Sea from the downed US surveillance drone, a US official familiar with the matter told CNN. The official described the recovered wreckage as pieces of fiberglass or small bits of the MQ-9 Reaper drone. 

CNN reported on Wednesday that Russia had reached the location where the US surveillance drone went down in the Black Sea, approximately 70-80 miles southwest of Crimea.

But the Biden administration downplayed the significance of the drone wreckage or the potential to glean any sensitive intelligence from the remains of the aircraft. 

“We made it impossible for them to be able to glean anything of intelligence value off the remnants of that drone, whatever remnants there might be on the surface of the water,” John Kirby, the National Security Council strategic communications coordinator, told CNN on Wednesday. 

After the collision between the US drone and the Russian fighter jets early Tuesday morning, the drone operators took steps to erase the sensitive software of the drone before it fell into the Black Sea, according to US officials.

“Whatever’s left … that’s floating will probably be flight control surfaces, that kind of thing. Probably nothing of real intrinsic value to them in terms of terms of reengineering or anything like that,” Kirby said.

The drone landed in water that may be nearly a mile deep, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley said at a news conference on Wednesday. 

Ukrainian officials have held a number of discussions with leaders of other countries Thursday. Here’s what they spoke about:

Separately, UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly made an official state visit to Moldova, where he said he believes the best way to protect the country from a Russian attack is not by sending it military support, but by protecting Ukraine.

The stunning aerial video of a Russian jet buzzing and then apparently hitting a US drone over the Black Sea vividly shows how the war in Ukraine could spin out of control.

But if there is anything comforting to take away from the drama, it seems the two nuclear powers are determined to prevent that worst-case scenario of the conflict from happening.

Clearly, the showdown, which has resulted in angry rhetoric being flung between Washington and Moscow but nothing more, would have been far worse if the US Reaper drone that was downed had been a manned aircraft.

The fact a drone was involved has allowed both sides to calibrate their language to avoid an escalation. It has also shown the value of military to military contacts between Russia and the US. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin revealed on Wednesday that he had spoken to his counterpart in Moscow. And Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had similar contacts planned. In another theater of operations, the Pacific, where US and Chinese jets and ships often come in close contact, such military-to-military dialogue has been suspended at various points — a scenario the incident over Ukraine reveals as highly dangerous.

Tensions between Russia and the West that were worsened by the drone incident are likely to ramp up further with the news that Poland will send Ukraine four MiG jets that were once in the inventory of the former East Germany in the Cold War-era Warsaw pact. The move marks an important milestone in the West’s aid to Kyiv and answers a long-standing request by the government there. But it is not as inflammatory as a decision to send more advanced US-made F-16 planes at Ukraine’s request would have been. The US and its allies have so far not signed off on such a step.

Read the full analysis here.

Poland on Thursday pledged it would send four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, the first NATO member to do so, in a significant move in Kyiv’s battle to resist Russia’s onslaught.

President Andrzej Duda said the planes — from about a dozen that it had inherited from the former German Democratic Republic — would be handed over in the coming days after being serviced.

“When it comes to the MiG-29 aircraft, which are still operating in the defense of Polish airspace, a decision has been taken at the highest levels, we can say confidently that we are sending MiGs to Ukraine,” Duda said.

Warsaw has taken a lead among NATO allies in supplying Kyiv with heavy weapons. The announcement that Poland will send the Soviet-designed planes marks a step beyond the rest of the alliance’s commitments, and could put pressure on other member states to do the same. Other NATO nations have been reluctant to move far beyond a decision earlier this year to send tanks to Kyiv, and the US insisted Thursday that Poland’s move would not force Washington’s hand.

Read more here.