February 16, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told CNN he opposes a resolution from Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz that expresses a desire to end military and financial aid to Ukraine.

McCarthy made the remarks during a visit to the US-Mexico border.

“No, I support Ukraine,” McCarthy said, when asked whether he backs Gaetz’s measure. “I don’t support a blank check, though. We spent $100 billion here, we want to win. I think the actions that President Biden has taken are a bit too late.”

Gaetz introduced a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution last week, demanding an end to aid for Ukraine, and for the US to demand all combatants “reach a peace agreement immediately.”

While Russian forces appear to be preparing a new offensive in Ukraine, Western officials are skeptical that Moscow has amassed the manpower and resources to make significant gains.

On Thursday, US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland suggested the offensive wasn’t a cause for worry. “You see the war grinding in the east, in Bakhmut,” she said. “Russia has declared that it is launching a new offensive. Well, if this is it, it is very pathetic, I would say.”

She said Ukraine is planning its own counteroffensive “for later on.”

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

Russian attacks. Russian strikes around Bakhmut left three men and two women dead Thursday, according to a regional official, and nine other civilians also sustained various wounds from shrapnel. Missiles also struck critical infrastructure in the Lviv and Kirovohrad regions, Ukrainian officials said. European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano denounced Russian drone and missile attacks in Ukraine, saying that they “constitute war crimes” and “are unacceptable.”

Prisoner exchange. One hundred soldiers and one civilian were returned to Ukraine in exchange for 101 captured Russian service members, officials from both countries said Thursday.

Support for Ukraine. Britain and Poland are “entirely aligned in their steadfast support” for Kyiv and agree that aid should be “accelerated in the coming weeks,” the United Kingdom said in a statement Thursday. After two days of meetings with NATO officials and members in Brussels, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov expressed optimism about the results. Discussions had included practical aspects of a “tank coalition” being put together. Additionally, spare parts for the first foreign self-propelled artillery are already being ordered, he said.

Zelensky interview: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would not agree to give up any Ukrainian territory in a potential future peace deal with Russia, he said in an interview with BBC News, warning it could lead Russia to “keep coming back.”

Belarus’ stance. At a rare news conference Thursday, Belarusian strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko insisted he will not send troops to Ukraine unless Belarus is attacked, but also defiantly maintained that Russia is a staunch ally of his country. Lukashenko is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

Russian strikes around the fiercely embattled Ukrainian city of Bakhmut left three men and two women dead Thursday, according to a regional official, and nine other civilians also sustained various wounds from shrapnel.

The five civilians killed varied in age between 32 and 66, according to a statement published online by the Donetsk region prosecutor’s office.

The statement said the shelling also damaged many residential buildings.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk appealed to the civilians who remain in Bakhmut to leave the city immediately.

“Those who choose to stay in Bakhmut are endangering themselves and loved ones,” creating additional risks for the military and police, and “preventing our defense and security forces from working properly in the city,” Vereshchuk said.

The United States is not only looking at the weapons it will provide to Ukraine for the battlefield right now, but also what they will need for continued deterrence whenever the war ends, a top State Department official said Thursday.

“We’re looking at not just what Ukraine is going to need for this immediate fight, but we’re also thinking about — with the Ukrainians — the Ukrainian military of the future,” said Victoria Nuland, the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs.

She would not speak to specific capabilities that the US might provide in the near future or longer term when asked by CNN if the US would provide jets or Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) anytime soon.

However, Nuland suggested that such types of equipment could be provided to be used for deterrence.

“Some of the things that you were talking about, if you think about a military that we’ll need whenever this stops and however it stops, to be able to deter Russia from coming back again, they’re going to have to have the sophisticated enduring air defense. They’re going to have to have much stronger border defenses and the ability to ensure Russia can’t invade again. They’re going to have to have better radars and early warning,” she said.

Nuland said that the US is also thinking about ensuring that even if the conflict stops, there isn’t a repeat, referencing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

“We must never trust as long as Vladimir Putin is in power or somebody like him, that this is truly over,” she said. “So even if there is a just peace, there has to be a long-term plan and a building of the Ukrainian military of the future so that they can be deterring of any future appetite that Putin might have.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would not agree to give up any Ukrainian territory in a potential future peace deal with Russia, he said in an interview with BBC News, warning it could lead Russia to “keep coming back.”

“Any territorial compromises would make us weaker as a state,” Zelensky told BBC News. “It’s not about compromise itself. Why would we fear that? There are millions of compromises in life. The question is with whom? Compromise with Putin? No. Because there’s no trust.”

Zelensky also told BBC News a spring offensive, warned of by Kyiv officials, had already begun.

He also responded to comments made at a Thursday news conference by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in which Lukashenko insisted he would not send troops into Ukraine unless Belarus itself is attacked.

 “I hope [Belarus] won’t join [the war],” Zelensky told BBC News. “If it does, we will fight and we will survive.”

Zelensky added it would be a “huge mistake” to allow Russia to use Belarus as a staging area for an attack.

Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s European director, hailed Ukraine’s health system Thursday for not succumbing to collapse and disease outbreak as predicted when Russia invaded the country one year ago.

Kluge recalled “a lot of pessimistic” projections last year, including that “the health system will collapse” and there would be “an explosion of Covid-19, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS”.

He credits healthcare workers and international support for the reason why the system is so resilient and still standing.

The mental health toll of the war is huge, he said, and international efforts “need to be doubled” to facilitate community-based training of primary healthcare doctors to treat mental health at a local level.

Kluge’s visit to Ukraine was focused on delivering the health organization’s “largest humanitarian donation in its history,” which included 59 immunization buses mobilized to deliver vaccinations to children. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that a priority is moving forward with the liberation of Ukrainian land. 

“Holding the situation at the front and preparing for any escalation steps of the enemy is a priority for the near future,” Zelensky said in his daily address where he detailed his meeting with the supreme commander-in-chief’s staff and regional commanders.  “Moving forward with the further liberation of our land is a priority that we are carefully preparing,” he added. 

Zelensky also thanked the Ukrainian Air Force, which he said downed half of the missiles and drones that Russia used in its attack on Thursday. 

Artillerymen from the private military contractor Wagner released a video on Thursday appealing to the Russian defense ministry for more ammunition to fight in Ukraine. 

“Every day we fulfill complex combat tasks and provide cover for our assault groups. At the moment we are completely cut off from ammunition supplies,” one mercenary said in the video posted on Telegram, noting a shortage of howitzer ammunition, anti-tank gun ammunition, and mortars. 

The Telegram video and caption did not give any details about the location of the Wagner fighters.

“We are appealing to our colleagues and friends from the Ministry of Defense. We are sure that you’ve got ammunition somewhere in warehouses,” the Wagner fighter said. “But we need them urgently.”

“We would be hugely grateful if you provide assistance to us — if you help us and supply these types of ammunition,. A huge amount of people will survive and be able to continue taking part in the fighting, and this will have an impact on the whole course of the war,” the fighter said. “We’ll slave away this labor for you, we’ll do the job. Help us with ammunition!”

The mercenary group has emerged as a key player in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia has been using the shadowy private company to supply thousands of Wagner forces — many recruited from prisons – to wage war in eastern Ukraine. 

In response to the video, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called the artillerymen “wonderful fighters” and heroes and urged the defense ministry to deliver. 

“Pay attention to the fact that these wonderful fighters are heroes who die for our Motherland, they did not call anyone indecent words, and in no way discredited the Ministry of Defense,” Prigozhin said, responding to questions from the pro-Wagner Telegram channel Grey Zone. “They simply asked their colleagues for ammunition and gave a detailed list of what was needed. I can say that it has already brought some results.”

The defense ministry has not yet publicly responded to the demand. 

Prigozhin has routinely leveled scathing public criticism at Russian military officials in recent months for their failures in Ukraine. 

CNN’s Mick Krever contributed to this report.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that Israel “will expand the level of aid” provided to Ukraine and assist the country in “developing a smart early warning system,” during his visit to Kyiv Thursday.

“I emphasized that Israel strongly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Cohen tweeted following his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “I assured him that Israel would expand the level of aid we provide and that we would be partners in the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war.”

Cohen also held a briefing with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in which he said, “I was happy to update that we will assist in developing a smart early warning system for Ukraine.”

Additionally, Cohen reopened the Israeli embassy in Kyiv for the first time since the beginning of the war.

“Israel has always been our important partner in the Middle East. This is the first visit of an Israeli representative since the beginning of the full-scale invasion,” Zelensky said in a Telegram post on Thursday. “We discussed deepening bilateral cooperation in various areas. I invite Israel to join the implementation of our Peace Formula.”

View Cohen’s tweet:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the UK’s opposition Labour party leader to Kyiv on Thursday.

“One of our priorities today is to further strengthen support for Ukraine from our partners and allies, among whom the United Kingdom is one of the key ones,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “That is why the visit of the leader of the Labour Party and the Official Opposition of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, is very important.”

Starmer visited Bucha and Irpin, both on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Thursday.

“It is very important for me to be here in Ukraine, with the people of Ukraine, making clear that support for Ukraine in the United Kingdom is united — making it absolutely clear that, should there be an election next year and a change of government, the position on Ukraine will remain the same,” the opposition leader said. 

Britain’s next general election is not scheduled until 2025. However, calls to hold an early ballot have sustained since the ruling Conservative party’s turmoil last year.  

The White House said US President Joe Biden plans to send a message of solidarity when he visits Poland next week around the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shared details about the trip Thursday after being asked about public concerns among US citizens over how much aid is being spent on the war. Jean-Pierrex did not directly answer the question, instead previewing the trip to reporters.

“We’re going to show that unity. We’re going to show that support. We’re going to show that it is important to be there when a country is fighting for their democracy, fighting for their sovereignty,” Jean-Pierre said. “And that’s what you’re going to see from the president.”

Asked whether Biden’s speech in Poland next week is intended for a global audience, or whether it is intended to boost American support for the war, Jean-Pierre answered only generally, saying: “any time the president speaks, he is speaking as well to the American people.” 

“Look this is going to be the one-year. He’s going there ahead of the one-year anniversary and sending a strong message of solidarity. And the president understands — to reaffirm our support for the Ukrainian people as they’re fighting back against a brutal war that Russia started almost a year ago,” Jean Pierre said.

“And the president believes it’s important to show that solidarity. Important to show our partnership and how — and that we are indeed supporting our NATO allies. And so, that’s what you’re going to see.”

European leaders must “seriously consider” providing Kyiv with fighter jets, lawmakers in the European Union parliament said in a resolution adopted Thursday.

The resolution marked nearly one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  

“They reaffirm their support for providing military assistance to Ukraine for as long as is necessary and call for serious consideration to be given to delivering Western fighter jets and helicopters, appropriate missile systems and substantial increases in munitions delivery to Kyiv,” according to a satement. 

“Ukraine must not only be able to defend itself, but also to regain full control of its entire internationally recognised territory,” it added.

The resolution, which is non-binding, also calls on the EU to implement a tenth package of sanctions against Moscow by the end of February and to tighten those already in place. Assets seized from Russian oligarchs should be used to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction, lawmakers said. 

The legislators also urged the European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — and national governments to begin talks with Ukraine this year on Ukraine’s bid for EU membership.

Russian response: The Russian Mission to the EU slammed the parliament’s resolution as a “paragon of disinformation” unsupported by “data, facts or evidence,” in a statement posted on its website.

“Obviously, the resolution is aimed at deliberately misleading the European public and trying to justify the European Union’s course to escalate the Ukrainian conflict and increase sanctions pressure on our country,” the mission said.

Moscow has faced constant diplomatic pressure from the EU, including economic sanctions, since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to invade Ukraine.

More background: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took his plea for the supply of Western fighter jets directly to other European countries last week, including in a surprise visit to London and at a European Union summit.

Ukrainian pilots will start training on NATO jets in the United Kingdom soon, but it’s unclear how soon allies could make a decision on whether to send the modern fighting planes.

NATO’s secretary general said Tuesday that the question of sending modern fighter jets to Ukraine is “not the most urgent issue” right now, focusing instead on delivering the military support it has already committed to Ukraine.

US fighter jets intercepted Russian fighter jets and bombers flying near Alaska for the second time in two days on Thursday, though the aircraft did not enter US or Canadian airspace.

Two NORAD F-35s intercepted Russian TU-95 Bear bombers, as well as SU-30 and SU-35 fighters, on Tuesday. The aircraft were approaching Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone when they were intercepted, NORAD said, which is up to 200 miles from the coastline. 

The Russian aircraft remained outside US and Canada sovereign airspace, which extends 12 miles (more than 19 kilometers) from the coastline.

One day earlier, two NORAD F-16s intercepted TU-95s and SU-35s that had already entered the Alaska ADIZ, while remaining outside US airspace.

In both cases, the Russians sent a total of four aircraft, according to NORAD.

NORAD said it did not consider the Russian aircraft activity as provocative or a threat. 

“As before, NORAD had anticipated this Russian activity and, as a result of our planning, was able to intercept it,” NORAD said in a statement. NORAD went on to say that it does not view this activity as in any way related to the recent downing of flying objects in US and Canadian airspace.

“We remain ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America and Arctic sovereignty,” NORAD said.

The intercepted flights near US territory come amid heightened tensions between Washington and the Kremlin over the war in Ukraine.

While doing everything he can to avoid setting off a direct clash with Russia, US President Joe Biden has sent billions of dollars in American weapons into a proxy conflict he defined as “a test for the ages. A test for America, a test of the world” in his State of the Union address last week.

CNN’s Stephen Collinson contributed to this report.

Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday that Russia attacked infrastructure facilities in the Lviv and Kirovohrad regions.

Three missiles hit a critical infrastructure facility in the Drohobych district of the western Lviv region, according to the head of the district’s military administration Stepan Kulyniak.

There were no injuries, but “a number of buildings were destroyed and damaged,” Kulyniak said in a social media post. He did not specify what type of infrastructure facility was hit. 

Meanwhile, in the Kirovhohrad region, authorities said an early morning missile attack hit “reservoirs with petroleum products,” causing a fire that was later extinguished. 

“None of the service personnel was injured. People living near this facility were not injured either. The damage was done to the houses they live in,” said Andrii Raikovych, the head of the Kirovohrad region military administration. Raikovych added that authorities will inspect and repair the damage to residential buildings in the area. 

Norway has launched a multi-year support program for Ukraine worth $7.3 billion, the country’s government confirmed in a statement Thursday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky participated remotely in the launch of the Nansen Support Programme, which will be distributed over a period of five years, the statement said.  

“I am very pleased that there is such broad agreement on the support program for Ukraine,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said, according to the statement. “We are standing together in condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine and in supporting the Ukrainian people’s legitimate fight to defend themselves.”  

Norway’s government has also reached an agreement on additional funding of $488.5 million for developing countries “severely affected by the ramifications of the war,” the statement continued, noting the impact the invasion has had on the cost of food, fertilizer and energy.  

Russia’s newly declared offensive is “very pathetic,” according to a top US State Department official, who questioned whether the Russian people would continue to support the war in Ukraine.

“You see the war grinding in the east, in Bakhmut,” said US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland. “Russia has declared that it is launching a new offensive. Well, if this is it, it is very pathetic, I would say.”

She said Ukraine is planning its own counteroffensive “for later on.”

Nuland said that “more than 200,000 Russians” have been killed or wounded in the war so far, and that Russia has “in some categories lost more than half of their military equipment in this war.”

Nuland also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is arrogant enough to believe that he can defeat Ukraine.”

“I think the more interesting question is whether the Russian people will stand for this, given how many of their sons they are losing, more than 200,000 Russians killed in action or wounded in action over the course of the year. They have in some categories lost more than half of their military equipment in this war, and more than a million of the brightest and best Russians have left the country,” she said.

“So what is this war bringing the average Russian? Nothing. Death, destruction, loss of a future, loss of the technological and economic potential that would come from being integrated with us,” Nuland said. “So what is more interesting is whether the Russian people will stand for this.”

More on Bakhmut: Earlier this month, the head of Russia’s Wagner private military group said the capture of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine was far from imminent.

“Bakhmut will not be taken tomorrow, because there is heavy resistance and grinding, the meat grinder is working,” Yevgeniy Prigozhin said in a statement distributed on a Wagner Telegram channel. “For the meat grinder to work properly, it is impossible to suddenly start festivities. There won’t be any festivities anytime soon.”

CNN’s Mick Krever contributed to this post.

After two days of meetings with NATO officials and members in Brussels, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov expressed optimism about the results.

“Threats from the sky will be better repelled. The army will be better supplied with ammunition. More of our soldiers will receive quality training,” Reznikov said, according to a Facebook post from Ukraine’s defense ministry.

“The main thing is that the ‘armored fist’ is being strengthened, which in a few months will be able to solve problems in accordance with the plan of the Commander-in-Chief,” he added.

Reznikov said discussions had included practical aspects of a “tank coalition” being put together. Additionally, spare parts for the first foreign self-propelled artillery are already being ordered, he said.

He also addressed procurement issues after allegations of corruption within the defense ministry in purchasing food supplies for the military.

“Some reforms are moving more slowly,” he said, but others “are gaining momentum because they are essential.”

“In fact, we are talking about synchronizing all procurement procedures to be used by the MoD with standard procedures adopted by NATO,” Reznikov said. “The trust of partners is important for Ukraine. It is this trust that allows us to receive all the assistance provided by our partners.”

The Ukrainian military will be adopting German auditing software to better handle its logistics, he said.

“We are returning home. We have a lot of work to do,” Reznikov said.

At a rare news conference Thursday, Belarusian strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko weaved and ducked questions from international media about his country’s complicity in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Lukashenko sat down with a small gathering of journalists, including from CNN, at Minsk’s Palace of Independence. He insisted he will not send troops to Ukraine unless Belarus is attacked, but also defiantly maintained that Russia is a staunch ally of his country.   

When asked by CNN’s Fred Pleitgen why Lukashenko continued to support what has so far been a protracted and strategically questionable war for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Belarusian president tried to turn the tables on the West.  

“Why do you support Ukraine, pumping it with weapons instead of sitting down to negotiate as I suggest? You are already discussing sending long-range weapons, missiles up to 300 kilometers in range, and F-16 fighter jets, state of the art fighter jets, after hundreds of Leopard tanks have gone there. Why are you doing this? You understand this is escalation,” he said.  

When pressed by CNN to explain why his regime supported Russia’s war in Ukraine, Lukashenko insisted he hates war.  

“No, I hate war. Do you hear me? You’re not hearing me,” the Belarusian leader said. “I hate war, and our Belarusian people hate war. And we do not want war.”  

Lukashenko maintained he wanted to see “peaceful negotiations” and accused the United States of preventing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from negotiating.   

“You are not letting him negotiate. This is my conviction. And there are many facts that speak to this. It’s you who wants war. Please wake up,” he said. “The US are the only one who needs this slaughter, only they want it. Europe does not need this war, because if there is an escalation, Europe will sizzle. Europeans know it. And even the British know it, and especially Ukrainians.”  

In his characteristic combative style, Lukashenko said Russia’s decision to send its troops into Ukraine had nothing to do with him, but he supported them regardless.

On Bakhmut: Lukashenko also predicted the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine — which has been the focus of intense fighting in recent weeks — will be taken by Russian forces “one way or another.”  

“Bakhmut will fall in the next few days,” Lukashenko proclaimed in response to a question from CNN’s Pleitgen. “This will be yet another victory for Russia.” 

“Bakhmut will be taken one way or another. Why let thousands die? But the politicians sitting at the top in Ukraine have prohibited this, and so this meat grinder goes on,” the Belarusian leader continued.

Some context: Lukashenko’s assessment on Bakhmut differs from that of Russia’s own private military, Wagner Group, which said earlier this week that the city won’t be captured “any time soon.” Earlier this month, Ukraine’s defense minister said the city remained a “stronghold” for his country’s forces.

Soldiers on both sides have referred to battles for the city as a “meat grinder,” on account of the hundreds of lives lost daily in battle.

Britain and Poland are “entirely aligned in their steadfast support” for Ukraine and agree that aid should be “accelerated in the coming weeks,” Downing Street said in a statement Thursday.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Polish President Andrzej Duda met in London and discussed the training of Ukrainian pilots on NATO jets, which will begin in the United Kingdom shortly, according to an official UK readout.

Sunak “reiterated his commitment to European security,” the statement said, noting the UK’s recent deployment of its “Sky Sabre” missile defense system to Poland.

Sky Sabre is a medium-range, anti-air missile system that can be used to engage fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones, smart bombs and cruise missiles, according to the British Army. 

More background: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took his plea for the supply of Western fighter jets directly to other European countries last week, including in a surprise visit to London and at a European Union summit.

At the summit, a Polish ambassador reiterated his country’s support for sending Ukraine military planes if other NATO allies do as well. But President Duda appeared to downplay the prospect of any imminent deliveries of aircraft to Ukraine, calling it a “serious” decision that would not be “easy” to take.

NATO’s secretary general said Tuesday that the question of sending modern fighter jets to Ukraine is “not the most urgent issue” right now, focusing instead on delivering the military support it has already committed to Ukraine.

European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano said Wednesday that Russian drone and missile attacks in Ukraine “constitute war crimes” and “are unacceptable.”

“Overnight indiscriminate missile & drone attacks by Russia represent continued systematic & cynical terror against Ukraine & its people,” Stano said in a tweet. “These acts constitute war crimes, are unacceptable, must stop. Those involved in these crimes will be held to account.”

What is a war crime? According to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, a war crime is any act by which combatants and commanders fail to ensure respect for the civilian population, or illegally subject civilian objects to hostilities. The International Criminal Court has specific definitions for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. Specifically, targeting civilian populations, violating the Geneva Conventions, and targeting specific groups of people could be potential war crimes. 

Earlier this month, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that an international center for the prosecution of the “crime of aggression” in Ukraine will be set up in The Hague. The UN has defined aggression as “the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.”  

“Russia must be held accountable in court for its odious crimes. Prosecutors from Ukraine and the European Union are already working together. We are collecting evidence, and as a first step I’m pleased to announce that an international center for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine will be set up in The Hague,” the EU Commission President said on February 2 in Kyiv, speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Other calls for special tribunal: That announcement followed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voting unanimously to “demand” the creation of a special international tribunal to prosecute Russian and Belarusian political and military leaders “for the crime of aggression in Ukraine.”

CNN’s Arnaud Siad in Stockholm, Niamh Kennedy and Amy Cassidy in London contributed to this post.

The Ukrainian President’s Office said on Thursday that 100 Ukrainian soldiers and one civilian have been returned to Ukraine following a prisoner exchange with Russia. 

“We continue to bring Ukrainians back from captivity. Today, 100 of our soldiers and 1 civilian are going home,” said the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak in a Telegram post. 

The civilian is Ivan Samoidiuk, the first deputy mayor of Enerhodar who was held in captivity for 333 days, according to the Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War in Kyiv. 

Yermak added that 94 of the released soldiers “are defenders of Mariupol,” including 63 soldiers who fought at the Azovstal steel plant. 

“Their families have been waiting for them for so long. Many of the heroes sustained injuries of varying severity,” he added. “We continue to work, and I am grateful to the team and the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. We will bring everyone home.”

The Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War in Kyiv also noted that many of the released soldiers are wounded.

“This time, all those released as a result of the exchange are privates and sergeants,” the coordination headquarters said in a statement. “Forty-six of the released soldiers belong to the Ukrainian Navy, 29 to the State Border Guard Service, 12 to the National Guard, eight to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and five to the Territorial Defense.”

Russia also announced on Thursday that 101 captured military members were returned to Russia in an exchange with Ukraine.

“Today, on February 16, as a result of the negotiation process, 101 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime, who were in mortal danger in captivity,” according to a statement from Russia’s defense ministry, which was published on Telegram.

According to the ministry, the released servicemen will be taken to Moscow “for treatment and rehabilitation at medical institutions of the Russian Defense Ministry.”

“All those released are provided with the necessary medical and psychological assistance,” the statement added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Thursday with Maria Lvova-Belova, the official at the center of an alleged Russian government scheme to relocate, reeducate, and sometimes militarily train or forcibly adopt out Ukrainian children.

Lvova-Belova, whose official government title is Commissioner for Children’s Rights, has been sanctioned by several Western governments.

According to those countries – and a new report by Yale investigators, backed by the US State Department – she is at the center of a Russian government 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 was appointed to her position in 2021. Putin held a working meeting with her on Thursday at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence, in the Moscow region, to discuss the issues facing children in the Russia-annexed areas of Ukraine.

“You have been doing this for a long time, and I know that the amount of work is growing,” said Putin in video footage of the meeting released by the Kremlin. “The number of applications from our citizens regarding the adoption of children from the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is also growing. The (Commissioner’s) Institute has been dealing with this issue for a long time, for almost nine years now.”

Lvova-Belova told Putin about her plans for a joint endeavor with the Ministry of Health related to “medical care for children in various areas.”

Lvova-Belova also told Putin about the “trial military-patriotic” camp she and regional leaders organized in Chechnya for 200 “difficult teenagers” who “committed offenses or were registered in the juvenile department.”

She did not specify where exactly it was held, but said that the mentors for “brave patriots” who had been involved in the fighting.

Llova-Belova asked for more support to help spread the initiative and hold camps in different regions of Russia’s Caucasus.

More on Putin’s so-called Commissioner for Children’s Rights: Lvova-Belova regularly visits Russian-occupied Ukraine, and the Russian government boasts of her personally escorting plane loads of children back from Ukraine.

Putin has empowered Lvova-Belova to use unspecified “additional measures” to identify children who don’t have parental care in the four Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed.

The United States, European Union and the United Kingdom have all sanctioned her for her alleged role in the scheme.

“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 U.S. Treasury said in September.

 CNN’s Mick Krever and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this post.

Six Ukrainian power company repair workers were injured on Wednesday in Russian airstrikes on the city of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region, according to regional authorities.

“The injured are specialists who were carrying out repair work on communication lines,” the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, Oleh Synehubov, said in a Telegram post. “The building of one of the enterprises and a private house were also damaged.”

One of the men — an employee of Kharkiv’s regional power company — was hospitalized with a blast injury. The injured workers range in age from 30 to 65, according to Synehubov.

Another attack on Vovchansk later on Thursday resulted in one civilian being wounded, with “life-threatening injuries,” Synehubov said.

Earlier this week, massive shelling and an airstrike in the city damaged 13 residential buildings and the national police building, according to Synehubov.

Russian strikes overnight “destroyed” the house of an elderly couple in the Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad, killing the wife, said Serhii Lysak, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region military administration in an updated Telegram post.

“Until today’s fateful night, an elderly couple lived in this house in Pavlohrad. A wonderful couple — quiet, friendly, non-confrontational. They grew many sorts of grape. They had plans. For children, a garden, and their own little dreams,” he said. 

At 3 a.m. local time (8:00 p.m. ET), a Russian missile fell near their yard, destroying the house and the 79-year-old woman died on the spot, Lysak added.

“The whole street looks like a horror movie” with “ruins, broken windows and doors, burned cars,” he said.

Russian forces launched a renewed attack on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure overnight, firing at least 36 missiles which killed at least one person, but Ukraine’s energy ministry says that electricity supplies are unaffected.

Elsewhere, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that his country will not send troops to Ukraine unless it is attacked, as tensions mount on the Belarus-Ukraine border ahead of a planned meeting between Lukashenko and close ally Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

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A local official has published photos showing the devastation caused by Russian strikes that killed at least one person in the Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad.

Serhii Lysak, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region military administration, posted the photos on Telegram on Thursday, saying that they show “what the ‘Russian peace’ brought to Pavlohrad at night.”

Overnight strikes on the city, which is located in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, injured at least eight people, said Lysak.

More than 60 houses have been destroyed by shelling in the city, he added. 

Electricity generation across Ukraine is meeting demand despite a barrage of Russian airstrikes on critical infrastructure overnight, the country’s Energy Ministry said Thursday.

“On Thursday, February 16, for the fifth day in a row, electricity generation is sufficient to meet the needs of consumers,” the ministry said. 

Electricity generation will continue to meet demand and a reserve of power has been created, according to Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.

More than half of the country’s electricity is generated by Rivne, Pivdennoukrainsk and Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plants, the ministry said. 

In the Odesa region, stabilization outages are possible due to grid repairs, the ministry said. 

Power engineers in the Kharkiv region completed repairs and restored power supply in Kupyansk and the surrounding areas, which were cut off the day before as a result of enemy shelling, the ministry said.

Ukraine’s national power company Ukrenergo confirmed that the latest Russian attacks won’t lead to limited energy consumption.

“Power plants generate enough electricity to cover the existing consumption,” Ukrenergo said in a statement Thursday.

“All types of power plants in the power system are operating, with thermal and hydro generation covering peak consumption in the morning and evening hours,” the company said, adding “electricity imports are declining as a result of the stabilization of the country’s electricity supply.”

Ukrenergo said if consumption increases, blackouts may be applied, but currently, there is no capacity deficit and therefore no limits to energy consumption. 

Some context: Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukrainian infrastructure in waves of strikes during the war, while Ukrainian engineers have battled to keep electricity, telecoms and water services running.

Finland and Sweden’s applications to join the NATO military alliance could be assessed separately, Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Thursday.

“It is possible for us to assess the candidacy of Finland separately and this will no doubt be a topic that is discussed in the meetings we have today,” said Çavuşoğlu at a press conference in Ankara, Turkey alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

“After the declaration that a different decision could be reached in relation to Finland, we discussed this matter with the countries involved and NATO,” he said.

Finland and Sweden both applied to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and all 30 member nations must approve their applications.

However Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to reject their bids, accusing the two countries of harboring members of the separatist militant Kurdistan’s Workers Party, also known as PKK, which seeks an independent state in Turkey.

Relations between Turkey and Sweden also deteriorated after Çavuşoğlu accused the Swedish government of being complicit in the burning of the Quran at a protest in Stockholm in January.

What NATO is saying about Finland and Sweden’s membership bid: On Thursday, NATO chief Stoltenberg said that “the main issue is not whether they are ratified together, the main issue is that Finland and Sweden are ratified as soon as possible.”

“My consistent position has been and remains that the time has come to ratify both Finland and Sweden and make them full members of our alliance. They have both made big steps since we signed the joint memorandum between Finland, Sweden, and Turkey in July at the NATO summit in Madrid last year,” Stoltenberg said.

“They have removed any restrictions on arms exports, strengthened their legislation on terrorism. And Sweden is also amending their constitution and stepped up the cooperation with Türkiye, also established a permanent mechanism to continue to work closely with Türkiye in the fight against terrorism,” he continued.

Stoltenberg added that “it’s the Turkish Government, the Turkish parliament, that decides on the issue over ratification, and it’s a Turkish decision alone.”

Two Ukrainian drones have been shot down overnight near the city of Sevastopol, on the Crimean Peninsula, according to a local Russian-backed official.

“The attack on the peninsula began overnight. In the Sevastopol area, the Air Defense Forces and the Black Sea Fleet shot down 2 of the 2 UAVs over the sea,” said Mikhail Razvozhaev, governor of Sevastopol, in a Telegram post. 

“Several more” UAVs were shot down over the waters around the peninsula, he said. 

Some context: Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. In January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine will reclaim Crimea as it is “our land.”

The Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, suffered a “terrible night” as Russian missiles hit the city while residents were asleep, said Serhii Lysak, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region military administration.

A 79-year-old woman died and seven people were injured, according to preliminary information, Lysak said in a Telegram post Thursday.

“It was a terrible night in Pavlohrad. At three o’clock after midnight, when people were peacefully sleeping in their homes, the enemy hit the city with rockets,” he said. 

Two of the injured people, a 79-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman, were hospitalized. Their condition is assessed as moderate, Lysak said. 

“Industrial enterprise was damaged. A fire broke out there and has been extinguished by rescuers,” he said. 

Seven private houses were destroyed and 30 others were damaged, Lysak said. 

The Ukrainian military was able to shoot down five missiles fired over the region, he said. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“Yes, such a meeting is being prepared,” Peskov told reporters on a conference call Thursday.

Peskov said that the meeting will take place in Putin’s official residence in Novo-Ogaryovo in the Moscow region.

Lukashenko announced earlier Thursday during a press conference with journalists that he would meet with Putin, according to Belarusian state news agency BELTA.

Some context: Lukashenko is a close ally of his Russian counterpart and the two countries maintain a joint grouping of military forces.

Russia used Belarusian territory as one of its entry points for the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

Joint military drills over the last year have contributed to concerns that Belarusian troops could join Russia’s forces in Ukraine, but Lukashenko has repeatedly dismissed speculation that his troops would join the fighting in Ukraine.  

Russia has poured billions of dollars into propping up Lukashenko’s regime. And after a rigged presidential election in 2020 cemented Lukashenko’s long reign, triggering widespread pro-democracy protests, he clung to power with the help of Putin.

Russia launched a total of 36 air and sea-based cruise missiles, guided air-to-surface missiles and anti-ship missiles at Ukraine overnight into Thursday, according to Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Zaluzhnyi said 14 cruise missiles and 2 guided air-to-surface missiles were shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“The aggressor state, the russian federation, fired yet another missile barrage on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine,” his Facebook post read. “From 01:40 to 03:45 on February 16, the enemy launched air and sea-based cruise missiles, guided air-to-surface missiles and anti-ship missiles.

“Tu-22M3 and Tu-95ms strategic aircraft from the Kursk area and the Caspian Sea water area, respectively, Su-35 tactical aircraft in the vicinity of temporarily occupied Melitopol and cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea water area” were used in the attacks, said Zaluzhnyi.

There is “no way” Belarus will send troops to Ukraine unless the country is attacked, the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday.

“We are peaceful people we know what war is and we don’t want war,” Lukashenko said at a press conference in Minsk at the Palace of Independence, attended by reporters from selected news outlets including CNN. 

“There is no way we are going to send our troops to Ukraine unless you are going to commit aggression against Belarus,” added Lukashenko. “But don’t forget Russia is our ally, legally, morally and politically.”

Lukashenko added that Russia has “never asked” him to start a joint war in Ukraine.

Some context: Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two countries maintain a joint grouping of military forces.

Russia used Belarusian territory as one of its entry points for the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

Joint military drills over the last year have contributed to concerns that Belarusian troops could join Russia’s forces in Ukraine, but Lukashenko has repeatedly dismissed speculation that his troops would join the fighting in Ukraine.  

Read the full story here.

Three Russian missiles have hit a critical infrastructure facility in Lviv region, according to the head of the Lviv region military administration Maksym Kozytskyi.

“Unfortunately, overnight the enemy launched a missile attack on our region. Three missiles hit a critical infrastructure facility,” he said on Thursday.

“The only thing I can clarify is that this is not a facility that is crucial for the electricity supply in Lviv region,” he added.

“There was a fire and it was quickly extinguished. The employees were in a shelter. There were no casualties or injuries,” he said.

Russia fired at least 32 air and sea-launched cruise missiles targeting critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine overnight Thursday, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a post on Telegram. 

At least 16 of the missiles were destroyed by Ukrainian Armed Forces, the post said. 

Russia launched a “massive missile attack on critical infrastructure facilities” in Ukraine overnight into Thursday, firing at least 32 missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a post on Telegram. 

At least 16 of the missiles were destroyed by Ukrainian air defenses, the post said. 

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia also launched drones in the attacks.

“Unfortunately, there were hits in the North and West of Ukraine, as well as in Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions,” Yermak said. Ukraine’s air defenses “managed to cope with most of the enemy missiles and UAVs,” he added.

Earlier, officials in Ukraine’s western Lviv region said Russian forces had struck a critical infrastructure facility.

A “critical infrastructure facility” was hit during a Russian attack on Ukraine’s western Lviv region on Thursday, Maksym Kozytskyy, head of the Lviv regional military administration, said in a Telegram post. 

There were no casualties or injuries, he said. 

A fire broke out but has since been extinguished, he added.

Ending the war in Ukraine on terms acceptable to its President Volodymyr Zelensky will require the West to convince Russian leader Vladimir Putin he’s losing.

Good luck with that.

Ahead of next week’s anniversary of the Russian invasion, US and Western leaders are gearing up for a show of unity and strength designed to establish once and for all that NATO is in the conflict for the long haul and until Moscow’s defeat.

“Russia has lost — they’ve lost strategically, operationally, and tactically,” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said on Tuesday. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Wednesday that “Putin must realize that he cannot win” as he explained the rationale for rushing arms and ammunition to Ukrainian forces. And Julianne Smith, the US ambassador to NATO, told CNN’s Becky Anderson that Washington was doing all it could to “continue to apply pressure on Moscow to affect (Putin’s) strategic calculus.”

And in an opinion article by CNN’s Peter Bergen, retired US General and former CIA Chief David Petraeus said the conflict would end in a “negotiated resolution” when Putin realizes the war is unsustainable on the battlefield and on the home front.

The Western rhetorical and diplomatic offensive will ratchet up further as Vice President Kamala Harris heads to the Munich Security Conference this week. President Joe Biden will meanwhile visit Poland and a frontline NATO and ex-Warsaw pact state next week, bolstering his legacy of offering the most effective leadership of the Western alliance since the end of the Cold War.

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Vladimir Putin took part in a video conference on the opening of new healthcare centres in some regions of the Russian Federation. Trip to St Petersburg. St Petersburg International Economic Forum 2022 June 16 − 18, 2022 St Petersburg

Related article The West's hardest task in Ukraine: Convincing Putin he's losing | CNN Politics

Ukrainian regional authorities said three people were killed and 11 people wounded on Wednesday in a Russian attack in the town of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region. One of the severely injured civilians remains in the hospital. 

“Four multi-story buildings and a school were damaged due to the attack,” the head of the Donetsk region military administration Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a Telegram post. “The rescue operation at the building destroyed by Russians is over.”

In a video of the aftermath posted by the Donetsk region military administration, one woman says her husband died in the kitchen of their apartment. 

Fourteen residents of the building have decided to evacuate from the Donetsk region, while the rest will remain in Pokrovsk, according to regional authorities. 

The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces launched 28 Multiple Launch Rocket System attacks on civilian infrastructure in both the Donetsk region and the Kherson region. 

Read Maria Lvova-Belova’s social media, and one might think Russia is selflessly delivering Ukrainian children from evil into the care of Russian families desperate to share their love.

But according to American and European governments — and a new report by Yale investigators, backed by the US State Department — she is at the center of a Russian government scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, often to a network of dozens of camps, where the minors undergo political reeducation.

“Maria Lvova-Belova is one of the most highly involved figures in Russia’s deportation and adoption of Ukraine’s children, as well as in the use of camps for ‘integrating’ Ukraine’s children into Russia’s society and culture,” the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab’s Conflict Observatory wrote.

Lvova-Belova, who was appointed to be President Vladimir Putin’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights in 2021, created her Telegram channel days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Between photos alongside the who’s who of Russian power — from Putin to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov — she posts glossy photos and videos of the wonderful life supposedly being offered to Ukrainian children.

“By the end of the week, one hundred and eight orphans of Donbass who have received Russian citizenship will have parents,” Lvova-Belova wrote in a typical post on her Telegram channel last July, using the Russian spelling for Ukraine’s Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk) regions. “Shurochka was the first to be handed over to her mother. When I heard this happy child’s laughter, I could not hold back [tears].”

Lvova-Belova regularly visits Russian occupied-Ukraine, and the Russian government boasts of her personally escorting planeloads of children back from Ukraine. Putin has empowered Lvova-Belova to use unspecified “additional measures” to identify children who don’t have parental care in the four Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed.

UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s organization, has said that “adoption should never occur during or immediately after emergencies,” and that during upheaval, children separated from their parents cannot be assumed to be orphans. The UN furthermore considers forcibly transferring another country’s population within or beyond its borders to be a war crime.

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

Read more here.

The situation in eastern Ukraine is “tense” as Russia’s offensive is “ongoing,” according to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar on Wednesday. 

“The assaults are day-and-night. The situation is tense,” Maliar said in a Telegram post. “Yes, it’s hard on our people. You can see for yourself what kind of war Russia is doing. Nevertheless, our fighters are keeping the enemy from reaching their goals and inflicting massive losses.”

Maliar claimed that Russia is facing personnel losses of “up to 80%” in some of its army units and units of the Wagner private military company. CNN cannot independently verify those claims. 

Maliar also reiterated Ukraine’s claims that many Russian soldiers have a low level of readiness after undergoing “accelerated” basic training courses of only 14 to 21 days. 

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Wednesday that the United States has “growing concern” about the partnership between China and Russia — and Beijing’s tacit support for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“My assessment is the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is trying to both increase its standing in the international community by saying that it’s willing to mediate and help bring this horrifying invasion to an end. And at the same time, they are committed to their no-limits partnership with Russia,” Sherman said at an event at the Brookings Institution. “And we have, certainly , concern and growing concern about that partnership and the PRC’s support for this invasion.”

China is trying to “have it both ways,” Sherman said. She also expressed concern about Russia’s partnerships with Iran and North Korea.

However, Sherman said her message to those supporting Moscow is: “You’re going to end up with an albatross around your neck.”

Although NATO allies “expect some sort of negotiation” with Russia over its war in Ukraine, they “are very focused on getting everything the Ukrainian military forces need” in the meantime, the US ambassador to the military alliance, Julianne Smith, told CNN.

Smith added that NATO would not be backing down to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and “will do everything we can to continue to apply pressure on Moscow to affect his strategic calculus.” 

NATO defense ministers are meeting in Brussels this week and a key topic of discussion has been dwindling ammunition stockpiles. Smith said allies would “continue to send strong signals to industry to turn on production lines where necessary,” adding that NATO members are now looking at multinational or pooled buying of ammunition to “send an even stronger incentive to the private sector.” 

Fighter jets: Despite repeated requests from Ukraine, the Biden administration has flatly refused to entertain the idea of sending F-16 fighter jets to the embattled nation. 

“The United States does not have any plans currently to send F-16s or any other fighter jets,” Smith reiterated. “We’ve also been clear in that each country needs to determine for itself what kind of contribution it wants to make.” 

Nordic NATO bids: Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO last spring, just months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the time that he would reject the effort, accusing the two countries of being “like guesthouses for terror organizations.” Those tensions have continued.

“This is a process we have to go through. What’s been remarkable is the speed with which 28 other allies have gone forward with the ratification process,” Smith said, when asked whether any progress had been made in the ascension process. “But we want to continue to see those three countries come together and address some of the concerns that Turkey has raised.” 

Tensions are mounting at the border between Ukraine and Moscow-allied Belarus, as officials in Kyiv warn of a Russian spring offensive amid ramped-up military attacks from the Kremlin.

In rare access since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, a CNN team visited Belarus’s southwest border near northwest Ukraine, accompanied by state border officials.

Ukraine shares a 1,000-kilometer frontier with Belarus, a country that has played a key role in aiding Russia’s attack.

CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen and his team were 100 meters away from the Ukrainian side, where they saw the Belarusian government’s fortification of the border area with barbed wire in a carefully orchestrated and tightly controlled press tour.

According to the CNN team on the ground, the Ukrainian side of the border is heavily barricaded with several layers of barbed wire and earth mounds to stop anyone from going through.

Belarusian officials told CNN the border crossing from their side in the small town of Dyvin is still functioning but that the Ukrainian side has closed the crossing.

Kyiv has closed all border crossings to Belarus, except to occasionally allow entry to Ukrainian refugees who are looking to return to their home country, out of concern Belarus could be used for a further invasion by Russia.

The CNN team could see a Ukrainian flag on Ukraine’s side of the border crossing and a red and white flag which is associated with the Belarusian opposition — a move Belarusian authorities called a “provocation.”

Russia used the territory of Belarus as one of its launch pads for the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Joint military drills over the last year between Belarus and Russia have contributed to concerns that Belarusian troops could join Russia’s forces in Ukraine.

Read more here.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russia “continues to pour large numbers of additional people into the fight” in Ukraine, and “that is their strength.” 

“Those people are ill-trained and ill-equipped, and because of that we see them incurring a lot of casualties,” Austin said, but the US expects Russia to continue with this strategy of throwing bodies at the fight despite their lack of equipment. 

Austin made the remarks at a news conference from NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. 

He said that by contrast, the US and NATO are determined to provide Ukraine with sophisticated equipment — and train Ukrainian troops on those systems — to give them the upper hand. 

“Our goal is to make sure that we give Ukraine additional capability so that they can not only be marginally successful, they can be decisive on the battlefield and in their upcoming offensive,” Austin said. 

“We’re laser-focused on making sure that we provide a capability and not just platforms,” he added.

“So for every system that we provide, we’re going to train troops on that system. But we’re also going to give them additional training on maneuver, on the integration of fires, on sustainment, and on maintenance. And so with that additional capability, better-trained troops, platforms that can perform a lot better in this environment. I think they’ll have a real good chance at making a pretty significant difference on the battlefield and establishing the initiative, and being able to exploit that initiative going forward,” he said.