February 18, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

By Sophie Tanno, Matt Meyer, Adrienne Vogt and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Updated 2330 GMT (0730 HKT) February 18, 2023

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6:38 a.m. ET, February 18, 2023

US Vice President Harris and France's Macron pledge support for Ukraine at Munich Security Conference

From CNN's DJ Judd

US Vice President Kamala Harris meets with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Munich Security Conference on February 17. (Michael Probst/Pool/Reuters)

US Vice President Kamala Harris greeted French President Emanuel Macron ahead of a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference Friday.

The meeting is aimed at highlighting the two nations’ commitment to providing military aid to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion nearly one year ago.

“It is good to see you again, we have talked about so many issues of the moment and future, over the course of our visits,” Harris told the French president. “And to see you again here in Munich, and talk about, as a priority, our commitment, as a partner, to the people of Ukraine and many other issues. This is part of our continuing conversation that is the testament to the friendship and the partnership over many generations, including today.”

For his part, Macron thanked Harris for her hospitality during his visit to Washington, DC, last year.

Neither Harris nor Macron responded to questions from the media on Russia or on the US Inflation Reduction Act, which France has criticized.

6:06 a.m. ET, February 18, 2023

Biden will meet with Polish president and other NATO leaders in Warsaw next week, White House says

From CNN's Sam Fossum

President Biden (Left) will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda (Right) during his trip next week in Poland. (Getty Images)

US President Joe Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda during his trip next week to thank him for the military and humanitarian assistance Warsaw has provided to Ukraine, the White House said.

The president will also deliver remarks and meet with the Bucharest Nine, the group of Eastern flank NATO allies, John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, said.

The trip "comes at an important moment" as Russia's invasion of Ukraine reaches the one-year mark, Kirby said.

Biden meets with Duda on Tuesday morning.

"President Biden will thank President Duda and, in fact, the Polish people for the $3.8 billion in military and humanitarian assistance that they have provided to Ukraine over the past year. And for all the efforts that the Polish people have done to generously welcome more than one and a half million refugees from Ukraine," Kirby said.

During his meeting with leaders of the Bucharest Nine on Wednesday, Biden will "reaffirm the United States' unwavering support," according to Kirby.

3:53 a.m. ET, February 18, 2023

More than 30,000 Wagner fighters have been wounded or killed in Ukraine, US estimates

From CNN's Sam Fossum

The US government estimates the private military company Wagner Group has suffered more than 30,000 casualties, including roughly 9,000 fighters killed, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

About half of those 9,000 have been killed since mid-December, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. And about 90% of those killed in December were recruited from Russian prisons.

The group has relied heavily on convicts to fill out its ranks. "That doesn't show any signs of abating," Kirby said Friday, though Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed last week that he will no longer recruit from prisons.

"They're treating their recruits, largely convicts, as basically cannon fodder, throwing them into a literal meat grinder here, inhuman ways without a second thought," Kirby said. "Men that he just plucked out of prisons and threw on the battlefield with no training, no equipping, no organizational command, just throw them into the fight."

Recently, Wagner suffered heavy casualties in the intense fight for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Kirby said Russia made "incremental gains" in and around the city as the fighting intensified over the last several days. He said the US cannot predict whether Russia will break through.

Even if they do, Kirby said the city holds "no real strategic value," because the US believes Ukraine would maintain its strong defensive lines across the broader Donbas region.