February 3, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. You can read more on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here.

The southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was shelled 18 times on Friday, Ukrainian authorities said, resulting in one death and one person injured. Apartments and private houses were also damaged in the shelling, the city council said in a statement.

Here are the other developments:

Sanctions: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that a 10th round of EU sanctions against Russia is “on its way” and that they will target the Russian trade and technology fueling the war. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the sanctions should aim to stop Moscow from rebuilding its military capability.

In addition, the United States and its allies outlined new curbs on Russian energy sales. The agreement between the US, the G7, the European Union and Australia places a price cap on “seaborne Russian-origin petroleum products,” the US Treasury department said.

US Treasury also imposed sanctions on eight senior officials at the Iranian drone manufacturer Paravar Pars Company in response to Tehran’s provision of drones to Russia.

Assistance: The Biden administration announced a new security package worth $2.17 billion that includes longer-range missiles for the first time. Also, the European Union will provide an additional $27 million to support Ukraine’s de-mining of the liberated territories that were temporarily occupied by Russian armed forces, EU top diplomat Josep Borrell announced Friday.

Black Sea presence: The number of Russian ships capable of launching missiles on Ukrainian territory from the Black Sea has increased, the Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post. CNN is unable to independently verify this assessment. 

Oil tanks at the NNK-Primornefteproduct petroleum depot in the far eastern port of Vladivostok, Russia are seen in this drone photograph June 11, 2022.

The US and allies are trying to further limit Russia’s ability to make money and finance war efforts with new price limits on products like gasoline and fuel oil.

A senior Treasury official announced additional sanctions on Russian energy sales in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The agreement between the US, the G7, the European Union and Australia places a price cap on “seaborne Russian-origin petroleum products,” the US Department of Treasury announced. There are two price levels: one applies to “premium-to-crude” petroleum products like diesel, kerosene and gasoline, which will be capped at $100 USD per barrel, and “discount-to-crude” petroleum products like fuel oil, which will be capped at $45 USD per barrel. 

Some background: In December, the same group implemented a price cap on crude oil — which the Treasury official said was already impeding Russia’s ability to finance the war. They added Russia had “openly acknowledged” the price cap was hurting the country’s economy. Data released by Russia showed that monthly tax revenues from energy sales declined 46% from the month prior.

Officials shrugged off reports that despite numerous sanctions, Russia’s economy is still expected to rebound, and may even outpace Germany and Britain. The senior Treasury official said economically, the country “doesn’t function any longer like a normal economy.”

“They’ve shut it down largely, meaning that if you have money of Russia, they’ll let you keep putting money in Russia, but you can’t take money out. They no longer allow foreign capital coming into Russia,” the official said. “They’re needing to spend more money to prop up their economy because they become a closed economy.”

Russian universities will teach the goals of the Russian so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine starting Sept. 1, Russian state media TASS reported Friday, citing the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education. 

Moscow has mostly avoided describing the conflict as an invasion or as a war, insisting it is a “special military operation.”

According to TASS, the new curriculum for universities will teach the origins of the “special military operation in Ukraine, sanctions, pressure from Western countries on Russia, attempts to isolate it from the rest of the world” as well as “the goals of a special military operation. Joining Russia with the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Zaporizhzhia region, the Kherson region.”

The document, posted on the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education’s website, outlined topics such as the “refusal of the US, NATO and the EU to discuss threats to Russia’s national security, armed provocations in the Donbas, armed provocations and preparations by Ukraine for the forcible seizure of the republics of Donbas, official recognition of the LPR and DPR by Russia,” TASS reported. 

An American volunteer aid worker, Pete Reed, was killed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Thursday while aiding civilians, according to a statement from Global Response Medicine, the humanitarian aid group he founded. 

Reed, a US Marine veteran, was listed as “killed while rendering aid” on a mission with another organization, GRM said in a statement posted on social media.

“Yesterday, GRM founder Pete Reed was killed in Bakhmut, Ukraine. Pete was the bedrock of GRM, serving as Board President for 4 years. In January, Pete stepped away from GRM to work with Global Outreach Doctors on their Ukraine mission and was killed while rendering aid,” according to a post shared on Instagram.

Reed was also listed as the Ukraine country director on the Global Outreach Doctors’ website.

A US State Department spokesperson confirmed “the recent death of a US citizen in Ukraine” when asked for comment.

Reed’s wife, Alex Kay Potter, wrote on Instagram that her husband not only lived for his duty but apparently died saving another team member’s life.

“He was evacuating civilians and responding to those wounded when his ambulance was shelled. He died doing what he was great at, what gave him life, and what he loved, and apparently by saving a team member with his own body,” the post said.

Reed started his humanitarian career working after Superstorm Sandy hit his home state of New Jersey, according to the biography pages on the Global Response Medicine and Global Outreach Doctors websites.

Reed led medical teams during the Battle for Mosul in Iraq, treating over 10,000 trauma patients, according to the websites.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen attends a joint briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on February 2.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said that the bloc’s 10th round of sanctions against Russia will target the Russian trade and technology fueling the war in Ukraine. 

“Our nine packages of sanctions are biting, and a 10th one is on its way,” von der Leyen said in a tweet as an EU-Ukraine summit wrapped in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday. 

The European Commission president stressed that the 10th sanctions package will “hit the trade and technology that supports Russia’s war machine.”

Speaking during a press conference in Kyiv earlier on Friday, von der Leyen said the bloc aims to publish the package — which will have a volume of $10.8 billion (or about 10 billion euros) — by Feb. 24, the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.

At the same press conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the EU to use sanctions to prevent Russia from rebuilding its military capacity. 

CNN’s Eve Brennan, Kostan Nechyporenko and Katharina Krebs contributed reporting to this post.

The southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was shelled 18 times on Friday, Ukrainian authorities said, resulting in one death and one person injured.

Apartments and private houses were also damaged in the shelling, the Kherson city council said in a statement.

Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian Emergency Services reported that Russian shelling caused three large fires in Kherson city overnight.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland, left, meets with Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin and officials at the Justice Department in Washington, DC, on February 3.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the first transfer of forfeited assets from sanctions against a Russia oligarch on Friday during an appearance with Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin at the Justice Department. The funds, according to Garland, will go toward aiding Ukraine. 

“Today, I am announcing that I have authorized the first ever transfer of forfeited Russian assets for use in Ukraine,” Garland said. “These forfeited assets follow the announcement I made last April of the indictment of designated Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, on charges of sanctions evasions.” 

In June, millions were seized from a US bank account belonging to Malofeyev, whom the United States announced sanctions against in April “for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly” the Russian government, the Treasury Department said at the time. 

Kostin echoed Garland’s statement Friday, adding that the two countries were sending a clear message: “There will be no immunity and impunity for international crimes.” 

“Today, we are witnessing the authorization of transfer of the confiscated assets in the amount of $5.4 million US dollars to the State Department for the purpose of rebuilding war ravaged Ukraine,” Kostin added. 

“We are grateful to the United States for its decisive efforts and support. Ukrainian people will never forget that,” he said.

The US Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on eight senior officials at an Iranian drone manufacturer – its latest punitive measure in response to Tehran’s provision of drones to Russia for its war against Ukraine.

The manufacturer, Paravar Pars Company, was already under sanction in the United States and the European Union for manufacturing drones for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, according to a Treasury statement.

The Treasury Department on Friday targeted the company’s board of directors.

The agency also identified two Iranian vessels. The IRIS MAKRAN, “an oil tanker that was repurposed for naval operations” but still has the capability to launch unmanned aerial vehicles (UVA), commonly known as drones, is “currently conducting an international voyage,” according to the Treasury. The Department said the tanker is accompanied by the naval frigate IRIS DENA (DENA).

“Iranian entities continue to produce UAVs for Iran’s IRGC and military. More broadly, Iran is supplying UAVs for Russia’s combat operations to target critical infrastructure in Ukraine,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. “The United States will continue to aggressively target all elements of Iran’s UAV program.”

Polish military drive a Leopard tank during a live fire demonstration part of the Bear 22 military exercises at the Nowa Deba training ground in Poland last year.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Friday that new NATO-supplied tanks will serve as an “iron fist” in Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russian forces in Ukraine.

In order to deter a possible new Russian offensive in the south and east, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will “primarily use 155-mm artillery” among other weapons, he added. “That is why we say today that the priority on the battlefield remains 155 mm artillery and shells for it.”

Recently, Vadym Omelchenko, Kyiv’s ambassador to France, said that numerous countries have confirmed “their agreement to deliver 321 heavy tanks to Ukraine.”

He did not specify which countries would provide the tanks or provide a breakdown of which models.

The US has pledged to provide 31 M1 Abrams tanks and Germany agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 A6s. Previously the United Kingdom has pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks, while Poland has asked for approval from Germany to transfer some of its own German-made Leopard 2s to Ukraine.

CNN’s Pierre Meilhan and Heather Chen have contributed to this post.

Russian-installed authorities in Crimea said on Friday they had nationalized around 500 properties in the peninsula belonging to Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians.

“At an absentee vote, the deputies of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea adopted a resolution on the nationalization of the property of foreign citizens and states that commit unfriendly actions against Russia,” Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of the Crimean parliament said in a Telegram post. 

The property of Ukrainian oligarchs Serhiy Taruta, Igor Kolomoisky, Rinat Akhmetov and Arseniy Yatsenyuk are subject to nationalization. The list also includes the property of 12 Ukrainian banks and the Dynamo Kyiv football club, Russian state media TASS reported on Friday. 

Some background: Crimea was forcibly seized by Russia in 2014. The Crimean peninsula is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, which is based at Sevastopol. The peninsula acted as a launching pad for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Russian troops pouring into Ukraine’s south from the annexed region.

CNN’s Vasco Cotovio and Tara John contributed to this post.

President Joe Biden speaks in Washington, DC, on Friday, February 3.

The Biden administration has announced a new Ukraine security package worth $2.17 billion that includes longer-range missiles for the first time.

The package pulls $425 million from existing Defense Department stocks, and $1.75 billion in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds. The new package marks $29.3 billion provided to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began last February.

CNN reported on Thursday that the package would include the Ground-launched Small Diameter Bomb — a guided missile with a range of 90 miles. The latest aid package does not include the sought-after ATACMS missiles, which the US has consistently rebuffed over concerns they could be used by the Ukrainians to hit targets deep inside Russia. 

Though the missiles will effectively double the range of Ukrainian weaponry, the package won’t include the long sought-after ATACMS missile with a range in excess of 200 miles. The US has constantly rebuffed Ukraine’s requests for that system over concerns they may be used to hit targets deep inside Russia.

The latest announcement comes as the war in Ukraine approaches the 1-year mark and amid concerns over a spring offensive by Russia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference after the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 3.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that a 10th round of EU sanctions against Russia is “on its way.”

“The perpetrator must pay and must be held accountable,” she added. 

Separately, von der Leyen commended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on his domestic reform work in its bid for EU membership. “Your determination to forge ahead is impressive. You’re taking important steps with all the reforms forward to meet the recommendations, and we should not forget you are doing this while you are fighting against an aggressor.”

“Rest assured that your progress will be reflected in our important enlargement report that is due in autumn for the member states,” she added. 

European Union sanctions on Russia should be targeted at stopping Moscow from rebuilding its military capability, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.

“We are very interested to ensure that Russia fails to rebuild military production. Sanctions are slowing down this process. We know precisely how many rockets were built there before the full-scale invasion and what happens now as result of sanctions from EU, US, Britain and other partners. Therefore, for us it is very important to make sure they don’t have the capability to bypass sanctions as they often manage with help of some other countries,” Zelensky said at a news conference in Kyiv alongside top European Union officials. 

Zelensky spoke alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, who both traveled to Kyiv for a Ukraine-EU summit.

“It is very important not to allow any dilution of the important European sanctions that have already been approved, as well as any relaxation of these sanctions against some individuals, as is speculated in some countries, and even in EU member states,” Zelensky said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint press conference during an EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 3.

Ukraine will fight to hold onto the eastern city of Bakhmut for as long as it can, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday. 

Zelensky also urged the West to supply long-range weapons to help Kyiv stay on Bakhmut and push Russian troops out of the Donbas region.

The Ukrainian president said that Russia wants revenge for its military failures.

“Russia wants revenge. Revenge in the east where they didn’t succeed. They want to take the east. Our task is not to give them this chance by strengthening our army with necessary weapons. I think we have every chance,” Zelensky said at the news conference.

Ukrainian officials have said in recent weeks they believe Russia is preparing for a spring offensive. 

A German Leopard 2 A7V tank stands on the barracks grounds in Pfreimd, Germany, on February 3.

Norway has decided to order 54 German Leopard 2 tanks to strengthen its defense capabilities, the Norwegian government announced on Friday. The tanks are expected to be delivered in 2026, with an option to purchase an additional 18 units.

“New main battle tanks are of great importance to the Armed Forces, significantly strengthening the Army. In today’s security situation, European defense cooperation is becoming increasingly important,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at a joint press conference alongside some of his ministers.

“By procuring German tanks, we ensure that Norway has the same type of tanks as our Nordic neighbors and close allies. We are also forging closer security policy ties with Germany,” he added.

The current battle tanks used by Norway were bought in 2001, according to the government.

The number of Russian ships capable of launching missiles on Ukrainian territory from the Black Sea has increased, the Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South said in Facebook post Friday.

“A massive missile attack with the use of aircraft is not excluded. Do not ignore air raid warning signals, be vigilant and attentive,” Operational Command South warns. 

CNN is unable to independently verify this assessment. 

Members of the Ukrainian National guard demining team Battalion Dnipro 1 walk in mine fields in the northern part of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, on December 12.

The European Union will provide an additional $27 million to support Ukraine’s de-mining of the liberated territories that were temporarily occupied by Russian armed forces, EU top diplomat Josep Borrell announced Friday

“A large spread of mines and other explosive ordnances is being found in territories liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces. We will provide up to 25 million euros to support de-mining efforts in these endangered areas. Protecting civilians and their livelihood is a priority,” Borrell said on the sidelines of the EU-Ukraine summit taking place in Kyiv.

These funds are on top of the $18 million allocated in 2022 for this purpose, a spokesman of the EU Commission told CNN.

The funding will include essential equipment for Ukrainian state mine action operators and support the capacities of the Ukrainian authorities to effectively manage the national mine action sector, the diplomatic service of the EU said Friday in a press release.

Air raid sirens rang across Kyiv Friday, as European Union leaders prepared to meet in the Ukrainian capital amid President Volodymyr Zelensky’s bid for accession to the bloc.

Here are the latest developments:

A Polish Air Force F-16 performs during an airshow in Tukums, Latvia, on July 21, 2019. 

Russia’s mass mobilization, looming offensive and missile-borne terror against civilians is triggering fresh calls for even greater Western lethal aid to Ukraine, days after leaders signed off on their latest package that included the first tanks.

A building public debate over whether to send F-16 fighter jets is resurfacing a dilemma underlying the entire NATO response: Is the aim of the United States and its allies simply to allow Ukraine to ensure its survival or is it to help it expel Russia from all its territory and to ensure the defeat of Russian President Vladimir Putin?

The likely escalation in the war, close to its first anniversary, comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns that Moscow is mustering its forces for a “revenge” attack against the free world. The sense that another turning point is approaching was, meanwhile, underscored Thursday by CIA Director William Burns.

Washington is hearing Ukraine’s calls for even more multi-billion dollar assistance. It is about to announce a new $2.2 billion haul that includes longer-range missiles for the first time, according to multiple US officials. CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Oren Liebermann reported that the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb — a guided missile with a range of 90 miles — will be included in the package. It could take weeks or months for the weapon to arrive, however, since the US will contract with American arms manufacturers to provide it.

Still, the latest US offering solidifies one of the most important and ironic consequences of the war. One of Putin’s perceived invasion goals was to forever sever the hopes of Ukraine, which was once part of the Soviet Union, of joining NATO. It may not be a member of the alliance, but Ukraine is now waging a stronger-than-expected response against Moscow using some of the West’s most advanced military kit.

Read Collinson’s full analysis here.