February 20, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Wang Yi attends a meeting with Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister and their delegations at the Foreign Office in Budapest, Hungary on February 20.

China is willing to work with other countries to achieve an early ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine, the country’s top diplomat Wang Yi said while visiting Budapest on Monday, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Wang, who was named Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser last month, is due to arrive in Russia this week, a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Neither Russia nor China has specified whether Wang would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, on Monday, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “we do not exclude a meeting” between Wang and Putin. 

China’s Foreign Ministry said earlier the visit to Moscow will provide an opportunity for China and Russia to continue to develop their strategic partnership and “exchange views” on “international and regional hotspot issues of shared interest.”

Some background: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Wang on Saturday in Munich, Germany, and warned “about the implications and consequences” if Beijing increases its support for Russia’s war effort, according to a US readout of the meeting.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned China not to give any support to Russia, saying it could lead to another world war.

There is no more powerful symbol of Vladimir Putin’s failure.

A year ago, the Russian leader launched a blitzkrieg against Ukraine, mocking its history and sovereignty, sending his tanks churning toward Kyiv to obliterate the democratically elected government led by a former comic actor. His purpose was clear: To crush once and for all Ukraine’s dreams of joining the West and to force it to return to the orbit of greater Russia.

Back then, anyone predicting how the anniversary of the war would be marked might have mused about a Russian military parade and a visit by Putin himself to a puppet leader he installed in a nation again under Moscow’s iron fist.

The reality is far different following heroic Ukrainian resistance bolstered by weapons sent by NATO members.

The president of the United States, in overcoat and shades, strolled through Kyiv in daylight, visiting a historic church as air raid sirens wailed and standing exposed alongside President Volodymyr Zelensky in the city’s vast, open and iconic St. Michael’s Square.

His presence sent a message of defiance to Putin most directly and a cherished sign of resolve and empathy for the people of Ukraine. His audience also included European powers in a western alliance that Biden has led and invigorated like no president since the end of the Cold War. And every time a commander-in-chief makes such an audacious splash on the world stage he’s also making a point to Americans – on whose support continuing extraordinary support for Ukraine’s war effort depends – and to his own fervent domestic critics.

Read more here

Nailia Manzurina’s eyes filled with tears as she remembered the moment she and her two young sons had to separate from her husband in their native Russia.

“Praise God it was just temporary,” she said as she wiped away tears.

It was late September 2022 and emotions were high in Russia because President Vladimir Putin had just imposed the country’s first military draft since World War II. Social media videos showed mothers and wives wailing as their loved ones were dragged into the war in Ukraine. Young men rushed to neighboring countries in droves to avoid getting pulled into the fight.

Nailia’s husband, Mikhail Manzurin, 25, qualified for the draft but he disagreed with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And he felt, very strongly, that he shouldn’t be forced to serve in the military against his will.

Fearing Mikhail would be drafted, jailed or worse, the family decided to flee, embarking on a multi-country odyssey with their newborn, Philip, and toddler, Mark, that would take them through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Dubai, Mexico and ultimately to the United States – all with the help of strangers.

They would become part of a vast wave of Russians seeking shelter from the war in the United States. Over the past six months, data posted by American border authorities shows that the number of Russian citizens they have encountered has nearly tripled: from 1,645 Russians in August 2022 (the month before Russia’s draft began) to 4,509 in January.

In total, nearly 22,000 Russians, including the Manzurins, have tried entering the United States through the country’s southern border since October 2022, the first full month after the draft was announced, according to the latest US Customs and Border Protection data.

Read more here

Japan will provide an additional $5.5 billion (around 738 billion yen) in financial assistance to Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Monday, just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. 

Japan had already pledged $600 million in financial assistance, millions worth of humanitarian aid and joined Western allies in imposing sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. 

Kishida also announced he will host an online summit of G7 leaders with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, the day of the anniversary and ahead of the annual G7 summit in Hiroshima in May. 

Oksana Markaorva, Ukrainian ambassador to the US, speaks with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday, February 20, 2023.

US President Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv on Monday was “very important” to Ukrainians as a demonstration of solidarity and unity, according to Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States.

Markarova said she hopes Biden’s trip “will also unlock a lot of additional support, which is so needed in order to finish this war faster.”

Zelensky has been pushing for more US weaponry, including fighter jets, a request that is being met with skepticism by the US and other Western officials, who say the jets would be impractical, both because they require considerable training and because Russia has extensive anti-aircraft systems that could easily shoot them down.

But, while in Kyiv on Monday, Biden did announce new military assistance and incoming Russian sanctions.

As to how the next phase of the war will look, Markarova said Ukraine is “prepared for everything.

“We are ready to defend our country,” she said. “As I said a year ago, Ukrainians will not give up and will not surrender, and that’s what we will do. We will not surrender, and we will not rest until we win.”

President Joe Biden has crossed into Poland after an unprecedented trip to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Monday. There, the president reaffirmed his support and announced new aid for Ukraine.

On the ground, Russia is increasing the number of soldiers in Ukraine, prompting calls from world leaders for allies to continue sending military support and additional ammunition to Kyiv.

Here’s what you need to know:

Ukrainian soldiers defending the fiercely contested eastern city of Bakhmut from Russian forces thanked US President Joe Biden for visiting Kyiv on Monday, nearly a year since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion. 

Madyar is walking alongside another Ukrainian soldier amid destroyed buildings in what they said was Bakhmut. He talks about the situation on the battlefield and references Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming address on Tuesday.

“Thank you, Mr. President Biden! God bless America! Thank you for your support and help,” the soldier walking with him says in the video.

Madyar said there hadn’t been “territorial success for the enemy in the Bakhmut outskirts” on Monday. CNN is not able to independently verify those claims.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last Wednesday that the situation in Bakhmut was “the most difficult out of all” the contested areas in Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at St. Michaels Golden-Domed Cathedral during an unannounced visit in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, February 20.

The visit Monday by US President Joe Biden was an important day for Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday in an evening address. 

The specific steps “to liberate our still-occupied territories and to guarantee reliable security for our country and for all the peoples of Europe” are known. “All we need is determination,” he said. 

Zelensky thanked the American people, members of Congress from both parties and members of Biden’s team for helping strengthen the alliance between the two countries.

“Now we are convinced that there is nothing that can undermine our democracy. Not a single aspect of Ukrainian life is and will ever be fragile. Our strength is a powerful contribution to the strength of all freedom-loving nations in the world,” he said. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks on February 15 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized American aid to Ukraine as an “open-ended blank check” and questioned whether the United States should be engaged in the Russian conflict at all.

The remarks, made on the occasion of Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, were some of DeSantis’ most direct comments about the US involvement in the war since the conflict started a year ago.  

Asked “what a win looks like” for the US, DeSantis downplayed Moscow’s military actions to date and said Russia was “really wounded” and had suffered “tremendous, tremendous loses” without acknowledging the role that US weapons, military intelligence and aid have played in shaping the conflict.

DeSantis insisted Russia is not a threat “on the same level as China.”  

“The fear of Russia going into NATO countries and all that, and steamrolling, that has not even come close to happening,” DeSantis said. “I think they have shown themselves to be a third-rate military power.”

US President Joe Biden walks down a train corridor to his cabin after a surprise visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on February 20.

US President Joe Biden has left Ukraine after a highly symbolic covert visit.

He crossed the border into Poland at roughly 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET), according to a report from the traveling press pool.

Biden traveled by train in and out of Kyiv, making the 10-hour journey with only a handful of advisers and two journalists.

Biden flew to Poland aboard a C-32 aircraft with a refueling stop in Germany before boarding the train into Ukraine on Sunday.

The train went by night into Ukraine, making only a few stops to collect additional security.

The European Commission's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell rings the bell before a meeting of Foreign Affairs Council at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on February 20.

To counter a growing number of Russian troops, Ukraine needs more ammunition, in addition to other pledges of military support from allies, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Russia is massing “almost twice the number of soldiers that were there at the beginning of the war” in Ukraine, adding that the next few weeks will be crucial, he said.

“For that, time is of essence. Speed means lives. We need to respond quickly. Not only more support, but to provide it quicker,” Borrell added.

The best way to get ammunition to Ukraine quickly is to share existing European army stockpiles so that there is no time wasted waiting for them to be produced, he said.

“We have to use what has already been produced and stockpiled, or what has already been contracted and will be produced in the coming days. Priority has to be given to the supplies for the Ukrainian army, as much as we can,” he said. 

Borrel also said a tenth package of sanctions against Russia was also discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, announcing that they have been “presented as a Regulation for the Council to approve,” which should happen in the “next hours, or next days.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asserted to not “overestimate” Russian capacity to produce weapons, as he urged allies to expand sanctions against entities producing Russian missiles.  

Kuleba sat down with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend for an interview that aired on CNN on Monday.  

“Our partners have a tool in their hands to suppress this production, which is sanctions,” he said.

Addressing growing concerns in Europe that ammunition supplies are diminishing, Kuleba stated “there will never be enough ammunition as long as the war continues”.  

“Yes, if you ask me what we need the most here and now, I’d artillery munitions. If you ask me [to] imagine that’s solved, what is next, I’d say Howitzers to use this ammunition,” the foreign minister said. 

“Businesses need contracts and to have contracts you need money. Therefore, if governments want to support Ukraine, they can finance their own companies by contracting their production of ammunition and other weapons, and that’s what we are working on,” Kuleba continued. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky listens as US President Joe Biden speaks at Mariinsky Palace during a surprise visit, on February 20 in Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that a world war could break out if China supported Russia against Ukraine.   

Zelensky said he has personally appealed to the Chinese leadership through direct channels and publicly “not to offer any support” to Russia in the war. 

“From the early 1990s, at the Budapest Memorandum and for all the agreements reached since then, China has always kept its commitments. I personally hope that the international community will join together to support my 10-point peace plan, where American, Chinese and major power guarantees to defend world security are covered,” Zelensky told the newspaper.  

The Ukrainian president said that Ukraine’s relationship with China has always been “very good.” 

“We have had intense economic relations for many years, and it is in everyone’s interest that they do not change. The global challenge is to thwart any risk of nuclear conflict,” he continued.  

On Sunday, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS’ “Face the Nation” program that Washington is concerned that China is considering providing “lethal support” to Russia’s war in Ukraine.   

The United States along with more than 30 other countries including Canada and most of Europe are backing a proposed ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in international sports, according to a joint statement published by the British government Monday. 

The countries asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reverse its decision last month to create a pathway for Russian and Belarussian athletes to participate in the upcoming Games as “neutral athletes.” 

“There are serious concerns about how feasible it is for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete on a neutral basis given they are directly funded and supported by their states. As long as a workable ‘neutrality’ model is not set out in detail, Russian and Belarusian athletes should not be allowed back into competition,” it added.

The statement went on to say that “there are clear concerns over the strong links and affiliations between Russian athletes and the Russian military,” demanding that the IOC must address the questions identified by all countries and reconsider its proposal.

The statement is signed by sport and culture ministers of the US, Canada, UK, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.  

Here’s what the US previously said: Earlier this month, the White House said it did not object to allowing athletes from Russia or Belarus from taking part in the 2024 Summer Games and 2026 Winter Games — as long as it is “absolutely clear” that they are not representing their home countries, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“In cases where sports organizations and event organizers, such as the International Olympic Committee, choose to permit athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in supporting events, it should be absolutely clear that they are not representing the Russian or Belarusian states,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that the use of any official Russian or Belarusian flags, emblems or anthems should be prohibited.

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, speaks during the 2023 Munich Security Conference on February 18.

No one knows how the war in Ukraine will end, but “there is no sign” that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has changed his ambitions” as the invasion approaches the one-year mark this week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

“We see the opposite. He’s not planning for peace. He’s planning for more war,” he told CNN at the Munich Security Conference.

Stoltenberg said Russia is trying to make up for poor equipment and logistics with more troops, something he described as “throwing just waves of people on the defensive lines,” a type of fighting that hasn’t been seen since World War I.

“If you don’t care so much about human lives then you just throw in more and more,” he said.

Stoltenberg said while how the conflict will end is unclear, what he is sure of is the importance of western military support for Ukraine.

“If you want Ukraine to prevail as a sovereign nation and if you want a peaceful negotiated solution tomorrow, then you need to provide military support today,” he said, adding that the effectiveness of negotiations for Ukraine depends on “strength on the battlefield.”

Portugal is ready to send three Leopard 2 A6 combat tanks to Ukraine in March, Portugal’s defense ministry said in a statement earlier this month.

The decision was made within the framework of ongoing contacts with allies and partners, the ministry said on February 8. 

Some background: Several countries have offered to give tanks to Ukraine, though not all have confirmed how many they plan to send.

Much of southern and eastern Ukraine, where much of the heavy fighting is happening, is ideal terrain for combinations of modern Western tanks and armored fighting vehicles to spearhead a counteroffensive.

Additionally, Leopard 2s, Abrams and British Challengers all carry heavy machine guns, which would devastate infantry in open land. Another advantage of the Leopard 2, the tanks Portugal among other countries are planning to send, is that the ammunition for its 120 mm gun is widely available among NATO armies.

President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attend a press conference in Kyiv on February 20.

Cloaked in secrecy and weighted with history, US President Joe Biden’s trip to Ukraine was the work of months of planning by only a small handful of his senior-most aides, who recognized long ago the symbolic importance of visiting the Ukrainian capital a year after Russia tried to capture it.

A secret until the last minute: Keeping Biden’s plans secret required extraordinary measures on the part of the White House. In the weeks leading up to Biden’s travel, he and top aides repeatedly shot down the possibility of a trip to Ukraine. Every effort was made to maintain that position in the hour leading up to Biden’s surprise arrival in Kyiv.

That was in part due to the fluid nature of the trip itself. Even as the small circle of White House officials looped in on the planning grew confident it was an achievable undertaking, the realities of sending a president into a war zone where the US had no control over the air space were daunting.

The final decision was made in an Oval Office meeting on Friday evening, when Biden gave the final green light. Once the trip was on, US officials took steps to notify Moscow of their plans, an attempt at “deconfliction” meant to avoid unthinkable disaster while Biden was on the ground.

A 10-hour train ride through Ukraine: There would be a stop to refuel at a US base in Germany before continuing the flight into Poland. As he jetted eastward, Biden’s focus was plotting out his conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, hoping to use his limited time wisely in discussing the coming months of fighting.

Biden landed in Rzeszow, the Polish town where he’d stopped in March of last year to visit US troops deployed near the Ukrainian border and humanitarian efforts supporting Ukrainian refugees. During that visit 11 months ago, he alluded to what became a long-running desire to extend his journey just a little further into Ukraine.

This time around, with an expanded set of US air assets overhead keeping close watch at the Polish border, he would make the trip. Biden, his small contingent of advisers and Secret Service that traveled with him boarded the train to Kyiv for the roughly 10-hour trip to the center of the war-torn country.

It was the culmination of a process that began months earlier, as Biden watched as a parade of his foreign counterparts each made the journey into Ukraine.

Calculated risk: As Biden was briefed over several months on the planning for a potential visit, the person said that Biden only once expressed concern about the risk of a visit to Ukraine — but that was about the extent to which his visit could endanger others, rather than about his own safety. Other officials were extremely concerned about Biden’s own safety and prepared a series of security contingency plans for the trip.

“This was a risk that Joe Biden wanted to take,” said White House communications director Kate Bedingfield. “It’s important to him to show up, even when it’s hard, and he directed his team to make it happen, no matter how challenging the logistics.”

Read more about Biden’s historic trip here.

CNN’s Jeremy Diamond contributed reporting to this post.

President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral on a surprise visit in Kyiv on Monday.

US President Joe Biden made an unprecedented trip to Kyiv Monday for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago.

Biden walked alongside President Volodymyr Zelensky around the gold-domed St. Michael’s Cathedral as air raid sirens could be heard ringing out around Kyiv. The US president announced a half-billion dollars of additional assistance to Ukraine and incoming sanctions against Moscow as he vowed to continue to support Kyiv. Zelensky praised Biden’s visit, saying it leaves Ukraine “closer to victory.”

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden was intently focused on discussing the coming months of fighting when he sat down with Zelensky. Their talks come at what Sullivan called a “critical juncture” in the war, as Russia prepares for a spring offensive and as Ukraine hopes to retake territory seized over the past 12 months.

Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine also came just ahead of his scheduled trip to Poland later on Monday. Marchin Przydacz, a top advisor to Polish President Andrzej Duda, told CNN that Biden’s visit to Kyiv is a “clear sign” of American commitment to supporting Ukraine.

Here are more of the latest headlines on the Russia-Ukraine war:

After nearly a year of war and fighting for their sovereignty against Russia, Maryan Zablotskiy, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, said US President Joe Biden’s visit to the country’s capital Monday was “spiritually uplifting.”

He said there have been rumors of a new offensive from Russia and increased shelling but to see both presidents in Kyiv “under the active air raid alarm” was “a message to Putin” that they’re in the range of his missiles and he can’t “do anything about it because we’re much stronger.”

The last few months of the war have been difficult, Zablotskiy told CNN. He said many Ukrainians have lost friends in the conflict, but Biden’s visit was a show of united strength.