February 23, 2024 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

On the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United Kingdom announced a 245-million-pound munitions package to boost Ukraine’s artillery reserves.

This comes as a new round of funding for Ukraine from the US appears to be mired in uncertainties. Last week, the US senate passed with bipartisan support a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill, which includes $60 billion to support Ukraine. However, GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he does not plan to bring the bill to the floor, and the House is on a two-week break.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly speaks at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, on February 13.

Canada has introduced a ban on exporting goods to Russia that “could be used to make weapons,” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement on Friday.

The prohibition applies to “explosives, including detonators, that are used in the mining and construction industry,” according to the statement.

The foreign affairs minister said Canada is imposing additional sanctions on 10 individuals and 153 entities. The sanctions — placed in coordination with the US and the UK governments — “focus on areas that impact the Russian government’s ability to continue its illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine,” the statement said.

Individuals listed in the sanctions include an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior officials of private and state-owned companies registered in Russia and Cyprus, it said.

Most of the sanctioned entities are “part of the Russian military-industrial complex, providing research and development, production, repairs, and other goods and services to Russia’s Ministry of Defense,” the statement noted, citing “components for Kalibr missiles and drones, insurance and retail services to Russian soldiers and to the Russian Ministry of Defense.”

Ukraine has offered Poland a plan to end the border blockade, Ukraine’s prime minister said, according to a statement published on the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers’ website. Denys Shmyhal said he arrived at the Polish border with other members of Ukraine’s government on Friday to negotiate with his Polish colleagues, but they didn’t show up.

The prime minister said the so-called Plan of Understanding consists of five steps, which include launching “a joint control system at the border between Ukraine and the (European Union)” and adopting “a joint appeal to the EU commission calling for a ban on Russian agricultural exports to the EU.”

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, President Andrzej Duda, and EU officials to come to the border. Reuters reports Tusk said on Thursday the Polish and Ukrainian governments would meet in Warsaw on March 28 but did not accept a request by Zelensky for urgent talks on border blockades by Polish farmers.

Some background: Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) said that “unknown individuals” dumped “rapeseed bound for Germany” out of the Ukrainian train at the Dorohusk border crossing into Poland in a Telegram post on Friday.

This is not the first time Ukrainian grain has been dumped on the railroad tracks at the Polish border. On Tuesday, Oleksandr Kubrakov, who serves as Vice Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine, posted a video that shows demonstrators opening railway carriages and allowing the grain to pour onto the tracks. 

Farmers in Poland have boosted their protests against cheap Ukrainian grain imports and the EU’s Green Deal and have vowed to continue their demonstrations for 30 days, which began February 9.

"The Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine", a memorial for Ukrainian soldiers in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, is pictured on Friday.

As the war in Ukraine is set to enter its third year this weekend, Ukraine will prepare a new counteroffensive, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. He said in an interview with Fox News that the situation on the battlefield “is not a stalemate” and that Russia’s “only” success over nine months has been taking control of Avdiivka.

Meantime, the United States and the European Union unveiled a fresh slate of sanctions against Russia.

Here are the top headlines:

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends a press conference at the Chateau de La Celle Saint-Cloud near Paris on February 12.

As Russia’s war in Ukraine nears its second anniversary, world leaders continue to urge for support and aid in Ukraine.

Here’s what officials around the world are saying:

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said stopping support for Ukraine is “not an option for us in Europe,” and that it would be “the best thing we could do for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.” Baerbock said that is why military support needs to continue, especially from the United States.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the free world must renew its determination to stand behind Ukraine.

Laurent Bili, French Ambassador to the United States, said that when the European Union countries help Ukraine, they are helping themselves, and the same goes for the US. He added that the “clock is ticking” to get aid to Kyiv.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement on Friday calling Canada’s support for Ukraine “unwavering and unequivocal.” 

According to Trudeau, Canada has imposed a “total of over 2,400 sanctions” on Russia since the beginning of the invasion and is working with international partners “to secure long-term security commitments for Ukraine and ensure the safe return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.”

This post has been updated with comments from Justin Trudeu, Rishi Sunak and Laurent Bili.

People wait to board an evacuation train in Pokrovsk after an increase of Russian missile strikes in the area around Avdiivka, Ukraine, on Tuesday.

The United Nations chief called for peace and justice as the UN Security Council convened on Friday to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. António Guterres told the council that Russia’s aggression directly violated the United Nations Charter and international law.

“Two years on — and a decade since Russia’s attempted illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol — the war in Ukraine remains an open wound at the heart of Europe,” Guterres said. 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres addresses a Security Council meeting Friday at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The secretary-general also said that “all perpetrators must be held to account” for reports of torture and sexual violence inflicted on civilians and prisoners. Nearly four million Ukrainians have been internally displaced, and over 14.5 million people inside the country need humanitarian assistance, he said.

Guterres also warned of the conflict expanding and “fanning regional instability.”

Iran has denied sending ballistic missiles to Russia, saying recent reports are “unsubstantiated,” according to a statement provided to CNN from the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations on Friday.

“Although there are no prevailing international restrictions or prohibitions on the sale of ballistic missiles, Iran deems itself morally obligated to abstain from weapon transactions for the duration of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” the statement said.

This decision was made to refrain from “contributing to the perpetuation of the war,” according to the statement.

US comments: The White House warned Thursday about “deepening” military ties between Russia and Iran that are helping provide material to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby previewed further sanctions against Iran and said the administration is “prepared to go further if Iran sells ballistic missiles to Russia.”

Kirby said the United States has been closely monitoring whether Iran has provided ballistic missiles to the Russians, but officials “have not seen any confirmation that missiles have actually moved” between the countries.

Last month, a US official told CNN that Russian negotiations to acquire close-range ballistic missiles from Iran were “actively advancing.”

CNN’s Sam Fossum contributed reporting to this post.

A still from a video shared by Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk on Friday purports to show shooting down of Russian spy plane near the Sea of Azov. CNN is unable to immediately verify the video.

Ukraine shot down a Russian spy plane, Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a post on Telegram.

The plane was brought down between the Russian cities of Yeysk and Krasnodar, over the east coast of the Sea of Azov, in a joint operation by the air force and the Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR), a GUR source told CNN.

Oleshchuk also published a short video on Telegram that showed several bright lights in the night sky, purporting to be decoy flares sent off by the Russian plane. Flares are deployed by military aircraft to act as a decoy against heat-seeking missiles, but they do not affect radar-guided missiles, which do not rely on the engine’s hot exhaust as a target. 

An official statement from Russia’s Krasnodar region did not reference a Ukrainian strike but instead reported an air crash that started a fire on the ground.

Ukraine said the aircraft it targeted was a modernized version of the A-50 spy plane, which originally dates from the Soviet era. The downed plane had been used by Russia to control and guide missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, Ukraine’s GUR said.

CNN is unable to immediately verify both sides’ claims. 

It would be the second such downing of a Russian A-50 plane in six weeks after Ukraine said it had carried out a successful strike on such an aircraft over the Sea of Azov on January 15.

US President Joe Biden speaks to governors during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Friday.

US President Joe Biden said he will speak Friday by phone with a group of top allies as Ukraine marks two years after the full-scale Russian invasion. 

Biden heralded the people of Ukraine on Friday and noted the United States’ leadership in forming a coalition to support the war-torn nation as it has responded to Russia over the past two years. 

The call comes as Biden announced new sanctions on more than 500 targets to mark the war’s second anniversary.

The White House said on Friday that Biden will emphasize to allies that he will “continue to do everything he can to support Ukraine,” even as aid remains stalled in the House of Representatives while Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to bring the administration’s national security supplemental package to a vote.

US President Joe Biden’s administration indicated that the newly announced set of more than 500 sanctions targeting Russia represents “just the start” of the US response to the death of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, suggesting there would be more action to come on the matter. 

Kirby did not offer a preview of those actions. 

In 2021, before Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Biden said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Switzerland that if Navalny died in prison, the consequences “would be devastating for Russia.” 

The US, along with other Western governments, has levied a series of sanctions against Russia in recent years, but Russia has adapted to them — even though the war has diverted resources into military production and long-term prospects are far less rosy.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks during a press conference in Lviv, Ukraine, on Friday.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged the House of Representatives to pass aid for Ukraine after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to the country.

Despite House Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to hold a vote on the Senate-passed foreign aid package, Schumer insisted that the United States will not give up on Ukraine. 

“The United States is with you. We will not abandon you. We will fight and fight and fight to get this needed aid to you and to your brave soldiers,” he said. 

“If Speaker Johnson put this bill on the floor today, we’re confident it would pass with a large number of both Democrats and Republicans. So it’s really in his hands,” Schumer added. “Again: Speaker Johnson, history is looking down upon you, looking over your shoulder. Rise to the occasion.” 

People gather at a makeshift memorial for Alexey Navalny in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 16.

Russian authorities are trying to prevent a funeral ceremony for opposition leader Alexey Navalny, because they are “afraid” many people would want to attend, the head of investigations at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Maria Pevchikh, said Friday. 

“They are attempting to avoid the funeral farewell ceremony or a church sermon where people can physically approach the coffin, lay flowers and bid their farewells — this is what they are so afraid of,” Pevchikh said during a live interview.

Pevchikh also said that although Navalny’s mother is in the town of Salekhard — which is near the penal colony where Navalny was imprisoned and died — with her lawyer, she has to talk to investigators alone.

“Every day they are coming up with new ideas for blackmail,” Pevchikh said.

US President Joe Biden speaks to a bipartisan group of governors in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Friday.

US President Joe Biden blasted House Republicans for taking a two-week break and urged Speaker Mike Johnson and members of Congress to return and pass much-needed aid for Ukraine.

He also offered praise for the Ukrainian people two years after Russia’s initial full-scale invasion, saying they “remain unbowed and unbroken in the face of Putin’s vigorous onslaught.”

“This is due to their sheer bravery and their sacrifice, but it’s also due to us: Remember, the United States pulled together a coalition of more than 50 nations — 50 nations — for Ukraine,” he said. “We unified and expanded NATO — we can’t walk away now.”

Some background: The speaker has resisted calls to bring a Senate-passed aid package up for a quick vote – a move that would require Democratic support and almost certainly spark a revolt from his right flank. The speaker has said the legislation, which includes over $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine, would not pass in its current form, and privately told Republicans last week there is “no rush” to address the issue.

Alexey Navalny’s team is offering a reward for information about the death of the Russian opposition leader and the alleged perpetrators. 

Navalny’s team also called on members of the Russian military and law enforcement to anonymously contact them with any information about the circumstances that led to his death.

Friday marks a national military holiday in Russia.

A picture taken on April 19, 2021 shows an exterior view of the IK-3 penal colony where jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was held.

The US State Department on Friday imposed sanctions on three Russian prison officials in connection to the death of opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

The sanctions hit Valeriy Gennadevich Boyarinev, the deputy director of the Federal Penitentiary Service, which has oversight of the penal colony where Navalny died.

According to a State Department fact sheet, Boyarinev “reportedly instructed prison staff to exert harsher treatment on Aleksey Navalny while he was in detention.”

“Following Navalny’s death, Boyarinev was promoted to ‘Colonel General’ by decree of Vladimir Putin,” according to the fact sheet. 

The sanctions also target Igor Borisovich Rakitin, “the overall head of the Federal Penitentiary Service of1322 Russia for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, in which Penal Colony IK-3 is located,” and Vadim Konstantinovich Kalinin, the prison warden.  

Lyudmila Navalnaya, mother of leader Alexei Navalny, delivers a video address in Salekhard, Russia, in this still image taken from a handout video released on February 22.

A spokesperson for the late Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, said on Friday that Navalny’s mother was given an ultimatum by a Russian investigator: either agree to a secret funeral without a public farewell, or Navalny would be buried at the penal colony where he was imprisoned. 

“She demands compliance with the law, which obliges investigators to hand over the body within two days from the moment the cause of death is established. According to the medical documents she signed, these two days expire tomorrow. She insists that the authorities allow the funeral and memorial service to be held in accordance with customs,” Yarmysh added. 

The alleged ultimatum is “hell on earth before our eyes,” the head of investigations at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Maria Pevchikh, said Friday. 

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall to mark the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow, Russia, on February 23.

Russia has begun serial production of new Zircon hypersonic missiles, which experts say are almost impossible to shoot down, President Vladimir Putin said Friday. 

Use of missile in war: Ukraine has claimed it has evidence that Russia fired a Zircon hypersonic missile in its attacks on the capital Kyiv on February 7 for the first time since the start of the war.

Experts say the Zircon, if it lives up to what Moscow says about it, is a formidable weapon. Its hypersonic speed makes it invulnerable to even the best Western missile defenses, like the Patriot, according to the United States-based Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA).

What else Putin said: Russian defense industry enterprises have “in recent years” increased the production and supply of weapons “multiple times over,” including high-precision strike weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, air defense systems, counter-battery systems, and communications and reconnaissance equipment, he said in a Defender of the Fatherland Day address, which Russia marks on February 23.

Other technologies, including the introduction of artificial intelligence in the military sector, are also being developed, the Russian leader said.

He praised the “courage and valor” of members of the military, including those who serve in what Russia calls euphemistically its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

On the eve of the two-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, the United States unveiled a fresh slate of sanctions on more than 500 targets tied to Russia’s invasion and the death of outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.

Meanwhile, CNN went to Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to be captured by Russian forces. It was liberated by Kyiv’s forces nine months later, but as the war enters its third year, Kherson feels as if it is under remote occupation. Residents describe the shelling from Russian forces under a mile away across the Dnipro River as the worst yet. Read the full report of the situation on ground here.

Here are some other key developments in the war:

A new counteroffensive: Ukraine will prepare a new counteroffensive following a campaign that didn’t bring the desired results, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Fox News published Thursday. The situation on the battlefield “is not a stalemate” and “indeed, it’s very complicated in the East,” Zelensky said, claiming that Russia’s “only” success over nine months has been taking control of Avdiivka.

EU also imposes fresh sanctions: The European Union adopted its 13th package of sanctions against Russia on Friday, including a further 194 individuals and entities responsible for hostile actions against Ukraine. It includes those involved in North Korea’s armament supply to Russia, the bloc said. Almost 2,000 individuals and entities have been sanctioned since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, the EU said. Russia called the sanctions “illegal, undermining the UN Security Council’s international legal prerogatives” and announced it is expanding its stop list, barring entry to EU representatives.

Overnight strikes in Odesa region: Three people were killed and at least eight wounded in overnight drone attacks in Ukraine, officials said Friday. In the Odesa region on the Black Sea, debris from one of the drones hit a building, causing a fire and killing three people, according to military administration head Oleh Kiper.

Ukraine’s defense: Ukrainian air force said it destroyed 23 out of the 31 Iranian-made Shahed-131/136 drones detected over the Odesa, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv regions overnight.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield attends a UN Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas war, at UN Headquarters in New York City on February 20.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield weighed in on the Biden administration’s move to levy additional sanctions on over 500 entities associated with Russia’s war machine Friday, repeating calls on the House of Representatives to follow the Senate’s lead and pass much-needed aid to Ukraine.

“The administration has been working diligently to get the assistance to the Ukrainian effort, including pressing Congress to provide needed funding, but the Ukrainians’ resilience can’t be played down here,” she told CNN.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has said the stalled legislation, which includes over $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine, would not pass in its current form and privately told Republicans during a closed-door meeting last week there is “no rush” to address the issue, with Congress since having left town for a nearly two-week recess.

Thomas-Greenfield said the Ukrainians are not asking the US to fight for them, but “they’re asking us to assist them — to give them the tools that they need to continue the fight, and we’re working to try to get that to them.”