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- A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the drone, the Air Force said. The White House called Moscow’s actions “unsafe, unprofessional and reckless.”
- Russia denied its fighter jets came “into contact” with the US drone. The Russian ambassador to the US said Moscow did not want a “confrontation,” but that the craft was too close to the Russian border.
- Although Russian and US aircraft have operated over the Black Sea during the Ukraine war, this is the first known interaction of this nature since the conflict began.
- On the ground in Ukraine, Russian forces attacked cities across the eastern Donetsk region Tuesday as fierce fighting continues in Bakhmut, with combat appearing to be focused around a sprawling metallurgical plant in the north of the embattled city.
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Roman Trokhymets is a Ukrainian soldier who served around the eastern city of Bakhmut, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting between Ukraine and Russian forces.
Recovering from a recent injury, he told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday what it was like fighting in a war to protect his country.
“I can’t even describe the whole emotions, that’s why I try to drop some video and the photos, because sometimes you can’t understand everything, just look at the photo,” he said.
Trokhymets, who was a realtor before the war, has been tweeting photos and videos from the frontlines.
A man stands in front of a house destroyed by shelling in the village of Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut, on March 14.
It is premature to draw conclusions about the dynamic of the fighting in Bakhmut as battles for control of the eastern city are still raging, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on national television Tuesday.
Russian forces are conducting offensive operations along the eastern front and are trying to advance in several directions, Maliar said.
“Fighting continues near Kreminna, Bilohorivka and Spirne. Of course, Bakhmut is the epicenter. The enemy is trying to capture the city from several directions and to surround it,” she said.
Russian forces had “some minor success” but the Ukrainian military had “significant successes,” although she declined to go into details. “There is a positive dynamic,” she said.
Maliar added:
“When there are battles, we need to understand that both sides are moving. And it is premature to draw conclusions … This is a process. The battles for the city [of Bakhmut] are not over, and therefore they can have different dynamics — positive and negative, and we should take it as the Ukrainian army is doing absolutely everything it can to prevent the enemy’s plans from being realized,” she said.
A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of a MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to US officials. The drone was flying over international waters when one of two Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel on the unmanned drone several times, according to the US European Command.
Russia has pushed back, denying that its jets came “into contact” with the drone. The Russian Ambassador to the US said Russia does not want “confrontation” with the US but “as we see it, American aircraft have no business being near the Russian border.”
Here’s what to know:
- US-Russia drone intervention: A Russian jet downed a US drone over the Black Sea. Aircraft from both countries have operated over the Black Sea during the course of the war, but this is the first known such interaction, a potentially dangerous escalation at a critical time in the fighting. The incident prompted US officials to express “strong objections” to diplomats. Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder called it “uncommon and unfortunate and unsafe.” President Joe Biden and US allies have been briefed, according to the White House and the Pentagon.
- Russian response: Russia has pushed back, denying that its fighter jets came “into contact” with the US drone. Russian Ambassador to the US Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said Russia does not want a “confrontation” with the US, but that the craft was too close to the Russian border. The drone has not been recovered, a spokesperson for US European Command said.
- Latest from the frontlines: Russian strikes across the Donetsk region have killed at least three people. In Bakhmut, social media posts appear to confirm fighting around the AZOM metallurgical plant in the north of the city. The intensity of shelling the city has increased, a Ukrainian soldier said on Ukrainian national television. Wagner units appear to be making limited advances but remain well short of encircling Bakhmut. In southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said it destroyed four Russian missiles that were headed toward the Odesa.
- Update on western aid: Ukrainian soldiers have nearly completed their training on Leopard 2 battle tanks in Munster, Germany, according to a spokesperson for the special training command. Once the training is finished, Germany can deploy the Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, the spokesperson said. Germany has so far vowed to supply Ukraine with 18 of the latest A6 model Leopard 2 tanks. Additionally, the Netherlands announced it will send two minesweepers, drone detection radar systems and ferrying and bridge-building systems to Ukraine, according to Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren.
- War crime investigation: The Russian government has said it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, after the court declared its plans to open two war crimes cases against Russia, according to The New York Times and Reuters.
Russia’s war in Ukraine is damaging the environment — and it needs to be discussed more by experts, Ukrainian and United Nations officials said.
The Executive Director of the UN Environment Program, Inger Andersen, met with the Head of the Office of Ukraine’s President, Andriy Yermak, in Kyiv on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Ukrainian presidency.
The leaders discussed “the issue of Russian responsibility for environmental crimes in Ukraine.” Yermak told Anderson that “Russia is causing enormous damage to the ecological system of our country,” according to the statement.
For her part, Andersen emphasized her support for Ukraine in overcoming the challenges to its ecological system due to the Russian invasion, and emphasized the importance of a deeper discussion about this issue at the expert level, according to the statement.
Anatoly Antonov, the Russian Ambassador to the US, said Tuesday that Russia does not want “confrontation” with the US but “as we see it, American aircraft have no business being near the Russian border.”
Talking to reporters after he was summoned to the State Department following an incident that led to the downing of a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea, Antonov asked, “Could you imagine if such a UAV appeared suddenly close to New York or San Francisco?”
“Can you imagine the reaction of the US press, the Pentagon, to this drone? What kind of drone was it? Think about this before summoning me to the State Department. It’s a multipurpose [drone], with strike capabilities of up to a 1700 kg explosive payload,” he said. “Tell me how any MoD of any country would react to the threat of such danger appearing along their borders?”
Antonov did say he wanted to point out “how professional the Russian pilots were in their actions. No contact was made, nor were any weapons used by our fighter jets.”
“I think it’s better that we discuss at the State Department avenues of cooperation and mutual action, but unfortunately, my communication with the State Department lately has just been to address their protests about the actions of the Russian Federation,” he said.
“The Russian Federation is not interested in confrontation. The Russian side is interested in pragmatic relations with the USA in the interests of both the Russian and American people.”
Some background: The Reaper drone was flying over international waters when one of two Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel on the unmanned drone several times, according to the US European Command. The aircraft then hit the propeller of the drone, prompting US forces to bring the MQ-9 drone down in international waters.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder added Tuesday that the Russian aircraft flew “in the vicinity” of the drone for 30 to 40 minutes before colliding just after 7 a.m. Central European Time.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday that a transfer of Poland’s supply of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine “might happen within the next four to six weeks.”
Morawiecki made the remark while answering questions from reporters in Warsaw.
It comes after Polish President Andrzej Duda told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in a late February interview that Ukrainian pilots were “prepared to operate” MiG-29 fighter jets.
Ukrainian pilots however will likely need more training to “be ready to fly modern aircraft at NATO standards, such as F-16s,” Duda said, emphasizing that the “training of a pilot is much more complicated and much longer [than the training of a tank operator].”
Duda told CNN that modern weapons are “key” to shoring up Ukraine’s ability to defend itself from Russia. When asked if that includes fighter jets, he responded: “If there is such a need, of course, yes.”
The US is taking measures to ensure that the drone that was downed over the Black Sea won’t fall into the wrong hands, a top White House official said Tuesday.
“Without getting into too much detail, what I can say is that we’ve taken steps to protect our equities with respect to that particular drone – that particular aircraft. And it’s the United States property. We obviously don’t want to see anybody getting their hands on it beyond us,” John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday.
Pressed on whether the US would show evidence to back its account of what happened – given Russia’s denial – Kirby noted the US is “looking at some imagery to see if any of that might be suitable” for public release, but said no decisions have been made at this time.
He also dismissed the denial issued by Russia’s ministry of defense.
“Obviously we refute the Russians’ denial and I think anybody, after a year now, Jake, should take everything that the Russians say about what they’re doing in and around Ukraine with a huge grain of salt,” he said.
Kirby pointed to the summoning of Russia’s Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov to State Department as “one of the advantages of having diplomatic lines open,” saying that in the meeting, the State Department walked the ambassador “through the very significant and very real concerns over this unsafe and unprofessional conduct by Russian pilots.”
He reiterated his condemnation of the incident, warning of immediate and broader implications.
“We certainly don’t want to see this war escalate beyond what it has already done to the Ukrainian people,” Kirby said, calling it “inappropriate, unsafe, unprofessional conduct by the Russian pilots.”
Russia does not want “confrontation” with the US, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said Tuesday after he was summoned to the State Department following an incident that led to the downing of a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea.
He was inside the State Department for a little over half an hour. Antonov said Assistant Secretary Karen Donfried conveyed the US’ concerns about the incident, and he “exchanged our remarks on this issue because we have some differences.”
“It seems to me that it was a constructive conversation on this issue. I have heard her remarks, I hope that she has understood what I have mentioned,” Antonov said in response to a question from CNN.
Antonov reiterated the ministry of defense’s denial that any Russian aircraft came into contact with the drone.
He also claimed that Russia “had informed about this space that was identified as a zone for special military operation.”
“We have warned not to enter, not to penetrate,” he said, asking how the US would react if a Russian drone came close to New York or San Francisco.
In this 2017 photo, Russia Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov speaks during a World Affairs event at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California.
Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov arrived at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday afternoon after being summoned following the incident that resulted in the downing of a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea.
Antonov did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Antonov is expected to meet with Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Karen Donfried, a senior State Department official said.
Antonov was summoned to “convey our strong objections,” State Dept spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday.
In addition, the US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy “has conveyed a strong message to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Price said.
A Russian fighter jet forcing down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea was a “reckless act” by President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.
“I want to tell Mr. Putin, stop this behavior before you are the cause of an unintended escalation,” he said.
He said the interception will not deter the United States from operating over the Black Sea.
“These aggressive actions by Russian aircraft are risky and could lead, I repeat, to unintended escalation. The US has routinely flown over the Black Sea since before Putin’s illegal and reckless invasion of Ukraine, and I’m confident our military will continue to do so,” Schumer said.
Some background: The Russian ministry of defense on Tuesday denied that any of its aircraft came into contact with the US drone.
A Russian fighter aircraft “did not use airborne weapons or come into contact” with a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea, the Russian defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
“On 14 March 2023 in the morning, the Russian airspace control systems have detected an American MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle flying over the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said in the statement, which they released in English as well.
“The drone flew with its transponders off, violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation, communicated to all users of international airspace, and published in accordance with international standards,” the ministry said.
The ministry said that Russian fighter jets “scrambled to identify the intruder.”
“As a result of quick maneuvering around 9.30 a.m. (Moscow time), the MQ-9 drone went into an unguided flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface,” the ministry said.
“The Russian aircraft did not use on-board weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle, and returned safely to their home airfield,” the ministry said.
Some more context: Earlier today, the US Air Force said a Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea after damaging the propeller of the drone. The White House is calling Moscow’s actions “unsafe, unprofessional and reckless.”
While Russian and US aircraft have operated over the Black Sea during the Ukraine war, this is the first known interaction of this nature since the conflict began, and a potentially dangerous escalation at a critical time in the fighting.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder speaks during a press briefing.
Russian aircraft were flying alongside a US Reaper drone for 30 to 40 minutes before they collided with it, ultimately causing it to crash, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Tuesday.
“[B]ased on the information I have here, it seems like approximately 30 to 40 minutes they were flying in the vicinity of this MQ-9,” Ryder said, before the aircraft “collided” with the drone, rendering it unflyable and forcing the US to bring it down into international waters.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder speaks during a press briefing.
The United States has been conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in international waters in the Black Sea “for some time,” including before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday.
“The key point here is that while intercepts in and of themselves are not that uncommon, … this type of behavior from these Russian pilots, that is uncommon and unfortunate and unsafe,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.
Ryder said that Russia has not recovered the downed drone.
Ryder would not say whether the MQ-9 drone was armed, but added that the Defense Department is working to declassify imagery from the intercept.
Russia’s Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, is seen in Washington, DC on December 12, 2017.
The US State Department is summoning the Russian ambassador to convey its “strong objections” to the downing of a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea, a spokesperson said.
The “high-level engagement” with Ambassador Anatoly Antonov was expected to take place later Tuesday afternoon, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
During the meeting, the ambassador will “hear directly from senior officials about our strong objections to what was clearly an unsafe and unprofessional intercept on the part of a Russian aircraft,” the spokesperson said.
In Moscow, US Ambassador Lynne Tracy “has conveyed a strong message to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs” about the incident, according to Price.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently traveling and is not in Washington, DC.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has not spoken to his Russian counterpart about the Russian aircraft intercepting a US Reaper drone, resulting in its downing over international waters.
“In terms of Secretary Austin talking to his counterpart — not at this time, to my knowledge,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Tuesday. “DoD officials have not spoken specifically to Russian authorities on this particular incident.”
The MQ-9 Reaper drone was conducting “routine operations in international airspace” on Tuesday when two Russian Su-27 aircraft intercepted it, a US military statement said.
One of the Russian aircraft hit the drone, resulting in “a crash and complete loss” of the drone, Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa said.
The owner of a car blown up Tuesday in the center of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol has died in the hospital from his wounds, the Russian-backed regional administration said in a Telegram post.
Two others, a woman and a child, were also injured, according to Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the pro-Russian Zaporizhzhia region military-civilian administration.
All three have been hospitalized, he said.
The explosion was carried out with an improvised explosive device, according to Rogov, and it happened near a market.
Rogov said a local pro-Russian entrepreneur was the target of the alleged attack.
CNN is not able to independently verify those claims.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price speaks during a news conference on March 10, 2022, in Washington, DC.
The United States has briefed allies about Russia’s downing of a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea, according to the State Department.
Spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday the US was “not in position to speak to what the Russians intended to do” with the maneuvers that brought the drone down, but noted that “the motivations matter much less than what actually transpired.”
He said the US is “engaged at high levels with allies.”
“We are in a position to speak to what happened and what happened was an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver on the part of a Russian aircraft, a maneuver that was also tinged with a lack of competence that caused the US military to need to bring this unmanned craft down. That is the result again of these Russian actions. We can characterize them, but we can’t characterize the motivations,” he said at a State Department briefing.
The US State Department’s Global Engagement Center on Tuesday released a new report outlining Russia’s attempts to spread disinformation about American and Ukrainian biological weapons.
The eight-page report does not seem to present new information about the disinformation effort, but rather gives a comprehensive look at the widespread efforts on the matter, from the days of the Soviet Union to the current war in Ukraine.
The release of the report comes a day after a senior State Department official said that Russia and China have “clearly” aligned themselves on propaganda and disinformation regarding the war in Ukraine, and that the United States and the West have not invested enough over the years in countering such disinformation.
Tuesday’s report noted that “Russia, like the Soviet Union before it, has pushed false claims for decades about biological weapons in an attempt to create mistrust in the peaceful global efforts and public health institutions that counter biological threats.”
“Since the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem has increased the volume and intensity of its disinformation about biological weapons in an unsuccessful attempt to deflect attention from its invasion of Ukraine, to diminish international support for Ukraine, and to justify its unjustifiable war,” it stated.
“Russia has a history of accusing others of doing what it is doing itself, and its recent biological weapons claims related to Ukraine are no different. The United States assesses that Russia continues to maintain an offensive biological weapons program in violation of its obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention,” the report added.
The report gave numerous examples of the disinformation that Russia has promulgated since the start of the war, including one of its “most notable false claims is that the United States worked with Ukraine to train an army of migratory birds, mosquitos and even bats to carry biological weapons into Russia,” which it added was “absurd.”
The report described the false claims as being spread through “Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem, such as Kremlin-funded media outlets and Russian Intelligence-linked websites” and “so-called ‘experts’” who speak to the Russian press.
It also highlighted Russia’s parliamentary commission investigating what it alleges are US biological laboratories in Ukraine, which the report said spreads false information about biological weapons.
The US Reaper drone that crashed after being struck by a Russian fighter jet has not been recovered in the Black Sea, a spokesperson for US European Command said.
In an earlier statement the commander for US Air Forces Europe said the drone was “hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” US Air Forces commander Gen. James Hecker said.
Some more context: CNN reported earlier a Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to a US official familiar with the incident.
The Reaper drone and two SU-27 Flanker jets were operating over international waters over the Black Sea when one of the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel in front of the unmanned drone, according to the official.
President Joe Biden was briefed Tuesday morning by National security adviser Jake Sullivan about the incident, according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. US officials are planning to contact Russia to voice concern about the drone incident, according to Kirby.
National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks in Washington, DC, on February 27,
The US will continue operating over the Black Sea and won’t be deterred by Russia’s intercept of a drone in international airspace, a White House official said Tuesday.
“If the message is that they want to deter or dissuade us from flying and operating in international airspace, over the Black Sea, then that message will fail, because that is not going to happen,” said John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council.
“We are going to continue to fly and operate in international airspace over international waters,” he added. “The Black Sea belongs to no one nation. And we’re going to continue to do what we need to do for our national security interests in that part of the world.”
Kirby repeatedly described the Russian intercept of the American drone as “unsafe” and “unprofessional,” suggesting the actions went beyond previous Russian efforts at intercepting US aircraft.
He said the presence of American drones in the area was not new.
“We have been flying consistently over that airspace or a year,” he said, arguing there was no reason to activate deconfliction lines with Russia or otherwise notify Moscow before flying over the Black Sea.
“We don’t need to have some sort of check-in with the Russians before we fly in international airspace,” he said.
US President Joe Biden was briefed Tuesday morning about an incident between a US drone and a Russian jet over the Black Sea.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan briefed Biden on the matter, according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
He said it was “not uncommon” for Russian aircraft to intercept US aircraft over the Black Sea, and said there had been other intercepts in recent weeks.
But he said the episode Tuesday was unique in how “unsafe, unprofessional and reckless” the Russian actions were.
US officials are planning to contact Russia to voice concern about the drone incident, according to Kirby.
“It is the State Department’s intention to reach out and expressly and directly make our concerns known about this incident with Russian officials,” Kirby said. He couldn’t say whether that outreach had occurred.
Kirby declined to speculate on the intentions of the Russian pilots.
Some more context: CNN reported earlier a Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to a US official familiar with the incident.
The Reaper drone and two SU-27 Flanker jets were operating over international waters over the Black Sea when one of the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel in front of the unmanned drone, according to the official.
An empty street and damaged buildings are seen in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 3.
The intensity of shelling in the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut has increased, but Russian infantry “cannot overcome our strongholds,” a Ukrainian soldier currently fighting the city said Tuesday on Ukrainian national television.
“On our flank, the intensity of fighting has increased significantly in recent days — the southern outskirts of Bakhmut, Ivanivske. The enemy is trying to get to the area of the so-called ‘airplane’ in Bakhmut and cut the Kostiantynivka-Bakhmut road,” said Yurii Syrotiuk, a grenadier with the 5th Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, referring to Bakhmut’s now-destroyed airplane monument, which was a symbol of the city.
“That is why mega-intense fighting is constantly going on. But every time the enemy tries to attack us, we counterattack the enemy. However, it has started using a lot of artillery, MLRS and aircraft. The enemy aviation is working from morning til night,” he said.
Syrotiuk said Russian forces have so far been unsuccessful at reaching the area of where the airplane monument once stood.
“Unfortunately, the front has already advanced quite close to the entrance to Bakhmut. The enemy is trying to attack from the direction of Ivanivske, but unsuccessful; we are constantly repelling them with our counterattacks, the enemy is trying to cut the Kostiantynivka-Bakhmut road at any cost — to encircle Bakhmut,” he said.
Syrotiuk said that Russian infantry that cannot overcome Ukrainian strongholds are “pulling back, calling for their artillery, calling for aviation.”
“And this is happening 24/7. About two weeks ago, I couldn’t imagine that there could be even more intense fighting, but as it turned out, there could be,” he added.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, left, and his Netherland’s counterpart Kajsa Ollongren attend a joint news briefing in Odesa, Ukraine, on March 14.
The Netherlands will send two minesweepers to Ukraine, along with drone detection radar systems and so-called M3 ferrying and bridge building systems, according to Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren.
In a statement Tuesday, the Dutch Defense Ministry outlined its plans to work with Belgium and possibly other allied countries to train Ukrainian forces in the use of the minesweepers.
Supplying minesweepers to Ukraine will “contribute to Black Sea safety, Europe’s security and global food security,” Ollongren said.
The defense minister spent the past few days in Ukraine visiting the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa alongside her Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov.
The two ministers discussed the strengthening of coastal defenses, the importance of maritime safety and protecting grain ships, according to the statement.
Ollongren highlighted the efforts of the Ukrainian forces, saying that although the Netherlands can provide Ukraine with “the material,” it is the Ukrainians themselves who are fighting “for every centimeter of [their] land.”
In this February 21 photo, a US Air Force 119th Wing MQ-9 Reaper flys over an airfield at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of a MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to a US official familiar with the incident.
The Reaper drone and two SU-27 Flanker jets were operating over international waters over the Black Sea when one of the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel in front of the unmanned drone, according to the official. One of the jets then damaged the propeller of the Reaper, which is mounted on the rear of the drone, the official said. The damage to the propeller forced the US to bring down the Reaper in international waters in the Black Sea.
Russian and US aircraft have operated over the Black Sea during the course of the war, but this is the first known such interaction, a potentially dangerous escalation at a critical time in the fighting.
According to a statement from the US Air Force:
“At approximately 7:03 AM (CET), one of the Russian Su-27 aircraft struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters. Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner. This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional.”
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” said US Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, according to the Air Force statement. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash.”
“U.S. and Allied aircraft will continue to operate in international airspace and we call on the Russians to conduct themselves professionally and safely,” Hecker added, according to the statement.
Some context: The US has been operating Reaper drones over the Black Sea since before the beginning of the war, using the spy drone to monitor the area. The Reaper drone can fly as high as 50,000 feet, according to the Air Force, and has the sensors and capabilities to gather intel and perform reconnaissance for extended periods of time, making it an ideal platform to track movements on the battlefield and in the Black Sea.
Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, on Tuesday adopted the third and final reading of a bill that introduces criminal liability for discrediting all participants, including volunteers, in the so-called “special military operation.”
The law now extends the Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on liability for “fakes” about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to volunteer formations. Public dissemination of deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces, as well as volunteer formations, which had grave consequences, will see offenders facing up to 15 years in prison.
What’s next?: The bill has to pass the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, and be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.
In January, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the private military company Wagner Group, which is considered a volunteer formation, appealed to the Russian State Duma to issue protections for the volunteers and convicts who fight as Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine.
“There are media outlets that purposefully look out for negative information about the volunteers, including former prisoners, and publish such materials that portray the defenders of Russia — people who give up their lives for us — in a bad light, vilifying them as villains and criminals,” Prigozhin said in a letter to Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Russian State Duma, according to a version published by his holding company, Concord.
Later in March, Prigozhin wrote another letter to the State Duma speaker Volodin, asking him to exclude “constructive criticism” of Russia’s top military officials and Wagner commanders, from the draft bill.
Prigozhin himself has often been critical of the Russian Defense Ministry, has frequently alluded to the tension in the relationship with the ministry, and has pointed out that some of the top Russian generals have not visited the frontline positions around the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Ukrainians inspect the site after a Russian missile attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine on March 14.
At least one person was killed and seven injured in a Russian strike Tuesday on a residential area in the city of Kramatorsk in the eastern in Donetsk region, Ukraine’s National Police said in an updated statement.
Russia struck the residential area with an anti-radiation surface-to-surface Kh-58 cruise missile, police said.
There were 14 people inside the building at the time of the strike, police said.
At least nine multi-apartment buildings were damaged in the strike, as well as a kindergarten, a bank and five vehicles, police said.
The State Emergency Service earlier on Tuesday said a three-story apartment building was partially destroyed.
Kramatorsk sits about 25 kilometers (more than 15 miles) from the front lines and has been frequently hit by Russian missiles.
A Leopard 2 tank is seen at the Armored Corps Training Center in Munster, Germany, on February 20.
Ukrainian soldiers have nearly completed their training on Leopard 2 battle tanks in Munster, Germany, according to a spokesperson for the special training command of its armed forces, the Bundeswehr.
The spokesperson — who is routinely not named — told CNN that with training now concluding, it would soon be feasible for Germany to deploy the Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Germany has so far vowed to supply Ukraine with 18 of the latest A6 model Leopard 2 tanks.
The spokesperson said the Ukrainian soldiers were “highly motivated” and used the five-week training “more than effectively.”
The spokesperson said the soldiers were trained 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week, over the past five weeks. The spokesperson said they were trained as drivers, gunners, technicians, commanders and maintenance personnel.
The soldiers were first taught how to maneuver the main battle tank as drivers and commanders, the spokesperson said, adding the soldiers said driving the Leopard 2 tanks was like “driving a Mercedes.”
The soldiers completed their final shooting training session Monday, with the spokesperson stating that trainees achieved an 82-85% hit rate under combat conditions.
“This is a super result,” he said, adding that the simulator shooting training substantially enhanced the soldiers’ progress.
The spokesperson added the Bundeswehr’s special training command benefited from the experience at a tactical level and regarding wartime experience. He said the instructors were also highly motivated as they knew “what they were making the soldiers fit for.”
The Bundeswehr’s special training command group aims to train 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers in 2023 after training 1,100 in 2022.
Remember: After weeks of squabbling, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the move to send tanks in late January, bowing to intensifying international pressure – led by the United States, Poland and a bloc of other European nations that called on Berlin to step up its military support and commit to sending their sought-after vehicles. US President Joe Biden announced at the same time that he would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
Ukraine has a large population of older people — one in four of its residents is over the age of 60 — and most of them are women. Some lived through World War II as children, only to see their lives disrupted again in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine began.
When Russia then launched its full-scale invasion last February, many of these women were unable or unwilling to leave. Of the 4.8 million Ukrainians who have registered in other European countries as refugees since the war began, most are younger women and children, while older women stayed in Ukraine.
Here are some of their stories, edited for clarity and brevity.
Valentina Tokariova, 85, was born in Russia. She lived in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine for 60 years until 2014, when she fled to Kyiv:
I am Russian by birth, born in Novosibirsk. So, in my head, I still don’t understand how this happened and how there can be a war. I thought it was impossible.
I came to Donbas in 1962. I was 23 and I followed a young man. He is not worth telling you about. We lived together for seven years and then he abandoned me and our son.
For 60 years, I’ve been living in Ukraine. I worked my whole life for Ukraine, this is my family, my home, this is my country. I am Ukrainian now. I consider Ukrainian culture my own.
Yulia Hermanovska is 79 and has been living on her own in Kyiv since her husband died five years ago:
I have stage-four cancer. I’ve been fighting it for three years already, this is my fourth.
My doctor evacuated at the exact time I was due to start my treatment, in February 2022. She only came back in May. I felt really bad at the time, but by the end of May I started intensive therapy. I feel so much better now! When I was diagnosed in 2020, I was told I would have two to five years. We’ll see.
I have always liked the Ukrainian language more, but I was forced to speak Russian because it was not modern and popular to speak Ukrainian back then. It was considered a villagers’ language.
The last seven-and-a-half years of my career, I worked as a librarian at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. When I had the job interview, they told me if I wanted to work there, I could only use two languages: English or Ukrainian. So I had to switch back to Ukrainian at the age of 50, having spoken Russian all my adult life.
Klara Rozkishna, 94, spent 40 years teaching chemistry in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. She lives in Kyiv with her daughter:
We left Donetsk on May 29, 2014. Once we saw Russian tanks, we left immediately.
Donetsk used to be a beautiful city. It was called the city of a million roses. One would think it’s a miners’ city, but there were so many roses! We used to live downtown and I loved walking along the Pushkin Boulevard. It was very green. Me and my husband lived in a house close to the Kalmius river. It was such a beautiful spot, so many flowers!
We abandoned everything we had there and locked our apartment. My husband died in 2009 and is buried in Donetsk. I even bought a spot for myself right next to him. But the cemetery was bombed. Because this is not a war. This is a slaughterhouse. They are barbarians.
But it is ok, Ukraine will win — I am sure.
Read more stories from Ukrainian women here.
“Ukrainian Dancers” by Edgar Degas (1899).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has quietly reclassified some of its paintings. Two artists, once labeled as Russian, are now categorized as Ukrainian, and a painting by the French Impressionist Edgar Degas has been renamed from “Russian Dancer” to “Dancer in Ukrainian Dress.”
For one woman in Kyiv, these changes are a vindication of sorts. Oksana Semenik, a journalist and historian, has been running a months-long campaign to persuade institutions in the United States to relabel the historical works of art she believes are wrongly presented as Russian.
At the Met, they include work by Ilya Repin and Arkhip Kuindzhi, artists whose mother tongue was Ukrainian and who depicted many Ukrainian scenes, even if the region was in their day part of the Russian Empire.
Repin, a renowned 19th century painter who was born in what is now Ukraine, has been relabeled on the Met’s catalog as “Ukrainian, born Russian Empire” with the start of each description of his works now reading, “Repin was born in the rural Ukrainian town of Chuhuiv (Chuguev) when it was part of the Russian Empire.”
On Semenik’s Twitter account, Ukrainian Art History, which has over 17,000 followers, she wrote: “All [Repin’s] famous landscapes were about Ukraine, Dnipro, and steppes. But also about Ukrainian people.”
One of Repin’s lesser-known contemporaries, Kuindzhi was born in Mariupol in 1842 when the Ukrainian city was also part of the Russian Empire, his nationality has also been updated. The text for Kuindzhi’s “Red Sunset” at the Met has been updated to include that “in March 2022, the Kuindzhi Art Museum in Mariupol, Ukraine, was destroyed in a Russian airstrike.”
In reference to the recent relabeling process, the Met told CNN in a statement that the institution “continually researches and examines objects in its collection in order to determine the most appropriate and accurate way to catalogue and present them. The cataloguing of these works has been updated following research conducted in collaboration with scholars in the field.”
Read about more reclassified Ukrainian works here.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the doubling of production of precision-guided weapons during a visit to major Russian arms manufacturer Tactical Missiles Corporation, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
“Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu noted that the Tactical Missiles Corporation adequately fulfills the state defense order. However, even taking into account the increase in production this year, he ordered to double the production of high-precision weapons,” according to the statement.
The corporation faces a “very serious task,” Shoigu said.
“For its implementation, the enterprise has the necessary reserves: highly qualified specialists and production facilities. Therefore, the task is tough, but doable,” Shoigu said.
He added that some of the latest weapons presented today by the corporation are “missing not only from today’s enemy but also from the armed forces of other countries.”
The Ukrainian military said it destroyed four Russian missiles that were headed toward the Odesa region in southern Ukraine.
“The enemy conducted an airstrike in Odesa region using tactical aircraft …The Su-24 aircraft fired four anti-radar missiles towards the coast, presumably X-31P,” Operational Command South said.
“The missiles have been destroyed over the sea,” the command said.
Several buildings were damaged, it added.
A couple enter a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 14.
Russian strikes across the Donetsk region have killed at least three people, while continued fighting in Bakhmut is focused around an industrial plant in the north of the city.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has said it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court amid reports that the court is considering war crimes cases related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Here are the latest headlines:
- Deadly strikes across Donetsk: Russian strikes on residential areas of the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk have killed one and injured two more. In Kostiantynivka, two people are confirmed dead with seven more wounded.
- Bakhmut fighting focused around northern plant: Social media posts appear to confirm fighting around the AZOM metallurgical plant in the north of Bakhmut. Wagner units appear to be making limited advances around the city, but remain well short of its encirclement.
- No confirmation of Xi and Zelensky virtual meeting: Ukrainian, Chinese and US officials all declined to confirm a potential virtual meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Xi Jinping in statements Monday and Tuesday, following a report that the two were planning to speak for the first time since Russia’s invasion.
- Kremlin doesn’t recognize ICC: The Russian government has said it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, after the court declared its plans to open two war crimes cases against Russia, according to The New York Times and Reuters.
- Grain deal extension: Russia and the UN have agreed on a 60-day extension of the Ukraine grain deal after negotiations in Geneva, which the Kremlin is calling a “sort of goodwill gesture.”
- Nord Stream blast boat identified: German magazine Der Spiegel has identified the boat that was searched by authorities in connection with the explosions that knocked out the Nord Stream gas pipeline last September.
Here’s the latest map of control:
The Lithuanian parliament has adopted a resolution labeling the private military company Wagner as a terrorist organization.
“Wagner is a terrorist organization, and its members and mercenaries pose a threat to the security of the state and society,” according to the resolution, which was published on the parliament website.
“Since the start of the Russian Federation’s military invasion of Ukraine in 2022 on February 24, soldiers of the Russian Federation and mercenaries of the private military company ‘Wagner’ of the Russian Federation, which actively participates in military actions on the side of the aggressor, commit systematic, serious crimes of aggression – killing and torturing the civilian population of Ukraine, bombing residential buildings and other civilian objects – which are equivalent to terrorism,” according the parliamentary document.
The parliament said that “the private military company ‘Wagner,’ founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a shadow tool of Russian power.”
The Lithuanian parliament said it was inviting other countries to follow suit and label Wagner a terrorist organization.
Lithuania and Russia share a border that is 297 kilometers (184 miles) long.
Some context: Wagner fighters have played an important role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – with many involved now in the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Many were recruited from Russian prisons and offered pardons in return for a six-month tour of duty in Ukraine.
A policeman examines a crater after Russian shelling in Vovchansk, Ukraine, on March 9.
Russian forces have fired more shells across the border into Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region, according to a local official.
At least one person was killed in the town of Vovchansk, a few miles from the border with Russia, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration.
“The enemy [is] continuously shelling peaceful civilians as well as civilian infrastructure in Vovchansk,” he said.
“An enemy projectile struck a civilian car during the shelling of the city fire and rescue unit. … A 55-year old woman who was in the car has died,” he continued.
More about Vovchansk: The town was occupied by Russian forces early in the invasion, but was taken back by Ukrainian forces in September. Russian forces regularly shell Vovchansk and other border towns in Kharkiv and Sumy regions.
Vovchansk, an important railway hub, has been shelled at least four times this month. Occasionally, it has also suffered air strikes.
The hold of a UN-chartered vessel is loaded with Ukrainian wheat to be delivered to Kenya and to Ethiopia, at the port of Chornomorsk on February 18.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said extending the Black Sea grain deal for 60 days was a “goodwill gesture” on the part of Russia, as its conditions have still not been met.
“The deal cannot stand on one leg,” Peskov said when asked why the deal had not been extended by 120 days.
“Of course, the conditions for the [deal] extension are relative. But this is a kind of goodwill gesture on the part of Russia,” he said.
Peskov added that Russia made this step “in the hope that, after such a long time, the conditions and obligations that were taken on by the known parties will be fulfilled.”
Russia and the United Nations agreed on a 60-day extension of the Ukraine grain deal after negotiations in Geneva, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Monday, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko.
Grushko added that the condition was that all the promises given to Russia will be fulfilled, including the obligation to lift sanctions, direct and indirect, on the supply of agricultural products to international global markets.
Some context: In July last year, ministers from both Ukraine and Russia signed the agreement following months of negotiations brokered by the UN and Turkey.
Russia pledged to unblock ports on the Black Sea to allow the safe passage of grain and oilseeds – some of Ukraine’s most important exports.
Fighters from the Wagner private military company pose for photographs in what appears to be a workshop within the AZOM metallurgical plant in Bakhmut, Ukraine. The fighters’ faces were previously blurred in this version of the image taken from Telegram.
Video and images appearing on social media Tuesday appear to confirm fighting in Bakhmut around the AZOM metallurgical plant, which is a sprawling complex in a northern neighborhood of the city.
Fighters from the Wagner private military company posed for photographs in what appears to be one of the plant’s workshops. In a video, one of them said that they were being hit by Ukrainian artillery persistently.
“Tens of projectiles are striking here every single day. They have an enormous amount of ammunition and it is restocked on a daily basis. They are not letting our fighters raise their heads,” the soldier said.
On Monday, Russian military bloggers claimed that Wagner fighters had begun assaults on underground sections of the AZOM complex.
Wagner units appear to be making limited advances around Bakhmut, according to independent analysis of the battlefield, but remain well short of its encirclement, and may be vulnerable to a Ukrainian counter-attack.
The Ukrainian military’s spokesperson in the east, Serhiy Cherevatyi, reported on Monday that there had been about 40 clashes within Bakhmut over the previous 24 hours.
In an update Tuesday, the Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces were trying to advance in several parts of the Donetsk region, “despite heavy losses.”
It also said that Russian units had tried to break through Ukrainian defensive lines further north in the Kupyansk direction. Kupyansk is a town in the Kharkiv region that was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in September but remains only a few miles from the front lines.
The release of gas is seen bubbling on the surface of the Baltic Sea from a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, on September 28, 2022, in a handout photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard.
German magazine Der Spiegel has identified the boat that was searched by authorities in connection with the explosions that knocked out the Nordstream gas pipeline in September.
The sailing vessel “Andromeda” was searched in January, according to Der Spiegel. The German general prosecutors’ office said last week that it had searched an unnamed boat that month.
Der Spiegel says that the “Andromeda” was the vessel in which an unidentified six-man crew allegedly sailed to the explosion area in the Baltic Sea.
According to the marine websites vesselfinder.com and marinetraffic.com, the “Andromeda” is German-flagged and measures 13 meters (42.6 feet) in length and 4 meters (13.1 feet) wide.
CNN contacted the company that rents out the “Andromeda,” but got no comment.
Last Friday, a German government spokesman was asked about the “Andromeda,” but referred any questions to the German general prosecutors’ office.
The investigation into the explosions, which targeted pipelines delivering Russian gas to Europe, has also reached Denmark.
Søren Thiim Andersen, a local official on the island of Christiansø, told CNN that investigators had searched his harbor mooring online booking system.
They also asked him to post an appeal for photos of boats that had visited the island from 16-18 September last year on a local Facebook page.
“We were contacted by Danish police in December about boats coming to the harbour, if we had any information locally here on Christiansø, about which boats that have been here in the harbour,” he said.
“I don’t know if the police found what they were looking for on the island,” he said.
Christiansø is 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm, near where the explosions happened.
Some context: Mystery has surrounded who might be responsible for the brazen sabotage last September, which damaged two pipes transporting Russian gas into the European Union and targeted a crucial source of revenue for Moscow. Both pipelines were closed at the time of the attack.
A report by the New York Times cited new intelligence that a “pro-Ukrainian group” may have been behind the attack. Ukraine has denied any involvement.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks on March 10, in Des Moines, Iowa.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that “becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia” is not a “vital national interest.”
The US presidential hopeful revealed some of his clearest views yet on US involvement in Ukraine in a written statement to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.
“While the U.S. has many vital national interests – securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party – becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” DeSantis told Carlson.
The view puts DeSantis more in line with former President Donald Trump’s views on Ukraine and puts him at odds with other Republicans including Mike Pence and Nikki Haley.
“We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland, especially as tens of thousands of Americans are dying every year from narcotics smuggled across our open border and our weapons arsenals critical for our own security are rapidly being depleted,” DeSantis writes.
Carlson had asked 2024 Republican Party presidential candidates to provide their views on the war in Ukraine.
“Without question, peace should be the objective. The U.S. should not provide assistance that could require the deployment of American troops or enable Ukraine to engage in offensive operations beyond its borders. F-16s and long-range missiles should therefore be off the table,” write DeSantis.
“These moves would risk explicitly drawing the United States into the conflict and drawing us closer to a hot war between the world’s two largest nuclear powers. That risk is unacceptable,” he adds.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is pictured in March 2022, in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Russian government does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to state news agency TASS.
“We do not recognize this court, we do not recognize the jurisdiction of this court. This is how we treat this,” Peskov said as quoted by TASS.
The ICC is planning to open two war crimes cases tied to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and issue arrest warrants against “several people,” according to the New York Times (NYT) and Reuters, citing current and former officials with knowledge of the decision who were not authorized to speak publicly.
According to the NYT, the cases would represent the first international charges to be brought since the start of Russia’s war and come after months of work by special ICC investigation teams.
The first case the ICC is set to open is about Russia’s alleged abduction of Ukrainian children. The second is on Russia’s “unrelentingly” targeting civilian infrastructure, including water supplies and gas tanks, according to the NYT.
What is the ICC? The ICC is the “court of last resort” and is located in The Hague, Netherlands.
It tries four types of crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and war crimes.
Russia withdrew from the ICC treaty under a directive signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2016.
Currently, 137 states are signatories to the treaty that created the court, but only 123 are considered parties to the treaty.
The United States is a signatory to the treaty, but not a party.
Ukainian, Chinese and US officials all declined to confirm a potential virtual meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Xi Jinping in statements Monday and Tuesday, following a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) stating that the two were planning to speak for the first time since Russia’s invasion.
Xi plans to speak with Zelensky following a potential trip to Moscow next week to meet with President Vladimir Putin according to the WSJ report, which cited “people familiar with the matter.”
CNN reached out to President Zelensky’s office Monday about any potential dialogue with Beijing but received no confirmation or comment about the virtual meeting.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin neither confirmed or denied Xi’s plans to call Zelensky, or his visit to Moscow next week during a regular press briefing Tuesday.
On Monday, US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the Biden administration had been “encouraging President Xi to reach out to President Zelensky” but that no official confirmation of the meeting had come from his Ukrainian counterparts.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Moscow could neither “confirm or deny” President Xi’s possible trip there next week.
“At the moment, I have nothing to say on this topic. As a rule, the announcement of official foreign visits is carried out simultaneously, by mutual agreement of the parties,” Peskov told reporters.
Atleast three civilians were injured early Tuesday following Russian shelling of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian official said.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said in a Telegram post that six multi-story buildings were also damaged.
Kyrylenko said earlier that at least two people were killed and a number of others injured following a series of Russian attacks on cities across Donetsk on Tuesday.
At least two people died and nine others were injured on Tuesday after a series of Russian attacks against cities across Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, according to a Ukrainian official.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said on Telegram that two people were killed and seven wounded in the city of Kostiantynivka. Homes were also damaged in the city, he said.
“In Soledar community, one person was wounded in Nikiforivka, 11 houses were damaged,” he added.
One person was wounded in the besieged city of Bakhmut, while the cities of Toretsk, Siversk and Kurakhove also came under fire, Kyrylenko said.
Kyrylenko added that three rockets had hit the city of Avdiivka overnight, damaging buildings including a residential block.
“Navalny,” a film that explores the plot to kill Russian anti-corruption campaigner and former presidential candidate, Alexey Navalny, has won the Oscar for best documentary feature at Sunday’s Academy Awards.
Imprisoned Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny knows the CNN film about his life has won an Oscar, his daughter said Monday.
“Navalny” won best documentary feature at Sunday’s Academy Awards. The film explores the plot to kill Navalny, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, who is now serving a nine-year sentence at a maximum-security prison east of Moscow.
Navalnaya said the Oscar win is a realization of her father’s work and that everyone who “has been fighting against the Putin regime is not going unseen.”
“[It shows] we are fighting the fight and it seems like we are winning,” she said.
Directed by Daniel Roher and presented by CNN Films and HBO Max, “Navalny” highlights an investigation by CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward and journalist group Bellingcat into the former presidential candidate’s poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020.
Navalny and several Western officials blamed the failed assassination attempt on the Kremlin, which has denied any involvement.
Read more here.
The artillery fire gets worse at night, so Liuba and her husband hold hands. It keeps them safe, she says with a sad nod of her head. She’s standing in what’s left of her garden after it was hit during a particularly bad night a month ago.
The shelling destroyed their neighbor’s home, throwing Liuba and her husband to the floor of their kitchen. Serhei, she says, landed with the fridge on top of him, thankfully more shaken than physically injured. Still, they will not go.
Liuba and Serhei, who gave only their first names for security reasons, are amongst the last remaining 2,500 residents of Kupyansk, a city in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region from which the front line has never strayed too far and to which the Ukrainian authorities fear it may be returning once again.
Kupyansk police chief Konstiantyn Tarasov says that ever since mid-February, the din of artillery — both the dull thud of outgoing and the sharper whistle of incoming fire — has been getting unnervingly closer. Russian positions are now less than 5 miles away from a city they occupied at the start of the invasion before losing it to Ukraine’s fall counteroffensive in September.
Read more here.
A BMP-1 armed personnel carrier seen from a tank, in Donbas on March 7.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s future is being decided in eastern Ukraine, where the fighting is “very tough.”
“The situation in the east is very tough and very painful. We need to destroy the enemy’s military power, and we will,” he said in his nightly address Monday. “Bilohorivka and Maryinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Kamyanka — and all other places where our future is being decided. Where our future, the future of all Ukrainians, is being fought for.”
Zelensky went on to say he was grateful to every soldier putting their lives on the line in these battles.
“I thank everyone who is defending their positions and fighting for Ukraine and their brothers,” he said. “Thank you to everyone who never lets down those who are next to them on the line!”
“Today, I would like to recognize the soldiers of the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade for their successful actions in the area of Bakhmut,” the Ukrainian president added.
The first group of Ukrainian soldiers training to operate and maintain Spain’s Leopard 2A4 tanks will finish their instruction this week, the Spanish Ministry of Defense said in a statement Monday.
The first group includes 10 complete crews and support staff, consisting of 55 soldiers in total.
“These courses were launched after the Spanish commitment to contribute to the Ukrainian defensive effort with the contribution of tanks was formalized,” the statement read. “At that time, Ukraine requested the training of crews and maintenance personnel for the operational deployment of the contributed Leopard 2A main battle tanks.”
Some more context: Spain agreed to send six of its Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks to Ukraine, part of a coordinated effort with Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal and the Netherlands, to supply Kyiv with around 80 Leopard 2 vehicles. Germany will supply Ukraine with 18 of the more advanced Leopard 2A6 variant.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is planning to open two war crimes cases tied to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and issue arrest warrants against “several people,” according to the New York Times (NYT) and Reuters, citing current and former officials with knowledge of the decision who were not authorized to speak publicly.
According to the NYT, the cases would represent the first international charges to be brought since the start of Russia’s war and come after months of work by special ICC investigation teams.
The first case the ICC is set to open is about Russia’s alleged abduction of Ukrainian children. The second is on Russia’s “unrelentingly” targeting civilian infrastructure, including water supplies and gas tanks, according to the NYT.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s first step is to present his charges to a panel of pretrial judges, who will decide whether legal standards have been met for issuing arrest warrants or whether investigators need more evidence, the NYT reported.
In a response to a request from CNN on the NYT’s reporting, the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor said that they “provide no comment on this report.”
ICC’s Khan visited Ukraine last month to probe Russia’s attacks on power and other infrastructure. Speaking to reporters during the visit, Khan said: “We see clearly a pattern, I think, in terms of the number, scale and breadth of attacks against the power grids of Ukraine. And we need to look at why that’s taking place; are they legitimate targets or not; and whether or not they are targeted for other reasons.”
Read more here.
Russia and the United Nations have agreed to a 60-day extension of the Ukraine grain deal after negotiations in Geneva, Russian state-run news agency RIA reported on Monday.
“Our Russian interdepartmental delegation has just completed another round of talks with UN representatives led by UNCTAD Secretary General R. Greenspan and OCHA head M. Griffiths,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said at a briefing on Monday, according to RIA.
The diplomat added Moscow had agreed to extend the current grain deal, which lasts until March 18, for an additional 60 days.
Any further grain policy after the 60-day period would depend on “normalization” of agricultural exports, he said.
Why are grain exports so important? Ukraine and Russia are both significant suppliers of food to the world. Before the war, Ukraine — known as one of the globe’s breadbaskets — would export around three-quarters of the grain it produces. According to data from the European Commission, about 90% of these exports were shipped by sea, from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. The war and its impact on grain exports therefore has major implications, particularly in the global South which relies heavily on them.
CNN’s Rob Picheta, Jomana Karadsheh, Radina Gigova and Tim Lister contributed to this post.
Military academy cadets cover the coffin with flags during the funeral of a Wagner Group mercenary killed in Ukraine at a cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia, on December 24, 2022.
Russia’s Wagner private military company has unsuccessfully tried to recruit from among Melitopol’s population despite stepping up efforts, according to the mayor of the Moscow-occupied city in southern Ukraine.
Ivan Fedorov, who is not in the city, told Ukrainian television that at the end of last week, occupying authorities had begun using social media to try to recruit residents for Wagner.
“Of course, no one agrees,” Fedorov said. “The offers they make are allegedly 200,000 rubles (approximately $2,600) per month to those who are ready to go to Bakhmut as part of Wagner. But they have not recruited anyone from the local population to join any volunteer battalion. They will not recruit for this one either.”
CNN has been unable to verify such a recruitment campaign but the Wagner group has stepped up recruitment efforts after sustaining heavy casualties around the eastern city of Bakhmut.
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