3 hr 8 min agoChina is still considering providing lethal aid to Russia, White House national security official saysFrom CNN’s Sam Fossum
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listens as National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Thursday. (Evan Vucci/AP)China could still take the escalatory step of providing lethal military aid to Russia, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday.
“We don’t believe they’ve taken it off the table,” Kirby told CNN’s Abby Phillip, while noting that the administration still doesn’t “believe that they’ve made the decision to move forward.”On fighter jets for Ukraine: Kirby also said that F-16 fighter jets are not a “key part” of the agenda for US President Joe Biden’s meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this afternoon, but the two leaders will speak extensively on what Ukraine will need this spring and summer for the tough fighting ahead.
About US detainee in Russia: Asked about detained American Paul Whelan, Kirby said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “absolutely” brought it up with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, despite Russian claims otherwise.
“Paul Whelan needs to be home with his family and with his friends,” Kirby said. “We’re going to keep working to get him released and get him back home.”
3 hr agoRussian forces continue attempts to encircle eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukraine’s military says From CNN’s Radina Gigova and Maria Kostenko
Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire a Msta-B howitzer towards Russian positions near the frontline town of Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 2. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)Russian forces have continued their efforts to encircle the eastern city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region Friday, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in an evening update.
“Numerous attacks have been repelled by our defenders, in particular near Vasiukivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka and Bakhmut,” the military said. The first two communities referenced in the report are small villages located just north of the city.
Elsewhere in Ukraine: Russian forces have also launched artillery fire near Lyman, which is north of Bakhmut, and on additional towns in the Donetsk region, the military said. Further attacks were reported near the city of Kupyansk in Kharkiv region, and Kreminna and Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region.
In the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the General Staff said Russia “is on the defensive, attempting to improve their tactical position to resume the offensive.” Moscow shelled 15 settlements with artillery, the Ukrainian military added.
“There are dead and wounded civilians,” it said, without elaborating on the specific numbers.
Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have also carried out strikes on enemy personnel and military equipment, the General Staff said.
“Our defenders shot down an enemy Su-34 aircraft and a ZALA UAV,” it said, repeating an earlier claim from the Ukrainian Air Force about downing a Russian fighter jet and drone.
CNN is not able to independently verify this claim. Russian state media has reported that a plane has been downed in the area indicated by the Ukrainian Air Force, but does not specify the plane’s model and ownership.
2 hr 46 min agoUS will send rockets, ammunition and other equipment to Ukraine in new $400 million aid packageFrom CNN’s Oren Liebermann
The United States announced a new security assistance package for Ukraine on Friday that is valued at up to $400 million.
This is the thirty-third presidential drawdown on US inventories, totaling more than $32 billion, used to aid Ukraine since Russian’s full-scale invasion began more than one year ago.
In a drawdown, the Defense Department pulls weapons and equipment from US inventories to send abroad, rather than purchasing new weapons from manufacturers.
“This package features more ammunition and support equipment for Ukraine’s precision fires, artillery, and armored vehicle operations,” the Defense Department wrote in a statement.CNN reported earlier Friday key details of the package, including that the aid would include Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges for the first time, a system used to launch bridges to cross trenches and narrow water obstacles.
Here’s a look at the weapons, munitions and equipment included in the package:
Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)Additional 155mm artillery roundsAdditional 105mm artillery roundsAdditional 25mm ammunitionArmored Vehicle Launched BridgesDemolition munitions and equipment for obstacle clearingTesting and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repairSpare parts and other field equipmentLast week, the US announced $2 billion in aid under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which contracts with the industry to procure the supplies and takes more time.
Ukrainian officials have also been pushing to obtain US F-16 fighter jets, which President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have opposed so far.
3 hr 37 min agoMandatory evacuation in place for vulnerable residents in eastern Ukrainian city due to Russian shellingFrom CNN’s Radina Gigova and Maria Kostenko
Ukrainian authorities have ordered a mandatory evacuation for vulnerable residents of the eastern city of Kupyansk, located in the Kharkiv region, due to “constant” Russian shelling.
“Evacuation of people with limited mobility, people with disabilities and children with their parents is underway,” the Kupyansk city military administration said in a Facebook post Friday. “Unfortunately, due to constant shelling of the Kupyansk community” by Russian forces “there is major destruction of critical infrastructure.”The city administration said utilities “are operating as usual” and that online classes are being organized for students.
“The educational process continues in the Kupyansk community. According to the head of the education department, 480 students have already joined the online education program. Classes are being formed,” the administration said.
The Kharkiv region military administration announced the start of the mandatory evacuation on Thursday, saying the decision was made “due to constant shelling of the Kupyansk community by Russian troops.”
As of Thursday, there were 812 children and 724 people with disabilities, including 140 of low mobility, in the city, according to the regional military administration.
Russian forces occupied the city in the early days of the invasion but Ukraine was able to recapture it in September 2022.
The city remains close to the hotly contested frontline east of the city, and as close as some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from areas under Russian control, according to the latest assessment by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the city of Kupyansk is located in southern Ukraine. It is located in eastern Ukraine.
5 hr 49 min agoUS imposes sanctions on Russians tied to arbitrary detention of human rights advocate and Kremlin criticFrom CNN’s Jennifer Hansler
Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza sits on a bench inside a defendants’ cage during a hearing at the Basmanny court in Moscow, Russia, on October 10. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images)The Biden administration on Friday sanctioned a number of Russian individuals connected to the arbitrary detention of Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent human rights advocate and Kremlin critic who has been jailed in Moscow for nearly a year after speaking out against the war in Ukraine in an interview with CNN.
The United States has called for Kara-Murza’s “immediate and unconditional release,” but Friday’s actions represent a long-awaited decision on imposing sanctions against Russia for his imprisonment.
Kara-Murza, who has survived two poisonings, has been incredibly critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s war in Ukraine, and he continues to speak out even as he is detained.
In March 2022, Kara-Murza spoke before the Arizona House of Representatives and spoke out against the war. In an April 2022 interview with CNN, he called Putin’s government “a regime of murderers.” He was arrested shortly thereafter for “failing to obey the orders of law enforcement,” according to his wife.
The Russian “Government later brought additional politically motivated charges against him, and Kara-Murza currently faces the prospect of more than 30 years in prison,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Friday.The Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions under an expansion of the Global Magnitsky Act, which targets serious human rights abusers, more than five months after the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called on the Biden administration to take action under that law.
The sanctions target Elena Anatolievna Lenskaya, Andrei Andreevich Zadachin, and Danila Yurievich Mikheev.
5 hr 58 min agoMoscow may run out of money next year, Russian oligarch saysFrom CNN’s Olesya Dmitracova
Oleg Deripaska attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on June 17. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)Russia could find itself with no money as soon as next year and needs foreign investment, outspoken Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has said.
“There will be no money already next year, we need foreign investors,” he said at an economic conference in Siberia Thursday, according to comments reported by TASS, a Russian state-owned news agency.The remarks from the billionaire — who called for an end to Moscow’s war in Ukraine in the early days of the conflict last year — contrast with a more upbeat assessment of Russia’s economic fortunes by President Vladimir Putin last week. Putin praised the resilience of the country’s economy in the face of unprecedented Western sanctions imposed in the past year.
More background: Russia’s economic output shrank 2.1% last year, according to a preliminary estimate from the government. The contraction was more limited than many economists initially predicted.
But cracks are starting to show — Russia is cutting oil production this month — and Western sanctions could escalate further. Ultimately, Russia’s economic prospects are contingent on what happens in Ukraine.
Foreign investors, especially from “friendly” countries, also have a big role to play, Deripaska said. Whether they will come depends on whether Russia can create the right conditions and make its markets attractive, he was quoted as saying.
In a bid to starve Russia of funds for its aggression, Western countries have announced more than 11,300 sanctions since the February 2022 invasion, and frozen some $300 billion of Russia’s foreign reserves.
But China has thrown the Kremlin an economic lifeline by buying Russian energy, replacing Western suppliers of machinery and base metals among other products, and providing an alternative to the US dollar.
Read more here.
3 hr 44 min agoNew Ukraine aid package expected to total approximately $400 million dollars, US officials sayFrom CNN’s Oren Liebermann
John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, answers questions during the daily press briefing at the White House on March 2, in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)A Ukraine security aid package worth approximately $400 million is expected to be announced Friday around the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House, according to two US officials.
The package will include ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers and different artillery systems such as 155mm and 105mm. It will also include Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges for the first time, a system used to launch bridges to cross trenches and narrow water obstacles, the officials said.
On Thursday, John Kirby, the National Security Council strategic communications coordinator, said the US will announce another round of assistance to Ukraine, including ammunition for HIMARS and artillery, but he did not specify how much.
This security assistance will be drawn directly from US inventories under Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), meaning the weapons and equipment can arrive in Ukraine quickly. Last week, the US announced $2 billion in aid under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which contracts with the industry to procure the supplies and takes more time.
Ukrainian officials have also been pushing to obtain US F-16 fighter jets, which President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have opposed so far.
With the package expected Friday, the US will have committed more than $32 billion to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion more than one year ago.
6 hr 38 min agoUkraine’s air force claims to have shot down Russian fighter jet in Donetsk region From CNN’s Radina Gigova and Vasco Cotovio
The Ukrainian Air Force said Friday it has shot down a Russian fighter jet in the eastern Donetsk region. Russian state media is also reporting the incident, without specifying the model or ownership of the plane.
The Ukrainian Air Force claimed in a post published on its official Telegram channel that a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber was shot down near the town of Yenakiieve, in the Donetsk Region. Yenakiieve is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the city of Donetsk, inside territory controlled by Russian forces.
CNN is unable to verify the Ukrainian Air Force’s claims about the model or ownership of the jet.
“A plane has been shot down over the city. Everyone should leave the streets. We are investigating the situation,” the mayor of Yenakiieve, Roman Khramenkov, said Friday on his official Telegram channel. A photo posted by the mayor shows black smoke rising in the sky not too far from several buildings in the city and the city’s streets.
Later, Khramenkov said he had visited the site of the plane crash, together with representatives from the police and emergency services. He said the current thaw is preventing access to the crashed plane, according to RIA Novosti.
“The plane has crashed, there is smoke, it is on fire. We could see two pilots who ejected on parachutes,” the mayor told Russian television, according to RIA Novosti.
“No one is hurt on the ground because the crash site is a farm. Its owner says the plane is in the fields, in woodland. We are relying on his information. No one in the village or in the city has been affected,” Khramenkov said.
7 hr 42 min agoRussia deploying most experienced units to Bakhmut amid intense fighting “in and around” city, Ukraine saysFrom CNN’s Olga Voitovych in Kyiv and Vasco Cotovio in London
The Ukrainian military said “intense fighting is taking place in and around the city” of Bakhmut in the east, with Russian forces deploying their more experienced units.
“The Russian occupiers have sent the most trained units of the PMC Wagner and other regular units of the Russian army to capture the city. Intense fighting is taking place in and around the city,” the Ukrainian Army Land Forces said in a post highlighting the visit to the front line by the commander of the Eastern Group of Forces, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.
“In Bakhmut, the commander listened to the reports of the commanders on the situation in their subordinate units, and was informed about the problematic issues of improving the defense capability of our units on the front line,” the post read. According to the Ukrainian military, Russia continues to press in the hopes of “capturing Bakhmut and continues to accumulate forces to occupy the city.”
Earlier Friday: CNN reported that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s mercenary group Wagner said that Bakhmut was “surrounded,” and called on President Volodymyr Zelensky to order his forces to withdraw. Ukraine dismissed Prigozhin’s remarks, calling it a “disinformation campaign.”