Ukrainian forces blow up railway bridge inside Bakhmut
Ukrainian forces have blown up a railway bridge inside the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, according to a report.
Video of the controlled explosion, posted on social media and geolocated by CNN, was shared widely today along with unconfirmed reports that it was a sign that Ukraine was preparing to withdraw from the city.
Ukraine’s 46th Brigade, which is operating in the city, denied the reports, saying the bridge was already unusable.
The unit said:
The bridge that is now being shown as proof that we are leaving was blown up a long time ago. Those who are in Bakhmut know that. Now it was just a control shot. Don’t spread panic. And yes, one can cross the river there without a bridge.
Key events
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will hold confidential talks on Friday in Washington with the US president, Joe Biden, about the war in Ukraine amid growing concerns that China may provide weapons to Russia. Biden and Scholz will meet for an hour at the White House, including a significant “one-on-one component,” a senior US official said, giving the two men a chance to “exchange notes” on their respective recent meetings with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the state of the war.
The US has announced a new military aid package of ammunition and other support for Ukraine worth $400m (£333m). The package will be funded using presidential drawdown authority, which authorises the president to transfer articles and services from US stocks without congressional approval during an emergency, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said.
Russia is deploying the most experienced units of the mercenary Wagner group and the country’s army in an attempt to seize the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian military has said. The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, was pictured visiting the frontline city today for briefings with local commanders on how to boost defence capacity.
The chief of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner has said his fighters have “practically encircled” Bakhmut. Only one road remains under Ukrainian control, Yevgeny Prigozhin added in a video posted online in which he called on the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to abandon the city. His claims could not be verified.
The situation in the embattled city of Bakhmut appeared to be extremely precarious, amid evidence Ukraine was preparing extensive new defensive positions, including around the nearby city of Kramatorsk. Video posted online showed the blowing up of a railway bridge over the Bakhmutka River to the east of the city, while other footage purported to show damage to a small road bridge.
Ukraine has ordered a mandatory evacuation of families and vulnerable residents from Kupiansk and adjacent northeastern territories, amid fears that Russian forces will retake the frontline eastern city and rail hub.
Ukraine has ordered a mandatory evacuation of families and vulnerable residents from the frontline city of Kupiansk and adjacent northeastern territories. The evacuation order was due to the “unstable security situation” caused by Russia’s “constant” shelling of the town and its surroundings, it said. Russian troops retreated from key cities in the northeastern Kharkiv region, including Kupiansk, and Ukraine recaptured it last September.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has said he is “confident” that western countries will supply fighter jets to Kyiv and that he is “optimistic” that the war will end this year. Reznikov, in an interview with the German newspaper Bild, said Ukraine expects to receive “two to three different types ‘‘of fighter jets and that he believed it would be “done through a kind of coalition again”, referring to the “tank coalition” of Leopard 2 tanks from western allies.
Foreign ministers of the so-called Quad group denounced Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war as unacceptable, according to a statement issued after a meeting on Friday. The ministers also said they opposed any unilateral actions to increase tensions in the South China Sea, and expressed concerns about the “militarisation” of disputed territories, in a thinly veiled reference to China. The Quad group includes India, Australia, Japan and the United States.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said he saw a “small improvement” in diplomacy with Russia after a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Twenty (G20) major industrialised countries in New Dehli. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, remained in the room when western countries criticised Russia – unlike at the last G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali last year, when he stormed out – said Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, today.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, has again issued a denial that Ukraine has mounted any attacks within Russian territory. President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia had been hit by a “terrorist attack” in Bryansk, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians. Ukraine accused Russia of staging a false “provocation”. The Kremlin said Friday it would take measures to prevent a repeat of what it described as a border incursion.
Switzerland’s defence ministry has said it had received a request from its German counterparts to allow Rheinmetall AG to acquire some of Switzerland’s mothballed Leopard 2 battle tanks. A German defence ministry spokesperson said it would not send Switzerland’s Leopard 2 tanks onwards to Ukraine if Bern agrees to send them to Berlin.
The US has imposed sanctions on a number of Russian individuals connected to the arbitrary detention of the prominent Kremlin critic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, who has been jailed in Moscow for nearly a year after speaking out against the war in Ukraine.
The US president, Joe Biden, is expected to meet Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, shortly for confidential talks in Washington.
The war in Ukraine will be at the “forefront” of the meeting between the two leaders, the White House has said.
Biden and Scholz will meet for an hour at the White House, including a significant “one-on-one component,” a senior US official said, giving the two men a chance to “exchange notes” on their respective recent meetings with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the state of the war.
Julian Borger Joe Biden is due to meet the German chancellor as part of continuing efforts to keep the US and Europe aligned in their defence of Ukraine.
It will be a working visit to the White House for Olaf Scholz, stripped of any pomp or protocol. No press conference has been planned for the meeting on Friday afternoon and the chancellor will reportedly not be bringing press with him. A senior administration official predicted it would be short but intense.
“We’re expecting it to be a one-hour meeting or so,” the official said, adding that the “bulk of the meeting” would be about Ukraine.
There will likely be a significant one-on-one component, which I think is a reflection of the close relationship between the two leaders and the opportunity for the two of them to be able to have in-depth and face-to-face conversations.
Part of the US president’s message will be gratitude for Scholz’s agreement to allow the delivery of German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine, though in a recent interview the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, made clear that the White House had to agree to ship US Abrams tanks too in order to convince Scholz to act, a characterisation that Berlin disputes. Washington has also voiced admiration for how quickly Germany has reduced its dependence on Russian gas.
Before the meeting, the US is to signal it will continue to play its part in backing Ukraine, announcing a new package of military aid, including mobile bridges mounted on armoured vehicles that would be critical to any Ukrainian counteroffensive, as well as more Himars, multiple rocket launchers. Biden will be looking for continuing parallel commitments from Germany and Europe in what is likely to be a pivotal few months in the conflict.
“Without question, they’re going to talk about the kinds of capabilities that Ukraine continues to need in the weeks and months ahead,” said the US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby.
Read the full story here:
The US has announced a new military aid package of ammunition and other support for Ukraine worth $400m (£333m).
In a statement, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said:
This military assistance package includes more ammunition for US-provided Himars and howitzers, which Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself, as well as ammunition for Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, armored vehicle launched bridges, demolitions munitions and equipment, and other maintenance, training and support.
The package will be funded using presidential drawdown authority, which authorises the president to transfer articles and services from US stocks without congressional approval during an emergency, Blinken said.
The statement continued:
Russia alone could end its war today. Until Russia does so, for as long as it takes, we will stand united with Ukraine and strengthen its military on the battlefield so that Ukraine will be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.
Russia is deploying the most experienced units of the mercenary Wagner group and the country’s army in an attempt to seize the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian military has said.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, was pictured visiting the frontline city today for briefings with local commanders on how to boost defence capacity.
Ukrainian Commander of Eastern Forces Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi visited troops in Bakhmut today, proving there’s still a road into the city. He said Russians increasing forces, including units of Wagner & regular army. “Intense fighting in and around the city.” via Land Forces pic.twitter.com/vbG7MTd83k
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 3, 2023 The post said:
The Russian occupiers have sent the most trained units of the Wagner group and other regular units of the Russian army to capture the city. Intense fighting is taking place in and around the city.
It continued:
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 defence capability of our units on the frontline.
Russia was “not giving up its hope of capturing Bakhmut and continues to build up forces to occupy the city,” the press service said.
The US has imposed sanctions on a number of Russian individuals connected to the arbitrary detention of the prominent Kremlin critic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, who has been jailed in Moscow for nearly a year after speaking out against the war in Ukraine.
Kara-Murza was arrested in April and declared a “foreign agent”, and is currently being held on suspicion of spreading false information about the armed forces. He faces more than 30 years in prison.
The sanctions target Elena Lenskaya, a Moscow judge; Andrei Zadachin, a special investigator; Danila Mikheev, an expert witness for the Russian government on the case against Kara-Murza; Russia’s deputy justice minister Oleg Sviridenko and two judges, Diana Mishchenko and Ilya Kozlov.
In a statement, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken said:
The United States reiterates its call for Kara-Murza’s immediate and unconditional release, and is committed to ensuring that Vladimir Putin’s attempts to silence critics will not succeed.
Kara-Murza, who holds both British and Russian citizenship, was a close aide to Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in central Moscow in 2015.
He twice fell suddenly ill, in 2015 and 2017, in what he said were poisonings by the Russian security services, on both occasions falling into a coma before eventually recovering.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Ukraine.
Ukrainian parents in areas that were occupied by Russian forces say they were forced to register their newborn babies as Russian citizens, according to a report.
Residents living in towns and cities in Ukraine’s east and south faced pressure to accept Russian citizenship for their newborns, including being denied free distribution of diapers and baby food, Reuters reports.
Natalia Lukina, 42 from the southern city of Kherson, said:
We told (Russians) that the baby was born in Ukraine and is Ukrainian, not Russian.
She added:
When we asked for diapers, the Russians told us, ‘If you come without Russian birth certificates, we will not give you diapers’.
Most parents of small children, with little income during the war, accepted free diapers from Russians, her partner Oleksii Markelov said. “There wasn’t a penny of money.” Reuters could not independently corroborate their account.
Many parents delayed visiting Russian-controlled registry offices during the occupation, and many registered their babies for Ukrainian citizenship once the occupation ended, according to Olena Klimenko, head of Kherson’s regional registration office.
It is unclear how many babies received Russian citizenship, because Russian officials recorded them and Ukrainian registration workers did not cooperate with them, Klimenko said.
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The chief of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner has said his fighters have “practically encircled” Bakhmut, the eastern Ukraine city the Kremlin has been trying to seize for months. Only one road remains under Ukrainian control, Yevgeny Prigozhin added in a video posted online in which he called on the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to abandon the city. His claims could not be verified.
The situation in the embattled city of Bakhmut appeared to be extremely precarious, amid evidence Ukraine was preparing extensive new defensive positions, including around the nearby city of Kramatorsk. Video posted online showed the blowing up of a railway bridge over the Bakhmutka River to the east of the city, while other footage purported to show damage to a small road bridge.
Ukraine has ordered a mandatory evacuation of families and vulnerable residents from Kupiansk and adjacent northeastern territories, amid fears that Russian forces will retake the frontline eastern city and rail hub.
Ukraine has ordered a mandatory evacuation of families and vulnerable residents from the frontline city of Kupiansk and adjacent northeastern territories. The evacuation order was due to the “unstable security situation” caused by Russia’s “constant” shelling of the town and its surroundings, it said. Russian troops retreated from key cities in the northeastern Kharkiv region, including Kupiansk, and Ukraine recaptured it last September.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has said he is “confident” that western countries will supply fighter jets to Kyiv and that he is “optimistic” that the war will end this year. Reznikov, in an interview with the German newspaper Bild, said Ukraine expects to receive “two to three different types ‘’of fighter jets and that he believed it would be “done through a kind of coalition again”, referring to the “tank coalition” of Leopard 2 tanks from western allies.
Foreign ministers of the so-called Quad group denounced Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war as unacceptable, according to a statement issued after a meeting on Friday. The ministers also said they opposed any unilateral actions to increase tensions in the South China Sea, and expressed concerns about the “militarisation” of disputed territories, in a thinly veiled reference to China. The Quad group includes India, Australia, Japan and the United States.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said he saw a “small improvement” in diplomacy with Russia after a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Twenty (G20) major industrialised countries in New Dehli. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, remained in the room when western countries criticised Russia – unlike at the last G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali last year, when he stormed out – said Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, today.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, has again issued a denial that Ukraine has mounted any attacks within Russian territory. President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia had been hit by a “terrorist attack” in Bryansk, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians. Ukraine accused Russia of staging a false “provocation”. The Kremlin said Friday it would take measures to prevent a repeat of what it described as a border incursion.
Switzerland’s defence ministry has said it had received a request from its German counterparts to allow Rheinmetall AG to acquire some of Switzerland’s mothballed Leopard 2 battle tanks. A German defence ministry spokesperson said it would not send Switzerland’s Leopard 2 tanks onwards to Ukraine if Bern agrees to send them to Berlin.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will hold confidential talks on Friday in Washington with the US president, Joe Biden, about the war in Ukraine amid growing concerns that China may provide weapons to Russia. Biden and Scholz will meet for an hour at the White House, including a significant “one-on-one component,” a senior US official said, giving the two men a chance to “exchange notes” on their respective recent meetings with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the state of the war.
The US will announce a new military aid package for Ukraine on Friday, worth roughly $400m and comprised mainly of ammunition, two officials and a person familiar with the package have told Reuters.
Good afternoon from London. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still here with all the latest from Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Germany is taking more of a leadership role in organising arms deliveries to Ukraine and has stopped making “excuses” to avoid sending weapons, Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin, Oleksii Makeiev, has said.
Makeiev, in an interview with Reuters, said:
What has changed in the last few months is we are not just discussing the current order of the day but we are strategically planning according to what is needed and what can be delivered. There are no more excuses now but facts that we talk about.
His remarks were in stark contrast to those by his predecessor, Andriy Melnyk, who regularly chastised Berlin for not doing enough to help Ukraine against Russia’s aggression.
Makeiev said the military items Ukraine needed the most were air defence systems, battle tanks, artillery and ammunition to “destroy Russian supply chains”.
Kyiv was not currently pushing Berlin to send fighter jets, he said, even if it was discussing possible deliveries of jets with other allies. He said:
We discuss what we need with allies in a very precise and content-rich manner. Until this moment, I have not received from our defence ministry any request for a certain type of plane available in Germany.
Ukraine is managing to generate as much power as it needs despite heavy damage caused by Russian attacks on its energy network, prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.
Shmyhal told a news conference that just over a year after Russia’s invasion, between 40% and 50% of Ukraine’s energy system had been damaged during waves of missile and drone strikes during the winter.
Though millions of people have at times been left without power, Ukraine has quickly carried out repairs, partly with the help of equipment provided by its allies.
“Ukraine is for now provided with generating and network capacities,” Shmyhal said. “The next step is to secure the network infrastructure for the next season.”
The measures will include constructing concrete and underground shelters to protect power-generating facilities and distribution networks from potential attacks, Reuters reports he said.
The Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti is carrying some video footage from the site of a plane crash near Yenakiieve in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in the occupied east of Ukraine. RIA reports the local mayor, Roman Khramenkov, said the pilots ejected and no one was injured on the ground.
Citing Khramenkov, Tass reports that “the aircraft is unambiguously military, but it is still impossible to say who it belongs to” and that the location of the pilots is “currently problematic to establish”.
Unverified video posted to social media appears to show a fighter plane on fire as it falls out of the sky.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that its correspondents have heard explosions in Kherson.
Russia’s foreign ministry press spokesperson Maria Zakharova has accused the US administration of mischaracterising aspects of the brief conversation between US secretary of state Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart in India yesterday. In a post to Telegram, she wrote:
Oh, how interesting. I checked with Sergei Viktorovich [Lavrov] whether Blinken raised the topic of [Paul] Whelan yesterday. It turned out that the US secretary of state did not even stutter about this. Everything that the state department said yesterday about Blinken expressing concern about the situation around the US citizen is a lie. Incredible behaviour of the American administration.
Two men have been arrested in the US state of Kansas on suspicion of illegally exporting “sophisticated” aviation-related technology to Russia, the US department of justice has said.
Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 59, and Douglas Robertson, 55, are charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a licence, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information and smuggling goods violating US law.
The pair, who owned and operated KanRus Trading Co, conspired to skirt US export laws to sell sophisticated aviation equipment to Russia, the US justice department said.
The US has drastically ramped up sanctions and financial penalties on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, spoke to Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, today in a call where the pair discussed Blinken’s “brief” conversation with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in New Dehli yesterday, US state department spokesperson Ned Price has said.
Blinken emphasised to Kuleba the US’ “enduring support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s brutal attacks”, Price added.
Summary of the day so far
Biden to welcome Scholz with Ukraine at ‘forefront’ of meeting, says White House
US announces $400m in additional military aid to Ukraine
Russia ‘sending most experienced fighters to Bakhmut’, says Ukraine’s military
Summary of the day so far