Tag: Russia-Ukraine

Key developments on March 13: 

Fierce fighting rages over central Bakhmut as Russia’s Wagner mercenaries try to break through Ukrainian defenses in the ruined city, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on March 13.
Syrskyi, who commands Ukraine’s Ground Forces and made two known visits to Bakhmut in recent weeks, acknowledged that the situation in the embattled city remained difficult as Russia continued to press forward. The commander said that the Wagner members were storming into central Bakhmut from multiple fronts, but Ukraine still held on to the “fortress” while inflicting “significant losses” on the invading forces.

Russia on Monday began the closed-door trial of jailed opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who faces up to two decades in prison on treason charges for comments critical of the Kremlin. His trial is the latest in a string of cases against opposition voices in Russia in a crackdown that has intensified since President Vladimir Putin deployed troops in Ukraine last year. Kara-Murza, 41, was charged over remarks critical of Moscow made at three public events abroad, his lawyer told the…

(Bloomberg) — US President Joe Biden dropped into a meeting at the last minute in the White House to see a man all of Washington wants an audience with: Sauli Niinisto, once upon a time known as the “Putin whisperer.” The impromptu get-together was thrown together as Biden joined Niinisto and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. The pair of presidents have now met three times and spoken four since late 2021 — giving the Finnish head of state unprecedented access to the world’s most powerful leader.

At stake is the stalled expansion of NATO, with Turkey and Hungary holding up the biggest shift in the security landscape of western Europe in several decades.

Ukrainian troops eased out of their most precarious defences in Bakhmut. Russian President Vladimir Putin has set the conquest of the eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, known collectively as the Donbas region, as one of his goals – and Bakhmut in Donetsk is key to that. “We understand that after Bakhmut, they could go farther,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN. “They could go to Kramatorsk. They could go to Sloviansk. It would be open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other towns in Ukraine in the Donetsk direction.”

A cellist is accused of helping Vladimir Putin channel $50 million into Swiss accounts. 4 bankers are also accused of not having checked the real source of the money. Putin is believed by some to have accrued vast wealth during his time as Russian leader. Four bankers have been accused of helping Vladimir Putin’s cellist best friend channel millions of dollars through Swiss bank accounts for the Russian president. Sergey Roldugin, a concert cellist, is accused by prosecutors of making…

The United States government has requested and obtained a warrant to seize a Russian aircraft valued at $25m, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

The US-made plane, a Boeing 737-7JU, is accused of travelling from a foreign country to Russia, in violation of US law and sanctions implemented after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The plane was last in the US in 2014, according to the statement from the US Attorney’s Office for New York’s Eastern District. But the US alleges the plane has flown in and out of Russia “at least seven times, in violation of federal law”.

The new intelligence reviewed by US officials suggested the perpetrators behind the sabotage were “opponents of President Vladimir V Putin of Russia”, the Times reported, but did not specify the members of the group and who organised and paid for the operation, which would have required skilled divers and explosives experts.

The office of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said senior military commanders have agreed to hold onto Artyomovsk – a key Donbass city – after German media outlets claimed a top Ukrainian general had encouraged withdrawing from Artyomovsk, known as Bakhmut in Ukraine, weeks ago.

Pressure from Russian forces mounted Saturday on Ukrainians hunkered down in Bakhmut, as residents attempted to flee with help from troops who Western analysts say may be preparing…

Western efforts to stoke the Ukraine conflict could lead to a direct military clash of nuclear powers, Moscow has warned.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has commented on a Ukrainian cross-border attack in Bryansk Region.

Russia believes a victory in the ruined eastern town would open a path to further advances in the Donetsk region.

The presidents of China and Belarus joined Wednesday in urging a cease-fire and negotiations to bring about a political settlement to the Ukraine conflict. The joint call came in a meeting in Beijing between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. That amounted to an endorsement of a Chinese 12-point peace proposal issued Friday that calls for the territorial integrity of all countries to be respected. The proposal does not say what…

The US Navy’s air command post, the E-6B Mercury “doomsday plane,” has landed in Iceland during operations in the US European Command area.

One drone crashed 100 km from Moscow on Tuesday, according to the regional governor.

Ukraine faced its toughest week so far this year on the eastern front, where its defenders lost more ground to Russian forces but committed enormous resources to holding Bakhmut, a coal-mining town that has acquired emblematic importance to both sides. Russian troops have been launching probing attacks on a wide front in Donetsk, half of which they now occupy. But their main effort has been to take Bakhmut, whose eastern outskirts they hold. “[We are] storming house by house, square metre by square metre. Hard…