February 27, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The Kremlin has declined to comment on CNN reporting that China is considering providing drones and ammunition to Russia for use in the Ukraine war.

“I don't see the need to comment. This information was refuted by the Chinese side,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN during a regular press briefing on Monday.

Pressed further if Moscow had asked China for military equipment and aid, Peskov repeated that “all this information as a whole was refuted by the Chinese side” and he had nothing to add.

CNN reported Friday that the US has intelligence that negotiations between Russia and China are ongoing around the price and scope of equipment to be supplied, but Beijing has not made a final decision yet.

The US is “confident” that China is considering sending lethal equipment to Russia, according to CIA director William Burns.

Separately, Peskov said Moscow paid “great attention” to a “peace plan” proposed by China, but so far there are none of the necessary conditions for peace in Ukraine.

“At the moment, we do not see any prerequisites for the transition of this whole situation into a peaceful direction,” Peskov said.

“The special military operation continues, we are moving towards achieving the goals that were set,” he added.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered "the most massive violations of human rights we are living [through] today," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Monday.

"It has unleashed widespread death, destruction and displacement," Guterres continued.

"The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented dozens of cases of conflict-related sexual violence against men, women and girls," he added.

Guterres made the speech at the UN Human Rights Council’s meeting commemorating the 75-year anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Geneva.

He called on international governments to respect and revitalize the declaration, which he said is often "misused and abused."

Some context: Russian war crimes and human rights abuses during the war in Ukraine add up to a "litany of violations of international humanitarian law," Human Rights Watch said in January.

In the rights group’s annual report, it said that evidence of war crimes in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, were part of a pattern that "has been repeated countless times."

HRW’s World Report 2023 also highlighted the bombing of a theater in Mariupol, despite signs warning that children were sheltering there, as well as strikes on other non-military targets.

Russian forces are focusing their efforts on conducting offensive operations in eastern Ukraine, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Monday. 

Ukrainian forces repelled 81 Russian attacks around Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk over the last 24 hours, it said, adding "the threat of Russian missile strikes remains high throughout Ukraine."

"The enemy is trying to destroy the critical infrastructure of our country, continues to carry out strikes and artillery shelling of civilian facilities and civilian houses," the General Staff said. "The enemy is constantly conducting aerial reconnaissance to adjust its strikes."

Two of the Russian attacks were conducted by using Shahed-136 UAVs against civilian infrastructure, the General Staff said. Both drones were shot down. 

Russian forces also fired more than 50 times from multiple launch rocket systems targeting civilian infrastructure in the Donetsk region and the Kherson region, in the south of the country, the General Staff said.

"There are killed and wounded civilians, civilian buildings were destroyed and civilian infrastructure was damaged," it said. 

Russian attacks have killed at least one person and injured two others in the Kherson region in the last 24 hours, according to the regional military administration.

"They fired from multiple rocket launchers, mortars, artillery, tanks, UAVs and infantry fighting vehicles," it said. 

At least two people were killed and four others wounded Monday in a Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi, local officials have said.

In a Telegram post, mayor Oleksandr Symchyshyn said one of the deceased was a rescue worker with Ukraine's State Emergency Service who "died in the line of duty" in the city, located about 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Kyiv.

Later Monday, Serhiy Hamaliy, the head of the Khmelnytskyi region military administration, said that another person had died as a result of the attack.

"Unfortunately, there is one more death in the hospital," Hamaliy said in a Telegram post. "The doctors could not save the life of another rescuer."

Ukrainian authorities said earlier that 11 of 14 Shahed drones launched by Russia were shot down Monday, with the majority destroyed near the capital, according to preliminary estimates.

Ukraine scrambled its air defenses early Monday after Russia launched attacks with Iran-made drones, the Ukrainian military said in a Telegram post.

Ukrainian authorities said 11 of 14 Shahed drones launched by Russia were shot down, with the majority destroyed near Kyiv, according to preliminary estimates.

No casualties or strikes against infrastructure facilities have been reported so far, according to Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration.

One year ago, when Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine and began Europe’s biggest land war since 1945, it waged another battle at home — intensifying its information blockade in an effort to control the hearts and minds of its own citizens.

Draconian new censorship laws targeted any media still operating outside the controls of the Kremlin and most independent journalists left the country. A digital Iron Curtain was reinforced, shutting Russians off from Western news and social media sites.

And as authorities rounded up thousands in a crackdown on anti-war protests, a culture of fear descended on Russian cities and towns that prevents many people from sharing their true thoughts on the war in public.

One year on, that grip on information remains tight — and support for the conflict seemingly high — but cracks have started to show.

Some Russians are tuning out the relentless jingoism on Kremlin-backed airwaves. Tech-savvy internet users skirt state restrictions to access dispatches and pictures from the front lines. And, as Russia turns to mobilization to boost its stuttering campaign, it is struggling to contain the personal impact that one year of war is having on its citizens.

CNN is not using the full names of individuals who were critical of the Kremlin. Public criticism of the war in Ukraine or statements that discredit Russia’s military can potentially mean a fine or a prison sentence.

Read more here.

Ukraine’s commander of joint forces operation has been dismissed from his post, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a decree Sunday.

Major Gen. Eduard Mykhailovich Moskalov had been appointed to the position last March when Lt. Gen. Oleksandr Pavliuk was appointed head of the Kyiv regional military administration.

Zelensky did not provide an explanation for Moskalov's dismissal, but it's the latest in a long line of recent leadership changes made by his administration.

Ukrainian authorities have conducted a series of anti-corruption searches and crackdowns across the country, and a variety of high-profile dismissals have followed.

It is not yet clear if Moskalov's firing was connected to the recent corruption purge.

For the first time since the two countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, a Saudi foreign minister has visited Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky's office released a video of him meeting Saudi Arabia's Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Sunday.

Zelensky said he expected the meeting would "provide a new impetus to further intensification of our mutually beneficial dialogue."

"Thank you for supporting peace in Ukraine, our sovereignty, and territorial integrity," he continued. "This is very important for us and our society."

Saudi Arabia has steered a neutral course in the conflict. The Kingdom mediated a prisoner exchange last year, in which two American and five British citizens were released from Russian detention. 

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office, called the meeting successful in a message on Telegram.

"Ukraine and Saudi Arabia have common challenges and experiences in dealing with them. We are talking about Iranian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones) that were supplied to certain 'rebels' and attacked Saudi oil facilities," Yermak said, in a reference to the use of Iranian drones by Houthi forces in Yemen.

"Since last year, the same Iranian UAVs have been in possession of Russian terrorists and have been attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure."

CIA Director William Burns said in an interview Sunday that the alliance between Russia and Iran is developing rapidly, an emerging narrative that he called "disturbing."

Burns said the CIA is also seeing signs that Russia is proposing to help the Iranians on their missile program, and at least considering the possibility of providing fighter aircraft to Iran, in exchange for military aid in their ongoing invasion.

Meeting with Russia's spy chief: Burns also described his conversation with the director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, and said Russian President Vladimir Putin is "too confident" in his ability to grind down Ukraine.

He called the discussion with Naryshkin "pretty dispiriting," but said he got some key points across.

Asked why the conversation was dispiriting, Burns added: "There was a very defiant attitude on the part of Mr. Naryshkin as well, a sense of cockiness and hubris, reflecting Putin's own view — his own belief today that he can make time work for him, that he believes he can grind down the Ukrainians, that he can wear down our European allies, that political fatigue will eventually set in."