February 28, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a "serious conversation" with the country's Federal Security Service (FSB) on Tuesday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The role of the service "can hardly be overestimated" in the present time, Peskov added during a regular call with reporters. 

"Putin will take part in the meeting of the Board of the Federal Security Service today. The President will make a speech, part of which will be open," Peskov said. 

"There will also be a part behind closed doors as is traditionally the case, a big voluminous speech by FSB Director Bortnikov in the presence of the president."

"Mainly, it will be about summing up last year's results of the [FSB] service and setting the outlooks for the upcoming year."

On Monday, a statement from the Kremlin revealed that Putin will take part in a meeting of the Board of the Federal Security Service, during which "the results of the operational and service activities of the FSB bodies in 2022 will be summed up and priority tasks for 2023 will be identified."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the temporary closure of the St. Petersburg airport, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov refused to provide any further details but did say that city authorities and the military would provide an update later.

Russian state news agency RIA reported that airspace restrictions around St. Petersburg had been lifted following the closure.

Flight tracking websites showed aircraft taking off from Pulkovo airport again after operations had been suspended.

Earlier Tuesday, the city government had said that the airport was not accepting any flights until noon local time. And state news agencies RIA and TASS reported that the airspace in a 200-kilometer (125-mile) radius of the city had been closed until 13:20 local time.

Flight tracking services showed flights turning around and returning to their departure airport.

The announcements came after reports of an unidentified object in the air, but authorities have not confirmed the reason for the closure.

Russian radios and TV channels sounded air raid sirens and displayed warnings after they were hacked on Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement.

“The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia informs that this information is false and does not correspond to reality.”

Social media videos showed radios playing air raid sirens after the hack, which is the second in quick succession after the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported a similar incident last week.

Air raid sirens have become a common feature of life in Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion.

The father of a US Army veteran who was killed fighting for Ukraine earlier this month said Ukrainian commanders had warned his son that Russia’s invasion resembled “World War I or II” before he enlisted in the country's defense.

Andrew Peters, 28, died in action on Feb. 16 while serving with Ukraine's International Legion of Defense. 

His father, John Peters, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Monday that "we did our homework" researching the unit, which was created by President Volodymyr Zelensky to allow foreign citizens to join the Ukrainian resistance against Russian occupation and fight for global security.

“There were a number of guys who left after hearing that, but Andrew was like, 'no I’m going to stick this out. I’m going to finish this.'"

Andrew Peters, from Marshfield, Wisconsin, had served a tour with the US Army in Afghanistan prior to joining Ukraine's war effort.

In the interview, his father said he was “like any other average 28-year-old American,” and someone with a “very strong sense of what was right and wrong.”

The situation around the embattled city of Bakhmut is "extremely tense," partly because of the involvement of the "most trained" assault units of Russian mercenary group Wagner, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces said on Tuesday.

According to a Telegram post from Ukraine’s military media center, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said that "despite significant losses," in the fight for the eastern city, "the enemy has thrown the most trained Wagner assault units into the offensive, trying to break through the defense of our troops and surround the city.”

Ukrainian troops have been struggling to maintain access to Bakhmut as Russian forces have been gradually advancing north and west of the city in recent weeks.

Some context: Ukrainian officials have highlighted the growing intensity of the fighting around Bakhmut in recent weeks. 

On Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said attempts to defend the city were "getting more and more challenging," while Col. Yuriy Madyar, commander of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade, described the situation there as "extremely difficult."

CNN's Maria Kostenko contributed reporting.

It gets worse every day.

An already inflamed relationship between the US and China is being exacerbated by two fresh controversies — one over the exact origins of Covid-19 and the other stemming from stern US warnings that China must not arm Russia in its war in Ukraine.

The new disagreements are so fraught that the recent unprecedented diplomatic showdown over a suspected Chinese spy balloon that floated across the continental US is not even the most recent or intense cause of strife.

This trio of confrontations — along with rising tensions between US and Chinese forces in Asia and escalating standoffs over Taiwan — are dramatizing a long-building and once theoretical superpower rivalry that is suddenly a daily reality.

Ukraine tensions: The US, citing unpublished intelligence, has spent the last week warning that China is considering sending lethal aid to bolster Russia’s forces — a situation that would effectively put China on the opposite side of a proxy war with the US and NATO powers that have sent billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine.

Beijing has long amplified Russia’s justifications for the invasion, which took place a year ago shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to the Chinese capital to agree to a friendship with “no limits” with Xi.

China would prefer Russia, which shares its autocratic form of government, not to suffer a total defeat in Ukraine — which could lead to the ousting of close ally Putin. And China increasingly tends to view its global interests through the prism of its standoff with the US, so it may perceive an advantage in Washington being locked in an arms-length conflict in Ukraine that is costing billions of dollars and to which it is sending reserve military equipment and ammunition that can therefore not be used to bolster its Pacific forces. Delays in procurement in the US arms industry caused by Ukraine could also slow the flow of weapons to Taiwan.

Yet a decision by China to throw in its lot with Russia in Ukraine would amount to a radical change in foreign policy — and another massive plunge in US-China relations. Washington and the European Union would certainly respond with sanctions on Chinese firms, a threat that will likely give leaders in Beijing pause, as the country’s economy slowly recovers from years of Covid isolation.

Read the full analysis here.

Fighting in Bakhmut is "getting more and more challenging," President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian commander said the situation in the eastern city was "extremely difficult" due to non-stop Russian assaults.

Here are the latest headlines:

The situation in the eastern city of Bakhmut is "getting more and more challenging," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday.

"The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions, to secure and defend it," Zelensky said, soon after military commanders spoke of hundreds of Russian strikes in the area.

More on this: Earlier Monday, Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the Armed Forces, told Ukrainian television: "Bakhmut remains the epicenter of the enemy's attack, where they are focusing on breaking through our defense. In particular, in the area of such settlements as Dubovo-Vasylivka, Yahidne, Ivankivske, and Pivnichne."

The named places are all west of Bakhmut.

Cherevatyi said: "There were 300 attacks from various types of artillery and multiple rocket launchers on this section of the front line. 60 combat engagements took place, where the enemy lost 63 servicemen killed and 141 wounded of varying severity."

European low-cost carrier Wizz Air is suspending all its flights to the Moldovan capital of Chisinau starting on March 14 due to some “recent developments” in the country, the airline said. 

The company didn’t specify the recent developments it was referring to. 

Tensions have been mounting in Moldova, as the country's President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of using “saboteurs” to stoke unrest amid a period of political instability, echoing similar warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Russia has denied any claims it is plotting to destabilize Moldova.

With previous reporting from Radina Gigova.