March 8, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky can’t currently envisage a situation in which he would meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Personal life: The Ukrainian leader also spoke about how he and his family are dealing with the war, which is now in its second year.

“My daughter joined the university and she studies there, and my son is attending school in Ukraine,” he said. “They're both in Ukraine. They're very much like other Ukrainian kids. We live with sirens.”

“We want victory. We don't want to get used to war, but we got used to the challenges. Everyone wants one thing — to end the war,” he said. 

The US is focused on providing Ukraine with the necessities: artillery, armor, ammunition and air defense, said John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, when asked about sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

He said Ukrainians are using the air defense systems they currently have "quite effectively."

He noted the Russians "have not achieved anything near, or even approaching, air superiority over the skies of Ukraine" and attributed it to the support provided to Ukraine by the US and its allies.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is inviting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Ukraine to see the situation on the ground firsthand – an invitation that comes as the Republican Party faces a divide over whether the United States should continue to provide aid to the country under attack from Russia.

How McCarthy responded: When asked about the invitation, McCarthy told CNN’s Manu Raju that he does not plan to visit Ukraine, and he argued that President Joe Biden has not acted quickly enough to aid the country. McCarthy, a California Republican, has said he supports Ukraine but does not support “a blank check,” a position he repeated on Tuesday – even though there is federal oversight of all the dollars that are spent there.

“Let’s be very clear about what I said: no blank checks, OK? So, from that perspective, I don’t have to go to Ukraine to understand where there’s a blank check or not,” McCarthy told CNN.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN's Wolf Blitzer he is “very grateful" for US President Joe Biden's visit to Ukraine last month. 

“It's an important signal to the whole world that the US is supporting us. And I think that US believe that we will prevail,” Zelensky said.

But on the question of whether the US will send Ukraine F-16 fighter jets to help the battle for control in the skies, Zelensky said, “The fighter jets issue is difficult. We're waiting for this decision to be taken.”

Asked if the supply of Western jets will “make or break” a Ukrainian success in the war, Zelensky said: “Yes, we believe so.”

Recalling a discussion with Biden over jets, Zelensky said Biden and his aides felt jets “were not needed” at the moment.

"And I said, 'No, we need those jets,'" Zelensky said.

“What fighter jets could do, they could help us to defend ourselves,” Zelensky said. “That's why we need it urgently."

More on Ukrainian pilots: The US is working with Ukrainian pilots in the United States to determine how long it would take to train them to fly F-16 fighter jets, three sources briefed on the matter told CNN.

Two Ukrainian pilots are currently at a military base in the US having their skills tested in flight simulators to see how much time they would need to learn to fly various US military aircraft, including F-16s.

A US military official added that “there are no updates to provide regarding F-16s to Ukraine” and there are no immediate plans to increase the number of Ukrainian pilots in the US.

Russian troops will have “open road” to capture key cities in eastern Ukraine if they seize control of Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in an interview with CNN, as he defended his decision to keep Ukrainian forces in the besieged city.

“This is tactical for us,” Zelensky said, insisting that Kyiv’s military brass is united in prolonging its defense of the city after weeks of Russian attacks left it on the cusp of falling to Moscow’s troops.

Zelensky said his motivations to keep the city are “so different” to Russia’s objectives.

“We understand what Russia wants to achieve there. Russia needs at least some victory – a small victory – even by ruining everything in Bakhmut, just killing every civilian there,” Zelensky said.

He said that if Russia is able to “put their little flag” on top of Bakhmut, it would help “mobilize their society in order to create this idea they’re such a powerful army.”

Read more about Zelensky's warning here.

The United States has obtained a warrant to seize an airplane owned by Igor Ivanovich Sechin, who heads a Russian oil company and has been described by the European Union as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "most trusted and closest advisors, as well as his personal friend."

The US Justice Department announced Wednesday the unsealing of a warrant for the seizure of a Boeing 737-7JU aircraft owned by PJSC Rosneft Oil Company, according to a DOJ news release.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York authorized the seizure of the airplane after “finding probable cause that the Boeing aircraft was subject to seizure based on violations of the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) and the recent sanctions issued against Russia,” the release said.

The aircraft is believed to be worth approximately $25 million, the Justice Department said.

Russian forces continue to advance in the battered eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, relying heavily on artillery supported by multiple launch rocket systems and some air power, the Ukrainian military said Wednesday.

Fighters of the private military company Wagner are the predominant forces in the area "with occasional support from Russian regular forces, and that appears to be dwindling down at the moment,” Western officials said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday he can't rule out that Russian forces will soon take over Bakhmut. And Avril Haines, the US director of National Intelligence, told Congress Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin could carry on the war in Ukraine possibly for years.

If you're just now catching up, here's what you need to know:

Visits to Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to Kyiv for discussions on extending the grain initiative that allows Ukraine to export its agricultural produce from Black Sea ports. And one of Ukraine's top military commanders Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi visited the city of Bakhmut for the third time in less than a week, according to a video posted on his official Telegram account on Wednesday.

Invite to Ukraine: Zelensky invited US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Ukraine to see the situation on the ground firsthand, as the Republican Party faces a divide over whether the United States should continue to provide aid to the country. But when told of the invitation, McCarthy told CNN he does not plan to visit Ukraine, and argued that President Joe Biden has not acted quickly enough to aid the country. 

Support for Ukraine: Zelensky thanked Georgian protesters for holding his country’s flag and playing the national anthem during demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday. Georgians have been coming out in force, protesting a foreign agents law they say will leave Georgia further from joining the European Union and NATO. On Wednesday, the EU's Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said the organization is “at the decisive moment now" for the bloc's support to Ukraine. He urged that “it is absolutely mandatory that we move towards a sort of war economy mode in terms of supply and defense industry."

Nuclear weapons: US intelligence agencies said in their unclassified annual threat assessment report that Moscow will grow more dependent on its nuclear, cyber and space capabilities. Heavy losses on the battlefield in Ukraine "have degraded Moscow’s ground and air-based conventional capabilities and increased its reliance on nuclear weapons," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in the report.

One of Ukraine’s top military commanders visited the city of Bakhmut for the third time in less than a week, a video posted on his official Telegram account on Wednesday showed. 

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who is the second highest-ranked general, said his men were doing everything they could to ensure Russian forces made the wrong move, referencing a chess strategy. 

“Zugzwang in chess is a situation where any move by a player leads to a deterioration of his position,” the post read. “We are doing everything we can to ensure that the enemy is in this situation in this war.”

He went on to say Ukrainian forces were holding their ground. Other military leaders have said it is a priority for Ukraine to continue defending Bakhmut, where fighting has intensified.

CNN could not independently verify where the video was recorded but metadata on the file suggested it had indeed been recorded Wednesday.

Syrskyi organized and lead the defense of Kyiv, successfully driving back Russian forces that had nearly encircled the Ukrainian capital at the beginning of Russia’s invasion. He has paid regular visits to frontline units in the Donbas and elsewhere, including Bakhmut. His previous visit to the city was at the end of last week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Georgian protesters for holding his country’s flag during demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Georgians have been coming out in force, protesting a foreign agents law introduced by the country’s ruling party that's widely seen as very similar to legislation currently in place in Russia. 

Protesters say the law will leave Georgia further from joining the European Union and NATO.