March 15, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

A soldier from Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade destroyed a Russian Su-25 jet over Bakhmut, according to a commander.

The announcement comes after the head of Ukraine's President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, also said forces from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade had shot down a Russian military plane near Bakhmut. 

Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the Russian military "continues to unsuccessfully try to surround the city and advance."

"The occupiers are also putting pressure on the Kupyansk and Lyman directions," he said, adding that soldiers from the 92nd Brigade have managed to destroy Russian radar systems and command centers in those directions. 

CNN has been unable to confirm the Ukrainian claims.

The Russian Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said Wednesday he had denied all accusations against Russia after being summoned to the US State Department in connection with the downing of a US Reaper drone on Tuesday.

Antonov said he was invited to the State Department to talk with Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Karen Donfried. Antonov was summoned to "convey our strong objections," department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday.

"For 15 minutes we spoke directly about this issue and for the other 15 minutes we talked about Russian concerns regarding various aspects of US activity," Antonov said in an interview with Russian state TV Rossiya-1.

The conversation was “very calm” and “respectful” and “I categorically denied all accusations against the Russian armed forces," he added.

"No one hit the table with a shoe, threatening something," he said.

While the US is working through recovery operations for a downed MQ-9 Reaper drone intercepted by Russian aircraft on Tuesday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday that it is “no longer” of intelligence value. 

Milley said the US knows where the drone landed in the Black Sea, and that it is likely four to five thousand feet under the surface, which would make recovery operations "very difficult" for anyone. He said the US does not have any naval surface vessels in the Black Sea at the moment, but that "we'll work up options."

A small number of Afghan fighters are working with the private military company, Wagner, which is fighting in Ukraine, according to the group's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

CNN is unable to independently verify those claims. 

Some background: Earlier in March, Prigozhin said there were currently no Serbian nationals among the Wagner fighters in Ukraine, after "the last one" left a few months earlier. 

Prigozhin was responding to accusations by Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic that Wagner has tried to recruit Serbs to fight in Ukraine. 

Russia is making “small tactical advances” around the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but “at great cost,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday.

Right now there is intense fighting in and around the eastern city, Milley said, but in other places on the front line, there have been "significant exchanges of artillery, but no significant maneuver gains by either side.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that a Russian capture of Bakhmut would give them an “open road” to capturing other key Ukrainian cities in the east. 

More than a year after the invasion of Ukraine started, Milley said Russian soldiers have been thrown into the war without “any sort of synchronized coordination and direction.”

“Russia continues to pay severely in terms of lives and military equipment for its continued war of choice,” he said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that he applauds the "valor" and the "persistence" of the Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Bakhmut.

"They have done amazing ... I think the Russians have been working to take Bakhmut for some seven months or so now and they haven't been very successful – and that's because of the diligence, the commitment, the focus of the Ukrainian soldiers," Austin said.

He added that any decision on whether Ukrainian forces should remain in the eastern city or be repositioned would be made by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was asked Wednesday about comments by potential presidential candidates that support for Ukraine should not be a priority and if he was concerned that election rhetoric could undermine American support for Ukraine going forward.

Austin said that he's seen "bipartisan support" for providing security assistance to Ukraine throughout the conflict "up to this point."

"I expect that we will continue to see that going forward. We've heard some senior leaders on both sides of the fence say that, and so I expect that will continue," Austin said.

He noted that countries from around the world "continue to come back" to meetings of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

"They continue to come back and they continue to work hard to ensure that Ukraine gets everything that it needs to be successful. And that will remain our focus," he said.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said the United States does not know if the Russian fighter jet intentionally hit the American drone over the Black Sea.

This is something officials are looking into, he said at a news conference Wednesday, adding that he has a call scheduled with his Russian counterpart to discuss that point, among other things.

"We know that the intercept was intentional, we know that the aggressive behavior was intentional, we also know it was very unprofessional and very unsafe," Milley said.

As for the physical contact between the jet and drone "that remains to be seen."

However, Milley said the US has "absolute evidence of the contact and the intercept."

US officials have said two Russian jets dumped fuel on the US MQ-9 drone Tuesday in international airspace. Then, one jet "struck our MQ-9 aircraft, resulting in a crash," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Russia has denied that it had direct contact with the drone.

Russia is “running out of capability” after invading Ukraine more than a year ago, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. 

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin has “now had a year's worth of proof that the United States and the Contact Group will support Ukraine's right to defend itself for the long haul.”

“But Putin still hopes that he can wear down Ukraine and wait us out,” he added. “So we can't let up, and we won't.”