March 23, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

By Kathleen Magramo, Jack Guy, Aditi Sangal, Matt Meyer, Elizabeth Wolfe and Maureen Chowdhury, CNN

Updated 12:38 a.m. ET, March 24, 2023
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12:29 a.m. ET, March 23, 2023

Risk of nuclear conflict at highest level in decades, Russian minister says

From CNN's Radina Gigova

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov delivers a speech during a session of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland on March 2.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov delivers a speech during a session of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland on March 2. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

The risk of a nuclear conflict is now at its highest level in decades, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday, according to state-run news agency Tass.

"I would not like to indulge in a discussion whether the probability of a nuclear conflict is high today, but in any case it is higher than anything that we have seen over the past decades, let's put it this way," Ryabkov said on the platform of the Valdai discussion club, according to Tass.

Ryabkov reiterated that Moscow is not departing "from the key provisions, doctrinal and political ones." He said non-nuclear states, especially those not aligned with the United States, should "more loudly to call to order politicians in the Western capitals, including Washington, who have absolutely lost their sense of reality."

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was suspending his country's participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US during his much-delayed annual State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly.

11:03 p.m. ET, March 22, 2023

Zelensky says it was distressing to see aftermath of Russian bombardment in Donbas

From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio and Victoria Butenko

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday it was distressing to see the aftermath of Russian bombardments after he made an unannounced visit to the eastern Donbas region. 

“It is distressing to look at the cities of Donbas, to which Russia has brought terrible suffering and ruin,” Zelensky said in his nightly address. “The almost constant, hourly air-alert siren in Kramatorsk, the constant threat of shelling, the constant threat to life..."

“Right there, in Donbas, in the Kharkiv region — wherever Russian evil has come, it is obvious that the terrorist state cannot be stopped by anything other than one thing — our victory.”

Zelensky said he felt there was hope in every eastern Ukrainian city that was not under occupation, adding that it was an honor to support those closest to the front. 

“I started from the front, from the Bakhmut area. It is an honor for me to support our warriors who are defending the country in the toughest frontline conditions,” he said. “I presented state awards, thanked our soldiers for their bravery, for their resilience, for Ukraine — which we are preserving thanks to such heroes, thanks to each and every one of them who is fighting against Russian evil.”

The Ukrainian president also visited injured soldiers to pay tribute. 

“I wished them — and I'm sure on behalf of all of you, all of our people — a speedy recovery,” he said. “I thanked the doctors and nurses. And now I want to thank everyone who supports our soldiers recovering from injuries. Who helps with everything necessary, our doctors, everyone who works for rehabilitation after injuries.”

10:41 p.m. ET, March 22, 2023

Russian "offensive capacity" in Bakhmut is decreasing but fierce fighting endures, Ukrainian military says

From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio and Olga Voitovych

Ukrainian servicemen head toward Bakhmut in BMP infantry fighting vehicles on March 22.
Ukrainian servicemen head toward Bakhmut in BMP infantry fighting vehicles on March 22. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukraine says the offensive capacity of Russian forces in and around Bakhmut is diminishing, but cautions that it remains one of the areas where the fiercest fighting is ongoing.

“The Russian Federation continues its armed aggression against Ukraine, focusing its main efforts on attempts to completely seize Donetsk and Luhansk regions within the administrative borders,” the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in an update on Wednesday. “The fiercest fighting is taking place in the southern and northern parts of Bakhmut.”

“In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy continues to conduct offensive actions, but its offensive potential is decreasing,” it added.

According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces are continuing to expend large numbers of men trying to re-take the city.

“The enemy keeps trying to take the city, losing a significant amount of manpower, weapons and military equipment,” it said on Wednesday. “Our defenders have been repelling numerous enemy attacks around the clock in the areas of Bakhmut, Bohdanivka and Predtechyne.”

The Ukrainian military went on to say Moscow’s armies were on the defensive in some areas in the southern part of Ukraine.

“The enemy is conducting defensive actions in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions. Areas near the contact line came under fire,” it said.

9:43 p.m. ET, March 22, 2023

Blinken says European countries party to ICC should arrest Putin if he visits

From CNN's Jennifer Hansler

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a Flag Day ceremony in Moscow in 2021.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a Flag Day ceremony in Moscow in 2021. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

Any European country that is a party to the International Criminal Court (ICC) should arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he visits, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

“I think that anyone who is a party to the court and has obligations should fulfill their obligations,” Blinken said in response to a question from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.

Blinken would not say whether the US authorities would turn the Russian leader over to the ICC if he were to come to the United States, noting that the US is not a party to the court.

“I don’t think he has any plans to travel here soon,” Blinken said.

Putin has scarcely left Russia in recent years, and he has not traveled to the US since 2015.

Some more context: Last week, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin for his role in a vast Kremlin-wide effort to forcibly deport Ukrainian children into Russia.

A report released in mid-February from the US State Department-backed Conflict Observatory by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab found that more than 6,000 children — ranging in age from mere months old to 17 — have been in Russian custody at some point during the course of the war, although the "total number of children is not known and is likely significantly higher than 6,000."

It identified 43 facilities that are a part of the vast network where the children were sent, stretching "from one end of Russia to the other," including Russian-occupied Crimea, the "eastern Pacific Coast — closer to Alaska than it is to Moscow," and Siberia, Yale Humanitarian Research Lab's Nathaniel Raymond said.

"The primary purpose of the camps appears to be political reeducation," he said, noting that at least 32 of the facilities identified in the report "appear to be engaged in systematic re-education efforts that expose children from Ukraine to Russia-centric academic, cultural, patriotic, and in two cases, specifically military education."