March 30, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

By Kathleen Magramo, Sophie Tanno, Aditi Sangal, Matt Meyer, Elise Hammond and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Updated 8:38 PM ET, Thu March 30, 2023
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8:41 a.m. ET, March 30, 2023

BREAKING: Wall Street Journal journalist arrested on suspicion of ‘espionage,’ Russian officials say

An undated ID photo of journalist Evan Gershkovich.
An undated ID photo of journalist Evan Gershkovich. (AFP/Getty Images)

A journalist with the Wall Street Journal -- Evan Gershkovich -- has been arrested in Russia on suspicion of espionage, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says.

An FSB statement said: "The illegal activities of the correspondent of the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, US citizen Evan Gershkovich, born in 1991, accredited at the Russian Foreign Ministry, suspected of espionage in the interests of the American government, have been suppressed."

State news agency TASS reported he was detained in Yekaterinburg, on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains. 

The FSB statement said Gershkovich was detained "while trying to obtain secret information" relating to "the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex."

According to Gershkovich’s bio page on the Wall Street Journal’s website, he covers Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. He previously worked for news agency Agence France-Presse, the Moscow Times and the New York Times. 

CNN has contacted the Wall Street Journal for comment.

5:31 a.m. ET, March 30, 2023

Ukrainian Foreign Minister: Russia’s UNSC presidency is "a bad joke"

From CNN’s Sarah Dean 

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba addresses the media during a press encounter at the United Nations at U.N. headquarters in New York City, on February 24.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba addresses the media during a press encounter at the United Nations at U.N. headquarters in New York City, on February 24. (David Dee Delgado/Reuters)

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council (UNSC) from April 1 is a "bad joke."

Russia takes up the presidency for a month this weekend for the first time since invading Ukraine last year.

As a result of the conflict Russia is economically and diplomatically isolated but it remains one of five permanent members of the Council.

“Russia has usurped its seat; it’s waging a colonial war; its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children. The world can’t be a safe place with Russia at [the] UNSC,” Kuleba tweeted.

Earlier this week, Russia suffered a setback after it failed to gain enough votes at the UNSC for its proposed resolution to investigate attacks on the Nordstream pipeline

2:08 a.m. ET, March 30, 2023

Russian student facing prison over social media posts starts new life in Europe

From CNN's Saskya Vandoorne and Melissa Bell in Vilnius, Lithuania

Olesya Krivtsova speaks to CNN in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Olesya Krivtsova speaks to CNN in Vilnius, Lithuania. (CNN)

Olesya Krivtsova thinks it's because she was neither the first, nor the last, to criticize the war in Ukraine that she scared Russian authorities as much as she did.

Her social media posts were neither particularly strident nor unusual, she told CNN, reflecting those of so many other university students across the country. And that, she believes, is where her troubles started: when her fellow students denounced her to authorities in need of an example.

Now in Lithuania and on Moscow's list of most wanted criminals, the softly spoken, slight 20-year-old from Russia's northwestern Arkhangelsk region makes for an unlikely villain. But from the start, Russian authorities seemed to have singled her out for harsh punishment with particular zeal.

According to OVD-Info, a Russian human rights media group, most of the 447 Russians prosecuted for anti-war activity since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year have been charged with "disseminating false information." But Krivtsova was placed under house arrest in January, and banned from using the internet on the far more serious charges of discrediting the Russian army and justifying terrorism. OVD-Info reports 49 people have been charged for discrediting the army and 30 for justifying terrorism.

Those charges relate to an Instagram story she posted about the Crimean bridge blast last October, which also criticized Russia for invading Ukraine, and for making an allegedly critical repost of the war in a student chat on the Russian social network VK.

Her voice should have remained a little one, she said, but for the repression she faced.

"I think they really regretted it. No one expected that the case would grow so much that the resonance would be so huge," Krivtsova said of the Russian authorities. 

Read more here.

2:12 a.m. ET, March 30, 2023

Russians facing heavy losses in Bakhmut, top US general says. Here's the latest from Ukraine

From CNN staff

A Ukrainian tank rolls on a muddy road near Bakhmut on Wednesday.
A Ukrainian tank rolls on a muddy road near Bakhmut on Wednesday. (Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images)

Russia's Wagner mercenary group is "suffering an enormous amount of casualties in the Bakhmut area," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told US lawmakers Wednesday, describing the battle for the eastern city as a “slaughter-fest" for the Russians.

Meanwhile, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message Wednesday that the battle for the city "has already practically destroyed the Ukrainian army," but added his troops had "been pretty battered" as well.

Here are the latest developments:

  • Russia sees long-term "hybrid war": The Kremlin sees the conflict in Ukraine as part of a long-term war, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. “If you mean war in a broad context — a confrontation with hostile states and with unfriendly countries, a hybrid war that they unleashed against Russia — this is for long,” he said.
  • Ukraine hints at new offensive: Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov suggested that Ukrainian offensive action involving Western tanks may begin in April or May. In an interview with Estonian television, Reznikov said German Leopard tanks, which have begun arriving in Ukraine, will be part of “the counteroffensive campaign under the decision of our General Staff. … They are planning that in different directions.”
  • Monks can stay: Ukraine is not ordering monks from the pro-Russia Ukrainian Orthodox Church to leave a historic cave monastery complex in Kyiv, the country's culture minister said. The Ukrainian government and security service says some members of the church are loyal to Moscow.
  • Melitopol strike: Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-appointed military-civilian administration in occupied Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, said Wednesday that six Ukrainian HIMARS rockets struck rail infrastructure in a pre-dawn attack. Rogov said Russian air defenses shot down three of the rockets, and the remaining three hit objects in Melitopol: a railway, an electricity substation and the railway depot. No casualties were reported.
  • Nuclear concerns: The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has not improved, according to director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi. The plant has been occupied by Russian forces since March of last year and is now run by Russia's atomic agency.
  • Budapest's "grievances": Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said Wednesday there is “an ample amount of grievances that need to be addressed” before Sweden’s bid to join NATO is ratified by the country. The Hungarian parliament approved a bill on Monday to allow Finland to join NATO but has not yet voted on Sweden’s NATO accession.  
8:37 p.m. ET, March 29, 2023

Germany to increase military support to Ukraine by $13 billion, government says

From CNN's Chris Stern in Berlin and Sharon Braithwaite in London

The German federal government has agreed to allocate an additional 12 billion euros ($13 billion) worth of military support to Ukraine over the next decade, it announced Wednesday in a statement.

"Germany has been supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia for more than a year with money, equipment and material and will continue to do so. This must also be reflected in the budget. On the one hand, for the procurement of armaments for Ukraine, and on the other hand, for the replacement of weapons and material handed over to Ukraine from Bundeswehr stocks," the government noted. 

Around $4.3 billion will go to the German military to replace the military aid Berlin has given to Kyiv since the invasion, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius added.

Earlier this year, Berlin made a historic move to arm Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.

8:36 p.m. ET, March 29, 2023

"The whole Ukrainian nation is traumatized," deputy foreign minister says

From CNN’s Alex Hardie, Ami Kaufman and Ben Kirby

The whole of Ukraine is traumatized since Russia's invasion last year, according to Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova.

Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour from Kyiv, Dzhaparova said she thinks “a long-term process of recovery will be happening after the resolution of war,” but added that “at this stage of the war it’s still an existential matter of survival so we need to survive physically and after that, we can speak about the mental recovery.” 

“You never know how it might be triggered," Dzhaparova said of the mental toll of the war. "I can speak on behalf of myself saying that, for example, the first time I allowed myself to cry since the very start of the full-fledged invasion in two weeks after when my suitcase with my belongings came from Kyiv to the western part of my country and I just — you know — it happened in a moment when I touched my dresses and my pants because I was not able to buy anything because of the curfew and martial law. All shops were closed.” 

The deputy minister told CNN she has seen her two daughters, who are abroad, only three times since the invasion. 

The four main battlefields, according to Dzhaparova, are Lyman, Mariinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut.  

The situation in Bakhmut is “still terrible,” she said.   

“It’s still a question what will be the outcome, but I can tell you for sure that the armed forces of Ukraine has proved its capability. Even though we can hear some questions and voices that Russians might accomplish their goals in Bakhmut, but I think that in order not to allow this to happen we have to follow several elements, which is the shipment of needed weapons, not only ammunition but artillery systems and shells that we really critically need.” 

Approximately 17% of Ukrainian soil is “still under occupation,” down from what she said was 20% at the beginning of the invasion.  

3:13 a.m. ET, March 30, 2023

Battle for Bakhmut has turned into a "slaughter-fest for the Russians," top US general says

From CNN's Haley Britzky

Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on March 29.
Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on March 29. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

There are roughly 6,000 Wagner group mercenaries fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told US lawmakers on Wednesday. 

“They're conducting combat operations right now in Bakhmut primarily. It's probably about 6,000 or so actual mercenaries and maybe another 20 or 30,000 recruits that they get, many of whom come from prisons,” Milley told the House Armed Services Committee alongside US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “And they are suffering an enormous amount of casualties in the Bakhmut area; the Ukrainians are inflicting a lot of death and destruction on these guys.” 

The battle over Bakhmut has turned into a “slaughter-fest" for the Russians, Milley said.

“The Ukrainians are doing a very effective area defense that is proven to be very costly to the Russians. For about the last 20, 21 days, the Russians have not made any progress whatsoever in and around Bakhmut,” he said. “So it's a slaughter-fest for the Russians. They're getting hammered in the vicinity of Bakhmut and the Ukrainians have fought very, very well.”

The head of the Russian private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in an audio message earlier Wednesday that the battle for the city "has already practically destroyed the Ukrainian army," but added that Wagner has "been pretty battered" as well.

8:34 p.m. ET, March 29, 2023

IAEA director general says situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has not improved

From CNN's Tim Lister

The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has not improved, according to director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi.

The plant has been occupied by Russian forces since March of last year and is now run by the Russian atomic agency, ROSATOM. 

Grossi said military activity and the number of troops in the area were increasing, without specifying whether he meant both Russian and Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian troops are stationed several miles across the reservoir from the plant. 

He said original plans to create a demilitarized zone around the plant had “evolved” toward greater protection of the plant itself and added there should not be heavy military equipment at the plant. Ukraine has accused the Russians of basing rocket systems at the plant, which Moscow has denied.

Grossi said he was trying to formulate “realistic, viable proposals” that would be acceptable to both sides.

8:16 p.m. ET, March 29, 2023

Top US general says China-Russia-Iran partnership will be "problematic" for "years to come"

From CNN's Haley Britzky

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers Wednesday that China, Russia, and Iran would be a problem for the US “for many years to come” as the three are working more closely together.

Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Milley said Russia and China are “getting closer together.”

“I wouldn’t call it a true full alliance in the real meaning of that word, but we are seeing them moving closer together, and that’s troublesome,” Milley said. “And then … Iran is the third. So those three countries together are going to be problematic for many years to come I think, especially Russia and China because of their capability.”

While the US has made clear for years now that the three countries are focuses of the military — particularly China and Russia — tensions with all three have been on the rise in recent months and even weeks.

Read more here.