April 5, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Polish Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk resigned from his post Wednesday over what he said was the European Commission’s draft decision to extend duty-free and quota-free imports of grain from Ukraine into member states until June 2024.

Farmers in countries neighboring Ukraine, including Poland, have expressed concerns about the effects of increased imports of Ukrainian grain on their grain prices, the European Commission said in a statement in March. 

Last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki urged EU leaders to use “all instruments” to “limit the impact" of the influx of Ukrainian grain on the markets of Ukraine's neighboring countries. 

In Kowalczyk’s resignation statement, he said that the Polish government — along with those of Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria — had submitted a request on Friday to the European Commission to “activate the protection clause in the field of duty-free and quota-free imports of grain from Ukraine.” 

Last month, the European Commission proposed a support measure worth 56.3 million euros (around $61.3 million) for Bulgarian, Polish and Romanian farmers to compensate them “for the economic loss due to increased imports of cereals and oilseeds.” 

Speaking in Warsaw on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that a solution had been found on “the issue of our farmers.” 

“I believe that in the coming days and weeks we will finally resolve all the issues because there can be no questions, no difficulties between such close partners and real friends as Poland and Ukraine," he said.  

White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby responded to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent allegation that “Western intelligence services” are involved in “terrorist attacks” carried out within Russia, saying Wednesday that the United States does not “enable or encourage Ukrainians to strike outside of Ukraine.”

CNN previously reported that during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council on Wednesday, Putin alleged without evidence that “terrorist attacks are regularly carried out against government officials and law enforcement agencies, journalists, public figures, school and university teachers. … Moreover, neo-Nazis and their accomplices operate not only on the territory of the new subjects of the Federation, but also commit crimes in other regions” – references to the Ukrainian regions Russia claims to have annexed, and the rest of the Russian regions.

“There is reason to believe that the potential of third countries of Western intelligence services is involved in the preparation of such sabotage and terrorist attacks,” Putin added. 

Vladlen Tatarsky, a pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger, was killed by an explosion at a St. Petersburg café on Sunday. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) said Monday that the explosion that killed him involved agents of the Ukrainian special services and associates of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Kirby underscored that American intelligence involvement has been aimed at helping Ukrainians defend their territory. 

“(F)rom the early days of this war, we have been providing intelligence and information support to the Ukrainian armed forces to enable them to better defend themselves, to conduct operations and to continue to try to claw back territory that the Russians illegally took from them when they invaded – actually, even since 2014. And I won’t get into the details of what that intelligence is or how it’s delivered, but it is very much intended to help … them defend their territory,” Kirby said. 

“We do not enable nor do we encourage the Ukrainians to strike outside of Ukraine. And I really just – I’m going to leave it at that,” he added.  

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin began a two-day summit in Moscow discussing weapons in Belarus, Ukraine's neighbor.

“In your office, when we discussed what to do, it turned out that there was an opportunity to work,” Lukashenko said, sitting alongside Putin. “The missiles are flying and military equipment is on the move, so we will overcome everything with a little bit of time.” 

Russia plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month. He said Moscow had already transferred an Iskander short-range missile system, a device that can be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, to Belarus.

“I must say that a lot has been done as a result of our joint work in all areas,” Putin said. “Tomorrow we will discuss all this. This concerns our interaction in the international arena and the joint solution of issues of ensuring the security of our states. I am especially pleased to note the results of our work in the economic sphere.”

Lukashenko noted that Russia’s population “feared hunger, cold, and so on,” but that those fears did not come to pass. 

“Tomorrow we will sum up what we have done,” Lukashenko said. “We have definitely worked for our paychecks.”

CNN's Hira Humayun contributed reporting to this post.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, without presenting evidence, accused Western intelligence services of being involved in "terrorist attacks" carried out within Russia.

"Terrorist attacks are regularly carried out against government officials and law enforcement agencies, journalists, public figures, school and university teachers," Putin said on Wednesday during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, adding that "accomplices" also operate in Ukrainian regions claimed to be annexed by Russia.

"There is reason to believe that the potential of third countries of Western intelligence services is involved in the preparation of such sabotage and terrorist attacks," he said.

Death of Russian military blogger: Vladlen Tatarsky, a pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger, was killed by an explosion at a St. Petersburg café on Sunday.

Within Russia, suspicion has fallen on Ukrainian special services, informal Russian opposition groups and associates of the jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny, though his supporters have denied having anything to do with the explosion.

Russian authorities have charged Daria Trepova with terrorism offenses over Tatarsky's death, alleging that Trepova — acting at the behest of Ukraine — brought a “statuette filled with explosives” to the venue and handed it to Tatarsky. Trepova’s husband, Dmitry Rylov, told an independent Russian publication that he is convinced his wife was framed.

Ukraine has said little about the explosion, beyond blaming infighting in Russia. 

Pledge to prevent "sabotage:" The Russian government also said Wednesday that it would step up efforts to stymie sabotage and enemy intelligence operations in the four declared annexed Ukrainian regions, according to state media.

“Attention was drawn to preventing recruitment activities by Western intelligence services, to identify agents of influence, to counter the spread of the ideology of neo-Nazism and religious extremism, primarily among children and youth," Patrushev told reporters following the meeting of the Security Council, as quoted by RIA.

“Attempts to destabilize the socio-political situation and undermine the constitutional order will be severely suppressed in accordance with Russian legislation,” he added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia's recent pledge to deploy strategic and tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus shows that a joint statement released by Russia and China in late March amounted to “empty promises.” 

“The announcement that they will deploy tactical weapons – nuclear weapons – to Belarus just after signing an agreement stating the opposite just shows that these are empty promises,” Stoltenberg told a press conference Wednesday in Brussels. 

Remember: In late March, China and Russia released a joint statement about the Russian war in Ukraine, in which Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China “always supports peace and dialogue, and firmly stands on the right side of history." Xi added that he hopes he will “maintain close contacts” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, "paving the way to the steady and lasting development of China-Russia relations." 

Stoltenberg said that China “refuses to condemn Russia’s aggression; it echoes Russian propaganda, and it props up Russia’s economy.”

He added that NATO allies have made it clear that “any provision of lethal aid by China to Russia would be a historic mistake with profound implications.” 

Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Wednesday added that there was “discomfort” over recent ties between China and Russia. 

"We have seen a discomfort with how close China has got to Russia recently. The recognition that the world, the interconnected world in which we live is a smaller place than perhaps it was in the past, and that therefore we have to be very, very conscious of all potential risks and threats, not just to the Euro Atlantic region, but also to the Asia-Pacific as well,” he told reporters after attending a meeting of NATO foreign minister in Brussels. 

Cleverly said that Britain’s priority is to get Ukraine the military support they need to defend themselves from Russian attacks and “we will continue working towards that route, ultimately towards NATO membership."

CNN’s Sugam Pokharel contributed reporting to this post.

A spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused the leaders of media organizations condemning the arrest of American journalist Evan Gershkovich of “hypocrisy,” because they did not condemn the murder of a pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger over the weekend.

The heads of various media organizations and press freedom organizations wrote a letter last week to Russia’s ambassador in Washington, calling the charges against Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, “unfounded” and “a significant escalation in your government’s anti-press actions.”

Asked about that letter on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, “Why on Earth should we react to a letter if we see their absolute hypocrisy?”

“Accordingly, to be honest, for me this appeal has lost any significance at all. […] You can’t talk about high moral things if you don’t see the obvious and refuse to see the tragedy and express at least some sympathy,” she said.  

Gershkovich’s arrest marks the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations by Moscow of spying since the Cold War.

Some context: Zakharova's remarks come after well-known Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in an explosion in St. Petersburg on Sunday. Tatarsky died when a blast tore through the cafe where he was appearing as a guest of a pro-war group.

CNN's Radina Gigova and Mariya Knight contributed to this post.

The Ukrainian military and a soldier near Bakhmut say that heavy battles are raging in Russia’s continued attempt to fully capture the eastern city.

“The enemy is trying to take full control of the city of Bakhmut and continues to attack it,” Ukraine’s General Staff said in its daily update. “The enemy conducted unsuccessful offensives near Bohdanivka and Ivanivske. Ukrainian defense forces repelled about 15 enemy attacks in this area over the last day.”

A Ukrainian soldier with whom CNN exchanged text messages, who is stationed near Bakhmut, said that “heavy battles” were raging in Bakhmut’s city center.

“The orcs (Russians) must have sent fresh troops,” the soldier said. “They have been temporarily stopped, but the pressure is very strong.”

He said that all roads leading to Bakhmut continued to be shelled.

“In short, it is very risky and the risk is very high.”

More on Bakhmut: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday acknowledged the possibility of a military withdrawal from the eastern city of Bakhmut, but said that ammunition deliveries from Ukraine’s ally would bolster his military’s defense.

“For me, the most important thing is not to lose our military,” Zelensky said during a meeting in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda. “And certainly, if there is a moment of even more intense events and the danger that we may lose personnel due to the encirclement, there will be appropriate correct decisions made by the general on the spot. I am sure about that.”

“But the more the appropriate ammunition arrives in Ukraine, the faster we will fight the situation not only in Bakhmut but in the whole territory of our country,” he said.

CNN's Svitlana Vlasova in Kyiv contributed to this post.

Sweden will become a member of NATO despite Turkey's current opposition to Stockholm's bid to join, the chief of the transatlantic military alliance said on Wednesday in his first interview since Finland became a new member of the group on Tuesday.  

"I'm confident that Sweden will become a member [of NATO], not least because all NATO allies, including Turkey, invited Sweden to become a member at our summit in Madrid," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN's Becky Anderson in an interview.  

Some more context: Finland officially became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Tuesday, marking a major shift in the security landscape in northeastern Europe that adds some 1,300 kilometers (or about 830 miles) to the alliance’s frontier with Russia. Sweden’s attempt to join the bloc has been stalled by alliance members Turkey and Hungary.  

Finland’s fold into the alliance also reignited calls from Ukraine to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Poland and Stoltenberg has indicated that he has also been invited to the alliance’s summit, taking place in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in July.   

"NATO's position is that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance. Our main focus now is to provide support for Ukraine to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation in Europe, which is a precondition to any meaningful discussion about membership," said Stoltenberg. "It's important to meet with Ukraine... to discuss how to sustain the unprecedented support NATO and NATO allies are providing Ukraine, to discuss reforms, but also to raise issues related to minority rights."  

US President Joe Biden's administration announced an additional package of military aid to Ukraine totaling $2.6 billion on Tuesday, part of a slew of NATO support for the embattled nation. Ukraine has burned through ammunition and weapons faster than the US and NATO can produce it, but Stoltenberg promised to ramp up production to meet further needs. 

Correction: An earlier version of this post misquoted NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He said it would be "absolutely inconceivable" a military attack against Sweden would not provoke a NATO reaction.

The ban on Russian sides from competing in European soccer tournaments would be hard to change “until the war (in Ukraine) stops,” the president of European soccer’s governing body UEFA said on Wednesday. 

Speaking to reporters in Lisbon, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said, “My personal opinion that I can say is that until the war stops it would be very hard for us to change anything.” 

“Of course, it is a decision of the executive committee in any case,” he said. 

In a joint move with FIFA, UEFA suspended all Russian international and club teams from their competitions “until further notice” in February last year, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The governing body also said Russia’s bid to host Euro 2028 or Euro 2032 had been ruled ineligible.   

UEFA’s club competitions include the men’s and women’s Champions League, the men’s Europa League and the men’s Europa Conference League. 

CNN's Matias Grez contributed reporting to this post.