February 23, 2023 - Town hall on Russia's war in Ukraine

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin on Thursday said an ammunition shipment is on its way to his fighters in Ukraine after he accused Russia’s defense establishment earlier this week of creating “major problems” with supplies for the mercenary group.

In a message and voice note published on his Telegram channel Thursday, Progozhin said the shipment began at 6 a.m. local time.

Public spat: On Tuesday, Prigozhin accused the Russian Defense Ministry's leadership of "treason" for failing to get ammunition to Wagner fighters and "not helping with air transport."

CNN has not been able to independently verify Prigozhin's claims about ammunition shortages. The Wagner chief, who has no official position, has repeatedly blamed the Russian Ministry of Defense for battlefield losses in Ukraine.

The US government estimates the Wagner group has suffered more than 30,000 causalities, including roughly 9,000 dead in the battle for the city of Bakhmut. About half of those 9,000 have been killed since mid-December, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said last week. And about 90% of those killed in December were recruited from Russian prisons, he said. 

Russia’s Defense Ministry has accused Ukraine of “preparing an armed provocation” against Moldova’s pro-Moscow separatist region of Transnistria “in the near future,” state-run news agency TASS reported Thursday. 

No evidence or further details were offered to support the ministry's claim. 

Transnistria tensions: Moldova, situated between Ukraine and Romania, was part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991. 

The separatist region of Transnistria is a strip of land bordered by the Dniester River on the west and Ukraine on the east, which declared itself a Soviet republic in 1990, opposing any attempt by Moldova at the time to become an independent state or to merge with Romania.

Anxieties about Russia’s long-term plans for Transnistria have only intensified after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began last February.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington has “deep concern” about Moscow's efforts to destabilize Moldova's government. 

The remarks came just days after Moldovan President Maia Sandu accused Russia of plotting a coup in Moldova and dragging Transnistria into its war. 

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed Sandu’s claims as “completely unfounded and unsubstantiated.”

In the year since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Moscow has been hit by unprecedented Western sanctions and shut out of much of the global economy.

But China, which has declared “no limits” to its friendship with its northern neighbor, has thrown the Kremlin an economic lifeline, tempering the impact of its banishment from the global financial system.

Here are three ways China has been propping up the Russian economy:

Read more here.

A 28-year-old Russian man accused of developing and selling a hacking tool used to obtain the login information for tens of thousands of computers worldwide was arrested in the country of Georgia and extradited to the US, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Dariy Pankov is accused of advertising access to more than 35,000 computers, earning more than $350,000 in illicit sales, and enabling cybercriminals to conduct ransomware attacks and tax fraud, prosecutors said.

Pankov’s arrest is the latest move by US law enforcement agencies to try to nab accused Russian cybercriminals who venture outside of Russia. US President Joe Biden in 2021 urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to reign in criminal hackers, but Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago has soured hopes of bilateral cooperation on the issue.

Read more here.

President Vladimir Putin has committed to Russia strengthening its nuclear triad, a military force structure capable of launching three types of nuclear weapons. 

Putin’s remarks also emphasized the reliance on a “modern and efficient Army and Navy.”  

“Relying on actual combat experience, we will pursue balanced and high-quality development of all components of the Armed Forces, improve the system for training units. A solid foundation here is the soldiers, sergeants and officers who showed their worth in combat on the front line,” Putin was quoted as saying.  

He added that Russia’s military manufacturing industry was “quickly increasing production” as Moscow prioritizes investment in military hardware.  

Challenger 2 battle tanks could start to arrive in Ukraine in "the spring," British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. 

Britain could offer Ukraine more of its main battle tanks on top of the 14 already promised, but that would depend on the country's defense needs, Wallace told the news agency.

Wallace was visiting a training site in southwest England where Ukrainian soldiers are learning to operate the tanks in combat conditions. The UK Defense Ministry said in a statement that training was "continuing at pace" and would last several weeks. 

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said on Wednesday that Russia suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty is Moscow's "trick to increase pressure." 

Šimonytė demanded more NATO forces on the ground in the alliance's eastern flank, as well as higher investment in air defense to serve as “deterrence” against Russia.   

"There should be an upscale of the military presence on the eastern flank from battalion up to brigade," she said. 

Šimonytė urged Kyiv's allies to increase military support to Ukraine. 

"How can you push back Russia’s military forces if you do not have heavy weapons?" she questioned. 

The prime minister went on to address the importance of getting resources to Ukraine quicker. In previous occasions, time was lost in conversations that led to weapons being delivered with a “delay of a couple of months,” she said. 

Šimonytė admitted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “wakeup call," which has created a “rush to review the policies towards the defense spending.” 

“Countries in this region, of course, have changed their attitudes or have increased their spending on defense and security significantly since the Crimea invasion and are continuing to do so in recent years because our defense spending will be somewhere between 2.5, 3% of GDP this year,” she said. 

Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday said the country will "disappear" if it loses the war in Ukraine.

The comments from Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia's Security Council and a key ally of President Vladimir Putin, follow US President Joe Biden’s speech in Poland on Tuesday.

In his speech, Biden said, "If Russia stopped invading Ukraine, it would end the war. If Ukraine stopped defending itself against Russia, it would be the end of Ukraine," which Medvedev claimed was “a refined lie.”  

“Why does he appeal to the people of another country at a time when he is full of domestic problems? With what fright should we listen to a politician from a hostile state that exudes hatred for our Motherland? Why should the citizens of Russia believe the leader of the United States, who unleashed the most wars in the 20th and 21st centuries, but reproach us for aggressiveness?” Medvedev said, repeating claims that American officials see as a"whataboutism" tactic.

Medvedev also claimed that Biden’s aim is “to ensure that Russia suffers a "strategic defeat."

Medvedev commented on Putin's state of the nation address on Tuesday, in particular an announcement that Moscow is suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty. 

He called it “an overdue and inevitable decision.” 

“This is a decision that will have a huge resonance in the world in general and in the United States in particular,” Medvedev said. 

One day after delivering a state of the nation speech before Russia’s parliament, President Vladimir Putin made an appearance before a flag-waving crowd at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium.

It was a chilling spectacle. The Kremlin leader was essentially presiding over a militaristic pep rally aimed at drumming up public support for his calamitous military adventure in Ukraine.

Put otherwise, Putin was selling his war in Ukraine as a sort of crusade — and therefore something that will require sacrifices by his people.

Flanked by uniformed military personnel, the Russian president led the crowd in cheers for the troops that he said were fighting for the “historical borders of our people,” his mendacious shorthand for the parts of Ukraine that Russia has attempted to annex, and that Russian forces have failed to control.

Read more here.