Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

The death toll from an overnight attack by Russia in Kostiantinivka, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, rose to five on Friday afternoon, with two men and three women, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said on Facebook. reported via.

“On the night of March 24, the city of Kostyantinivka was hit by a missile,” the post read, according to a translation by the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform.

“One of the missiles hit the one-story building where the invincibility point was operating. A rescue team from the 16th State Fire and Rescue Service arrived on the scene and began an emergency rescue operation,” it said.

State media said the “point of invincibility” had been reached with attacks by both drones and fighter jets. Invincible Points is the name of locations around Ukraine set up to provide generators for charging phones and other vital electronic devices.

— Natasha Turak

Ukraine’s state broadcaster Saspirun reported that several people were killed overnight in Russian attacks in various parts of Ukraine. Iranian-made ‘Shahed’ drones and fighter jets were used in the attack, the agency said.

“At night, Russian troops shelled the ‘point of invincibility’ in Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region. Three resettled women from other settlements in the area died under the rubble, and two more. was injured,” Suspirun wrote in a Telegram post. Google Translate.

“The Sumy district was hit by massive fires at night. The Russian Federation used about 10 fighter jets, artillery and ‘Shahed’ drones. In the city of Bilopilla he had two killed and nine wounded. His five hits by ‘Shahed’ drones in Kriviri, Dnipropetrovsk Region. Air defense forces managed to shoot him down one,” the post read.

CNBC has not independently verified the information.

— Natasha Turak

Russia’s military movements in Belarus suggest it is continuing its training program with the Belarusian military despite having far less experience, the UK Defense Ministry said in a daily statement on Twitter. I wrote in an update. Keeping the training ground there also conveys an important political message, it said.

“As of mid-March 2023, Russia likely redeployed at least 1,000 troops training at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training range in southwestern Belarus,” the ministry wrote.

“Although no new rotations of troops have been recorded, Russia likely left tent camps intact, suggesting it is considering continuing its training programme,” it said.

“The fact that Russia relied on training personnel under the inexperienced Belarusian military underscores how Russia’s ‘special military operations’ severely disrupted the Russian military’s training system. They are mainly deployed in Ukraine.”

— Natasha Turak

China’s peace offer to end the war in Ukraine is “extremely unfair,” an Estonian defense minister told CNBC.

Kusti Salm told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday that Beijing’s 12-point peace proposal did not respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and was not fair to the people.

“Any time we measure the feasibility of a peace deal, we should measure against the same principle: Are we eradicating aggression as a tool?” he asked.

“Do we respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of independent countries?”

These are the “key elements and elements” missing from China’s peace plan, he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Russia ended on Wednesday without making any meaningful breakthroughs in resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

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— Audrey Wang and Sumathi Bala

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that if Europe hesitates to support Ukraine, “the evil may have time to rally and prepare for years of war.”

“It is in your power to prevent this from happening,” Zelensky said in a sweeping speech before members of the European Council.

The Ukrainian president also reiterated calls for further military aid from European leaders.

“The more often Ukrainian artillery hits the occupiers, the less likely Russia is to implement a policy of genocide against Ukrainians and other Europeans,” Zelensky said.

“God forbid anyone from seeing that happen in their own country,” he added.

Zelensky also thanked European Union member states for supporting the work of the International Criminal Court in holding Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for the ongoing war in Ukraine.

—Amanda Macias

Ukraine’s top ground forces commander said the country’s forces would launch a much-needed counterattack “soon” just as Russian forces appeared to be losing momentum in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk.

General Oleksandr Shirsky said in a telegram on Thursday that the Russian army had not given up “the hope of taking Bakhmut at all costs despite the loss of personnel and equipment”, saying that the main Russian forces under attack He mentioned that the military units were mercenaries of the Wagner group.

According to a Google-translated comment, “If they spare nothing, they will lose considerable power,” he said, adding, “Immediately seize this opportunity, as they once did near Kiev, Kharkov, Balakliya and Kupiansk. I will use it,” he added.

The comments came after military analysts said that Russian offensives around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine had left Bakhmut largely in ruins and killed thousands of soldiers on both sides after seven months of brutal and constant fighting. , comes from seeing it as losing momentum.

Ukraine had previously suggested it would launch a counteroffensive in the spring, but was waiting for more Western weapons to arrive.

Syrskyi said soldiers on the front lines of Bakhmut displayed “superhuman resilience, bravery and intrepidity” in the face of “continuous enemy artillery and aircraft fire”.

— Holly Eliyat

Russia has threatened to escalate its offensive in Ukraine after the British government announced it would supply Ukraine with the type of munitions that Russia falsely claimed contained nuclear components.

On Monday, the UK Ministry of Defense confirmed that it would provide Ukraine with armour-piercing ammunition containing depleted uranium.

Such ammunition was developed by the United States during the Cold War to destroy Soviet tanks, including the T-72 tanks that Ukraine is currently facing to break the stalemate in the East. rice field.

Depleted uranium is a by-product of the uranium enrichment process needed to make nuclear weapons. Although the round retains some radioactive properties, it cannot produce a nuclear reaction like a nuclear weapon, said RAND nuclear expert and policy researcher Edward Geist.

Still, the Russians didn’t stop issuing full-on warnings that the round was about to open the door to further escalation. In the past, they have suggested that war could escalate to the use of nuclear weapons.

Both the UK Foreign Office and the White House have dismissed Russia’s accusations. But ammunition carries risks even if it is not a nuclear weapon.

— Associated Press