By This was CNBC’s live blog tracking developments on the war in Ukraine. See here for the latest updates.
NATO held its official ceremony for the accession of Sweden, the alliance’s 32nd member, in Brussels, raising the Swedish flag over the organization’s headquarters for the first time in history.
“Today as we raise the Swedish flag we stand together in unity and solidarity, committed to protect and defend each other. All for one, and one for all,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the event.
Pope Francis is facing backlash from Ukrainian and other European leaders over comments he made in an interview advocating for putting up a “white flag” and negotiating with Russia, saying that the “strongest” party in the war is “the one who has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates.”
Elsewhere, India is seeking the release of its citizens who have been “duped” into serving in the Russian army, Indian government officials have said, demonstrating a rare critique of Moscow.
A South Korean citizen, named as Baek Won Soon, has been detained in Russia on spying charges, Russian news agency Tass reported on Monday, citing local law enforcement.
The South Korean was identified during an espionage investigation in Vladivostok, where a court decided to detain him, and was then taken to Moscow for “investigative actions,” where he is currently being held in a pre-trial detention centre, Tass reported.
Law enforcement agencies are accusing the man of passing on information classified as state secrets to foreign intelligence services according to Tass.
CNBC could not independently verify the report. Neither the Russian foreign ministry nor the South Korean embassy in London immediately responded to CNBC’s request for comment.
— Sophie Kiderlin
NATO held its accession ceremony for Sweden, the 32nd member of the transatlantic Western alliance, which officially joined last week nearly two years after it first bid to join the organization.
The Swedish flag was raised at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, for the first time as Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson gave remarks.
“Sweden brings high-end capabilities, first-class military forces, and spends more than 2% of GDP on defense,” Stoltenberg said.
“Sweden’s accession shows again that NATO’s door remains open. No one can close it. Sweden has taken its rightful place at NATO’s table under the shield of Article 5 protection – the ultimate guarantee of our freedom and security. All for one and one for all.”
In separate remarks, Stoltenberg said that Ukraine is “closer to NATO membership than ever before.”
— Natasha Turak
Russia is manufacturing triple the number of artillery shells for its military than the U.S. and Europe are producing for Ukraine, a report by CNN says.
“Russia is producing about 250,000 artillery munitions per month, or about 3 million a year,” the report said, citing NATO intelligence estimates.
The U.S. and Kyiv’s allies in Europe meanwhile have the capacity to produce roughly 1.2 million munitions annually to send Ukraine, it said.
“The U.S. military set a goal to produce 100,000 rounds of artillery a month by the end of 2025 — less than half of the Russian monthly output,” it added.
That figure could now fall as Congress stalls on approving more military aid for Kyiv.
— Natasha Turak
Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa saw a large Russian drone attack overnight, with Ukrainian air defenses shooting down 15 of the 25 drones, local authorities said.
Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said that the wave of incoming Iranian-made Shahed drones and responding air defense fire lasted an hour and a half, and that residential and administrative buildings were damaged. He said that no one was injured or killed.
“Another massive nighttime drone attack by the Russians in Odesa region. This time – at midnight,” Kiper wrote in a Telegram post, according to a Google translation.
“Dear residents of Odesa, I emphasize once again: the enemy is insidious and can attack our region both during the day and in the middle of the night,” Kiper said.
“Therefore, I AM BEGGING you – during an air alert, regardless of the time of day, please go down to the shelters! It can save your life and health!”
— Natasha Turak
Belarus is launching an inspection to assess the combat readiness of its armed forces, the country’s defense ministry announced on Telegram.
“The Armed Forces have begun checking the combat readiness of military formations and units,” the ministry wrote in its post, according to a Google translation from Russian. “The check is comprehensive. The personnel will have to move to designated areas and conduct a series of exercises and training, including live fire.”
It said that the inspection will entail the movement of military equipment, and that civilian transport and movement on public areas and roads may as a result be restricted.
Belarus is one of Russia’s closest allies, and its longtime President Alexander Lukashenko has provided Russia with logistical support and training grounds for its soldiers throughout Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
— Natasha Turak
Sweden’s accession to the NATO alliance, made official last week, shows President Vladimir Putin has failed in his aim to weaken Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during the official ceremony for the Nordic country’s membership.
“When President Putin launched his full-scale invasion two years ago, he wanted less NATO and more control over his neighbors. He wanted to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state, but he failed,” Stoltenberg said, standing alongside Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Brussels ahead of the raising of Sweden’s flag outside NATO’s headquarters.
“NATO is bigger and stronger,” he added.
Sweden first bid to join the military alliance, ending its historically nonaligned position, in May 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the country’s accession was held up by member states Turkey and Hungary. Hungary only last month voted in favor of the country joining the alliance.
— Natasha Turak
Former U.S. President Donald Trump will “not give a penny” to Ukraine for its war with Russia if he is re-elected, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on state television after meeting with Trump in Florida.
“He will not give a penny into the Ukraine-Russia war and therefore the war will end, as it is obvious that Ukraine on its own cannot stand on its feet,” Orban said on Sunday evening.
“If the Americans do not give money and weapons, and also the Europeans, then this war will be over. And if the Americans do not give money, the Europeans are unable to finance this war on their own, and then the war will end.”
Orban has long held friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, refusing to send weapons to Ukraine and maintaining active economic ties with Moscow despite EU sanctions. He met with Putin last October in China, despite criticism from other European leaders.
— Natasha Turak
Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto opposes sending Western troops to Ukraine, he said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, saying it would hurt chances at diplomacy.
“Sending troops to Ukraine would be a step towards unilateral escalation, which would stand in the way of diplomacy. There is no point thinking about this now, after two years of the war,” Crosetto said.
He also referred to Poland and France, whose leaders have suggested the possibility of sending Western troops into the war-torn country, saying those countries spoke for themselves and did not represent NATO, which has “formally and voluntarily stayed away from the war.”
On Sunday, U.K. Foreign Minister David Cameron told German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview that he was against sending Western troops to Ukraine even for training assignments, saying that they would become Russian targets.
— Natasha Turak
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba directly criticized the Vatican and Pope Francis’ “white flag” comments via X on Sunday, saying that his country will never surrender to Russia.
“Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags,” Kuleba wrote. His post was in response to remarks made by the Pope in an interview during which he said “the strongest” party in the Ukraine-Russia war is the one with “the courage of the white flag.”
“When it comes to the white flag, we know this Vatican’s strategy from the first half of the twentieth century,” Kuleba wrote. “I urge to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine and its people in their just struggle for their lives.”
— Natasha Turak
India is seeking the release of its nationals who have been “duped” into serving in the Russian army, a spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said Friday, in a rare rift from Moscow.
“Several Indian nationals have been duped to work with the Russian army. We have strongly taken up the matter with the Russian government for early discharge of such internationals,” said spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. “A case of human trafficking has been registered against several agents.”
He appealed to Indian nationals to “not be swayed by offers made by agents for support jobs with the Russian army. This is fraught with danger and risk to life,” stressing that New Delhi remains “committed to early release of our nationals serving as support staff with the Russian army and the eventual return home.”
Read the full report here.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Three people were killed in Russian shelling and several injured in eastern Ukraine, the country’s government said Sunday.
A Russian strike on a residential building in the eastern town of Myrnograd injured a dozen people, according to local authorities there.
“Three people died as a result of today’s shelling in the Donetsk region,” the war-torn region’s governor Vadym Filashkin said in a post on Telegram.
In the western Russian front-line region of Kursk, a Russian woman was killed by Ukrainian shelling a few miles from the border, authorities there said.
“As a result of a direct hit from a shell, a residential building caught fire and a local woman died. Her husband had extensive burns and is now receiving qualified medical care,” Kursk governor Roman Starovoyt said in a Telegram post.
— Natasha Turak
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a remark that appeared to criticize recent comments by Pope Francis about what Ukraine should do to end the war with Russia.
In his nightly address Sunday posted to Telegram, Zelenskyy thanked Ukrainian religious leaders for their “prayer and discussion” supporting Ukraine’s military, and added, “This is indeed what ‘a church with the people’ is, unlike virtual mediation 2,500 km away.”
Over the weekend, part of an interview with the Pope recorded in February was released, in which the religious leader advocated for negotiating with Russia. The interview was recorded by Swiss broadcaster RSI.
“I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates,” Francis said, when asked about his stance on whether Ukraine should give up as it has been struggling against Russian troops.
“The word negotiate is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate.”
— Natasha Turak
A Ukrainian documentary titled “20 Days in Mariupol” won the country’s first-ever Oscar, and its director Mstyslav Chernov accepted the award at the 96th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Chernov, a Ukrainian journalist, shot the film inside the besieged port city of Mariupol as it was bombarded by Russian forces shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“I am honored but I will probably be the first director on this stage to say that I wish I had never made this film,” Chernov said during his acceptance speech.
“I wish to be able to exchange this for Russia never attacking Ukraine, never invading our cities. I wish to be able to exchange this for Russian not killing 10,000 of my fellow Ukrainians.”
“I cannot change history. I cannot change the past. But we all together, you – some of the most talented people in the world – can make sure the history record is set straight and the truth will prevail and the people of Mariupol and those who have lost their lives will never be forgotten,” he said.
“Because cinema forms memories and memories form history.”
Nearly half a million people lived in the southeastern Ukrainian city before the invasion. It is now under full Russian occupation, having been illegally annexed by Russia in late 2022. Roughly 120,000 people remained there as of May 2023, according to the Ukrainian government.
— Natasha Turak
Microsoft on Friday said that Russian group Nobelium, which the company refers to as Midnight Blizzard, has been trying to access its internal systems and source code repositories.
“In recent weeks, we have seen evidence that Midnight Blizzard is using information initially exfiltrated from our corporate email systems to gain, or attempt to gain, unauthorized access. This has included access to some of the company’s source code repositories and internal systems,” Microsoft said in a blog post.
Microsoft said Midnight Blizzard was trying to access secrets, including those shared between Microsoft and its customers, but that it was reaching out and helping affected customers.
“Midnight Blizzard has increased the volume of some aspects of the attack, such as password sprays, by as much as 10-fold in February, compared to the already large volume we saw in January 2024,” it said.
Microsoft first said in January that it had detected a cyberattack from Nobelium, which saw the Russian group hack emails from top executives.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Biden ‘determined’ not to deploy U.S. troops to Ukraine; Chinese delegation meets in Kyiv
