By This was CNBC’s live blog tracking developments on the war in Ukraine.
European Union leaders sharply criticized a deadly Russian attack on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa on Wednesday. The attack, which reportedly killed five people, came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the same city.
“No one is intimidated by this new attempt at terror – certainly not the two leaders on the ground nor the brave people of Ukraine,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday via social media site X.
Russia said it targeted a hangar in Odesa where it said Ukrainian forces were preparing naval drones for operations.
A top Ukrainian military commander says the country’s forces are seeking to stabilize the front line and carry out unspecified counteroffensive actions over the coming months.
Ukrainian ground forces commander Oleksandr Pavlyuk said in televised comments on Wednesday that Russian forces were concentrating efforts in eastern Ukraine, near the industrial hub of Avdiivka. Russia said on Feb. 18 that it had seized the Ukrainian town, reflecting its biggest gain in nine months.
Elsewhere, Lithuanian intelligence agencies warned on Thursday that Russia has sufficient resources to keep fighting “at a similar intensity,” at least in the near term. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine entered its third year in late February.
Sweden officially joined NATO on Thursday, almost two years after first applying.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to hand over documents finalizing Sweden’s membership after all NATO members ratified he country’s accession to the military alliance, a government statement said.
Meanwhile, the Swedish government on Thursday voted in favor of becoming the 32nd member of NATO, whose key principle is that an attack on one member is an attack on all members.
Sweden first bid to join the military alliance soon after the war in Ukraine began, in May 2022. However, the country’s accession to NATO was held up as Hungary only last month voted in favor of the country joining the alliance.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Images show a destroyed shopping center in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol, which was set on fire after Russian shelling in the area.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and prime minister, on Thursday said that Russia did not target Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when it struck Odesa on Wednesday. Zelenskyy was visiting the city in Ukraine’s south with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the time of the attack.
It was “obvious to everyone” that the motorcade was not specifically targeted, Medvedev said in a post on Telegram.
“And if the goal had been set, they would have hit it,” he added, according to a Google translation of the post.
Five people were reportedly killed in the strikes.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu on Thursday said Russian President Vladimir Putin would “keep going” unless he is stopped, and that Russia was making efforts to control Moldova through disinformation and other tactics.
“If the aggressor is not stopped, he will keep going, and the frontline will keep moving closer. Closer to us. Closer to you,” she said according to a Reuters transcription of a joint press conference between Sandu and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. This comes as the countries signed a defense cooperation agreement.
“Europe must therefore present a united front. Aggression must be repelled by a strong force,” she said.
Moldova has come into focus in relation to the war in Ukraine as political turmoil has affected the country and Sandu accused Russia of plotting a coup to overthrow the Moldova’s pro-European Union government.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said it had summoned the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, and warned her that diplomats perceived to be meddling in its internal affairs could be expelled.
The ministry said it emphasized that attempts to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs “will be harshly and decisively suppressed, up to an expulsion as ‘persona non grata’ of US Embassy employees involved in such actions.”
— Sam Meredith
Ukrainian lawmaker Kira Rudik said Thursday that Western leaders concerned by Russia’s military posturing should supply more weapons to Kyiv.
“More and more Western politicians have warned of a military threat from russia against NATO countries. Does it make sense? Absolutely. But the risk can still be eliminated by supplying all the weapons to Ukraine,” Rudik said Thursday via social media site X.
Rudick’s comments come shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an urgent appeal for more weapons at an international conference in Germany.
Zelenskyy said last month that an “artificial deficit” of weapons, particularly artillery and long-range weapons, would only help Russia.
— Sam Meredith
European Union leaders have sharply criticized a deadly Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa, near to where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held a meeting.
Zelenskyy and Mitsotakis met in Odesa on Wednesday to pay tribute to the 12 people killed by a Russian drone strike on the city last week. During the meeting, Mitsotakis said the pair heard the sound of sirens and “an explosion that was very close to us.”
A Ukrainian navy spokesperson said five people were killed in the strike, according to Sky News.
“The reckless air attack on Odesa when President @ZelenskyyUa and PM @kmitsotakis were visiting, to pay tribute to the victims of the March 2 drone strike on a residential building, proves again Putin’s disregard for any norms and his willingness to escalate,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday via social media site X.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, said that she “strongly” condemned the “vile attack” on Odesa.
“No one is intimidated by this new attempt at terror – certainly not the two leaders on the ground nor the brave people of Ukraine,” she said via X. “More than ever, we stand by Ukraine.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces on Wednesday launched a high-precision missile strike on a hangar in Odesa where it said Ukrainian forces were preparing naval drones for operations.
— Sam Meredith
A top Ukrainian military commander has said Kyiv’s forces will try to seize the initiative and conduct unspecified counteroffensive actions in 2024.
Ukrainian ground forces commander Oleksandr Pavlyuk said in televised comments on Wednesday that the military would try to stabilize the front line and create a grouping of forces to conduct counteroffensive actions over the coming months.
His comments came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia was likely preparing an offensive in Ukraine in the spring or the start of summer.
— Sam Meredith
A senior Russian military officer has warned that the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine could escalate into a full-scale war in Europe, Reuters reported, citing state news agency RIA.
Colonel-General Vladimir Zarudnitsky, who leads the Russian army’s Military Academy of the General Staff, reportedly warned in a defense ministry publication that the likelihood of Russian forces becoming involved in a new conflict was increasing “significantly.”
“The possibility of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine – from the expansion of participants in ‘proxy forces’ used for military confrontation with Russia to a large-scale war in Europe – cannot be ruled out,” Zarudnitsky was quoted as saying.
“The main source of military threats to our state is the anti-Russian policy of the United States and its allies, who are conducting a new type of hybrid warfare in order to weaken Russia in every possible way, limit its sovereignty and destroy its territorial integrity.”
— Sam Meredith
Lithuanian intelligence services on Thursday said in a report that Russia can continue fighting in Ukraine for at least two more years.
“Russia has sufficient financial, human, material, and technical resources to continue fighting at a similar intensity, at least in the near term,” Lithuania said in its latest annual national threat assessment.
“Its chosen strategy is a war of attrition, based on the expectation of growing war-weariness in Western societies and governments and the diminishing will to fight among Ukrainians.”
The report said Russian forces had been able to regroup and strengthen in 2023 after suffering heavy losses the previous year.
In a move likely designed to signal Moscow’s disapproval of Finland’s NATO membership, Lithuanian intelligence agencies said, Russia had deployed vessels capable of carrying Kalibr cruise missiles on Lake Ladoga for the first time. Lake Ladoga is a body of water near Finland’s southeast border with Russia.
“Russia is engaged in two parallel processes. It is both compensating for its losses in Ukraine and creating new capabilities for a long-term confrontation with the West,” the report said.
— Sam Meredith
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said that Russia would not interfere with the U.S. presidential election later this year, and had not done so in the past.
“We never interfered in elections in the United States,” Peskov said, according to Reuters. “And this time, we do not intend to interfere.”
Peskov reiterated that any attempts by other countries to interfere with Russia’s presidential elections would be prevented.
Investigations from U.S. authorities have previously found that Russia has interfered, or at least tried to, during several recent elections in the U.S., including presidential elections and midterms.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that people had been killed and injured in a Russian attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa.
Zelenskyy was also quoted by the broadcaster Suspilne as saying that Ukraine needed stronger air defences. He was meeting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Odesa.
— Reuters
Russian iron ore plant, border regions attacked; Kyiv tries to quash rumors over declined White House invite
