By This has been CNBC’s live blog covering updates on the war in Ukraine. [Follow the latest updates here.]
Kyiv has disclosed a rare willingness to negotiate with Russia — depending on the outcome of its spring offensive, a top advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview.
The discussions would focus on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, and would take place if Ukrainian forces reach Crimea’s “administrative border,” the official said.
Swedish investigators examining last year’s Nord Stream pipeline blast say it remains unclear who was behind the sabotage, but that work on the case is continuing “unconditionally.”
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron is in China for a three-day state visit, during which he hopes to dissuade Beijing from supporting Russia in its war in Ukraine, among other things.
The damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure due to Russia’s invasion exceeds more than $10 billion, the United Nations and World Bank said in a joint assessment.
The international organizations wrote that the damage to Ukraine’s power, gas and heating infrastructure has left over 12 million people with no or limited electricity. Additionally, there are disruptions to water supply and heating systems.
Russia has previously denied that its forces target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
— Amanda Macias
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there have been at least 912 attacks on vital health services in the country, the World Health Organization’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care estimates.
The organization reports that health-care facilities were damaged 814 times, ambulances were targeted in 110 cases and at least 240 attacks affected crucial medical supplies. The group also estimated that attacks on health services led to at least 101 deaths and 136 injuries.
The Kremlin has previously denied that it targets civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and apartment buildings.
— Amanda Macias
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on extending the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered in July between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, eased Russia’s naval blockade and reopened three key Ukrainian ports. The agreement is set to expire next month.
The two also discussed ways to support Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing war of aggression.
— Amanda Macias
More than 8.1 million Ukrainians have become refugees and moved to neighboring countries since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February of last year, the U.N. Refugee Agency estimates.
More than 5 million of those people have applied for temporary resident status in neighboring Western European countries, according to data collected by the agency.
“The escalation of the international armed conflict in Ukraine has caused civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcing people to flee their homes seeking safety, protection and assistance,” the U.N. Refugee Agency wrote.
— Amanda Macias
New evidence suggests that Russian forces are looting art from Ukrainian museums on a scale not seen in Europe since the Nazi’s plunder during the Second World War.
“They are trying to erase Ukrainian identity, just the way the Nazis did,” Chris Marinello, art restitution lawyer and the founder of a stolen and looted art recovery firm, told NBC News.
“He seeks to eliminate the physical markers of Ukraine’s distinctive culture so as to conform to his warped view that there is no such culture,” he added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Read the full story on NBC NEWS.
— Amanda Macias
One ship carrying 65,897 metric tons of corn left Ukraine’s port of Chornomorsk and is destined for China.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered in July between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, eased Russia’s naval blockade, and three key Ukrainian ports reopened. Ukraine and the UN pushed for a 120-day extension of the deal in March but Russia agreed to only 60 days, which would expire in May.
So far, more than 720 ships have sailed from Ukrainian ports since the deal launched.
Correction: This post has been updated to correct the extension terms of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
— Amanda Macias
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is in Beijing for talks on security and trade along with France’s Emmanuel Macron, said she urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to “reach out” to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Xi reiterated his willingness to speak when conditions and time are right,” she said in a press conference.
She also joined Macron in urging China to use its friendly relations with Russia to help mediate talks with Ukraine, and said China had a responsibility as a U.N. Security Council member to “promote a just peace, one that respects Ukraine’s sovereign and territorial integrity, one of the cornerstones of the U.N. charter.”
Any move by China to provide military equipment to Russia directly or indirectly would “significantly harm” the EU’s relationship with China and be a “violation of international law,” she added.
— Jenni Reid
Ukrainian soldiers pose amid the Russia-Ukraine war on the frontline of Donetsk region, Ukraine on March 29, 2023
— Muhammed Enes Yildirim | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
A state-linked group is the most likely culprit behind the Nord Stream pipeline explosion that took place last September, Swedish investigators believe.
“The clear main scenario” is that a state-sponsored actor was responsible for the sabotage act, and the type of explosive deployed ruled out “a large portion of actors,” Swedish prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist told Reuters. But, he added, an independent group was still “theoretically possible.”
Confirming who was behind the blast “likely will be difficult given the circumstances,” Ljungqvist said earlier on Thursday.
The Nord Stream pipeline that connects Russia and Germany and was previously a vital source of gas from Russia to Europe suffered a massive explosion last September, as sanctions were being imposed on Russian energy over the invasion of Ukraine.
— Natasha Turak
Life on the frontlines as Ukrainian soldiers hold a fighting position in the direction of Bakhmut, April 5, 2023, as the Russia-Ukraine war continues.
— Diego Herrera Carcedo | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
French President Emmanuel Macron is in Beijing on a three-day state visit to China in an effort to strengthen EU-China trade ties and discuss China’s support for Russia, among other things.
Macron is trying to encourage Chinese Premier Xi Jinping away from backing Russia in its war in Ukraine, and asked him to use his influence to help improve the situation.
“The Russian aggression in Ukraine has dealt a blow to stability. I know I can count on you to bring back Russia to reason and everyone back to the negotiating table,” Macron told Xi, according to Reuters.
The visit comes roughly two weeks after Xi’s visit to Moscow, during which close ties between Russia and China were affirmed and no progress was made toward a peace settlement in Ukraine. Relations between China and the EU, meanwhile, have been described as being at an all-time low.
— Natasha Turak
The head of Russian private military organization Wagner Group admitted that Ukrainian forces don’t show any sign of giving up in the war-ravaged city of Bakhmut, which has been almost entirely destroyed over months of heavy fighting.
“It must be said clearly that the enemy is not going anywhere,” Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin wrote on his Telegram account, according to a Google translation.
In previous weeks, Russian military officials claimed to have nearly surrounded Ukraine’s forces, which Kyiv denied. Prigozhin’s comments follow remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, which hinted at a potential change in positioning in the event of full encirclement.
“For me, the most important thing is not to lose our military, and if there is a moment of even hotter events and the danger that we may lose personnel due to encirclement, there will be appropriate correct decisions on the spot,” Zelenskyy said during a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Zelenskyy has so far refused to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut, as surrendering the city would give Russian forces access to much more of the country’s east. Bakhmut has been described as a “meat grinder,” with huge casualties suffered on both sides.
— Natasha Turak
At least five people were killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspilne reported.
“At night, Russian troops fired mortars at Bilopillya in Sumy oblast, people in the community were left without electricity,” the outlet wrote on its official Telegram channel.
“As a result of Russian shelling yesterday in Donetsk region, five people were killed and nine others were injured. A man who was injured in yesterday’s shelling of Beryslav in the Kherson region died in the hospital.”
CNBC was not able to independently verify the information.
— Natasha Turak
Moscow fired a Russian colonel-general, following his poor performance in the fighting taking place in eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defence wrote in its daily intelligence update. Reports of the dismissal have surfaced in Russian media and social media.
“The Russian MoD has highly likely dismissed Colonel-General Rustam Muradov as commander of the Eastern Group of Forces (EGF) in Ukraine. The EGF under Muradov has suffered exceptionally heavy casualties in recent months as its poorly conceived assaults repeatedly failed to capture the Donetsk Oblast town of Vuhledar,” the U.K. ministry wrote on Twitter.
The operations “attracted intense public criticism from across the spectrum of Russian commentators — including Muradov’s own troops,” the posts said, adding that he is the “most senior military dismissal of 2023 so far.”
— Natasha Turak
Swedish authorities investigating the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage have still not found any evidence pointing to who carried out the blast, Sweden’s prosecuting authority said.
“We are working unconditionally and turning over every stone and leaving nothing to chance,” prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said in a statement cited by Reuters.
“Our hope is to be able to confirm who has committed this crime, but it should be noted that it likely will be difficult given the circumstances.”
The Nord Stream pipeline that connects Russia and Germany and was previously a vital source of gas from Russia to Europe suffered a massive explosion last September, as sanctions were being imposed on Russian energy over the invasion of Ukraine.
— Natasha Turak
Ukraine would be willing to discuss the status of the Crimean peninsula if its army reaches Crimea’s borders, a top official said.
“If we will succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we will be on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open [a] diplomatic page to discuss this issue,” Andriy Sybiha, deputy head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, told the Financial Times in an interview.
“It doesn’t mean that we exclude the way of liberation [of Crimea] by our army,” he said.
The FT report added that Sybiha’s comments “may relieve western officials who are sceptical about Ukraine’s ability to reclaim the peninsula and worry that any attempt to do so militarily could lead Vladimir Putin to escalate his war, possibly with nuclear weapons.”
Kyiv has so far rejected any negotiations until Russian forces withdraw from the entirety of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, which belongs to Ukraine under international law and which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
The FT report described Sybiha as a “veteran diplomat” who has long been at Zelenskyy’s side. Sybiha said “the president and his aides were now talking specifically about Crimea, as Ukraine’s army gets closer to launching its counteroffensive to regain territory,” the FT wrote.
— Natasha Turak
If Beijing further supports Russia in its war against Ukraine, that could affect trade relations between Europe and China, said Jens Eskelund, vice president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, will be in Beijing alongside France’s President Emmanuel Macron this week.
“I think both of the leaders will impress upon the Chinese leadership that right now everything is being viewed through the lens of Ukraine,” he told CNBC “Squawk Box Asia.”
“It should not be underestimated — the potential impact it could have also on European-China trade — if we see further expressions of support from China for Russia in its aggression against Ukraine. This point will be made clear.”
— Sumathi Bala
The White House said it has seen no indication that China has agreed to provide Russia with lethal weapons for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
“We haven’t seen any indication that they’ve provided lethal weapon capabilities to Mr. Putin. And look for us, it’s actions, not words,” National security council spokesman John Kirby said on a call with reporters.
“We’re just gonna keep watching it and monitoring it,” he said, declining to speculate on any potential U.S. retaliation if Beijing provided support to Russia.
— Amanda Macias
Putin blames U.S. for Ukraine crisis; Zelenskyy makes another rare visit abroad
