By This was CNBC’s live blog tracking developments on the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. on Friday announced more than 500 new sanction designations against Russian individuals and entities, seeking to ramp up the pressure on the Kremlin after the recent death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military reported that a Russian drone attack on the southern Ukraine port city of Odesa killed three people.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed further support packages from allied countries. Zelenskyy sharply criticized the ongoing farmer protests on the Ukraine-Poland border, however, describing the situation as “utterly unacceptable.”
Nearly two years on from the day Russia first launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s confidence appears to have been bolstered by recent territorial advances.
Russian forces on Thursday claimed to have taken the small settlement of Pobeda in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, following up on its most significant win in nine months last week — the capture of Ukraine’s longtime stronghold of Avdiivka. CNBC could not independently verify the claim Russia had captured Pobeda.
Saturday marks the second anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The mother of deceased Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was told unless she agreed to a funeral without the public, he would be buried in the prison colony he was serving a sentence at, a spokesperson said Friday.
Navalny’s mother was refusing to negotiate and demanding his body be handed over to her within two days of the cause of death being established, which would be by tomorrow, Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said in a post on social media platform X.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Denmark and the Netherlands are the latest countries that are set to come to long-term security cooperation agreements with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on social media platform X that him and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had signed an agreement covering “security cooperation and long-term support” between the two countries.
Zelenskyy said the agreement included assistance worth at least 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) for 2024, as well as support in the form of fighter jets, ammunition and military training.
Meanwhile, the Dutch government said in a statement that it was set to sign a 10-year agreement with Ukraine. This would cover support for Ukraine when it comes to “security, reconstruction and justice,” the statement said.
“Our own security is closely intertwined with Ukraine’s,” Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot commented.
— Sophie Kiderlin
The U.S. commerce department on Friday hit over 90 additional entities with trade restrictions for supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The majority of targeted entities were Russian, but some from China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other countries were also included, Reuters reported. Being placed on the list means any U.S. shipments to these entities is effectively banned.
The restrictions would put “sand in the gears of Russia’s military industrial complex,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo told reporters Thursday.
The White House earlier said that hundreds of sanctions would be announced against individuals and entities linked to the imprisonment of deceased Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny and those who aid Russia in the war.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Ukraine has launched investigations into more than 122,000 suspected cases of war crimes since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly two years ago, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said on Friday.
“We have identified already 511 perpetrators. And we have already 80 convictions in Ukrainian courts,” mostly in absentia, Kostin told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference on international criminal law in Berlin.
While Russia has repeatedly denied that its forces have committed atrocities or attacked civilians, Ukrainian and Western authorities say there is evidence of murders and executions, shelling of civilian infrastructure and forced deportations, among other crimes.
The number of suspected war crimes is expected to continue rising, Kostin said.
— Reuters
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said it had “significantly expanded” its list of European Union officials and lawmakers banned from entering the country in response to the bloc’s latest package of sanctions.
“The European Union continues its fruitless attempts to put pressure on Russia through unilateral restrictive measures,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, according to an NBC translation.
“In response to these unfriendly actions, the Russian side has significantly expanded the list of representatives of European institutions and EU member states who … are prohibited from entering the territory of our state.”
EU member states on Wednesday approved their 13th package of sanctions against Russia since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.
The EU said its measures focused on further curbing Russia’s access to military technology, such as drones, and on listing additional companies and individuals involved in Russia’s war effort.
— Sam Meredith
The White House on Friday announced more than 500 new sanction designations against Russian individuals and entities, seeking to further pressure the Kremlin on the back of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the recent death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement.
“They will ensure [Russian President Vladimir] Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home,” he added.
The U.S. also imposed new export restrictions on almost 100 entities for “providing backdoor support for Russia’s war machine.”
— Sam Meredith
U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told Reuters on Thursday that the U.S. would impose sanctions on over 500 targets on Friday to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Adeyemo said the sanctions would be taken in partnership with other countries.
Separately, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller also signaled that Washington is poised to impose large-scale sanctions against Russia in the coming days.
The measures will, among other things, target Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military machine and the military industrial complex, Miller said.
— Sam Meredith
The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia plans to contact Armenia after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Yerevan had frozen its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) because the pact had failed the country.
Pashinyan made the comments in an interview broadcast on Thursday.
He has in recent months expressed discontent over Armenia’s longstanding ties with Russia and said Armenia could no longer rely on Russia to ensure its defence needs. He has also suggested its membership of the CSTO is under review.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the defence ministry-owned Zvezda television channel on Friday that Moscow needed more details from Armenia.
“The Armenian side has not taken any official action in this regard,” he said, referring to the purported freezing of its CSTO participation.
“We intend to get in touch with our colleagues and clarify the meaning of these statements.”
— Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that almost all of the country’s strategic nuclear forces had been modernized and the Russian Air Force had recently taken delivery of four nuclear-capable bombers, according to state news agency Tass.
Putin delivered his comments in a video address to mark Defender of the Fatherland Day in Russia, a holiday that commemorates the country’s veterans. A day earlier, the Russian president flew on a modernized strategic missile carrier known as a TU-160M.
“Today, the share of modern weapons and equipment in the strategic nuclear forces has already reached 95%, while the naval component of the ‘nuclear triad’ is at almost 100%. We have begun serial production of new Zircon hypersonic missiles. Trials of other offensive systems are nearing completion,” Putin said in his address, Tass reported.
“Just the other day in Kazan, four Tu-160M missile carriers were transferred to the Armed Forces,” he added.
A key priority for the Kremlin, Russia’s so-called “nuclear triad” refers to the ability to launch nuclear missiles from land, air and sea.
— Sam Meredith
When Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, the stout resistance mounted by the country’s armed forces and overwhelming Western support for Kyiv — along with some obvious military overreach by Moscow — raised hopes that Ukraine’s outnumbered and outgunned army could beat back the invading forces.
Fast forward two years and hopes of a Ukrainian victory look diminished and increasingly hollow, as do Western pledges to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”
As it stands, billions of dollars in American military aid remains unapproved, with further struggles likely ahead, as war and funding fatigue grow in the run up to the U.S. presidential election — a vote that could see an administration installed that’s less sympathetic to Ukraine’s war needs.
Read the full story here.
— Holly Ellyatt
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described blockades by Polish farmers on the border between the two allies as “utterly unacceptable.”
Speaking in his traditional evening address, Zelenskyy said Thursday that he had spoken with European Council President Charles Michel about the Polish farmer protests and Ukraine’s “efforts towards European integration.”
“I informed him of the Ukrainian initiative to hold an immediate meeting between the representatives of Ukraine, Poland, as well as the European Commission at the border,” Zelenskyy said, referring to his recent call for top-level talks to be held over the weekend.
Ukraine has for months been in dispute with several of its allied neighbors, including Poland, over the export of Ukrainian grain, which local farmers argue has been depressing prices.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday appeared to turn down the chance to discuss the border blockades with Zelenskyy over the weekend, saying he planned to meet Ukraine’s president for talks in Warsaw on March 28.
— Sam Meredith
Ukraine’s military said Friday that a Russian drone attack in the Black Sea city of Odesa killed three people.
In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s southern defense forces said they intercepted nine drones overnight, but one struck a building near the coast of Odesa, causing a fire.
Emergency workers have since found three bodies under the rubble, Ukraine’s military said.
CNBC could not independently verify the report.
— Sam Meredith
Alexei Navalny’s mother Lyudmila on Thursday accused Russian investigators of planning a “secret” funeral for her son and said she would not agree to it.
“They want this to be done secretly, with no farewell. They want to bring me to the edge of a cemetery, to a fresh grave and say: here lies your son. I don’t agree to this,” she said in a YouTube video.
There was no immediate response from Russian investigators.
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best known opposition politician, died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony last week. His team and family have alleged that the Kremlin murdered him, an allegation the Kremlin has angrily rejected.
His mother said she had been shown his body and death certificate.
Navalny’s team said the death certificate stated that the opposition politician had died of natural causes.
-Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday described the reaction of the West to the death of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny as “hysteria,” Reuters reported.
He also said that the West had no right to interfere with Russia’s affairs.
Putin critic Navalny died last week while serving a sentence in a Russian prison colony, prompting outrage from Western leaders, many of whom have said Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for the death. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
Lavrov is currently at a meeting of G20’s foreign ministers in Brazil, during which Navalny’s death has been discussed widely.
Pictures show a meeting between Lavrov and Turkey’s foreign minister on the sidelines of the G20, and he is set to meet Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva later on Thursday, Reuters reported.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Russia’s Putin flies on a nuclear-capable strategic bomber; Ukraine welcomes extra military support
