February 28, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian forces, engaged in a months-long brutal fight with Russian forces around the city of Bakhmut, could "strategically pull back" if needed, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenksy said Tuesday.

When questioned further about the timeline, Rodnyansky told CNN it was up to the military to decide if a withdrawal was needed.

He added that the region west of Bakhmut has been fortified. "If we were to pull back, that wouldn’t necessarily mean that the Russians would be able to advance very quickly, afterward," Rodnyansky said, adding:

Some context: The battle around Bakhmut has been Ukraine's biggest military challenge. Ukrainian soldiers have described a worsening situation on the ground as Russian forces apply pressure. "The most difficult situation, still, is in Bakhmut and the battles that are essential for the defense of the city," Zelensky said in his nightly video message Tuesday. 

Ukraine's biggest challenge is defending the city of Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video message Tuesday.

"The most difficult situation, still, is in Bakhmut and the battles that are essential for the defense of the city," he said.

Zelensky added Russia was suffering heavy losses around the eastern city, based on an update from his commanders. "Russia is not counting people at all, continuously sending them to attack our positions. The intensity of the fighting is growing," he said.

Here are the latest headlines:

Ukraine's biggest challenge is defending the city of Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video message Tuesday.

Zelensky said Russia was suffering heavy losses around the eastern city, based on an update from his commanders. "Russia is not counting people at all, continuously sending them to attack our positions. The intensity of the fighting is growing," he said.

His account tallies with what commanders on the ground have reported about the intensity of Russian assaults and the casualties they have sustained.

There were also over 30 Russian attacks on the Kherson region in the south, the president said.

Russian forces are pounding the eastern city of Bakhmut, but they have not seized control, Ukrainian commanders said Tuesday.

There has been an uptick in Russia's use of combat planes to target Ukrainian defenses around Bakhmut, according to social media videos and accounts of Ukrainian troops in the area.

Russian ground forces are trying to break through Ukrainian positions using groups of up to 20, according to Mykyta Shandyba, head of the press office of the 10th separate mountain assault brigade. "We are repelling all attacks," he told Ukrainian television.

In its operational update, the military's General Staff said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had repelled attacks in a number of settlements to the north and west of Bakhmut (Dubovo-Vasylivka, Bohdanivka, Chasiv Yar).

The war in Ukraine must end with strategic failure for Russia, a top Pentagon official said Tuesday.

The US has not found any evidence that weapons it has provided to Ukraine have been found outside of Ukraine, according to the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.

"Instead, we see Ukraine's frontline units effectively employing security assistance every day on the battlefield,” Celeste Wallander told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

The US has adapted its accountability practices for combat environments to avoid the risk of illicit diversion, she added.

Another top Pentagon official, Lt. General Douglas Sims, stated that there are no reports that weapons have gone missing from Ukraine, and it would not be in the interest of the Ukrainians to get rid of them.

Finland has begun construction of barrier fences on its eastern border with Russia. 

The Finish Border Guard said in a statement that the pilot phase of the eastern border barrier fence project began on Tuesday.

The project, launched at the end of 2022, includes plans to build a 130 to 260-kilometer (80 to 161 miles) fence along the country's 1,300-kilometer eastern border. 

Remember: The Finnish border was one of the few entry points for Russians after many Western countries shut their air space and borders to Russian planes in response to the Ukraine invasion. Helsinki closed its border at the end of September 2022, around the time traffic over the frontier intensified as Russians tried to flee President Vladimir Putin’s “partial mobilization” of hundreds of thousands of citizens to fight in the war. More than 8,500 Russians crossed the border in one day alone.

In an earlier statement, the Finish Border Guard said the fence would not be built along the entire length of the border but instead would focus on border crossing points and other riskier areas.

Funding has been granted for the project’s pilot phase, as well as the implementation of the most important target areas, which are set to be constructed between 2023 and 2025.

CNN’s James Frater and Xiaofei Xu contributed reporting to this post.

Correction: A previous version of this post stated that Finland is part of NATO. It is currently seeking to join the alliance, along with Sweden.

A senior Defense Department official argued against providing F-16s and the necessary training to Ukraine at this time because of how long it would take, its cost and Ukraine’s most urgent priorities as the war passes the one-year mark. 

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said it would take 18 months to provide F-16s to Ukraine and train their pilots on flying the fourth-generation fighter. The cost of doing so would quickly drain the authorized money for providing US aid to Ukraine, Kahl said, when F-16s are not one of the top three priorities for Kyiv right now. 

“It's just hard for me to tell any member of Congress or the American people that the best use of that dollar spent right now is on F-16s,” Kahl told Tuesday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing on the oversight of US aid to Ukraine.

Kahl said Ukraine’s top three priorities remain air defenses, artillery and armor, which he said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized to President Joe Biden during their meeting in Kyiv last week. 

The cost of sending 36 older F-16s to Ukraine, which is approximately half of what the US Air Force estimates Ukraine will ultimately need to replace its Soviet-era fighters, will cost about $2-3 billion, Kahl said.

He added that providing Ukraine with new F-16s would take between three to six years.

Kahl also said Ukraine may receive different fighter jets, such as the British Tornado or Swedish Gripen, which require completely different training. He said it "doesn't make sense" to train Ukrainians on the F-16 system if they might not receive it.

Russia does not have the resources for an "unconstrained" nuclear arms race, according to US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin H. Kahl, when asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to suspend the nuclear arms treaty, New START.

"Frankly, Russia is in no position for an unconstrained nuclear arms race. They do not have the money, especially given the strain on their military from the war, sanctions, export controls. So, you know, I think this was a way for him to generate some rhetorical headlines. But I think as a practical matter, it has not changed the situation," Kahl told lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday. 

If Moscow uses nuclear weapons of any kind as part of their ongoing invasion of Ukraine, top US officials have made it "very clear" that the consequences would be severe, he added.

While he noted that there needs to be vigilance given Russia remains a dangerous power with a lot of nuclear weapons, he said it's unlikely Moscow will use nuclear weapons. 

"They were already out of compliance with the inspections regime using Covid and other things as excuses. It's also interesting that Putin decided to suspend, as opposed to leave the treaty. I think that's actually an indication that it's not effective leverage over us," Kahl told lawmakers.