March 7, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Good relations between Beijing and Moscow are essential in this unstable world, China's foreign minister said Tuesday.

The minister was speaking during a news conference outlining China’s foreign policy on the sidelines of the country's 14th National People’s Congress. 

“China and Russia is based on no alliance and no confrontation and is not targeted at any third party. It is not a threat to any country," he added.

Later in the news conference, Qin said "the process of peace talks should begin as soon as possible" to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, and that "sanctions and pressure will not solve the problem."

Some context: US officials have warned in recent weeks that intelligence suggests China is considering sending lethal aid to Russia, which Beijing has denied.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week cautioned that arming Moscow’s forces would cause China serious problems around the world.

“China can’t have it both ways when it comes to … the Russian aggression in Ukraine. It can’t be putting forward peace proposals on the one hand, while actually feeding the flames of the fire that Russia has started with the other hand,” Blinken said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday he ordered the reinforcement of positions inside the city of Bakhmut, explaining there was no part of Ukraine that could be abandoned.

The president said he took the decision after consulting with the military.

Zelensky also seemed to address rumors of a Ukrainian withdrawal from the eastern city, referring to those as “disinformation messages,” coming from those who didn’t have access to the confidential decision-making briefings where such a decision would have to be taken.

Zelensky said Ukraine would defend every inch of its country.

“We are defending and will continue to defend every part of Ukraine,” he said. “When the time comes, we will liberate every city and village in our country. And we will make the occupier answer for every shot against Ukraine, for every vile act against Ukrainians.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky promised Ukraine would find those responsible for killing an unarmed Ukrainian soldier.

His comments Monday were in response to a video showing an unarmed soldier in Ukrainian combat fatigues being shot by assailants who do not appear in the footage.

Zelensky said Ukraine would never forget those who had died for their country and thanked those currently on the battlefield.

Some background: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba blamed Russia and said it was additional proof that Moscow’s invasion was “genocidal.” The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, among several others, said he has shared the video with international partners as "evidence of yet another Russian war crime."

CNN has not been able to independently verify the identity of the executed POW, where he was shot, and who shot him. CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to get further details. 

CNN has also reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense but has yet to hear back. Russia has consistently denied accusations that it or its soldiers have committed war crimes during what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Ukrainian officials have lashed out against Moscow after a video showed one of the country’s soldiers, allegedly in Russian captivity, being executed seemingly by Russian soldiers. 

The video shows an unarmed soldier in Ukrainian combat fatigues smoking a cigarette near what appears to be a fighting position. The man is then shown pulling the cigarette from his mouth, blowing out the smoke and can be heard saying “Slava Ukraini” (Glory to Ukraine), before fighters off camera fire several shots at him. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba blamed Russia and said it was additional “proof” that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine was “genocidal.”

“It is imperative that [Prosecutor] Karim Khan QC launches an immediate [International Criminal Court] investigation into this heinous war crime,” he tweeted on Monday. “Perpetrators must face justice.”

The Ukrainian President’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak also said the incident was a “war crime.”

The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said he shared the video with international partners as "evidence of yet another Russian war crime."

“The execution of a captured Ukrainian soldier is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. It is a manifestation of rascality and ignobility,” Lubinets wrote on Telegram.

CNN has not been able to independently verify who the executed POW is, where he was shot, or who shot him.

NATO intelligence estimates that for every Ukrainian soldier killed defending Bakhmut, Russian forces have lost at least five, a military official with the North Atlantic alliance told CNN on Monday.

The official cautioned the five to one ratio was an informed estimate based on intelligence.

The official spoke to CNN on the condition they remain anonymous because they are not allowed to discuss this intelligence. Despite the favorable ratio, they also said Ukraine was suffering significant losses defending the city. 

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly claimed they were inflicting heavy losses on Russia as Moscow tried to take Bakhmut.

The Institute for the Study of War also said Russia’s efforts to capture Bakhmut had significantly deteriorated its capacity for additional offensives.

“The Russian military will likely struggle to maintain any subsequent offensive operations for some months, giving Ukraine a chance to seize the initiative;” it said on Monday.

The Ukrainian military said Monday it had used a drone to destroy a surveillance tower in southern Russia, near the two countries' shared border. 

The rare acknowledgment by Ukrainian forces comes after Russian security officials claimed last Thursday that a small Ukrainian armed group had crossed the Russian border into Bryansk. The allegations were dismissed by Kyiv as a “classic deliberate provocation” by the Kremlin.

At the time, CNN could not independently verify the Russian claims, and local media had not carried any images of the supposed incidents, any type of confrontation or an alleged raid reported by Russian authorities.

The Kremlin's allegations of an attack in Bryansk came two days after Russia’s Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of launching a spate of attempted drone strikes targeting infrastructure deep inside Russia, including near Moscow. 

CNN was unable to independently confirm those claims and Ukraine did not immediately comment on the incident.

CNN's Anna Chernova, Olga Voitovych, Nathan Hodge and Rob Picheta contributed to this post.