March 8, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Protests erupted in Georgia's capital city on Tuesday after parliament passed the first reading of a controversial draft law that would require some organizations receiving foreign funding to register as “foreign agents.”

Protesters’ chants, with insults aimed at both Georgian politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin, underline fears that the bill follows the model of a controversial law in neighboring Russia that has already imposed draconian restrictions and requirements on organizations and individuals with foreign ties.

Thousands of protesters could be seen outside the parliament building on Tuesday night, holding not just the Georgian flag but also European Union and Ukraine flags, as longstanding tensions in the country -- parts of which are occupied by Russia -- bubbled to the surface.

Some protesters threw stones and petrol bombs, as security forces responded with tear gas and water cannon. Video posted on social media also showed protesters storming a barricade at the entrance to the parliament building and tearing it down.

There are fears the law could impede the country’s hopes of closer ties with the European Union.

The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, threw her support behind protesters, in a video message posted on Facebook, saying “the path of European integration must be protected. Those who support this law today, all those who voted for this law today are violating the Constitution. All of them are alienating us from Europe,” she said.

Zourabichvili called it “an unnecessary law that did not come out of nowhere, but was dictated by Moscow,” telling protesters that she was “standing next to you because you are the very people who represent free Georgia today. The Georgia which sees its future in Europe and will not let anyone take this future away from it.”

The Georgian bill has been widely criticized as posing a potential chilling effect for Georgian civil society, and particularly NGOs and news organizations with links to Europe.

The former Soviet republic has played a balancing act between its citizens’ pro-European sentiment and its regional positioning next to Russia. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in 2011 that had Russia not invaded Georgia in 2008, NATO would have expanded into Georgia.

The invasion only lasted a couple days, but it appeared to have the same pretext Russian President Vladimir Putin used to invade Ukraine in 2014 and last year, writes think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

“In the last few years, and especially over the past 18 months, Georgia’s ruling coalition has made a series of moves that seem designed to distance the country from the West and shift it gradually into Russia’s sphere of influence,” ECFR writes in a report where it attributes much of the drift to the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian private military company Wagner, claimed on Wednesday that the eastern part of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is now under its control. 

CNN cannot independently confirm Prigozhin’s claim and has reached out to the Ukrainian military for its response.

On Tuesday, footage geolocated by CNN showed Wagner fighters plant the group's flag on top of a monument in eastern Bakhmut.

The monument is located 500 meters from the Bakhmutka river, suggesting that Ukrainian forces may have withdrawn from the eastern part of the city to consolidate their positions west of the river.

Reports that a "pro-Ukrainian group" carried out the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines last year are part of a "misinformation campaign," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Wednesday. 

His comments come after the New York Times on Tuesday published a report citing new intelligence reviewed by US officials that a "pro-Ukrainian group" may have been behind last September's attack targeting Russia’s gas deliveries to Europe.

Ukraine has denied any involvement in the sabotage.

Peskov also “expressed bewilderment” as to how US officials could "make assumptions about terrorist attacks" on the pipelines without an investigation, RIA reported. He called for an “urgent, transparent investigation” into the incident, RIA said. 

Some context: Mystery has surrounded who might be responsible for the brazen sabotage, which damaged two pipes transporting Russian gas into the European Union and targeted a crucial source of revenue for Moscow. Both pipelines were closed at the time of the attack, which came months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.

A source familiar with the US intelligence told CNN the assessment cited in the New York Times' report was not made with high confidence and is not the predominant view of the intelligence community. The US has not yet identified a culprit for the attack, the source said.

Ukraine's top military leader, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, discussed the situation in Bakhmut with US and NATO military leaders, he said in a Telegram post on Tuesday.

Present in the meeting were Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of US European Command general Christopher G. Cavoli, UK Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Anthony Radakin; Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces General Rajmund Andrzejczak and Commander of US of Security Assistance Group–Ukraine Gen.-Lt. Antonio Aguto.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joins CNN to talk about the battle for Bakhmut, President Biden’s recent visit to Kyiv and more. Watch the full exclusive interview on Wednesday, March 8 at 9 p.m. ET.

Russian troops will have “open road” to capture key cities in eastern Ukraine if they seize control of Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in an interview with CNN, as he defended his decision to keep Ukrainian forces in the besieged city.

“This is tactical for us,” Zelensky said, insisting that Kyiv’s military brass is united in prolonging its defense of the city after weeks of Russian attacks left it on the cusp of falling to Moscow’s troops.

A weeks-long assault from Wagner mercenary troops, which has picked up pace in recent days, has forced thousands from the city and decimated its infrastructure. But Ukrainian troops have also mounted a dogged defense of the area, stalling Russia’s progress.

Zelensky said his motivations to keep the city are “so different” to Russia’s objectives. “We understand what Russia wants to achieve there. Russia needs at least some victory – a small victory – even by ruining everything in Bakhmut, just killing every civilian there,” Zelensky said.

He said that if Russia is able to “put their little flag” on top of Bakhmut, it would help “mobilize their society in order to create this idea they’re such a powerful army.”

Read more here.

Ukrainian forces have continued to repel Russian attacks on the battered city of Bakhmut, the military’s General Staff said in a situation update Tuesday.

“The enemy continues its assaults in the Bakhmut direction,” it said. “They do not stop assaulting the city of Bakhmut. Our defenders repelled attacks in the areas of Ivanivske, Klishchiivka, and Bakhmut.”

According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces continue to focus their offensive not just on Bakhmut but also on Kupiansk, Lyman, Avdiivka, and Shakhtarsk.

Ukraine has denied any involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines following a media report citing new intelligence that a “pro-Ukrainian group” may have been behind last year’s attack targeting Russia’s gas deliveries to Europe.

The dismissal by a senior Ukrainian official on Tuesday came in response to a report by the New York Times, which cited new intelligence that had been reviewed by United States officials.

The New York Times said the new intelligence reviewed by US officials suggested a group loyal to Ukraine but acting independently of the government in Kyiv were involved in the operation.

Mystery has surrounded who might be responsible for the brazen sabotage last September which damaged two pipes transporting Russian gas into the European Union and targeted a crucial source of revenue for Moscow. Both pipelines were closed at the time of the attack, which came months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A source familiar with the US intelligence told CNN the assessment was not made with high confidence and is not the predominant view of the intelligence community, and that the US has not yet identified a culprit for the attack.

There is a section of the US intelligence community that believes that pro-Ukrainian actors would have had the motive to sabotage the pipelines because of how Russia was weaponizing them against Ukraine and Europe.

The intelligence community has no evidence, however, that Ukrainian leaders, including Zelensky, had any knowledge of or involvement in the pipeline sabotage, the source said.

The incident, in which underwater explosions occurred before the pipelines burst in several places, remains a major point of contention between Russia and the West.

Read more here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting Tuesday with Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed acting governor of the Zaporizhzhia region — which was declared annexed by Putin last year — where they discussed security issues and a volunteer battalion, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov also said that “Balitsky raised the issue of the status of the Sudoplatov Volunteer Battalion with the President.”

In an interview with the Crimea 24 TV channel on Monday, Balitsky said the “unresolved issue” of the status of volunteer battalions makes it difficult for them to receive weapons.

Some background on Russia's claims of annexed regions: In September last year, Putin announced Russia would seize nearly a fifth of Ukraine, including the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The move followed so-called referendums in the regions that were universally dismissed as “shams” by Ukraine and Western nations.

While most attention is focused on the battle for the city of Bakhmut, fierce battles are also raging a short distance to the north, according to Ukrainian officials.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, said the situation "is difficult [in the Luhansk region] but controlled by the Defense Forces of Ukraine."

He said on Ukrainian television that "the most difficult areas are Bilohorivka and Kreminna," where there were constant assaults and shelling by Russian troops. 

"They are trying to push out our defenders to reach Stelmakhivka, Nevske, and recapture these settlements," he said.

Stelmakhivka and Nevske are villages on the borders of the Luhansk and Kharkiv regions that were recaptured by Ukrainian forces in September.

"When they [the Russians] lose personnel and their hardware is damaged, they take time to "recover" for about a day, replenish their supplies, and then go on the offensive again," Hayday said.

Hayday said the Russians were regularly changing their tactics. "There were small groups; there were offensives with up to three companies of exclusively infantry; there was an offensive using 'armor' with up to two companies supported by 'heavy' hardware," he said.

In that way, the Russians were constantly trying to test the strength of Ukrainian defenses, he said.