March 2, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The US is announcing three new partnerships Thursday in an effort to boost Ukraine's agricultural sector and help supply the country's grain to the world, USAID officials told CNN. 

The announcement is part of a deliberate effort by the Biden administration to build up Ukraine's economy and alleviate the global food security crisis which has been exacerbated following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Ukraine is regarded as a key bread-basket for much of the world, and the country relies on agriculture to generates more than 40% of total export revenues. The country's economy shrank by more than 30% in 2022 after Russia's brutal invasion destroyed infrastructure, hurt businesses and disrupted daily life, according to Kyiv's economic ministry. 

USAID's new partnerships with Grain Alliance, Kernel, and Nibulon are projected to increase Ukraine's grain shipping capacity by more than 3 million tons annually, the officials said. Each company has a long history of working in Ukraine. 

Working together USAID and these organizations are planning to invest $44 million to support storage and infrastructure expansion in Ukraine's agriculture sector.

This comes after USAID has announced multiple different initiatives to support Ukraine's agriculture sector, including programs to specifically target Ukrainian farmers.

A Black Sea Grain deal has also enabled the passage of Ukrainian ships carrying the agriculture products to depart the country, which was a challenge in the early days of the war with Russia preventing the ships from leaving.

The new investments that USAID and its partners are announcing this week will target multiple terminals — Izmail and Reni in Ukraine, both on the Danube, and Čierna nad Tisou in Slovakia— where they expect to see an increase in grain exports. The operations will involve construction to renovate the areas where vessels are loaded.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, shared a video on Thursday, which he said shows Wagner fighters in the city of Bakhmut.

In the video, geolocated by CNN to the east of Bakhmut, uniformed men can be seen lifting a Wagner banner on the top of a heavily damaged building, with one of the men holding a guitar, presumably in reference to the private military group’s nickname, "the musicians."

In the caption of the video posted on Telegram, Prigozhin is quoted as saying the video was brought this morning "from Bakhmut, practically the center of the city.” 

Despite Prigozhin’s claim that his fighters had advanced to the city center, CNN geolocated the video to around 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the center of Bakhmut — Wagner fighters have been there for a while. 

The town in the eastern Donetsk region has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in recent weeks.

Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of Ukraine’s Armed forces, told CNN on Wednesday that Russian forces were employing the more experienced fighters from Wagner’s ranks as they continued their assault on Bakhmut. 

The situation in the settlements of the Klimovsky district of Russia's western Bryansk region is under the control of law enforcement agencies, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. 

"The area is being checked and inspected, a large number of explosive devices of various types have been found, mine clearance is underway," claims an FSB statement, as quoted by RIA Novosti. 

The governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, said Wednesday on his Telegram channel that in the village of Lyubechan, two civilians were killed and a child was injured. 

In the village of Sushany, also located in the Klimovsky district, Bogomaz said a residential building caught fire from a shell dropped from what he claimed was a Ukrainian drone, according to RIA Novosti. 

CNN cannot independently verify those claims, and local media have not carried any images of the supposed incidents, any type of confrontation, or an alleged raid reported by Russian authorities.

Earlier today, Russian security officials alleged that a small Ukrainian armed group crossed the border into Russia's southern Bryansk region. Kyiv dismissed the claim as a "classic" Russian provocation. Then, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the developments, calling it a "terrorist act," but didn't specify if the group crossed the border from Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the US “has put forward a serious proposal” to Moscow regarding wrongfully detained American citizen Paul Whelan.  

Whelan, a former marine who is a US, Irish, British and Canadian citizen, was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 by Russian authorities who alleged he was involved in an intelligence operation. He was convicted and sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.

He expressed his frustration that more has not been done to secure his release in an exclusive CNN interview last year after another detained American, Brittney Griner, was freed.

Elizabeth Whelan, Paul Whelan’s sister, told CNN following Blinken’s exchange with Lavrov that “of course, we are pleased to see Paul's case elevated in this manner, and take a great deal of comfort in the fact that the Secretary of State continues to press for a solution to Paul's wrongful detention.”

“Now that Brittney Griner has been home for almost 3 months, it is time for the Russian authorities to continue discussions to resolve this situation,” she said Thursday. “Paul is waiting to come home to Michigan, where he belongs, away from the deplorable conditions in the Russian labor camp where he has been held for so long.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that he met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday on the sidelines of G20 in New Delhi.

He said he told Lavrov that the US will be ready to engage with Russia on matters of strategic nuclear arms control "no matter what else is happening in the world and in our relationship," invoking the historic work that the US did with the former Soviet Union on the subject at the height of the Cold War.

Blinken also said he urged Russia to end its war in Ukraine and enter negotiations, reiterating the US support for Ukraine.

"Every G20 member and virtually every country, period, continues to bear the cost of Russia's war of aggression," Blinken said

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the alleged raid in the border region of Bryansk a "terrorist act," blaming it on “neo-Nazis.”

“Today, [they] committed another terrorist act, penetrated the border area and opened fire on civilians,” Putin said during a televised meeting on Thursday. “They saw that civilians and children were sitting there, [in] an ordinary Niva (car). They opened fire on them.”

Putin promised to "put them away” but didn’t specify if the group had crossed the border from Ukraine. “Violence, a real crime, it is committed precisely by neo-Nazis and their masters."

Bryansk region's Gov. Alexander Bogomaz says one person was killed and one child was injured as a result of the alleged raid. “At present, the child has been taken to the Bryansk regional hospital, nothing is threatening his life.”

CNN could not independently confirm Bogomaz’s remarks and has not been able to find any video or photographs on showing any type of confrontation or the alleged raid reported by Russian authorities. Local media have not carried any images of the supposed fighting. 

The Russian President canceled a planned trip to southern Russia due to the incident in Bryansk, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday. Russian security officials claimed Thursday that a small Ukrainian armed group had crossed the Russian border into the southern Bryansk region, claims dismissed by a top Ukrainian official as a "classic" Russian provocation.

US and Ukrainian officials have in the past warned that Russia has planned so-called "false flag" attacks along Russia's border with Ukraine as a pretext for military escalation, including Russian claims ahead of last year's full-scale invasion that Ukraine was sending "saboteurs" over the Russian border.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine in an unplanned meeting on the sidelines of the G20 in New Delhi.

In Ukraine, Russian forces are advancing in the eastern city of Bakhmut, and a CNN team on the ground in nearby Chasiv Yar has witnessed continued artillery bombardments.

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Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar announced Thursday that the G20 meeting of the foreign ministers was unable to reach a consensus to issue a joint statement due to their "differing opinions" on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

In the first major G20 meeting held in New Delhi, the countries were able to form a consensus on issues ranging from counter-terrorism to multilateral banks to global skill mapping. Still, they stopped short of issuing a statement agreeing on all subjects and actions, according to Jaishankar. 

The effect of this conflict on countries impacted by the coronavirus pandemic is damaging, he added, saying the global south still needs help.

A meeting of G20 foreign ministers in India has been "marred" by the war in Ukraine, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"We must continue to call on Russia to end its war of aggression and withdraw from Ukraine for the sake of international peace and economic stability," added Blinken.

G20 officials are gathered for a series of events in India, the current holder of the group's presidency.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for nations to “rise above [their] differences," adding that “multilateralism is in crisis."

“You are meeting at a time of deep global divisions. As foreign ministers, it is but natural that your discussions are affected by the geopolitical tensions of the day,” he said.

“However, as the leading economies of the world, we also have a responsibility towards those who are not in this room. The world looks upon the G20 to ease the challenges of growth.”