March 2, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Russian forces are advancing within the city of Bakhmut, according to the Ukrainian military and analysis from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The small, eastern city appears to be close to falling to Russia. Its capture would mark progress for Russian forces, as well as giving them a springboard to target urban areas further west.

“In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy continues to advance,” the Ukrainian military General Staff said on Thursday, also suggesting there is a Russian presence within the city rather than just on the outskirts.

The ISW says Russian forces “advanced within Bakhmut and continued ground attacks around the city.”

Despite Russian advances, the Ukrainian military says it is not planning to withdraw from Bakhmut and is still holding its ground in the city.

“Our defenders repelled attacks in the areas of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka, Bakhmut and Ivanivske,” the General Staff said on Thursday.

Russian forces are reportedly using highly trained fighters from the Wagner mercenary group in the assault on Bakhmut.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has said he is skeptical that Ukrainian forces will withdraw from the city, and has told Russian media that the Ukrainian military is transferring large numbers of reserves to the area.

The foreign minister of the Netherlands on Thursday described the Russia-Ukraine war as a "litmus test" for Dutch, European — and global — credibility.

“There’s much more than just Ukrainian sovereignty at stake here," Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi.

The Netherlands would continue to support Ukraine for the long haul, he said, adding that the already year-long war might continue "for a very long time."

At least three people have now been confirmed dead after Russian shelling hit a high-rise residential building overnight in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a senior Ukrainian official said Thursday.

In a Telegram post, the Ukrainian President’s Chief of Staff, Andriy Yermak, also said five people were hospitalized.

Earlier, Ukrainian authorities said a pregnant woman was among nine people rescued from the rubble of a residential building in Zaporizhzhia after it was destroyed by Russian rockets.

After spending close to five months stuck inside an airport in South Korea, Dmitry is finally able to breathe fresh air. But he is yet to taste freedom — and his real wait may have only just begun.

He is one of five Russian men who became stranded at Incheon International Airport last year while trying to flee Moscow’s military mobilization order for its war in Ukraine. The South Korean Justice Ministry refused their applications for refugee status, effectively leaving them in limbo at the airport.

Too scared to return to Russia, they resorted to sleeping rough at the airport, living on handout meals from the South Korean immigration department.

Dmitry (not his real name; he asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution if he is sent home) and one other of the men were allowed to leave the airport this week and were checked into a government holding facility — the Foreigner Support Center — while their dispute with the ministry continues. The other three remain in the airport. It’s unclear why the men did not attempt to reach a third country once they realized the difficulties in South Korea.

Applying for refugee status here could take months or years and in the meantime, Dmitry will need prior approval if he wishes to leave the center and even then he will face a 6:00 p.m. curfew and must take a Covid test at his own expense. He will also not be allowed to work for at least six months and possibly much longer.

But for Dmitry this semi-existence is better than the alternative — even though he had to leave a wife and 7-year-old son behind in Russia.

Read the full story here.

Russian soldiers say they are fed up with battlefield conditions in Ukraine in videos aired on CNN Wednesday night.

Emphasizing the significant toll the fighting has taken on Russian forces, one soldier says in a Telegram video that his unit has already been replenished six times with newly mobilized troops.

As Russia undertakes its new offensive in eastern Ukraine, there is skepticism on the Ukrainian side about the capabilities of Moscow's forces. Western allies have also not seen evidence of sufficient changes to the Russian forces’ ability to carry out the combined arms operations needed to take and hold new territory.

In a separate Telegram video played on "Erin Burnett: OutFront," Wednesday, another Russian soldier says the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine is a “clusterf**k,” noting that one of his unit's tanks had caught fire.  

Ukrainian forces are fighting "fiercely" in the battle for Bakhmut, the boss of Russian mercenaries laying siege to the eastern city has admitted. 

In a Telegram audio message aired on CNN Wednesday night, Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said "the Ukrainian army is throwing extra reserves into Bakhmut" and trying to hold it "with all their strength."

Wagner’s mercenaries are spearheading Russia’s efforts to take over Bakhmut but Prigozhin claims they lack the ammunition needed to advance. 

Bakhmut in focus: Ukraine’s biggest challenge at this moment is defending the city, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. Russian forces have been making incremental gains around the city, but Ukrainian forces are yet to retreat, creating a standoff that recalls drawn-out battles for other eastern cities over the past year.

Since last summer, Bakhmut has been a stone’s throw from the front lines, so its capture would represent a long sought-after success for Moscow’s forces — and bring some limited strategic value.

A pregnant woman was among nine people rescued from the rubble of a residential building in Zaporizhzhia early Thursday after it was destroyed in a series of deadly Russian rocket attacks, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a Facebook post that at least two people were killed after rockets hit the multi-story apartment building in the southern city.

Zaporizhzhia, capital of one of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia in violation of international law, has faced sustained attacks from Moscow's forces in recent months.

In an update Tuesday, the Ukrainian military said Russian artillery had fired at more than 40 settlements in the long front line that runs from Donetsk through Zaporizhzhia and into Kherson.

Foreign ministers from the world’s biggest economies have convened in New Delhi, setting the stage for a grand test in Indian diplomacy as it attempts to navigate tensions over Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

In the second high-level ministerial meeting under India’s Group of 20 (G20) presidency this year, the country’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, will meet his American, Chinese and Russian counterparts Thursday, hoping to find enough common ground to deliver a joint statement at the end of the summit.

The world’s largest democracy, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, has been keen to position itself as a leader of emerging and developing nations — often referred to as the global South — at a time when soaring food and energy prices as a result of the war are hammering consumers already grappling with rising costs and inflation.

Those sentiments were front and center during a news conference Wednesday, when India’s foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters that the foreign ministers should think about the impact, “particularly economic,” the conflict has had globally.

But analysts say India’s attempt to push its agenda has been complicated by the enduring divisions over the war.

Those differences played out in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru last month, when G20 finance chiefs failed to agree on a statement after their meeting. Both Russia and China declined to sign the joint statement, which criticized Moscow’s invasion. That left India to issue a “chair’s summary and outcome document” in which it summed up the two days of talks and acknowledged disagreements.

Analysts say that throughout the war New Delhi has deftly balanced its ties to Russia and the West, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerging as a leader who has been courted by all sides.

But as the war enters its second year, and tensions continue to rise, pressure could mount on countries, including India, to take a firmer stand against Russia — putting Modi’s statecraft to the test.

Read more here.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said there are currently no Serbian nationals among the private military company's fighters in Ukraine, after "the last one" left the area two months ago. His comments come after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić accused Wagner of trying to recruit Serbs to fight in Ukraine. 

The remarks come after Politico published an article featuring comments from Vučić, who was quoted saying that Serbs who have been recruited to fight in Ukraine “are going to be arrested when they come back to Serbia."

Vučić has openly accused Wagner of trying to recruit Serbian fighters for its ranks. His comments echo similar remarks published in Serbian media, according to CNN affiliate N1. The private Russian military company has advertised for personnel on Russia Today’s Serbian-language portal, according to N1. 

Vučić has sought to balance Serbia's cultural and religious ties with Russia, with ambitions to join the European Union and NATO.