March 3, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The founder and financier of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin says his forces have all but surrounded Bakhmut, and is calling on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to order a withdrawal from the Donetsk city.

"The PMC Wagner units have almost surrounded Bakhmut, there is only one road left," he said to Zelensky in a video filmed on the northern outskirts of Bakhmut and posted on his social media channels. "The pincers are tightening."

Russian attempts at encircling the city seemed to have eased Thursday into Friday, according to the Institute for the Study of War, with focus shifting toward pushing Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the city.

What Kyiv is saying: Ukraine dismissed the video, with Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communication saying on Friday that "this is part of a disinformation campaign against the population of Ukraine to spread panic and provoke the top military and political leadership."

The organization highlighted that Prighozin’s video was filmed on the outskirts of Bakhmut and not inside the city – matching CNN’s geolocation and analysis.

“The Russian command avoids visiting the front line, and it is not the first time that Prigozhin has imitated being on the front line while actually being in the rear,” the center added.

A year ago, when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last visited Washington, Russian forces hadn't yet crossed the border into Ukraine, and dire warnings from the White House about an imminent invasion were met with skepticism.

Scholz returns Friday for meetings with President Joe Biden after a transformative 12 months that required Europe to dramatically rethink its own security and Germany to undergo its most significant shift in military and energy policy in decades.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has turned Scholz — who took office two months before Russia’s invasion — into a crisis leader, overseeing Europe’s largest economy and most powerful democracy during the worst violence on the continent since World War II.

And it has thrust him and Biden into one of the world’s most consequential relationships, sustained by shared opposition to Russia’s invasion but strained at moments over how to respond.

White House officials say over the past year, Biden has developed a solid relationship with Scholz, who succeeded longtime chancellor Angela Merkel at the end of 2021. They spoke by phone three times in January alone, and during Friday’s session at the White House they are expected to speak extensively one-on-one in the Oval Office.

The overwhelming topic of discussion will be Ukraine, according to senior administration officials, including discussions the two men have each held recently with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is pressuring the West for more powerful weapons as he prepares for a spring counteroffensive against Russia.

They could also touch on recent intelligence suggesting China is considering providing Russia with lethal aid, a step US officials fear could prolong the conflict, though China won’t be a “driving focus” of the talks.

The founder and financier of the Wagner mercenary group has called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to order a withdraw from Bakhmut, saying the city is "surrounded."

Russian forces are advancing on the city, but the Ukrainian military said it is holding its ground in the battle for the eastern city and is not planning to withdraw.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukrainian forces have blown up the remainder of a railway bridge inside the city of Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian forces and social media video geolocated by CNN.

The bridge was previously damaged by Ukrainian forces in August, and has now been blown up further.

The video of the controlled explosion was widely shared on social media on Friday, along with unconfirmed reports it was a sign Ukrainian forces were preparing to withdraw from the city.

Ukraine’s 46th Brigade, currently operating in the city, denied the reports, saying the bridge was already unusable.

"The bridge that is now being shown as proof that we are leaving was blown up a long time ago. Those who are in Bakhmut know that. Now it was just a control shot. Don't spread panic," the soldiers said. "And yes, one can cross the river there without a bridge."

Some context: Russian forces are advancing on Bakhmut, but the Ukrainian military says it is holding its ground in the battle for the eastern city and is not planning to withdraw.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said Friday the city is "surrounded" and called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to order a withdrawal.

The Kremlin said Friday additional measures were being taken to ensure the safety of the Russian borders from further incursions following an attack on the Bryansk region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday there was an attack in the Ukraine-bordering Bryansk region, which he blamed on "neo-Nazis" who he said had penetrated the area.

In a press briefing Friday, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said a special "border regime" is in place and additional measures to protect the frontiers are being taken. He added that no decisions were made by Putin as of yet in regard to introducing martial law following the attack.

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 deliberate provocation."

Peskov's claims: Peskov praised a boy who reportedly survived the incident with injuries and a driver who the local authorities claimed died under fire.

Commenting on the incident earlier, Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov called the boy a hero and added that he had saved two other children from the car that was under shelling.

"A 10-year-old boy took two children out of the car, and they escaped. This is a real heroic deed," the minister said, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that "nothing except Ukraine" was of interest to the G20, calling it "a shame."

"[The] G20 was formed in 1999 at the level of ministers of finance and central bank directors. And then in 2008, it became a ’summit G20.’ Nobody was giving a damn about anything except finances, and macroeconomic policies, which G20 was formed for," Lavrov told the audience of the Raisina Dialogue, an annual geopolitics conference in New Delhi, India.

Answering a question on how the Ukraine war affected Russia’s energy interest, Lavrov called the conflict "the war which we are trying to stop and which was launched against us using the Ukrainian people," remarks that were met with generalized laughter from the audience in Delhi.

Some background: Since the beginning of the conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin has portrayed his military operation as a response to a threat posed by NATO to its territory, claiming Moscow had no choice but to defend itself by attacking Ukraine without provocation.

A few days into the war, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution deploring the "aggression" committed by Russia against Ukraine. Russian diplomacy, meanwhile, has assiduously courted nations in the developing world -- particularly those which suffered from colonial rule -- as a counter to Western condemnation.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said he is "confident'' that Western countries will supply fighter jets to Ukraine despite resistance from some allies, according to an interview published in Germany's Die Bild newspaper Friday.

Reznikov is confident Ukraine will receive "two to three different types of fighter jets," he is quoted as saying in the newspaper, adding ''this will depend on the engineers, air fields, maintenance and spare parts."

He said he believes there will be a "so-called fighter jet coalition," like there is with the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks from Western allies.

Reznikov believes that Western countries will not initially approve the delivery of fighter jets, drawing parallels to the delivery of Leopard 2 battle tanks, which Germany initially did not agree to.

Western allies have signaled to Kyiv that they are ready to start training pilots on fighter jets and understand that fighter jets are the next step in strengthening Ukraine's air defense system, according to Die Bild.

China acknowledged Friday that there are "different views on the Ukraine crisis" among G20 members but stopped short of explaining its reasons for not signing a joint statement following the group's foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi.

G20 is the “main forum for international economic cooperation” and not a forum for “resolving security issues” — as agreed upon in the G20 leaders summit in October 2022 in Bali — Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a regular press briefing.

On Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar announced that the G20 meeting of the foreign ministers was unable to reach a consensus to issue a joint statement due to “differing opinions” by various parties regarding the Russia-Ukraine war.

China has attempted to present itself as a neutral peace broker in conflict while at the same time deepening its "no-limits" partnership with Moscow.

A vital bridge connecting the besieged city of Bakhmut to the nearby village of Khromove, and the last main supply route from Bakhmut to the city of Chasiv Yar, has been blown up overnight by Russian forces, according to multiple sources speaking with CNN.

A soldier in Bakhmut and a local official told CNN that the bridge was taken out by Russia and a photo that confirmed the destruction appeared on social media.

The bridge was hit with a Russian missile and left a large crater, according to the soldier, who added that he believes it was an Iskander missile.

Without any more paved roads for Ukraine to use in or out of Bakhmut, the supply and evacuation route will now be forced to go through dirt roads, according to both sources.

The local official told CNN that they hope to repair the bridge in the coming days.

Some context: A mandatory evacuation order is in place in the Donetsk region and about 5,000 people remain in Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian officials. 

Russian forces are advancing on Bakhmut, but the Ukrainian military says it is holding its ground in the battle for the eastern city and not planning to withdraw.  

This post has been updated with additional details.