February 21, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry of what he called "treason" for an alleged attempt to destroy his private military company, in an audio recording published Tuesday by his press service on Telegram.

"The Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense are handing out commands right and left, that the Wagner PMC should not receive ammunition, they are also not helping with air transport,” Prigozhin claimed in the recording.

In the audio recording, a seemingly frustrated Prigozhin also complained about the high number of deaths within Wagner, citing a consistent lack of supplies.

“Wagner PMCs do not have ammunition. Why do the rest of the units also have a constant shortage of ammunition? A handful of military functionaries decided that this is their country, their people, who decided that these people would die when it suits them,” he said.

CNN cannot independently verify Prigozhin's claims about the Defense Ministry and an ammunition storage.

Some key background: Tuesday's comments echo comments that Prigozhin made on Monday, when he claimed twice as many fighters of Wagner and other military units are dying every day "due to total shell hunger when we’re not allowed to use what there is in warehouses."

The Wagner leader, who has no official position, has been unusually public in his criticism of some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's generals. He has been in a long-standing feud with the Ministry of Defense, publicly blaming the current leadership for heavy losses and defeats in Ukraine.

While he once operated mostly in the shadows, his profile has grown in recent months as leveled scathing public criticism at Russian military officials for their failures in Ukraine while supplying thousands of Wagner forces – many recruited from prisons – to wage war in the country’s east.

The US government estimates that the Wagner group has suffered more than 30,000 causalities, including roughly 9,000 dead in the battle for the city of Bakhmut. About half of those 9,000 have been killed since mid-December, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said last week. And about 90% of those killed in December were recruited from Russian prisons, he said. 

CNN's Sam Fossum contributed reporting to this post.

Polish President Andrzej Duda thanked US President Joe Biden for his visit to Ukraine on Monday in remarks made at the start of a meeting between the two leaders in Warsaw on Tuesday.

Duda said the "extraordinary gesture" not only boosted morale of the Ukrainians fighting Russia's yearlong invasion of their country, but was also a "significant sign that the free world has not forgotten them, that a free world and its biggest leader, the President of the United States, stands by them."

The Polish president also said Biden's visit sent a signal to Moscow as Russia continues to violate international rules and attack Ukrainian residences and infrastructure.

Duda expressed his gratitude as well on behalf of his country's citizens, "because I believe that the Polish people see it also as an appreciation of the contribution that we have made in the construction of a security in our part of Europe," Duda said.

A National Security Council spokesperson said the US "remain[s] ready to meet with Russia" on New START after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his country was suspending its participation in the nuclear arms treaty.

“We remain ready to meet with Russia to discuss the Treaty and nuclear stability issues, as our recent P5 meeting on risk reduction illustrates. As we have said before, no matter what else is happening in the world, the United States is ready to pursue critical arms control measures,” according to a statement from an NSC spokesperson.  

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN earlier that Russia's decision is "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible."

"We remain ready to talk about strategic arms limitations at any time with Russia, irrespective of anything else going on, in the world or in our relationship. I think it matters that we continue to act responsibly in this area," he added.

US President Joe Biden thanked Polish President Andrzej Duda for his country’s commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine calling the relationship between the two nations “critical, critical, critical.” 

Biden said he believes Ukraine is in a “better position than we’ve ever been” and called on NATO countries to “keep our head and our focus.” 

“I made it clear that the commitment of the United States is real and that a year later I would argue NATO is stronger than it’s ever been,” Biden said. 

“I can proudly say that our support for Ukraine remains unwavering.”

Biden called Poland’s support for Ukraine “truly extraordinary” and thanked the country for welcoming over one million Ukrainians. 

“A lot of challenges we have to face but I’m confident we can do it together,” Biden said.

More on Poland: Poland has been at the vanguard of galvanizing NATO action to give Ukraine modern battlefield tanks and is now leading the way in training. Earlier this month, CNN reported on Ukrainian soldiers training in western Poland on new Leopard 2 tanks that NATO allies spent months debating before finally agreeing in January to give Ukraine.

CNN's Nic Robertson and Antonia Mortensen contributed to this post.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia's decision to suspend participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty is "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible." 

The Biden administration remains ready to talk about the nuclear arms treaty "at any time with Russia, irrespective of anything else going on in the world," he said.

"I think it matters that we continue to act responsibly in this area, it's also something the rest of the world expect of us," Blinken said.

Russian shelling has killed at least six people in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson on Tuesday, the Ukrainian military's Operational Command South said in a Facebook post. 

“A local market and a public transport stop were shelled. Civilians of Kherson were injured and killed right in the middle of the street, in their own homes and workplaces,” according to the post. “As of now, there are about 6 dead and 12 wounded." 

In the city, Russian shelling hit residential areas, infrastructure, a kindergarten and a hospital, according to the military.

According to Operational Command, the port infrastructure of the city of Ochakiv was also hit with multiple rocket launchers, injuring one person.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi has arrived in Moscow and will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday, according to Russian state news agency TASS, citing the Russian foreign ministry on Tuesday.

This would be the first visit to the country from China's top diplomat since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Wang, who was named Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser last month, is making the visit during an eight-day international tour.  

Neither Russia nor China has specified whether Wang would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "we do not exclude a meeting" between Wang and Putin. 

China’s Foreign Ministry said the visit to Moscow will provide an opportunity for China and Russia to continue to develop their strategic partnership and “exchange views” on “international and regional hotspot issues of shared interest.”

For context: Though China claimed impartiality in the Ukraine conflict and no advance knowledge of Russia’s intent, it has refused to condemn Moscow and parroted Kremlin lines blaming NATO for provoking the conflict.

And while Beijing’s pro-Russian rhetoric appears to have softened in recent months, its support for Moscow – when measured by its annual trade, diplomatic engagements and schedule of joint military exercises – has bolstered over the past year.

Wang said Saturday at the Munich Security Conference that China is ready to present its peace proposition for Ukraine in a rare remark that referred to the Ukraine conflict as "warfare." But European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen told CNN on Saturday that "we need more proof that China isn't working with Russia, and we aren’t seeing that now." 

Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that the visit is the first of any Chinese official to Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. It is the first visit of China's top diplomat since the Russian invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used an address to the country's Federal Assembly to repeat his justifications for the invasion of Ukraine, blaming the conflict on the West and the expansion of the NATO military alliance.

He added that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States, the only agreement left regulating the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden is preparing to make a speech from the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, following his surprise trip to Ukraine on Monday.

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Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Tuesday that “coordination” was needed to deliver weapons and ammunition to the battlefield amid Russia’s war.

Kuleba's comments came after Russian President Vladimir Putin doubled down on the war in Ukraine in his state of the nation speech. He rolled out a familiar list of justifications for his unprovoked invasion, including NATO expansion.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said Putin was not able to declare victory or speak at length about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine because of the country’s military which has been fighting back Moscow’s troops. 

“Today's speech by the Russian dictator was in part written by #UAarmy. It is thanks to our soldiers who are fighting near Svatove, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Vuhledar, Orikhiv that there was no place for a "special military operation" in his annual address,” the ministry said in a tweet on Tuesday. “Because there are no victories.”

CNN's Victoria Butenko and Vasco Cotovio contributed to this post.