April 20, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The Ukrainian Air Force has added about 20 more operational aircraft to its fleet because of an influx of spare parts, according to a senior US defense official.

Though the official wouldn’t specify which country provided the aircraft parts, the official said Wednesday that the US and other countries worked “to get them the parts they need to get them in the air.”

The flow of spare parts has allowed Ukraine to expand its fleet of operational military aircraft, despite Russia’s ongoing invasion. They have more aircraft now than they did three weeks ago, the official said.

One day earlier, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Ukraine had received additional fighter aircraft to add to their existing numbers. 

But on Wednesday, the senior defense official walked that back, saying that Ukraine had not received more aircraft, but had in fact received aircraft parts to make more of their existing aircraft functional.  

Still, the official intimated that at least one country was considering sending Ukraine more aircraft.

The US has committed to sending Ukraine 16 Mi-17 helicopters, but the administration has declined to get involved in a transfer of Mig-29s from another country to Ukraine via the United States.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly asked other countries for Soviet-era Mig-29 Fulcrum fighter jets, which Ukrainian pilots already know how to fly.

Zelensky has asked other eastern European countries with the fourth-generation airframes to send them to Ukraine, but no country has yet agreed to do so. 

On Wednesday, the official Twitter account of Ukraine’s Air Force said, “Ukraine did not receive new aircraft from partners! With the assistance of the US Government, @KpsZSU received spare parts and components for the restoration and repair of the fleet of aircraft in the Armed Forces, which will allow to put into service more equipment.” 

Ukraine’s Air Force has been part of its aerial defense network, which also includes S-300 surface-to-air missiles and portable anti-aircraft missiles. The combination of platforms has prevented Russia from establishing air superiority over Ukraine and controlling the skies. 

Despite the constant bombardment from Russian missiles and artillery, as well as the strikes on military bases, Ukraine’s Air Force has remained largely intact, though it has suffered some losses. 

In early March, approximately two weeks into the war, the defense official said Ukraine has 56 fighter aircraft, which comprised about 80% of their fixed-wing fighters. But the Ukrainians weren’t using their aircraft much, flying only 5 to 10 missions per day, the official said.

CNN's Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.

The United States on Wednesday unveiled its latest round of sanctions going after Russia over its war on Ukraine, this time targeting a key commercial bank and "a global network of more than 40 individuals and entities led by US-designated Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev."

In a news release, the US Treasury Department said it was also targeting "companies operating in Russia's virtual currency mining industry, reportedly the third largest in the world," noting it was the first time it has "designated a virtual currency mining company."

In addition, the State Department is imposing a slew of visa restrictions in response to the Russian war and for "undermining democracy in Belarus."

Wednesday's actions are the latest by the Biden administration meant to punish the Kremlin and its enablers for invading Ukraine at the end of February. The war has taken the lives of hundreds of service members and civilians, and US and European officials say it could last months. Experts who spoke with CNN have said that sanctions are unlikely to immediately deter Russian President Vladimir Putin against pursuing aggression in Ukraine.

Wednesday's sanctions: The US previously sanctioned Malofeyev in December 2014 for funding "separatist activities in eastern Ukraine" and for his close links to "Aleksandr Borodai, Igor Girkin (a.k.a. Igot Strelkov), and the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, which have all been previously sanctioned as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs)," according to a Treasury release from the time.

Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice unveiled its first criminal charges since Russia's war in Ukraine began against Malofeyev, indicting him for sanctions evasion attempts.

Malofeyev was again sanctioned by the US on Wednesday "for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly," the government of Russia.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned members of Malofeyev's "vast global network of cut-outs and proxies to attempt to evade sanctions and conduct malign influence activities," including those involved in pro-Kremlin propaganda. Those sanctioned include entities in Russia, Moldova, Singapore, and a number of Russian individuals, including Malofeyev's son.

The Treasury Department also went after "Public Joint Stock Company Transkapitalbank (TKB)" for being "at the heart of sanctions evasion" and its subsidiary, as well as companies in Russia's virtual currency mining industry.

"The United States is committed to ensuring that no asset, no matter how complex, becomes a mechanism for the Putin regime to offset the impact of sanctions," the release issued Wednesday said.

In a separate statement Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the State Department is imposing visa restrictions on 635 Russian individuals, including members of the Russian Duma and "ten purported 'authorities' of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic." 

It is also imposing visa restrictions on Russian officials Khusein Merlovich Khutaev, Nurid Denilbekovich Salamov, and Dzhabrail Alkhazurovich Akhmatov, "for their involvement in a gross violation of human rights perpetrated against human rights defender Oyub Titiev."

Additionally, the State Department is targeting "17 individuals responsible for undermining democracy in Belarus" with visa restrictions, Blinken said.

"We will use every tool to promote accountability for human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine," Blinken said.

Rachel Rizzo, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Europe Center, said Wednesday said these sanctions "are really meaningful," noting the US keeps "adding different Russian oligarchs, different Russian banks that perhaps weren't in the first few rounds of sanctions."

"They'll continue to cripple the Russian economy even though Putin continues to paint a rosy picture of what the Russian economy looks like," she said. "There's no doubt that it should see a major contraction in the next year."

Read more about the latest round of sanctions.

Two top Ukrainian officials are ready to head to the besieged city of Mariupol to negotiate the evacuation of soldiers and civilians trapped in the city, Captain Svyatoslav Palamar of Ukraine's Azov Regiment said on Wednesday in a video statement.

The two officials are Ukrainian Parliamentary Majority Leader David Arakhamia and Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to the President’s Chief of Staff. 

“Yes. Without any conditions. We’re ready to hold a 'special round of negotiations' right in Mariupol. One on one. Two on two. To save our guys, Azov, military, civilians, children, the living & the wounded. Everyone. Because they are ours. Because they are in my heart. Forever,” Podolyak tweeted on Wednesday.

Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol are ready to evacuate with their small arms with the assistance of a third party “to rescue personnel, to evacuate our wounded and take the bodies of the dead and bury them with honors in the territory not controlled by the Russian Federation,” Palamar said.

Palamar added that the Ukrainian negotiators were ready to negotiate with their Russian opposite numbers, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky and parliamentarian Leonid Slutsky. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his discussions with European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday were “substantive” regarding the EU’s support of Ukraine.

During his nightly address posted to social media Wednesday night, Zelensky said he and Michel discussed specific ways the EU can help Ukraine, regarding providing aid —particularly defense, finances and sanctions.

"Another great topic of our discussion is our advancement toward integration,” Zelensky said.

Michel and Zelensky also discussed specific steps to restore Ukraine after the war, and how the EU and Ukraine can work together to diminish threats from Russia regarding food, energy and safety in Europe and the rest of the world.

“To resume export of Ukrainian agrarian products and to disable Russia's blackmailing with energy resources — those are top priorities for everyone on the continent,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky said after Michel and his team visited Borodianka in the Kyiv region, they “made a very correct conclusion: there cannot be peace without justice.”

The Ukrainian president said he also discussed strengthening sanctions with Michel.

“At present European Union is working on the sixth package of sanctions,” Zelensky said, “We discussed this matter with Charles Michel today. We are making sure that it is truly painful for the Russian war machine and the Russian state in general.”

He added that in all negotiations, he has emphasized that sanctions are not needed as an end in itself, but as an “instrument to make Russia seek peace.”

Responding to pleas for help from Ukrainian forces besieged in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the White House continues to urge Russian forces to "guarantee safe passage" for civilians.  

"We have certainly seen these cries for help, and these asks for help. We will we certainly urge the Russian government to do the right thing, guarantee safe passage for any civilians or others who wish to leave the city," Psaki told CNN's MJ Lee. 

Asked about how US President Joe Biden is processing the horrific images coming out of Ukraine, Psaki said he is doing so in a way similar to many other America

She added: "This conflict is consuming a great deal of his time as, as much as he is working on a range of other priorities here."

Ukrainian forces are continuing to resist Russian attacks in the southeastern port city of Mariupol. A Ukrainian commander told CNN the situation at a steel plant, one of the last sites still under Ukrainian control in the city, is "critical," as hundreds of civilians take shelter inside. 

Mariupol's mayor called on residents of the besieged city to evacuate along a corridor as the city faces heavy Russian bombardment.

Some 120,000 people remain trapped in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday. 

Here are more of the latest headlines from the Russia-Ukraine war:

Norway has donated a Mistral air defense system to Ukraine, Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram said Wednesday. 

The air defense system is “an effective weapon” and “will be of great benefit to Ukraine,” the minister said. 

Norway is providing Kyiv with around 100 Mistral missiles and a small number of launch units, according to the defense ministry.

The Mistral system was being phased out by the Norwegian military, “but it is still a modern and effective weapon that will be of great benefit to Ukraine,” Gram said. 

The weapons had already been sent out of Norway, the ministry said. 

Norway had previously donated a total of 4,000 anti-tank missiles and several types of protective equipment as well as other military equipment, according to the ministry. 

Tatyana Burak survived 45 days in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol before escaping to safety in Lviv with her husband.

Both Burak, who is an English teacher, and her husband were injured. She said her home was bombed and destroyed.

Burak described her experience in Mariupol to CNN's Ana Cabrera, saying "it was like living in a nightmare."

Burak noted that early on in the war, she knew Mariupol was "doomed' and that Russian troops invaded the city with the notion that they were there to "liberate" Ukrainians.

"We understood there is nothing to be expected, that our city was doomed because these people came, as they said, to 'liberate us.' They didn't know what they were going to liberate us from, but they said that we were suffering and they came to liberate us. They liberated us from our homes, from our jobs, from the possessions of all our lives, from our family history. They liberated many thousands of people from their lives. They just — I don't know. They seem to be just crazy and insane," she said.

Burak said that soldiers asked her if she was "glad" they came, and that they were "surprised" that people were not expressing "signs of ultimate joy that they came."

She said that when they tried to tell them "our homes were destroyed by your shells, by your tanks, by your bombs, they just look at us and said, 'Okay. That's okay. We'll restore everything in two months. And your city will be even much better.'"

"So they just didn't understand what they were doing, or they were deliberately doing it just because they wanted to kill everybody," Burak continued.

Watch the interview:

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said an evacuation corridor from the besieged city of Mariupol "did not work as planned" Wednesday, providing few details but promising to resume efforts Thursday. 

The mayor of Mariupol had called on residents of the city to evacuate along a corridor announced earlier in the day by Vereshchuk, including three assembly points.

Vereshchuk gave no specifics about how many people assembled, but said, "tomorrow morning we will resume our efforts in the Mariupol direction. I appeal to our people in Mariupol: we will fight for each of you!"

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk region military administration, said in remarks on television Wednesday that fewer people than expected boarded buses along the corridor. 

"People gathered at those collection points, but few got on the buses," he said. "Now some of these buses are going on the route determined by the Russian Federation. As soon as they are in touch, we will immediately inform you which of the residents of Mariupol has reached the territory controlled by Ukraine. And we will understand how we will work according to the specified sequence in the next days."