Russia-Ukraine updates: Ukraine front line a ‘grinding slog’ – US
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Russia will not renounce its claims to four partly-occupied Ukrainian regions.
This live blog is now closed. Thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Tuesday, February 28.
This live blog is now closed. Thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Tuesday, February 28.
- The United States undersecretary of defence for policy, Colin Kahl, says he does not expect Russia to be able to make significant territorial gains in the near term.
- Moscow says it is open to talks on ending the war but reiterates it will not renounce claims to four partly-occupied Ukrainian regions.
- The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces says the situation around the city of Bakhmut is “extremely tense”.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the tightening of Russia’s border with Ukraine amid a spate of drone attacks.
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close Moscow ally, is due to visit Beijing as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken makes a trip to Central Asia.
‘No evidence’ Ukraine misusing aid, senior US official says
There is “no evidence” Ukraine is misusing the tens of billions of dollars in assistance it has been given since Russia invaded last year, a senior US Pentagon official has told lawmakers.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee questioned the defence department’s number three, Colin Kahl, and two other officials, as Republicans seek to step up oversight of US aid to Ukraine after taking control of the lower chamber of Congress.
“There’s no evidence that the Ukrainians are diverting it to the black market,” Kahl told lawmakers.
“That’s not surprising given the intensity of the fight and the fact that they are clearly using what we are providing them and what our allies and partners are providing them to maximum effect,” he said. “I think our assessment is if some of these systems have been diverted, it’s by Russians who have captured things on the battlefield.”
Russia, US bicker at UN over donating fertiliser to Syria
Russia and the US are bickering over whether Russian fertiliser could be donated to Syria, as Moscow heightens complaints about obstacles to its fertiliser shipments before the renewal of a deal allowing grain ships to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
Some 260,000 tonnes of Russian fertiliser have been stuck in several European ports, most of it in Latvia. Russian fertiliser producer Uralchem-Uralkali has been working with the United Nations to donate the fertiliser to countries in need.
During a UN Security Council meeting on Syria, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the fertiliser held at European ports could not be donated to Syria because of US sanctions imposed under the Caesar Act, which came into force in June 2020.
US deputy UN ambassador Robert Wood said the US “is not the cause of any reported delays in Russia’s ability to deliver fertiliser to Syria, as claimed by Russia”.
“If Russia wants to donate fertiliser, it can do so,” Wood said. “Russia should work directly with the UN to distribute agricultural donations inside Syria to its local partners.”
ICC’s top prosecutor in Ukraine to probe Russian attacks on power grid
The International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) top prosecutor has been in Ukraine to investigate Russia’s campaign of missile and drone attacks on power and other infrastructure, which has killed hundreds of civilians and left millions with no electricity or water.
Russia says the attacks are legitimate and aimed at weakening the enemy’s military, but Ukraine casts them as a means of intimidating civilians.
The Geneva Conventions and additional protocols shaped by international courts say parties involved in a military conflict must distinguish between “civilian objects and military objectives” and that attacks on civilian sites are forbidden.
“Generally, we see clearly a pattern, I think, in terms of the number, scale and breadth of attacks against the power grids of Ukraine, and we need to look at why that’s taking place,” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said. “Are they legitimate targets or not?”
EU plans to extend gas consumption reduction targets
The EU is planning to extend its gas consumption reduction measures into next winter to replenish stocks, the bloc’s energy ministers have said.
Confronted by soaring energy costs after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, the 27-member bloc agreed last July to reduce gas usage between August 2022 and March 2023 by 15 percent.
According to the EU statistics agency Eurostat, gas consumption in the EU fell by 19.3 percent between August and January, compared with the same period between 2017 and 2022.
The EU regulation adopted last year expires at the end of March, the EU’s energy commissioner Kadri Simson said, adding that the Commission considers “continuing demand reduction a no-regret option”.
EU member states will have to agree to any new target on reduction for next winter, with Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, calling for a target higher than 15 percent.
Ukraine intel chief sees no signs China plans to arm Russia
Ukraine’s head of military intelligence has brushed aside claims that China is considering furnishing arms to Russia, telling US media that he saw no “signs that such things are even being discussed”, AFP has reported.
Senior US officials have said they were “confident” China was considering the supply of lethal equipment to Moscow, with a diplomatic pressure campaign underway to discourage it from doing so.
But when asked about the possibility in an interview with Voice of America published on Monday, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said, “I do not share this opinion.”
“As of now, I do not think that China will agree to the transfer of weapons to Russia,” he said. “I do not see any signs that such things are even being discussed.”
Asked specifically about the US assessment, Budanov said, “I am the head of intelligence and I rely, with all due respect, not on the opinions of individual people, but only on facts. I do not see such facts.”
Russia to join Asian Chess Federation as players face restrictions
Russia’s governing body for chess said it has been admitted into the game’s Asian Chess Federation and will leave Europe as Russian players face restrictions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The shift, which will take place on May 1, was finalised by a vote at the Asian Chess Summit in Abu Dhabi and comes as other Russian sports federations, including football, are considering a similar switch.
The head of the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) hailed the move as a “historic event”.
“For the first time, a chess federation, one of the strongest in the world, has moved from one continent to another,” CFR President Andrei Filatov was quoted as saying in a statement.
According to the statement, 29 delegates at the summit voted in favour of Russia joining Asia’s federation, with one against and six abstaining.
Finland starts construction of Russian border fence
Finland has initiated the construction of its planned 200-kilometre (125-mile) fence on the Russian border, the country’s border guard has said.
Although the current Finland-Russia border secured primarily by light wooden fences, has “worked well” in the past, Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen said that the war in Ukraine had changed the security situation “fundamentally”.
Helsinki fears Moscow could use migrant flows at the frontier for political purposes.
Terrain work will begin “with forest clearance and will proceed in such a way that road construction and fence installation can be started in March”, the Finnish Border Guard said in a statement.
The three-kilometre (1.86-mile) pilot project at the southeastern border crossing in Imatra is expected to be completed by the end of June with the construction of a further 70km (43 miles), mainly in southeastern Finland, taking place between 2023 and 2025. In total, Finland plans to fence 200km of its 1,300km (808-mile) border with Russia at a cost of around 380 million euros (around $400m).
Ukraine front line a ‘grinding slog’, says US official
The US undersecretary of defence for policy, Colin Kahl, described the front line in Ukraine as a “grinding slog” and said he did not expect Russia to be able to make significant territorial gains in the near term.
“So you may see small portions of territory change hands in the coming weeks and months. I do not think that there’s anything I see that suggests the Russians can sweep across Ukraine and make significant territorial gains anytime in the next year or so,” Kahl told a House of Representatives hearing.
Kyiv urges the UN and Turkey to extend Black Sea grain deal
Ukraine has appealed to the UN and Turkey to start negotiations on extending a grain export deal, but a Ukrainian government source said there had been no response.
Yuriy Vaskov, Ukraine’s deputy minister of restoration, told the Reuters news agency last week that Kyiv would seek an extension of at least one year, including Mykolaiv’s ports.
“We have sent a letter requesting that we start dealing with this issue as March 18 is very soon, but we have not had any feedback so far,” a source said.
Last July, the Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the UN and Turkey allowed grain to be exported from three Ukrainian ports.
The agreement was extended in November and will expire on March 18 unless an extension is agreed upon.
Russia to discuss lifting capital restrictions
The finance ministry said that Russian officials are discussing lifting some capital restrictions on foreign investment to encourage inflows from so-called “friendly” jurisdictions.
“This is still under discussion, but there is a request both from friendly investors and Russian businessmen about freeing new money being brought into the country from the restrictions, so to speak,” Ivan Chebeskov, head of the finance ministry’s financial policy department, told a business forum.
According to the finance ministry, many Russian investors who are storing capital abroad would like to invest in Russia but are seeking guarantees that they can freely take money abroad again.
After the West imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia, Moscow imposed capital restrictions in late February and early March last year to prevent the capital flight from the economy.
Lithuania insists on stronger sanctions against Russia
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda is insisting on far-reaching measures on top of what has been imposed in the 10th EU sanctions package on Russia.
“We will keep up the pressure. There will be packages 11 and 12. We will not sit back,” Nauseda said on the Lithuanian Baltic Sea resort of Palanga, according to the BNS agency.
He said he was particularly committed to punitive measures against the state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom and the Russian nuclear industry.
Nauseda said that while it was good that the measures coincided with the anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine, “I am not very happy now about the latest sanctions package. We have always stressed that what Russia is doing in the nuclear field – destabilising and posing a very concrete threat to nuclear facilities in Ukraine – cannot remain without consequences.”
Belarusian official calls partisan drone attack ‘fake’
A senior Belarusian official dismissed a claim by anti-government activists that they had blown up a Russian military surveillance aircraft over the weekend.
Aliaksandr Azarov, leader of Belarusian anti-government organisation BYPOL, was quoted on Sunday as saying that Belarusian “partisans” had used drones to attack a Russian Beriev A-50 spy plane.
But the Belarusian deputy foreign minister Yuri Ambrazevich told the Reuters news agency on the sidelines of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Tuesday, “Given the absence of an official reaction, I am deeply convinced that this is another fake [claim] aimed at highlighting certain failures in our national security.”
While Belarus has allowed Russia to use its territory to launch attacks on Ukraine, it has refrained from getting directly involved in the war.
Will China’s peace plan be effective?
On the first anniversary of the invasion, China published a 12-point peace plan for the two warring nations.
It urges an end to Western sanctions, the creation of humanitarian corridors, and steps to ensure grain exports continue.
“All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiralling out of control,” it said.
Al Jazeera speaks to experts on China’s peace plan and asks whether Beijing can end the conflict.
Washington will not hesitate to target Chinese companies: Blinken
The US will not hesitate to target Chinese companies and individuals if Beijing violates US sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
If China provides lethal aid to Moscow, it will be a severe problem for Beijing’s relationship with countries worldwide, Blinken told reporters during a trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Putin urges Russians to be wary of traitors
During his address to the FSB security agency, Putin urged Russians to guard against traitors in their midst.
“It’s necessary to identify and stop the illegal activities of those who are trying to divide and weaken our society; to use separatism, nationalism, neo-Nazism and xenophobia as weapons.”
He said Russia had always experienced such activity.
“And now the attempts, of course, are at their most active. Attempts to activate all this scum on our land.”
‘China can’t have it both ways’: US official
The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US had warned China about giving material support to Russia, including targeting Chinese individuals/companies for violating sanctions.
During a news conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, Blinken said, “China can’t have it both ways when it comes to the Russian aggression in Ukraine. You can’t be putting forward these proposals on the one hand while actually feeding the flames of the fire that Russia has started with the other hand.”
“So I hope that China will take what we said very seriously but not only what we said, what many other countries around the world are saying, and refrain from any further consideration,” he added.
Hungary to send delegation to Finland for NATO talks
Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto says Hungary intends to send a parliamentary delegation to Finland on or around March 9 to discuss its pending NATO membership.
Hungary and Turkey are the only NATO member countries that have yet to ratify Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join the alliance.
Turkey will resume NATO membership talks with Finland and Sweden on March 9, according to Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Putin tells security agency to step up counter intelligence
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the FSB security agency to increase its activity to counter operations by Ukraine and the West.
In a speech to FSB officials, Putin said the agency had to stop “sabotage groups” entering Russia from Ukraine, step up protection of key infrastructure, and prevent any attempts by Western security services to revive what he called “terrorist” or “extremist cells” on Russian territory.
“Western intelligence services have traditionally always been actively working in Russia, and now they have thrown additional personnel, technical and other resources against us. We need to respond accordingly,” Putin said.
He instructed the FSB to prevent illegal weapons from flowing into the country and to strengthen security in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow seized.
Who controls what?
Here are four maps, which we update daily, charting the latest developments in the war.
Drone downed outside Moscow: Regional official
A drone that was likely targeting civilian infrastructure has crashed near Moscow, the regional governor says, after Russia’s Ministry of Defence reported downing two Ukrainian drones.
“As for the incident with the crash of a UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] in the district of Kolomna, … the target was probably a civilian infrastructure facility, which was not damaged,” Andrei Vorobyov said in a statement. “There are no casualties or damage on the ground.”
He said authorities were investigating the incident.
Kolomna lies 110km (70 miles) southeast of the Russian capital.
Poland to receive almost no Russian oil in February, March: PM Morawiecki
Poland will cut its oil imports from Russia to close to zero in February and March, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says, as Warsaw continues reducing its dependence on Russia.
On Saturday, Polish refiner PKN Orlen said Russia had halted supplies of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline. PKN Orlen said it would tap other sources to plug the shortfall.
Moscow says Ukraine launches failed drone attacks on Russian territory
Russia’s Ministry of Defence has accused Ukraine of launching attempted drone strikes against infrastructure in two southern Russian regions.
“Overnight, the Kyiv authorities attempted to use unmanned aerial vehicles to attack civilian infrastructure facilities in the Krasnodar and Adygea regions,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said its anti-drone defence systems repelled the attacks, causing the drones to veer off course and fail to inflict any damage.
“One fell into a field. The other, deviating from its trajectory, did not harm the intended target,” the ministry said.
There was no immediate response to the allegations from Ukrainian authorities. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the Russian ministry’s report.
Ukraine will join NATO in the ‘long term’: Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine will become a member of the transatlantic military alliance in the “long term”.
He, however, stressed that the immediate issue is Ukraine remaining an independent nation in the face of the Russian invasion.
“NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time that is a long-term perspective,” Stoltenberg told reporters during a visit to Finland’s capital Helsinki.
Prior to launching Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24 last year, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was intent on preventing NATO from expanding further eastwards and gaining a “military foothold” in Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union prior to its collapse in 1991.
Russia confirms air defence drills after St Petersburg flights suspension
Russia’s defence ministry says its forces carried out air defence drills involving interceptor jets after Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport was forced to suspend all flights on Tuesday for an hour.
In a statement issued about an hour after flights restarted, the ministry said it was conducting drills, which involved the dispatch of fighter jets, in Russia’s western airspace.
“During the training, air defence forces worked on the detection, interception and identification of targets, as well as interacting with emergency services and law enforcement agencies,” Russian news agencies cited the ministry as saying.
It said fighter planes flew sorties as part of the exercise. The unannounced drills caused several flights to reroute and airlines to reschedule flights for the rest of the day.
Russia open to talks, but won’t give up annexed regions: Kremlin
The Kremlin has repeated its position that Russia is open to negotiations to end the war in Ukraine but reiterated that new “territorial realities” cannot be ignored.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russia would never renounce its claims to four Ukrainian regions that Moscow declared it had annexed last year following referendums that Kyiv and the West slammed as bogus and illegal.
“There are certain realities that have already become an internal factor. I mean the new territories. The constitution of the Russian Federation exists, and cannot be ignored. Russia will never be able to compromise on this, these are important realities,” Peskov said on Tuesday.
Russia proclaimed it had annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions last September. Peskov said Russia was open to negotiations if Kyiv ceded the regions, none of which is fully controlled by Moscow’s forces.