US warns Russia’s invasion may be entering an uncertain stretch as Ukraine says it destroyed a Russian ship and made gains around Kyiv
One month after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, its forces continued to be pushed back around the capital of Kyiv and took up defensive positions northwest of the capital, a US official said. On Wednesday evening, CNN teams on the ground saw a barrage of outgoing fire from the area.
Ukraine’s gains: Ukrainian forces have pushed Russian forces back on the frontlines around Kyiv, a senior US defense official told reporters Wednesday. Russian forces are about 55 kilometers (roughly 34 miles) away from Kyiv’s city center to the east, the official said. To the northwest of Kyiv’s city center, Russian forces are “digging in, and they are establishing defensive positions,” according to the official, and have not got any closer to Kyiv’s city center along this line.
Russia intensifies attacks in East: At the same time, the official said Russian forces are becoming more active in the eastern part of Ukraine in the Donbas area, saying they’ve “applied a lot more energy” in the Luhansk and Dontesk regions, the two areas the Kremlin declared as independent republics ahead of last month’s invasion.
Russian ship destroyed: A large Russian ship has been destroyed in the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk, southeastern Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Navy on Thursday. CNN could not confirm the Navy’s claim although social media videos appeared to show a very large fire with secondary explosions in the port.
Russian stocks partially reopen: Russia’s stock market opened for the first time in a month on Thursday as investors took part in a highly restricted trading session. The benchmark MOEX index gained as much as 10% in early trade in Moscow. Russian stocks last traded on February 25 after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine caused shares to plummet. In the weeks since Russian stocks stopped trading, sanctions imposed by the West have crushed the ruble and put the country’s economy into a tailspin.
Biden arrives at NATO summit: US President Joe Biden arrived in Brussels for emergency summits to respond to the war in Ukraine. The visit comes as the West continues to grapple with how to disrupt Russia’s invasion. According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, Biden will “discuss ongoing deterrence and defense efforts” during the NATO summit and reaffirm the US commitment to its NATO allies.
