WAR IN UKRAINE: February 26, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 368
Ukraine reports fierce fighting around the eastern city of Bakhmut, shelling in the Kharkiv region and Russian strikes in the southern Kherson region.
A G20 meeting ended Saturday with all countries but Russia and China condemning the Ukraine invasion. Beijing's proposed role as peacemakerwas dismissed in Kyiv and Washington this week - CNN
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of attempting to destroy Russia. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that in an interview with Rossiya 1 Putin said the West has "one goal - to break up the former Soviet Union and its main part - the Russian Federation….And then, perhaps, they will accept us in the so-called family of civilized peoples, but only separately, each part separately. For what?” Putin said. In comments to another channel, Putin said that Russia needs to consider NATO’s nuclear capabilities. “In today's conditions, when all the leading NATO countries have declared their main goal as inflicting a strategic defeat on us, so that our people suffer as they say, how can we ignore their nuclear capabilities in these conditions?" Putin told Rossiya 1, according to TASS - CNN
Ukraine says spring counteroffensive to target south. Ukraine's upcoming spring counteroffensive will aim to "drive a wedge into the Russian front in the south between Crimea and mainland Russia," Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukrainian military intelligence, said in an interview with German media, DW reported.
Media: Ukrainian children showcased at Moscow event lost their mother to Russian shelling in Mariupol. Two abducted Ukrainian children showcased at Russian President Vladimir Putin's propaganda concert in Moscow on Feb. 22 had lost their mother to Russian shelling in Mariupol earlier in the war, independent Russian media outlet Important Stories reported.
UK Defense Ministry: Russia has likely run out of Iranian-made drones. Since around Feb. 15, there have been no reports of Russia using Iranian-made “one-way attack” drones to carry out strikes against Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence update. According to the ministry, the lack of Iranian-made drone deployments “likely indicates that Russia has run down its current stock” - Kyiv Independent
Essential Viewing…
Live from Kyiv, I spoke with Al Jazeera's Adrian Finighan about the situation on the ground - one year into Russia's full-scale invasion into Ukraine.
We spoke from a hotel rooftop above Maidan Square.