Russian troops launched sustained attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Wednesday in an attempt to make progress on the front, after a US official said Russia would make few territorial gains in the near future.

The latest on the war in Ukraine, day 371, LIVETEXT:

12:11 pm Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held official talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday, Belarusian state media Belta reports.

Before the start of the official negotiations, the national anthems of the two countries were played, and the leaders took pictures with each other.

Earlier on Wednesday, at a meeting with the Prime Minister of China, Lukashenko said that during the negotiations with Xi Jinping, he would “try to outline new horizons” of cooperation between the two countries.

11:58 An alert was announced in the Kyiv region after what looked like a drone was discovered. The authorities warn that the airline will be operational.

The warning came after the Ukrainian General Staff reported that 4 Shahed 135/131 drones were launched from the north last night, all of which were shot down.

A new assessment of Russia’s losses

11:55Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova is making new accusations against Ukraine, stating that Moscow is “concerned about the possibility of delivering radioactive substances through the ports of Odessa and Chornomorsk” for “provocation in Transnistria,” writes MK. .RU.

11:33 in the morning New Ukrainian estimate of Russian casualties: 650 troops, 7 tanks, 8 other armored vehicles, 10 artillery pieces, 5 different vehicles, 1 multiple rocket launcher and 4 drones:

11:28 President of Hungary, address to the parliament regarding the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO: “My position is clear”

10:57 am Russian imports of uranium from China raise fears of a new arms race, writes Bloomberg.

The supply of Russian nuclear fuel for a new Chinese reactor is raising concerns in the US about the potential for military-grade plutonium production, the source said.

The first signs of the Ukrainian spring offensive

10:53 Two possible hints Tuesday from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and one of Ukraine’s most prominent military correspondents could signal that Kyiv is preparing to launch its long-awaited spring offensive against Russian forces.

10:08 am Ukraine received Grad rockets from Serbia, although Serbia’s official position is not to sell weapons to Ukraine. According to the Serbian Monitor, 3,500 missiles got into the hands of Ukrainians through a third party in Turkey.

It is also interesting that these are not ordinary missiles with a range of 20 km, but an improved version of the ER Grad 2000 with a range of 40 km.

09:47 Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk on Tuesday called on Mexico to abandon its neutral position and support Kyiv in its war against Moscow.

“This country remains more or less neutral. We need more support. I’m talking at least about military aid now,” Melnyk said in an interview on Tuesday in Mexico for CNN.

“We hope that Mexican society, the Mexican people and, above all, the government of this country will slowly change their discourse … we need additional support,” he said.

09:39 The conflict between Russia and Ukraine will be the main topic of discussion when foreign ministers from around the world meet at the Group of 20 (G20) meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, India’s foreign minister said.

Senior diplomat Vinay Kwatra said on Wednesday that it is equally important to focus on the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on the world and the challenges it poses for developing countries. (Reuters)

The Russian parliament strengthens the legislation on “discrediting” the armed forces

08:47 New legislative amendments were introduced in Russia’s parliament on Wednesday to strengthen censorship laws, with up to 15 years in prison for discrediting the armed forces and military organizations, such as Wagner.

In January, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner’s group, complained that there are bloggers and social media channels that discredit his fighters and cannot be punished under current law. IN

The speaker of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, Yacheslav Volodin, said that “any public dissemination of knowingly false information about the military” would be punished under the changes to the criminal code (Reuters).

08:19 The Wednesday Morning UK Review looks at recent Russian Shahed drone strikes:

• On 27 February 2023, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine confirmed that it had shot down 11 Shahed One-Way Attack Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (OWAs) out of 14 launched overnight. The head of the military administration of the city of Kyiv, Serhii Popko, said that nine of them were shot down near Kyiv’s airspace.
• It is reported that three more Shahed UAVs were shot down in the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine. Prior to this attack on February 26, 2023, there were no further reports of their use in Ukraine since approximately February 15, 2023.
• This decline in OWA UAV strikes probably indicates that Russia has exhausted its current supply: it will likely try to obtain renewals.
• Given the attack vector, it is highly likely that these Shahed UAVs were launched from the Bryansk region of Russia. Previously, the only launch point observed from mid-December 2022 was from the Krasnodar Territory, across the Sea of ​​Azov.
• The second launch pad will give the Russians another direction of attack, closer to Kyiv. This is intended to reduce the air time over Ukraine and further burden Ukrainian air defense.

07:51 Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian troops have repelled more than 85 Russian attacks in five regions in the northeast and east of Ukraine, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, a 63-year-old man died as a result of an attack by Russians on the city of Kupyansk, Kharkiv region, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported. Russian shelling also damaged residential buildings, a kindergarten and a park.

Moscow troops carried out about 100 bombings of seven settlements in the Sumy region, the regional military administration reported, adding that there were no casualties (among civilians). (Kyiv Independent)

A brief summary of recent events:

• The International Criminal Court plays a “historic” role in dealing with crimes committed during the war in Ukraine and ensuring long-term security, Zelenskyy said on Tuesday after meeting with the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
• According to the International Energy Agency, Russia’s revenues from oil and natural gas exports fell by almost 40 percent in January due to price caps and Western sanctions.
• Colin Kahl, the US deputy defense secretary, said he does not expect Russia to make significant territorial gains in the short term.
• Ukraine sent an appeal to the UN and Turkey regarding the start of negotiations on the extension of the grain export agreement, but did not receive a response, a source in the Ukrainian government said.
• The Kremlin confirmed its position that Russia is open to negotiations on ending the conflict in Ukraine, but new “territorial realities” cannot be ignored.
• Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States would not hesitate to impose sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals if they violate US sanctions against Russia over the war.
• Vladimir Putin has called on the Internal Security Service of the FSB to step up its work to counter what he says is the growth of espionage and sabotage against Russia by Ukraine and the West.
• A drone crashed near a gas distribution station southeast of Moscow on Tuesday in an apparently botched attack 110 km from the Russian capital, the region’s governor said.
• As a result of a hacker attack, some Russian regional TV channels issued a false warning to take cover from a missile strike, the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.
• Russia’s defense ministry said it conducted an air defense exercise involving interceptor planes after St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport was forced to suspend all flights for an hour on Tuesday.
• According to the US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, the US has found no evidence that the weapons it supplied to Ukraine were found outside of Ukraine.
• A senior US defense official told the House Armed Services Committee that the US and its allies have trained more than 4,000 Ukrainian troops.
• The so-called Ministry of Defense in Tiraspol has announced the start of recruitment among “peacekeepers” in Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist region of the Republic of Moldova.
• A senior Belarusian official on Tuesday dismissed as false a claim by anti-government activists that they blew up a Russian military surveillance plane.

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• Tuesday’s military events were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro