Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Russia’s Former President Dmitry Medvedev, currently the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, warned Thursday that a Russian defeat in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war.

“The loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war. Nuclear powers do not lose major conflicts on which their fate depends,” he said, according to comments translated by NBC.

“This should be obvious to anyone. Even to a Western politician retaining only some trace of intelligence.”

Medvedev, a close ally of Putin, has repeatedly taken to Telegram during the war to criticize the West and Ukraine and to issue threats over the possibility of a nuclear conflict, given Russia’s holding of nuclear weapons.

Medvedev’s latest comments come ahead of a meeting of Ukrainian officials and their Western counterparts at the U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, to discuss Ukraine’s military needs.

Medvedev said officials there “will discuss new tactics and strategies, as well as the supply of new heavy weapons and strike systems to Ukraine. And this was right after the forum in Davos, where underdeveloped political party-goers repeated like a mantra: ‘To achieve peace, Russia must lose.'”

The Kremlin said on Thursday that the remarks by Medvedev were in full accordance with Moscow’s nuclear doctrine, Reuters reported.

— Holly Ellyatt

European Council President Charles Michel arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for talks on Thursday, and said he hoped the coming year would be one of “victory and peace”.

“Back in #Kyiv to discuss all strands of cooperation,” he wrote on Twitter, posting a photograph of himself on the platform of a train station.

— Reuters

The head of the Wagner Group, a private military company fighting alongside regular Russian units in Ukraine, has claimed his forces have taken full control of Klishchiivka, a village just south of Bakhmut, a prime target for the Russian military.

The press service of Wagner founder and leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Telegram Thursday that it had received an audio message from Prigozhin that stated, “we can safely say that the settlement of Klescheevka [the Russian name for Klishchiivka], which is one of the important suburbs of Bakhmut … has been completely taken under the control of the Wagner PMC units,” he said, according to a Google translation of the post.

“Kleshcheevka is released. Fierce fighting is still going on around Kleshcheevka. The enemy clings to every meter of the earth.”

Prigozhin contradicted reports that Ukrainian forces were fleeing Bakhmut (known as Artemovsk in Russia) saying, “contrary to various opinions that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fleeing from Artemovsk, this is not so. The APU works clearly and harmoniously. We have a lot to learn from them. But in any case, the units of PMC “Wagner” are moving forward meter by meter. The settlement of Artemovsk will be taken.”

Capturing Bakhmut is a key target for Russian forces as they look to take control of the Donetsk region and then the wider Donbas in eastern Ukraine, a key goal in the war for Russia. Its forces have made gains toward the city following the capture of nearby Soledar.

There is increasing tension between Prigozhin and his Wagner forces, and the Russian Defense Ministry. Prigozhin claimed his Wagner forces had captured Soledar in early January, only for the defense ministry to say its own troops had captured the town.

For its part, Ukraine maintains it has not even lost Soledar and said Thursday morning on Facebook that its armed forces had repelled Russian attacks near 14 settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the previous day, including those around Soledar and Bakhmut. It also said it had repelled an attack on Klishchiivka, the village claimed to have been captured by Wagner forces.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia’s Federal Security Service (the FSB) said Thursday that it had initiated a criminal case against a U.S. citizen on suspicion of espionage.

In a statement on its website, the FSB said “the American is suspected of collecting intelligence information on biological topics directed against the security of the Russian Federation,” according to a google translation of the post.

The FSB did not give any further information in its post, including whether or not it had arrested the U.S. citizen it did not name. CNBC has asked the FSB for more information.

The arrest of another U.S. citizen on criminal charges in Russia comes just a month after American basketball star Brittney Griner was freed after being detained in Russia last year on drugs charges. Ultimately, Griner was freed from a Russian penal colony in exchange for high-profile Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Spying charges add a layer of complexity to cases of foreigners being arrested in Russia, but Moscow continues to refuse to swap Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was convicted of espionage in a Russian court in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Whelan pleaded not guilty and denied the charges.

At the time of Griner’s release in December, the U.S. said it would continue to petition for Whelan’s release.

— Holly Ellyatt

As investigations continue into the cause of a helicopter crash near Kyiv on Wednesday that killed the country’s interior minister and several of his colleagues, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the tragedy was a consequence of the war.

“This [helicopter crash] is not an accident because it has been due to war and the war has many dimensions, not just on the battlefields – there are no accidents at war time. These are all war results … every death is a result of the war,” he told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

After repeated revisions to the death toll yesterday, it’s now believed that 14 people died in the incident, including all nine people on board the helicopter, and at least one child. The crash took place near a kindergarten and residential buildings.

— Holly Ellyatt

A Twitter account operated by the Russian Embassy in Sweden posted a map identifying Crimea as part of Ukraine.

Officially, Moscow claims Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula that extends into the Black Sea, as part of Russia. Crimea was seized from Ukraine when Russia invaded the region in March 2014.

— Ted Kemp

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Berlin, where he will meet with his new German counterpart Boris Pistorius.

The two are expected to hold a joint press conference.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz named Pistorius as Germany’s next defense minister on Tuesday after Christine Lambrecht resigned on Monday. Lambrecht had previously faced criticism for her handling of the slow supply of offensive weapons to Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias

The International Atomic Energy Agency is placing teams of experts at all four of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to reduce the risk of severe accidents as Russia’s war against the country rages on, agency head Rafael Grossi said Wednesday.

The IAEA, which is affiliated with the United Nations, already has a permanent presence at Ukraine’s — and Europe’s — largest nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia that is held by Russian forces.

The IAEA’s permanent presence at all of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, with at least 11 staff in total, marks an unprecedented expansion for the agency. IAEA technicians will also be at Chernobyl, the now-closed nuclear plant that was the site of a deadly nuclear accident in 1986 that spread fallout over much of Europe.

“From tomorrow, there will be two flags at all of the nuclear facilities in Ukraine; one of Ukraine and the second of the international nuclear agency,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a joint press conference with Grossi at the government headquarters in Kyiv on Wednesday.

— Associated Press

Russia is preparing for an extended war so NATO must get ready “for the long haul” and support Ukraine for as long as it takes, the alliance’s deputy secretary general told top military chiefs from across Europe.

Speaking at the opening of the military chiefs’ meeting in Brussels, Mircea Geoana said NATO nations must invest more in defense, ramp up military industrial manufacturing and harness new technologies to prepare for future wars.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine nears the one-year mark, NATO chiefs are expected to discuss how allies can expand the delivery of weapons, training and support to Ukraine in the coming months, and how they can further shore up their own defenses.

“We have no indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goals have changed,” said Geoana, adding that Russia has mobilized more than 200,000 additional troops. “So we must be prepared for the long haul. 2023 will be a difficult year and we need to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

— Associated Press

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that Western countries should send tanks before Russia’s next offensive.

His comments come as analysts fear the Kremlin could soon launch a new mobilization drive — and once again pile the pressure on the country’s Western allies to deliver heavily armored vehicles to Kyiv.

Speaking via videoconference, Zelenskyy said, “Mobilization of the world must outpace a next military mobilization of our joint enemy.”

“The supplying of Ukraine with air defense systems must outpace Russia’s next missile attacks. The supplies of Western tanks must outpace another invasion of Russian tanks,” he added.

Read the full story here.

— Sam Meredith

Mayor of Dnipro Borys Filatov said the death toll from a Russian missile strike on a residential building has risen to 45 people.

Filatov said that at least 17 people remain missing in Dnipro and 12 bodies have not been identified, according to an NBC News translation. Another 25 people are recovering in the hospital.

— Amanda Macias

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that victory in the war in Ukraine was “inevitable” while NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Putin must realize he cannot win on the battlefield.

Speaking to workers at a weapons factory in St. Petersburg, Putin said “victory is assured, I have no doubt about it,” state news agency Tass reported. Putin made the comments on the same day on which he commemorated the 80th anniversary of Soviet forces breaking the Nazi siege of Leningrad (modern-day St. Petersburg, Putin’s hometown).

Meanwhile, NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg commented Wednesday that we have reached a “pivotal moment” in the war.

“President Putin has shown no sign of preparing for peace and therefore he must realize he cannot win on battlefield. This is a pivotal moment in the war and the need for a significant increase in support for Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“If we want a negotiated peaceful solution tomorrow we need to provide more weapons today.”

— Holly Ellyatt

The senior officials of the Ukraine’s Interior Ministry who died this morning in a helicopter crash were on their way to the front line, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential administration, said in a briefing Wednesday.

“The purpose [of the flight] was to make a working visit to one of the hot spots in our country. The Minister of Internal Affairs was heading there,” deputy head of the President’s Office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said at a briefing in comments reported by news agency Ukrinform.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, First Deputy Minister Yevheniy Yenin, and State Secretary of the Interior Ministry Yuriy Lubkovych were killed in the crash. Nine people were on board the helicopter and all perished in the crash near a kindergarten and a residential building in Brovary on the outskirts of Kyiv.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has commented on the heliptor crash outside Kyiv that killed several of his colleagues in the Interior Ministry on Wednesday.

“Today, a terrible tragedy occurred in Brovary, Kyiv region. A SES [State Emergency Service] helicopter crashed, and a fire broke out at the crash site,” Zelenskyy posted on Telegram.

“I have instructed the Security Service of Ukraine, in cooperation with the National Police of Ukraine and other authorized bodies, to find out all the circumstances of what happened.”

He said the exact number of victims of the tragedy is currently being established. The head of Kyiv’s regional military administration said earlier that there were 18 known victims, including three children.

Zelenskyy confirmed that officials from the Interior Ministry were on board as he sent his condolences to the victims of the crash.

“Among them [the victims] are Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denys Monastyrskyi, his first deputy Yevhen Yenin, State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yuri Lubkovych, their assistants and the helicopter crew.” 

“25 people were injured, including 10 children. As of this minute, 3 children died. The pain is unspeakable. The helicopter fell on the territory of one of the kindergartens,” he said, in comments translated by NBC.

“All services are working on the scene of the tragedy,” he added.

— Holly Ellyatt