Belarus claims to have detained sabotage group who targeted Russian planes near Minsk
Belarus detained on Tuesday what it said was a Ukrainian “terrorist group” working with Kyiv’s intelligence services over attempted sabotage at a Belarusian airfield, Reuters reports, citing the Belta news agency.
Belarusian anti-government activists said last month they had blown up a sophisticated Russian military surveillance aircraft in a drone attack at an airfield near the Belarusian capital Minsk, a claim disputed by Moscow and Minsk.
Footage shared on social media appeared to show the lead up to the attack, with a drone approaching the Russian military Airborne Warning And Control System (Awacs) plane while it was on the ground.
Key events
Belarus has detained what it described as a “terrorist” and more than 20 accomplices working with Ukrainian and U.S. intelligence services over attempted sabotage at a Belarusian airfield, Reuters cited president Alexander Lukashenko as saying.
Belarusian anti-government activists said last month they had blown up a sophisticated Russian military surveillance aircraft in a drone attack at an airfield near the Belarusian capital Minsk, a claim disputed by Moscow and Minsk.
“The Security Service of Ukraine, the leadership of the CIA, behind closed doors, are carrying out an operation against the Republic of Belarus. A terrorist was trained,” the Belta news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying.
Lukashenko said the aircraft had suffered only superficial damage in the attack, which was carried out using a “small drone”. The suspect detained over the attack against the Beriev A-50 surveillance plane is a dual Russian-Ukrainian national, Belta also quoted Lukashenko as saying.
A decision on a permanent deployment of a German brigade to Lithuania will be “up to NATO”, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Tuesday in response to calls by Vilnius for a larger NATO presence in the country.
Since 2017, Germany has led an international battalion with some 1,500 troops in Lithuania as part of a NATO effort to deter Russia from attacking the Baltic region, Reuters reports.
Speaking to reporters at Pabrade training ground in Lithuania, Pistorius said:
This not down to who wants what – or who wants to provide what – but rather up to NATO.
Here are some of the latest pictures from Ukraine sent to us over the news wires.
Summary of the day so far …
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Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that the seizure of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine would allow Moscow’s forces to mount further offensive operations.
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Russian forces carried out 50 airstrikes and five missile strikes overnight and Ukrainian forces repelled 37 attacks in the area around Bakhmut, according to the latest update by the General staff of the armed forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces claim to have carried out 15 airstrikes against Russian forces, including a strike on an anti-aircraft system. It also claimed to have shot down an SU-25 aircraft, nine Shaheed drones and eight other drones.
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Jan Gagin, an adviser to the Russian-installed leaders in the occupied portion of Donetsk, has claimed that Russian forces control about half of Bakhmut and have control over all the asphalt roads in the area. None of the claims about the situation in Bakhmut have been independently verified.
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine is committed to defending the embattled city despite a partial encirclement. The Ukrainian president said he had held a meeting with senior generals and commanders in which it was resolved that there was “no part of Ukraine” that “can be abandoned”.
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Ukraine’s ongoing defence of Bakhmut is forcing Russian to engage in a costly battle for a city that “isn’t intrinsically important operationally or strategically”, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
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Zelenskiy paid tribute to a soldier whose execution by machine gun was filmed and uploaded to social media. The graphic video shows a man smoking a cigarette who says “glory to Ukraine” before he is shot at what appears to be close range.
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Ukraine has started online talks with partners on extending the Black Sea grain initiative aimed at ensuring Kyiv can keep shipping grain to global markets, a senior Ukrainian government source has said on Tuesday. The source said Ukraine had not held discussions with Russia, which blockaded Ukrainian Black Sea ports after its invasion last year, but that it was Kyiv’s understanding that its partners were talking to Moscow.
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A Moscow court has sentenced the student activist Dmitry Ivanov to eight and a half years in prison as the Kremin escalates its crackdown on anti-war dissent.
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Belarus detained on Tuesday what it said was a Ukrainian “terrorist group” working with Kyiv’s intelligence services over attempted sabotage at a Belarusian airfield. Belarusian anti-government activists said last month they had blown up a sophisticated Russian military surveillance aircraft in a drone attack at an airfield near the Belarusian capital Minsk, a claim disputed by Moscow and Minsk.
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The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol in Crimea has denied reports that explosions have been heard near Belbek airbase. Mikhail Razvozhaev posted to Telegram to say “The public is again writing about some kind of explosion near the airfield. This is a lie. Ship crews are training in the outer road. Everything is calm in the city.”
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China’s foreign minister Qin Gang says the country must strengthen its relationship with Russia in the face of continued hostility from the US. In a fiery press conference, his first appearance as foreign minister, Qin outlined China’s foreign policy agenda for the coming years, presenting its relationship with Russia as a beacon of strength and stability, and the US and its allies as a source of tension and conflict.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Geneva Abdul will be here shortly to take you through the next few hours of our live coverage.
Reuters is carrying further quotes from the leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, about the attempted sabotage of a Russian military plane at an airfield near Minsk last month. He has claimed that more than 20 people involved in the incident have been arrested so far.
Citing the Belta news agency, Reuters reports Lukashenko said “The security service of Ukraine, the leadership of the CIA, behind closed doors, are carrying out an operation against the Republic of Belarus. A terrorist was trained.”
Lukashenko said the aircraft had suffered only superficial damage in the attack, which was carried out using a “small drone”.
The suspect detained over the attack against the Beriev A-50 surveillance plane is a dual Russian-Ukrainian national, Belta also quoted Lukashenko as saying.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that the seizure of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine would allow Moscow’s forces to mount further offensive operations.
Shoigu also said the west was increasing its arms deliveries to Ukraine, but vowed they would not change the course of events on the battlefield.
“The liberation of Artemovsk continues,” Reuters reports Shoigu said in televised remarks, using the Soviet-era name for Bakhmut.
Pjotr Sauer
Pjotr Sauer reports for the Guardian on the detention of Dmitry Ivanov:
A Moscow court has sentenced the student activist Dmitry Ivanov to eight and a half years in prison as the Kremin escalates its crackdown on anti-war dissent.
Ivanov, 23, a pro-democracy activist and computer science student who runs the “Protest at MGU” [Moscow State University] Telegram channel, was tried on charges of spreading false information meant to discredit the Russian army, under a law introduced after Russia launched its invasion.
In a courtroom speech shortly before the sentencing was announced, Ivanov said:
“Peace to Ukraine, freedom to Russia! My example should not scare you. We have to do a lot to live in the country we deserve and to end this war.”
“You must understand that Russia is not Putin. Tens of millions of Russians are against this criminal war … This is a dark moment in our history, but it is always darkest before dawn,” Ivanov added.
Ivanov was part of a small group of vocal anti-war activists who had stayed behind following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine despite the growing threat of arrests.
Speaking to the Guardian last year, Ivanov vowed to continue to organise protests against Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
“I don’t think I should be afraid or run away. This is my country,” he said at the time.
Ivanov now joins a growing group of other prominent dissenters who have been imprisoned for speaking out against the war, including opposition politicians Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza
Belarus claims to have detained sabotage group who targeted Russian planes near Minsk
Belarus detained on Tuesday what it said was a Ukrainian “terrorist group” working with Kyiv’s intelligence services over attempted sabotage at a Belarusian airfield, Reuters reports, citing the Belta news agency.
Belarusian anti-government activists said last month they had blown up a sophisticated Russian military surveillance aircraft in a drone attack at an airfield near the Belarusian capital Minsk, a claim disputed by Moscow and Minsk.
Footage shared on social media appeared to show the lead up to the attack, with a drone approaching the Russian military Airborne Warning And Control System (Awacs) plane while it was on the ground.
Reuters reports that a Russian court on Tuesday sentenced the founder of an opposition Telegram channel, Dmitry Ivanov, to more than eight years in prison on charges of disseminating false information about Russia’s armed forces.
Ukraine starts online negotiations to extend Black Sea grain deal – but yet to speak directly to Russia
Ukraine has started online talks with partners on extending the Black Sea grain initiative aimed at ensuring Kyiv can keep shipping grain to global markets, a senior Ukrainian government source has said on Tuesday.
The source said Ukraine had not held discussions with Russia, which blockaded Ukrainian Black Sea ports after its invasion last year, but that it was Kyiv’s understanding that its partners were talking to Moscow.
“The situation with negotiations is rather complicated. Now a lot depends not on us but on the partners,” said the source, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The Black Sea grain initiative was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July and was extended in November. It is due to expire on 18 March unless an extension is agreed.
Yuriy Vaskov, Ukraine’s deputy minister of restoration, told Reuters last month that Kyiv would ask all sides to start talks on extending the deal by at least one year and that Ukraine wanted the city of Mykolaiv’s ports included.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said last week that Ankara was working hard to extend the initiative while Russia had signalled it was unhappy with aspects of the deal.
Moscow has said it will agree to extend the Black Sea grain deal only if the interests of its own agricultural producers are taken into account.
Russia’s state-owned Tass quotes Jan Gagin, an adviser to the Russian-installed leaders in the occupied portion of Donetsk, as saying that Russian forces control about half of Bakhmut. According to the report, he says:
Our artillery, our equipment and our troops are already in the city. They control almost half of Bakhmut.
I do not rule out attempts [by Ukrainian forces] to break through in order to try to keep it, and breakouts from the city itself, there is a chaotic retreat of small groups.
Tass reports that Gagin claimed that “asphalt roads in the area are already completely under the fire control of the Russian forces”.
The exact military position in Bakhmut remains unclear, and Gagin’s claims have not been independently verified.
An air alert has been declared across Ukraine.
Here are some of the latest pictures from Ukraine sent to us over the news wires.
The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol in Crimea has denied reports that explosions have been heard near Belbek airbase. Russian state-owned media Tass quotes Mikhail Razvozhaev’s Telegram channel, where he has posted:
The public is again writing about some kind of explosion near the airfield. This is a lie. Ship crews are training in the outer road. Everything is calm in the city.
Sevastopol is in Crimea, which the Russian Federation annexed in 2014, in a move not widely recognised internationally.