Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin will provide his “state of the union” address to Russia â $ s Federal Assembly onFeb 29, Russian news companies reported Tuesday.

The yearly address to Russian legislators, in which the president sets out his evaluation of the nation and objectives for the future to Russia’s parliament, has actually typically occurred around today inFebruary But this year, it is set to happen after the 2nd anniversary (onFeb 24) of Russia’s intrusion of Ukraine.

The address is anticipated to form a crucial part of Putin â $ s re-election project ahead of the vote on March 15-17

The governmental elections are coming at a time when Russia has actually commemorated current triumphes on the battleground in Ukraine, most just recently with the capture of the commercial city of Avdiivka in Donetsk, and is wanting to benefit from Western indecision and unpredictability over continued military assistance for Ukraine.

The vote will likewise happen in the shadow of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny recently, nevertheless. Western leaders have actually implicated Putin of being accountable for the death of his political bane. The Kremlin rejects any participation.

â $ ” Holly Ellyatt

Russia’s Federal Security Service has actually apprehended a female with double Russian- U.S. citizenship in the Urals mountain city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of treason for raising funds for Ukraine’s militaries, the TASS news firm reported.

The 33- year-old homeowner of Los Angeles had actually been gathering funds for a Ukrainian company whose supreme recipient was the Ukrainian army, the FSB stated, according to TASS.

“The Federal Security Service in Yekaterinburg suppressed the illegal activities of a 33-year-old resident of Los Angeles, who has dual citizenship of Russia and the United States,” TASS priced quote the FSB as stating. TASS did not call the lady.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his North Korean ally Kim Jong Un a high-end Russian automobile today, the Kremlin verified Monday.

Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov verified to RIA Novosti that Russia had actually provided Kim Jong Un with an Aurus, a high-end brand name of Russian automobile that Kim had actually appreciated when he fulfilled Putin in Russia last fall.

At the time, media video revealed Kim Jong Un taking an interest in the Aurus Senat limo consistently utilized byPutin The Russian president gestured for Kim to take a better look, with the North Korean leader sitting in its roomy interior.

On Sunday, North Korean news firm KCNA reported that Kim got a Russian- made automobile as a present. The sis of the North Korean leader, Â Kim Yo Jong, who’s likewise a senior authorities in Pyongyang, along with Pak Chong Chon, the secretary of the main committee of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, likewise supposedly gotten presents.

Kim Yo Jong was reported as stating that the presents acted as clear proof of the unique friendly relations developed in between the leaders of Russia and NorthKorea She likewise communicated her bro’s thankfulness to the Kremlin, KCNA stated.

Kim Jong Un is thought to have a fondness for high-end cars and trucks and has actually been seen in a variety of high-end cars in spite of global sanctions on the supply of high-end products to North Korea, troubled the nation since of its nuclear weapons program.

Russia and North Korea have actually ended up being more detailed recently, with Western intelligence authorities revealing issues about Pyongyang’s providing of arms to Russia, for usage in Ukraine, in return for innovative Russian weapons innovations. Both reject that any arms exchanges have actually occurred.

â $ ” Holly Ellyatt

Russia introduced 23 drones at Ukraine over night with its air defences damaging all of them, the Ukrainian armed force stated on Tuesday.

“As a result of combat operations, all 23 ” shaheds” drones were shot down in Kharkiv, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions,” the armed force stated on Telegram messaging app.

Reuters might not separately confirm the Ukrainian flying force’s report. There was no instant remark fromRussia

â $ ” Â Reuters

After months of demands from Ukrainian authorities, the Biden administration is pursuing providing Ukraine  with effective brand-new long-range ballistic rockets, according to 2 U.S. authorities.

Late in 2015, the U.S. started to provide Ukraine with Army Tactical Missile Systems, referred to as ATACMS, however up until now it has actually supplied just the older medium-range ATACMS. Now, the U.S. is favoring sending out the longer-range variation of the rocket, the authorities stated, which would permit Ukraine to strike further inside the Russian- held CrimeanPeninsula Â

But U.S. financing for arms deliveries to Ukraine stays unsure since of opposition from previous President Donald Trump and his Republican allies inCongress Last week the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign help bundle for Ukraine, Israel andTaiwan But it’s unclear whether or when the GOP-controlled House will vote on the procedure or whether it would endure the vote.

Read the complete story here.

â $” NBC News

Republican front-runner Donald Trump  on Monday attended to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who passed away in a Russian jail nest on Friday.

“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country. It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction,” Trump composed in a post on social networks platform Truth Social.

“Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION,” he included.

Trump had actually been quiet on Navalny’s death up until Monday, whilst different other U.S. political leaders consisting of President Joe Biden and Trump’s fellow Republican governmental candidate Nikki Haley have actually stated Russian President Vladimir Putin is accountable.

The Kremlin has actually turned down these claims, with the Russian foreign ministry calling the response from politicians “self-exposing,” considered that no forensic medical exam has actually yet been offered.

Haley likewise responded to Trump’s post on Monday aboutNavalny In a post on social networks platform X she stated that he might have condemned Putin or applauded Navalny, however rather knocked America and compared it to Russia.

â $” Sophie Kiderlin

The U.S. is thinking about slapping sanctions on Chinese business it thinks are assisting Russia fuel its war in Ukraine, members of Congress informed CNBC, marking the very first direct apportioning of blame towards Beijing because the start of the war.

Democratic Senator Gerald Connolly, member of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Relations, on Saturday stated that legislators were currently thinking about such strategies after comparable measures were proposed recently by the European Union.

Read the complete story here.

â $” Karen Gilchrist

Russia’s Defence Ministry stated on Monday that Ukraine poisoned the Moscow- set up guvs of Ukraine’s Kherson and Luhansk areas, though both were still alive.

In an instruction released online, the ministry stated Ukraine poisoned Moscow- selected Luhansk guv Leonid Pasechnik in December 2023, and Kherson head Vladimir Saldo in August 2022.

Kherson and Luhansk areas were amongst 4 Ukrainian provinces that Russia stated it had actually annexed in September 2022, although it did not totally manage any of them.

The rundown stated that onDec 5 Pasechnik, a previous officer in Ukraine’s SBU security service turned pro-Russia separatist,”received severe poisoning with phenolic compounds” It offered no details about the present state of his health.

It stated that Saldo, a previous mayor of Kherson city and pro-Russian legislator in Ukraine’s parliament, had actually been hospitalised onAug 9, 2022, with signs of poisoning.

Russian- set up authorities in Kherson stated in August 2022 that Saldo had actually fallen ill, however did not state that he had actually been poisoned. Saldo has actually because gone back to public prominence in the Russian- managed part of Kherson area.

Ukraine has actually staged a string of attacks versus Russian- set up authorities in Moscow- held parts of the nation because 10s of countless Russian soldiers got in the nation in February2022

Several targets have actually been eliminated and more injured in battles and shootings that Moscow has actually blamed onUkraine

Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov on Monday verified an examination is underway into the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and firmly insisted that “all due actions are being taken” to figure out the scenarios surrounding his death.

Earlier on Monday, Navalny’s representative Kira Yarmysh stated that Navalny’s mom and attorneys had actually been obstructed from going into a mortuary where his body might be being kept.

CNBC might not separately confirm the report. The Kremlin has actually rejected any participation in obstructing the return of Navalny’s body to his family members.

Here’s the complete story.

â $” Sam Meredith