Ukrainian forces turned Russian trenches into ‘grave’ near Bakhmut, Ukraine’s Border Guard says

As the battle for the key eastern city of Bakhmut continues, Ukrainian forces managed to destroy Russian trenches on the outskirts of the city, turning them into a “grave,” the Ukrainian Border Guard said Tuesday on its official Telegram channel.

The Border Guard reported that five “invaders” were buried under rubble and another four occupants were wounded after the attack destroyed the structure.

The city of Bakhmut has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in recent days, as Russian forces try to take control of the Kostiantynivka-Bakhmut highway and disrupt supplies to Bakhmut. Keeping the city under Ukrainian control would represent a symbolic victory for Kyiv but if the city is taken by Russian forces it would give them an opportunity to advance further to the strategically important cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Fighters from the Russian mercenary company Wagner have been leading the fight against Ukrainian forces in and around Bakhmut but on Monday, Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of the “Svoboda” battalion of the 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard, said in an interview on Ukrainian television that it seemed Wagner fighters have now been replaced by Russian paratroopers.

A post published Tuesday on the official Telegram channel of Dmytro Kukharchuk, commander of the 2nd assault battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, says the claimed invincibility of the Wagner military unit is now a “myth.”

“I have to admit that in some areas they do manage to carry out the tactics of a creeping offensive. In their opinion, it is successful, in my opinion – absolutely not, because the round-the-clock bombardment of our positions with corpses, which results in rare cases in advancement of 50 meters, can hardly be called a success,” the post reads.

CNN is unable to independently verify these claims.

“Ultimately, the war is not about territories, but about people who will then liberate even more territories, as it happened in Kharkiv or Kherson. Their attitude towards people has not changed since [Red Army General] Zhukov’s time,” the post continues.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says it rejects “defamatory statements” by Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak following the committee’s decision to consider ways for Russian athletes to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games.

Podolyak posted a strongly worded tweet Monday criticizing the IOC’s stance on Russia.

The IOC has indicated that Russian and Belarusian athletes could be allowed to “participate in competitions as ‘neutral athletes’ and in no way represent their state or any other organisation in their country, as is already happening in professional leagues, particularly in Europe, the United States and Canada, and in some individual professional sports.”

During his nightly address Saturday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he “wrote a letter to the presidents of the International Sports Federations with a call to reconsider the decision of the International Olympic Committee to return Russian athletes to international competitions.”

According to Zelensky, once “Russian athletes appear at international competitions, it is only a matter of time before they start justifying Russia’s aggression and using the symbols of terror.” He called the IOC decision “an unprincipled flexibility.”

Intense fighting continues around Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as Russian forces continue their offensive towards the key eastern city, the Ukrainian military said Tuesday.

Over the past 24 hours, a number of cities and towns in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have seen shelling by Russian forces, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said, adding that Russian forces “continue shelling settlements near the state border, causing civilian casualties and destruction of private property.”

Donetsk region

Over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military repelled attacks near Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Vuhledar and other towns in the region, where the situation remains “difficult,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and regional authorities said.

Chaotic isolated attacks continued along the defense line around the city of Avdiivka throughout the night, the regional military administration said Tuesday.

Shelling was also reported in several other towns and communities across the region causing damage to residential buildings. Three civilians were wounded across the region over the past 24 hours, the regional military administration said.

Luhansk region

The situation in Luhansk region also remains “difficult,” the Luhansk regional military administration said Tuesday.

Over the past day, Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks in the areas of Novoselivske and Bilohorivka, regional authorities said.

In the city of Luhansk, Russian forces are using the maternity wards of two hospitals to treat wounded servicemen, the Ukrainian military said.

“The enemy continues to suffer heavy losses and has begun to use additional civilian medical facilities to accommodate the wounded Russian invaders,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.

“Due to the enemy’s use of two maternity hospitals to treat wounded Russians in the city, it is possible to deliver babies only in the Luhansk Regional Perinatal Center, which is severely lacking in space and creates risks and unfavorable conditions for childbirth,” it added.

Kharkiv region

A 62-year-old civilian man died in the town of Vovchansk as a result of shelling, the Kharkiv region military administration said Tuesday. An 83-year-old woman was wounded. Her condition is of moderate severity, regional authorities said.

The shelling also damaged the police department building, apartment buildings and warehouses.

In Kupyansk, a regional Ukrainian Railways building and private houses were damaged, regional authorities said.

There’s a growing rift at the top of the Russian government between President Vladimir Putin’s official military and the off-the-books mercenary force that has achieved some gains for Russia in Ukraine.

The oligarch figurehead of the private military company Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been openly critical of Russia’s military and its bureaucracy.

Recruiting for tens of thousands of fighters in Russian jails, Wagner offers freedom and cash after a six-month tour.

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Croatian President Zoran Milanovic on Monday criticized moves by NATO allies to provide tanks to Ukraine, calling it “mad,” as he railed against Western support for Kyiv in repelling Russia’s nearly year-long invasion.

Milanovic, leader of the European Union’s newest member nation, has repeatedly criticized the West’s involvement in the war.

Last week, he reiterated his position that “Russia is settling accounts with the Americans via Ukraine,” and that the war would be resolved between Washington and Moscow, CNN affiliate N1 reported.

His comments came after the United States and NATO allies including Germany last week said they would send modern tanks to Ukraine, unleashing powerful new tools in Kyiv’s efforts to retake territory seized by Moscow.

In his defense as to why Zagreb would not provide military aid to Kyiv, Milanovic condemned Germany’s decision to donate Leopard 2 tanks, telling reporters Monday: “German tanks in Russia — good luck with that.” 

Crimea claim: Despite Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky’s stated aim of returning Crimea to Kyiv’s rule, Milanovic also said the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014 would remain part of Russia.

The last remaining element of a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States could expire in three years without a replacement, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency RIA Novosti on Monday.

Asked if Moscow could envisage there being no nuclear arms control agreement between the two nations when the extension of the 2011 New START Treaty comes to an end after 2026, Ryabkov said: “This is a very possible scenario.”

Ryabkov added that he believed Washington was betting on Moscow suffering a “strategic defeat” in its war with its neighbor, which is approaching the one-year mark.

Last week, the United States and NATO allies including Germany and the United Kingdom said they would send modern tanks to Ukraine, reversing their longstanding trepidation at providing Kyiv with offensive armored vehicles and unleashing powerful new tools in its efforts to retake territory seized by Moscow.

In his comments Monday, Ryabkov told RIA that recent US actions had violated the spirit of the bilateral arms control treaty in the “most flagrant and ridiculous way.” 

Quoting from the preamble of the 2011 treaty, which calls for “mutual trust, openness, predictability and cooperation,” Ryabkov claimed the US showed a disregard for the agreement by holding a “forwardly aggressive deterrence, teetering on the brink of a direct confrontation between the United States and NATO and Russia.”

A military coup is becoming a possibility in Russia as the war in Ukraine continues, President Vladimir Putin’s former speechwriter said Monday.

Speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett, speechwriter turned political analyst Abbas Gallyamov said that as Russian losses mount in Ukraine and the country experiences hardship brought by Western sanctions, Russians will look for someone to blame.

“The Russian economy is deteriorating. The war is lost. There are more and more dead bodies returning to Russia, so Russians will be coming across more difficulties and they’ll be trying to find explanation why this is happening, looking around to the political process and they’ll be answering themselves: ‘Well, this is because our country is governed by an old tyrant, an old dictator,'” Gallyamov said, referring to Putin.

That moment may come in the next 12 months, he said.

“So in one year when the political situation changes and there’s a really hated unpopular president at the head of the country and the war is really unpopular, and they need to shed blood for this, at this moment, a coup becomes a real possibility,” he added.

Gallyamov also said he believes Putin may cancel presidential elections scheduled to be held in March 2024.

A former Wagner mercenary says the brutality he witnessed in Ukraine ultimately pushed him to defect, in an exclusive CNN interview on Monday.

Wagner fighters were often sent into battle with little direction, and the company’s treatment of reluctant recruits was ruthless, Andrei Medvedev told CNN’s Anderson Cooper from Norway’s capital Oslo, where he is seeking asylum after crossing that country’s arctic border from Russia.

CNN has not been able to independently verify his account and Wagner has not replied to a request for comment.

The 26-year-old, who says he previously served in the Russian military, joined Wagner as a volunteer. He crossed into Ukraine less than 10 days after signing his contract in July 2021, serving near Bakhmut, the frontline city in the Donetsk region. The mercenary group has emerged as a key player in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Medvedev said he reported directly to the group’s founders, Dmitry Utkin and Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.

He refers to Prigozhin as “the devil.” If he was a Russian hero, he would have taken a gun and run with the soldiers,” Medvedev said.

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White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby on Monday defended the Biden administration’s decision not to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, pointing instead to the aid the US is providing, including Abrams tanks.

“What I can tell you is that there’s a lot of capability that is being sent, and will be sent in the coming weeks and months,” Kirby told CNN. “The kinds of capabilities that we know will be critical to helping Ukrainians again in the fighting now in the wintertime, as well as the kind of fighting that we expect that they’re going to be doing in the spring.”  

Kirby said he believes the decision,announced last week, to send Abrams tanks to the region wasn’t one that was made too late, even amid reports of Russia gaining territory in eastern Ukraine.

Some background: President Joe Biden answered, “No,” when asked by a reporter whether he would send the jets to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sought fighter jets to help sustain his war effort against Russia. Biden has consistently said the planes aren’t on the table, even as he has given aid in other areas.