Men who say they’re from Russian unit complain of receiving ‘criminal orders’ and being sent into battle ‘to be slaughtered’

For the first time since the two countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, a Saudi foreign minister has visited Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office released a video of him meeting Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Sunday.

Zelensky said he expected the meeting would “provide a new impetus to further intensification of our mutually beneficial dialogue.”

“Thank you for supporting peace in Ukraine, our sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” he continued. “This is very important for us and our society.”

Saudi Arabia has steered a neutral course in the conflict. The Kingdom mediated a prisoner exchange last year, in which two American and five British citizens were released from Russian detention. 

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office, called the meeting successful in a message on Telegram.

“Ukraine and Saudi Arabia have common challenges and experiences in dealing with them. We are talking about Iranian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones) that were supplied to certain ‘rebels’ and attacked Saudi oil facilities,” Yermak said, in a reference to the use of Iranian drones by Houthi forces in Yemen.

“Since last year, the same Iranian UAVs have been in possession of Russian terrorists and have been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.”

Director of the US CIA William Burns said in an interview Sunday that the alliance between Russia and Iran is developing rapidly, an emerging narrative that he called “disturbing.”

Burns said the CIA is also seeing signs that Russia is proposing to help the Iranians on their missile program, and at least considering the possibility of providing fighter aircraft to Iran, in exchange for military aid in their ongoing invasion.

Meeting with Russia’s spy chief: Burns also described his conversation with the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, and said Russian President Vladimir Putin is “too confident” in his ability to grind down Ukraine.

He called the discussion with Naryshkin “pretty dispiriting,” but said he got some key points across.

Asked why the conversation was dispiriting, Burns added: “There was a very defiant attitude on the part of Mr. Naryshkin as well, a sense of cockiness and hubris, reflecting Putin’s own view — his own belief today that he can make time work for him, that he believes he can grind down the Ukrainians, that he can wear down our European allies, that political fatigue will eventually set in.” 

In an interview Sunday, US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul urged President Joe Biden’s administration to provide more advanced weapons systems to Ukraine, and said Congress would take steps to move the process along.

McCaul warned critics of US support for Ukraine that “we can’t put our head in the sand.”

“We can certainly write into our appropriations bills, prioritizing weapons systems. We intend to do that,” McCaul said on “ABC This Week,” when asked what Congress can do to push the Biden administration on providing longer-range missile systems or fighter jets.

McCaul said he believed the US could have already been doing more to speed up a conclusion to the conflict.

Biden and senior administration officials have said “for now” Ukraine doesn’t require advanced fighter jets, and the US has rebuffed Ukrainian entreaties for long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems over concerns they could be used by Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia.

McCaul said he recently spoke with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and that nothing is off the table right now. 

“I think with enough pressure from Congress on both sides of the aisle, we can get into Ukraine what they really need to win this fight,” the lawmaker said.

As far-right Republican criticism grows over the US’ continued support of Ukraine, and some saying the White House should be spending more energy on domestic crises like the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, McCaul said the US can walk and chew gum at the same time. 

“I think that’s a false choice. I think the president should have gone to (East) Palestine where we have this major chemical spill, but it doesn’t mean we disregard what’s happening — this struggle for the global balance of power that we’re facing right now,” McCaul said.

There is one thing that Russian and Ukrainian accounts agree upon: The fighting around the eastern city of Bakhmut is relentless, and the casualties — on both sides — are high. 

A fierce fight in the streets: Until a few weeks ago, the battle was waged largely with tanks, artillery and mortars. But Bakhmut has increasingly become a field of urban combat, with every street and building in the suburbs and surrounding villages contested.

Russian forces — including fighters from the Wagner private military company — have edged toward the center of the city from the east, south and north.

Ukrainian units have launched frequent counter-attacks to try to reclaim some territory and preserve their precarious access to Bakhmut from the west. That access has become gradually more complicated as routes into the city have come under control of Russian forces.

Ukrainian soldiers on unofficial social media accounts have said they are increasingly reliant on dirt roads to reach — and leave — Bakhmut, tracks that may become impassable as the frost turns to mud.

Russia aims to encircle Ukraine’s troops: Rather than drive directly toward the city center, Wagner groups have sought to surround the city in a wide arc from the north. In January, the groups claimed the nearby town of Soledar, and have since taken a string of villages and hamlets north of Bakhmut.

That process appears to have gone a step further in recent days, with Wagner apparently reaching the village of Yahidne immediately to the northwest of Bakhmut. The village sits on a route that, until recently, was used by Ukrainians to get in and out of the city.

The next target for the Russians could be the town of Chasiv Yar, a straggling collection of Soviet-era apartment blocks, sitting on high ground which has already been extensively damaged. Ukrainian officials said it came under artillery fire again Sunday.

How long will Ukraine defend the city? The conundrum for the Ukrainian military is whether it remains feasible to continue defending Bakhmut.

At the beginning of February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “No one will surrender Bakhmut. We will fight as long as we can. We consider Bakhmut our fortress.”

More recently, in an interview with Italian media, Zelensky’s tone was slightly different. “It is important for us to defend (Bakhmut), but not at any price and not for everyone to die,” he was quoted as saying.

If Bakhmut can no longer be held, it will be important to note where Ukrainians choose to draw their next defensive lines. The cities of Kostiantynivka and Kramatorsk are not far to the west of Bakhmut and have already registered an uptick in Russian missile attacks.  

For now, there’s no sign of a withdrawal of Ukrainian units from the Bakhmut area, and the brutal fighting wears on.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan would not say whether the Biden administration would support Ukraine if it decides victory against Russia requires retaking Crimea.

Sunday marks the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula. 

Asked directly if the US would help Ukraine take back Crimea, Sullivan punted again on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” repeating that the most critical thing right now is supplying Ukraine with the tools to take back territory in the south and east.

Asked by Bash on CNN to level with the American people on how long the war will last, Sullivan said: “War is unpredictable.”

He reiterated US President Joe Biden’s Friday statement that the administration was ruling out providing F-16 fighter jets “for now.” Sullivan would not say whether the US would provide jets down the line.

On China, Sullivan told Bash that the US has still not seen Beijing make a final decision on whether to provide Russia lethal aid for the war. He also declined to detail what consequences China would face if they made such a move. 

“President Biden has said previously, we’re not just making direct threats. We’re just laying out both the stakes and the consequences, how things would unfold and we are doing that clearly — and specifically behind closed doors,” he said.

The US State Department reasserted that “Crimea is Ukraine,” in a statement from spokesperson Ned Price to mark the nine-year anniversary of Russia’s occupation of the territory.

The statement also comes after the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier this month.

“The United States welcomes the efforts of Ukraine’s Crimea Platform to focus global attention on Russia’s continued occupation,” said Price, referring to the Ukrainian government entity that coordinates Ukrainian efforts to recover the peninsula.

Moldova fears history repeating itself: In recent weeks, concerns have risen that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be using some of the same pretext used to annex Crimea to next target the tiny country of Moldova, which sits on Ukraine’s southern border.

Russia has vehemently denied any claims it is plotting to destabilize Moldova. It defends as legitimate its annexation of both Crimea and four additional Ukrainian territories claimed during the war, in violation of international law.

For the second time in a month, men who say they are with a mobilized Russian unit deployed to Ukraine have complained about their treatment and commanders.

The men are from regiment 1439, which comes from Irkutsk in Siberia. A group from the same regiment issued a similar protest in January. It’s unclear whether the new video includes men involved in the previous complaint.

In the latest video, published Saturday, the group claimed they had been given “unlawful and criminal orders” from their command and sent to battle without “any support.”

“We are the mobilized from Irkutsk oblast (region), regiment 1439, who were sent to the (self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic) from the city of Novosibirsk on December 31, 2022,” said a hooded soldier reading a message and surrounded by other soldiers.

Avdiivka is a hotly contested city close to the front lines in Donetsk. 

“DPR commanders are firing machine guns and infantry fighting vehicles at our mobilized soldiers because (they) refuse to join the assault units. There is no point in appealing to the local military prosecutor’s office since they are in full collusion with the commanders … At this point, this battalion has been almost completely destroyed,” the hooded soldier continued.

As the video nears its end, the soldier says the unit is in a “desperate position” because the DPR “commanders do not care” about their lives. 

Another video, also purportedly from men of the 1439th, circulated at the end of January.

In it, a group of soldiers said they were being threatened and fired at by their commanders for refusing to join the front line, and were being forced into combat without adequate support.

“Our command directly tells us that we are expendable. DPR commanders fire machine guns and BMPs at our mobilized soldiers because (they) refuse to join the assault units,” said a man dressed in a military uniform. The video was published on January 26. 

The man alleged that many in his unit were sent to the front line in assault groups without any training, and that two men died as a result, while 19 more were wounded. He also claimed the soldiers were paying for food and water from their “own pockets,” living in “complete disorder” and treating themselves for injuries. 

CNN cannot independently verify the videos, or whether the group are indeed soldiers from the 1439 regiment.

TVRain — an independent Russian outlet — said it received Saturday’s video direct from the soldiers.

CNN has asked for comment from the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has reacted with skepticism to China’s plans on how to end the Ukraine conflict.

On Friday, China’s foreign ministry issued a position paper calling for a resumption of peace talks and an end to unilateral sanctions, and stressing its opposition to the use of nuclear weapons.

But Beijing’s claim to neutrality has been severely undermined by its refusal to acknowledge the nature of the conflict – it has so far avoided calling it an “invasion” – and its diplomatic and economic support for Moscow.

Western officials have also raised concerns that China may be considering providing Russia with lethal military assistance, an accusation denied by Beijing.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian politician who advises President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Saturday hit out at China for “betting on an aggressor” after Beijing repeated its call for a political settlement to the Ukraine war.

“If you claim to be a global player, you don’t offer an unrealistic plan,” he tweeted. “You don’t bet on an aggressor who broke international law and will lose the war.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has said it is a “good thing” that China is engaging in peace efforts, as he announced plans to visit Beijing in April.

Here’s what we know about the latest fighting on the ground, with authorities in several parts of Ukraine reporting extensive Russian shelling over the past 24 hours — from the northern region of Sumy to Kherson in the south.

Much of the incoming fire was directed at settlements in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, many of which have been deserted by their residents. Russia controls much of the two territories and hopes to fully capture them.

Artillery fire on the town of Kupyansk in neighboring Kharkiv region has picked up in recent weeks, with Russian forces only some ten kilometers away.

Ukrainian officials said there were artillery attacks against several towns and villages along the hotly contested frontlines to the east of Kupyansk.

The authorities in Donetsk region said three people were killed and four wounded over the past 24 hours. They said several settlements near the flashpoint city of Bakhmut came under fire.

Serhiy Hayday, head of Luhansk region military administration, said in the area where Donetsk and Luhansk regions meet (near the town of Kreminna) “all attacks have been repelled. The Kreminna sector is a forest landscape which is why Russians are trying to manoeuvre there, going with small groups of 10-15 people. Russians are learning from us, so it varies from day to day.”

Hayday added that “enemy losses reached 70 killed and uncountable wounded. Their hospitals are overcrowded. Russians do not care about their losses at all.”

CNN can’t independently confirm losses of either side in the fighting.