Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

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Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Ukraine claims Russia knew ******* ******* was coming

KYIV, UKRAINE – MARCH 10: Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine, speaks during the farewell ceremony for Dmytro Kotsiubailo on Independence Square on March 10, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The farewell ceremony for Dmytro Kotsiubailo known as “Da Vinci” was held in St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, and then the procession went to the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square). 27-year-old “Da Vinci” was the commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves” battalion as part of the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade. Three days ago, Dmytro Kotsiubailo ***** in a battle with Russian troops on the front line near Bakhmut. Dmytro became the first volunteer who received the highest national title of Hero of Ukraine during his lifetime with the award of the Order of the Gold Star for personal courage. (Photo by Yurii Stefanyak/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Ukraine’s intelligence chief claimed on Wednesday that Russia was aware that a ********** ******* was being planned since at least Feb.15.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, told a defense forum that Russia knew of a plot to ******* it well ahead of the March 22 ******* at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow, in which 143 *****.

“At least, since February 15, 2024, the Russian Federation had been aware about the plot. I will tell you more, this information passed through their intelligence station in Syria. From there it was forwarded to Moscow. So they shouldn’t be telling tales that this all materialized in a strange way out of nowhere,” Budanov said, news agency

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The Islamic State militant group claimed it was behind the Moscow *******, but Russia has blamed Ukraine and its allies, saying they orchestrated the *******. They ******* the claims as “nonsense” and the

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Budanov claimed Russia knew where the combat groups would come from, and which countries the attackers would travel through to reach Russia. Discussing why Russia would allow an ******* to take place, Budanov said it could be a precursor to the removal of “several high-ranking officials” or that “another option is that they actually underestimated the scale of what would happen.”

“They thought that the incident would be more local, and wanted to blame Ukraine for everything,” the intelligence official said.

Budanov did not present evidence to back up his claims. Similarly, Russia has not produced evidence to back up its claims that Ukraine and the West were behind the ********** *******.

— Holly Ellyatt

****** dismisses idea of attacking NATO — but not F-16 fighters

 Russian President Vladimir ****** speeches during an annual expanded Prosecutor General’s Office meeting, March 26, 2024, in Moscow, Russia. 

Contributor | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir ****** dismissed the idea that Russia could ******* NATO, but he warned that any F-16 fighters given to Ukraine by its Western allies would be legitimate targets for Russian forces.

Speaking to air force pilots Wednesday, ****** said U.S. spending on defense exceeded Russia’s and said, “are we, having this ratio, going to ****** with NATO, or what? Well, this is just nonsense!” news agency

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Asked about the delivery of F-16 jet fighters, which a number of ********* countries have pledged to deliver to Ukraine, ****** said such combat aircraft would not change the war.

“If they deliver the F-16, they are talking about it, like they are training pilots, it will not change the situation on the battlefield. And we will ******** aircraft the same way we ******** tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment today, including multiple launch rocket systems,” he warned.

****** accused the military alliance NATO of expanding toward Russia, stating “they came right to our borders! Were we moving towards the borders of those countries that were part of the NATO bloc? We didn’t touch anyone! They were moving towards us.”

NATO’s land border with Russia has more than doubled since Finland joined the bloc in 2023, a move precipitated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While Russia repeatedly accuses NATO of encroaching upon it, NATO notes that “even after Finland’s accession, only 11% of Russia’s land border is shared with NATO countries.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Moscow ******* ******* ****** toll rises to 143

A view shows the burnt-out Crocus City Hall concert venue in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on March 26, 2024.

Natalia Kolesnikova | AFP | Getty Images

The number of people ******* in the Moscow ********** ******* has risen to 143, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said Thursday.

On Wednesday, the ****** toll rose from 139 to 140, with Health Minister Mikhail Murashko noting that 19 people, including three children, remained in a serious condition after the ******* at the Crocus City Hall.

The Investigative Committee’s investigation into the ********** ******* is ongoing.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia may have used new guided ***** to ******* Ukraine’s Kharkiv, officials say

Residential buildings are being damaged by the impact, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 27, 2024. On the afternoon of March 27, Russia struck Kharkiv. Apartment buildings were damaged, and at least one person *****. 

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Russia may have used a new type of guided ***** in airstrikes on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv that ******* at least one person on Wednesday, local officials said.

The officials said four children including a three-month-old baby were among 19 people wounded in Kharkiv in the latest strikes since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, some of which have caused blackouts, including in Kharkiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the ******* as “Russian *******” and Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv regional police, said Moscow may have used a new type of guided ***** which he described as the UMPB D-30.

“This is something between a guided aerial ***** which they (the Russians) have used recently, and a missile. It’s a flying ***** so to say,” Tymoshko said at the site of the strike.

Regional governor Oleh Synehubov also suggested Moscow may have used a new type of *****, saying: “It seems that the Russians decided to test their modified ****** on the residents of the houses.”

Russia did not immediately comment on their remarks. It denies targeting civilians although the war has ******* thousands of people, uprooted millions and destroyed towns and cities.

Two residential buildings and a medical institution were partially destroyed, and a total of 14 buildings, including an educational facility, were damaged, Synehubov said on the Telegram messenger.

— Reuters

Russia sentences ****** Riot activist to six years in absentia for Ukraine “war fakes”

A Russian court sentenced Lyusya Shtein, a member of ****** Riot and a former municipal deputy in Moscow, to six years in prison in absentia for anti-war social media posts, the court’s press service said on Wednesday.

Shtein, 27, was found guilty of spreading “war fakes” in connection with a March 2022 post on X, in which she accused Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine of “******** foreign cities and ******** people”, Russian independent news outlet Mediazona reported.

At least 19,855 people have been detained in Russia for expressing anti-war views since President Vladimir ****** ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors crackdowns on dissent.

Those found guilty of spreading “false information” about Russia’s army risk 10 years in prison.

The Moscow court said Shtein, who served as a Moscow municipal deputy until 2022, would begin her sentence once she could be extradited to Russia.

— Reuters

‘Extremely hard to believe’ IS carried out Moscow *******, Russia says

Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that it’s “extremely hard to believe” that the Islamic State (IS) militant group would be able to launch an ******* like the one that occurred in Moscow last Friday, in which 140 *****.

Zakharova is among senior Russian officials claiming that Western countries and Ukraine were behind the Crocus City Hall *******, despite Islamic State saying it had carried out the massacre.

Zakharova’s comments, reported by Reuters, were less cautious than those from the Kremlin, with ******’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov telling CNBC Wednesday that “an investigation is underway” and that “the final version [of the investigation] has not yet been announced.”

MOSCOW, RUSSIA – JANUARY 8: (RUSSIA OUT) A woman eats hot corn while walking along the Red Square near the Kremlin, as air temperatures dropped to -18 degrees Celcius, January,8 2024, in Moscow, Russia. Since the beginning of the year, abnormally cold weather has settled in Moscow region, causing problems with heating in apartments. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)

Contributor | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Aside from Russian political hawks,

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have also claimed the ******* was not typical of IS, citing the fact the attackers were not wearing ******** belts and did not appear to be religious fanatics.

Russian media personalities have also parroted the line that the attackers tried to flee toward Ukraine, a line disputed, unusually, by ******’s close ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who said the attackers originally fled toward Belarus but had been forced to change direction, toward Ukraine, because of Belarus’ enhanced security measures.

— Holly Ellyatt

At least one *****, 12 wounded in strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv, mayor says

At least one person has ***** and 12 have been injured, including children, in the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv, its mayor Ihor Terekhov, said on

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on Wednesday. Some of those injured are in serious condition, he added.

Apartment buildings and a emergency medical facility were struck and the search for those in need of help is still ongoing, Terekhov said.

CNBC could not independently verify the reports.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Russian investigators to study request to probe Western involvement in ‘terrorism’

A police officer patrols in front of the Russian State Duma and the building of the Hall of Columns, April 8, 2022.

Natalia Kolesnikova | Afp | Getty Images

Russian state investigators said on Wednesday they would study a request from parliamentarians to investigate what they called the “organisation, financing, and conduct of ********** acts” against Russia by the ******* States and other Western countries.

The director of Russia’s FSB security agency said on Tuesday that he believed Ukraine, along with the ******* States and Britain, were involved in an ******* on a concert hall just outside Moscow that ******* at least 139 people.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron posted on X: “Russia’s claims about the West and Ukraine on the Crocus City Hall ******* are utter nonsense.”

Islamic State took responsibility for the Moscow *********. Washington and Paris have said they have intelligence confirming the Islamist militant group was behind the *******.

— Reuters

Tue, Mar 26 20249:50 AM EDT

Russian intelligence chief claims U.S., U.K. and Ukraine behind Moscow attacks

The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Tuesday said that the U.S., U.K. and Ukraine were behind a deadly ********** ******* in Moscow last week.

FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov told pro-Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin claimed that the U.S., U.K. and Ukraine were responsible for the *******, claiming that the ******* was beneficial to Western intelligence services and Ukraine to destabilize Russia.

“We believe that the action was prepared by the ******** Islamists themselves, and naturally the Western intelligence services contributed to this, and the Ukrainian intelligence services themselves are directly related to this,” Bortnikov said,

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Ukraine has already vehemently denied any involvement in the ******* and the White House has said Russian claims to the contrary are “Kremlin ***********.” The U.K., U.S. and Ukraine have not commented on Bortnikov’s latest claims.

Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov waits to watch the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow on May 9, 2022. 

Kirill Kudryavtsev | Afp | Getty Images

Almost 140 people were ******* in the Crocus City Hall concert hall, when gunmen entered the venue and opened *****, as well as set ***** to the venue. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility, but Russia was quick to connect Ukraine to the outrage, without presenting evidence.

Since then, Russian President Vladimir ****** has accepted that the ******* was carried out by so-called “******** Islamists,” but continued to claim Ukraine was linked to the *******.

Bortnikov reiterated Russia’s claim that the attackers were caught, as they tried to flee toward Ukraine, where, he said, they were expected and were going to be greeted “as heroes.”

“The bandits intended to go abroad. Precisely to the territory of Ukraine. According to our preliminary operational information, they were expected there,” he told Zarubin, in an interview posted in Russian on his 

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.

— Holly Ellyatt

Read CNBC’s previous live coverage here:

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