February 1, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

A military leader in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic told Russian media on Wednesday that Moscow's forces have practically encircled the key eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and active fighting is ongoing.

“Bakhmut has been practically 'embraced' from three sides, an intensive knocking out of the enemy is underway (…),” Col. Vitaly Kiselev said, according to state media TASS.

Russian forces are now trying to move into the area of ​​the Ukraine-controlled town of Chasov Yar about six kilometers (more than 3 miles) west of Bakhmut, he added. 

“They are trying, and I am sure that they will succeed. [It will succeed] to go to the Chasov Yar area, from where intensive shelling is going on back to Soledar, Bakhmut,” he said.

Earlier, retired Lt. Col. of the self-proclaimed LPR, Andrei Marochko, said that Ukrainian troops were going to withdraw to Chasov Yar in the event of a retreat from Bakhmut. 

The founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a Telegram post on Wednesday that Russian forces now control the village of Sacco and Vanzetti, about 20 kilometers (more than 12 miles) from Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

"Today, February 1, 2023, at 16:00 Moscow time, Sacco and Vanzetti were completely taken under control by the assault units of the Wagner PMC," Prigozhin's press service Telegram channel said. 

The press service also posted a photo of the fighters against the background of the only remaining house in the village. Prigozhin also noted that at the moment there is no operational encirclement of Bakhmut.

The Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar has said “heavy fighting” continues in the east with Russian forces making “powerful attempts” to break through Ukrainian defenses of Bakhmut. “The enemy is trying to expand the geography of its offensive in the Lyman sector,” a Russian offensive north of Bakhmut, Maliar said on Telegram.

Germany needs to order new Leopard tanks quickly after committing to send 14 of its own to Ukraine, the country’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Wednesday. 

“The decisive factor for me is that we have to order new tanks, and not in a year's time, but quickly so that production can begin and we can plan how many new Leopards we will have available — and when,” Pistorius told reporters on a visit to the town of Augustdorf. 

Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the German-made battle tanks would be sent to Kyiv’s troops last week, after intensifying international pressure led by the United States, Poland and a bloc of other European nations, which called on Berlin to step up its military support to Ukraine. 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov had a "very frank and productive conversation" with French President Emmanuel Macron regarding the Ukraine army's "urgent operational needs for self-defense from the Russian aggressor," Reznikov tweeted Wednesday.

Reznikov thanked Macron for his "leadership and unwavering support."

On Wednesday, Reznikov met France Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu in Paris to discuss the needs of the Ukrainian army.

The pair signed a memorandum on the supply of MG-200 radars for Ukrainian air defenders. "This equipment will help us to spot enemy drones & missiles, including ballistic. Our skies will be protected from Russia’s deadly attacks," Reznikov tweeted.

On Monday, France along with Australia said that they would collaborate on a multi-million dollar project to produce “several thousand” artillery shells for Ukraine.

As for Ukraine's plea for fighter jets, Macron said Monday that they have not received any requests for jets, but “nothing is off-limits in principle.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his defense ministry to prioritize protecting Russian territory from shelling by Ukrainian forces.

Speaking at a video conference regarding the restoration of residential infrastructure, Putin said residential houses in Russia's Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions – as well as Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 – were “damaged or destroyed” by the Ukrainian army referring to it as to “shelling by neo-Nazi formations.”

Many people found themselves in a difficult situation, “they lost their homes, were forced to move to relatives or to temporary places of residence, faced interruptions in the supply of water, heat, and electricity,” he added.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have not officially acknowledged the shelling of the Russian territory.

Southwest of the city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian soldiers Andriy and Borisych live in a candle-lit bunker cut into the frozen earth. For several weeks they have been confronting hundreds of fighters belonging to the Russian private military contractor Wagner throwing themselves against Ukrainian defenses.

Disguised in a balaclava, Andriy recounts one seemingly endless firefight when they came under attack by a flood of Wagner fighters.

“We were fighting for about 10 hours in a row. And it wasn’t like just waves, it was uninterrupted. So it was just like they didn’t stop coming.”

Their AK-47 rifles became so hot from constant firing, Andriy says, that they had to keep changing them.

“It was about 20 soldiers on our side. And let’s say 200 from their side,” he says.

The Wagner way of war is to send a first wave of attackers that mainly comprises raw recruits straight out of Russian prisons. They know little of military tactics and are poorly equipped. Most just hope that if they survive their six-month contract they can go home rather than back to a cell.

“They make the group – let’s say from 10 soldiers – reach 30 meters, then they start digging in to keep the position,” Andriy says of Wagner.

Another group follows, he says, to claim another 30 meters. “That’s how, step by step, (Wagner) is trying to move forward, while they lose a lot of people in the meantime.”

Only when the first wave is exhausted or cut down do Wagner send in more experienced combatants, often from the flanks, in an effort to overrun Ukrainian positions.

Andriy says facing the assault was a frightening and surreal experience.

“Our machine gunner was almost getting crazy, because he was shooting at them. And he said, I know I shot him, but he doesn’t fall. And then after some time, when he maybe bleeds out, so he just falls down.”

Andriy compares the battle to a scene out of a zombie movie. “They’re climbing above the corpse of their friends, stepping on them,” he says.

“It looks like it’s very, very likely that they are getting some drugs before attack,” he says, a claim that CNN has not been able independently to verify.

Read more here.

The State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) claimed that it had averted a plot to detonate explosives at a power plant in eastern Ukraine.

The alleged collaborator, described as a “former security guard,” was served “in absentia a notice of suspicion of high treason and preparation to commit sabotage,” the SBI said.

An explosion at the Kurakhove Thermal Power Plant was to be carried out by an accomplice of the accused, the SBI claimed, adding that it was looking for that person. 

The agency released photos that it said showed security forces unearthing explosives.

CNN has seen no previous reports of an explosives plot at that plant.

The SBI claim was made as part of anti-corruption searches and crackdowns across the country in an effort to combat what they described as “the internal enemy" in the country, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said Wednesday that it had charged the Ministry of Defense’s former head for procurement with embezzlement as part of anti-corruption searches and crackdowns across the country. At issue, it said, was the purchase of thousands of substandard protective vests.

The SBU said that the official was charged with “misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of property through abuse of office,” obstruction of the armed forces, and “committing a criminal offense by a group of persons.”

The SBU said that the individual faced five to eight years in prison, and had recalled the sub-standard vests.

“In addition, the SBU is conducting investigative actions against other officials in the security and defense sector who may be involved in illegal activities that harm state security. This is a set of measures aimed at strengthening the defense capabilities of our state.”

More on the searches: Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday said they conducted the series of anti-corruption searches and crackdowns in an effort to combat what they described as “the internal enemy" in the country.

Russia is gearing up for a “maximum escalation” of the war in Ukraine, potentially as soon as the next few weeks, according to a top Ukrainian national security official.

“These will be defining months in the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an interview broadcast Tuesday.

“Russia is preparing for maximum escalation. It is gathering everything possible, doing drills and training. When it comes to an offensive from different directions, as of now, I can say that we are not excluding any scenario in the next two to three weeks.”

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence believes that the war is “on the edge” of a “very active” period.

"We are on the edge of a very active phase of hostilities, February and March will be very active,” Andriy Yusov, representative of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, said on national television.

Ukrainian officials have warned for some time of a renewed Russian offensive and have asked for more powerful weaponry from Western allies to counter the threat.

Following Danilov's comments, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said Wednesday that there a signs Russia is preparing for a renewed offensive in southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian intelligence had noted changes to the activity of Russian naval forces in the Black Sea, she added.

“It increases and decreases rapidly, and the missile carriers are moving back and forth,” she said. 

Meanwhile, the Belarusian Defense Ministry on Tuesday said it would hold a further week of joint military drills with Russia.

"During the week, military representatives from the two countries will practice joint planning of the use of troops based on the prior experience of armed conflicts in recent years," the ministry said in a statement. 

CNN's Denis Lapin contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the need to increase sanctions against Russia on Wednesday saying that the “terrorist state must feel the price of terror.” 

Zelensky continued to put pressure on Austrian businesses to “step up” their cooperation with Ukraine and help to rebuild and modernize the country’s energy systems, telling businesses to leave Russia and set up in Ukraine.

“We know the situation concerning Austrian business, which despite the brutal Russian terror, are not leaving Russia, and continue to support the terrorist state, we believe with their own taxes,” Zelensky said. “And therefore, we would like these businesses to go to Ukraine instead.”

He also urged individual Austrian companies not to “betray Austrian society,” saying it’s an important issue which will be resolved on the basis of “shared values of freedom, democracy and human rights.”

Zelensky’s comments come as Van der Bellen visited Kyiv on Wednesday to discuss financial and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.