Russian forces attempt to close ring around Bakhmut; Russia refusing to compromise on annexed Ukrainian territories<\/p>\n
The military situation is becoming increasingly difficult around the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut,<\/strong> president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday as many of Ukraine\u2019s battlefields turn to mud. \u201cIn the Bakhmut sector, the situation is constantly becoming more difficult,\u201d Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. \u201cThe enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions for fortification and defence.\u201d Russia\u2019s defence ministry claimed its forces destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot near the town \u2013 the focal point of Russia\u2019s advances in eastern Ukraine \u2013 also shooting down four Himars missiles and five drones launched by Ukrainian forces.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg temporarily suspended all flights on Tuesday<\/strong> amid unconfirmed media reports of an unidentified object such as a drone being seen nearby. Some flights were diverted back to Moscow while the airport was shut for around an hour. Russia\u2019s ministry of defence later announced there had been a training exercise between air defences and civilian aviation authorities.<\/p>\n Emergency services put out a fire at an oil depot in southern Russia<\/a> overnight after a drone was spotted flying overhead, the RIA news agency said on Tuesday.<\/strong> The fire in the Russian town of Tuapse<\/strong>, Krasnador, was reported at 2.30am local time and spread to an area of about 200 sq metres before it was extinguished. \u201cThe oil tanks were not affected. There was no spill of oil products. No injuries,\u201d said Sergei Boyko<\/strong>, who leads the local administration.<\/p>\n The Russian ministry of defence has stated that it foiled two attempted Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil using drones overnight<\/strong>. It said \u201c28 February, at night, the Kyiv regime attempted to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack civilian infrastructure in the Krasnodar territory and the Republic of Adygea.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/strong>A drone that was downed in the Moscow region had probably been intended to attack civil infrastructure, according to the region\u2019s governor. The drone was downed on Tuesday near a gas distribution station close to the city of Kolomna,<\/strong> 110km (70 miles) south-east of Moscow, the Russian state-run Ria Novosti news agency reported, citing local emergency services.<\/p>\n A hacking attack caused some Russian regional broadcasters to put out a false warning on Tuesday urging people to take shelter from an incoming missile attack, the emergencies ministry said. <\/strong>\u201cAs a result of the hacking of servers of radio stations and TV channels, in some regions of the country information about the announcement of an air alert was broadcast. This information is false and does not correspond to reality\u201d. A similar attack caused commercial radio stations in some Russian regions to send air alarm messages on Wednesday 22 February.<\/p>\n Vladimir Putin<\/strong> has told Russia\u2019s FSB<\/strong> security service to step up its intelligence activity and stop \u201csabotage groups\u201d entering the country. In a speech to FSB officials, the Russian leader instructed the agency to strengthen its activity to counter what he described as growing espionage and sabotage operations against Russia by Ukraine and its western allies.<\/p>\n Putin <\/strong>also admitted that FSB members have been killed in Ukraine in his speech to security service members. \u201cUnfortunately, there are losses in our ranks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Peskov<\/strong> has said that Russia is open to negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine, but insisted Moscow would \u201cnever compromise\u201d on what he described as new \u201cterritorial realities\u201d. \u201cThere are certain realities that have already become an internal factor. I mean the new territories. The constitution of the Russian Federation exists, and cannot be ignored. Russia will never be able to compromise on this. These are important realities,\u201d he told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n <\/strong>Ukraine will become a Nato member in the \u201clong term\u201d, the alliance\u2019s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg,<\/strong> has said. The Nato chief stressed that the immediate priority was Ukraine remaining an independent country in the face of the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, is due to visit Beijing on Tuesday<\/a><\/strong> for a meeting with China\u2019s president Xi Jinping,<\/strong> in a high-profile trip symbolising the widening gulf between the US and China over the war in Ukraine. Xi\u2019s meeting with Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, is seen internationally as a sign of where Beijing\u2019s sympathies lie.<\/p>\n