Issued on: 16/03/2023 – 10:56Modified: 16/03/2023 – 11:03

10:50am: Best way to protect Moldova from attack is to protect Ukraine, UK foreign minister says 

British foreign minister James Cleverly said on Thursday that the best way to protect Moldova from attack by Russia was to protect Ukraine.

Asked by reporters whether Britain planned on sending military support to Moldova, Cleverly said: “We strongly believe that one of the best ways of protecting Moldova from physical attack is helping the Ukrainians defend themselves against Russia.”

9:43am: No signs Ukraine is withdrawing troops from Bakhmut, Russian-installed official says 

The situation for Russian forces trying to capture the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is “difficult”, because there are no signs Kyiv is ready to order a withdrawal of its troops, the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Thursday.

Russian forces led by the private Wagner militia have been trying to encircle and capture the eastern Ukrainian city for months in what has turned into one of the bloodiest battles of the year-long war.

Russia, which refers to the city by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk, says capturing the city will allow it to launch more offensives deeper into Ukrainian territory which it says it is fighting to “liberate”.

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has said his forces are in control of practically half the city and only one exit road remains available to Ukrainian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said he will not withdraw his forces from Bakhmut, even as Kyiv and Western officials have downplayed the strategic significance of the city, which has been decimated by months of artillery shelling and urban combat.

9:33am: Important to ensure rapid munition supplies for Ukraine, Scholz says 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday warned that it was crucial to provide Ukraine as soon as possible with fresh munitions to resist Russia‘s invasion.

“It is very important that we quickly supply Ukraine with the necessary munitions,” Scholz told Germany’s lower house of parliament, promising action at an EU summit next week. 

9:27am: Poland dismantles Russian spy ring

Polish counterintelligence has dismantled a Russian spy ring, Poland‘s defence minister said Thursday.

“The whole network has been dismantled,” Mariusz Blaszczak told Polish public radio PR1. “It was an espionage group, a group of people who were collecting information for those who attacked Ukraine.”

Private Polish radio station RMF, citing unnamed sources, said Wednesday that the ABW, Poland’s counter-espionage service, had arrested six foreigners working for the Russian secret service and allegedly preparing for sabotage in Poland. 

The suspects were reportedly arrested after the discovery of hidden cameras, which were placed on important railway routes and junctions, recording and transmitting data on traffic. 

 According to RMF, “dozens of devices” of this type were installed, mainly on sections of railways leading to the country’s southeast, including near an airport that is one of the main transfer points for Ukraine-bound Western weapons and ammunition. 

Authorities are now on high alert and the security of railroads and strategic infrastructure has been reinforced, according to RMF. 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)