Russian billionaires taken off EU sanctions list; Ukraine accused of another nuclear plant drone strike

Photos published via Getty Images over the last 24 hours in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv show a damaged residential building, rescue workers taking cover during an air strike alarm and people visiting an area destroyed by Russian attacks.

— Sam Meredith

Russia's Orsk oil refinery, which has halted output after widespread floods, declared force majeure on fuel supplies from April 8, according to a document issued by plant owner Forteinvest and seen by Reuters.

Russia's oil refineries were already struggling with Ukrainian drone attacks and technical outages, forcing the country to ban gasoline exports, with some exceptions, for half a year from March 1.

Forteinvest said the plant had been shut to avoid ecological risks and ensure labour safety. Last year the refinery processed 4.5 million metric tons (90,000 barrels per day) of oil.

Floods engulfed cities and towns across Russia and Kazakhstan on Wednesday after Europe's third-longest river burst its banks, forcing about 110,000 people to evacuate and swamping parts of the Russian city of Orenburg.

— Reuters

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba thanked eight Nordic and Baltic nations for their initiative to support Ukraine's bid to join the European Union.

The so-called Nordic-Baltic Eight has launched an initiative to convene a group of experts to aid Ukraine's EU-accession negotiations. Foreign ministers of the represented nations in the group met in Sweden this week to discuss Russia's military action in Ukraine and other NATO matters.

"The Nordic and Baltic nations continue to provide Ukraine with vital assistance and support," Kuleba said in a post on social media platform X.

— April Roach

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday called on allied countries to deliver air defense systems and fighter jets to Ukraine in order to help better protect cities amid Russia's onslaught.

Zelenskky said via social media platform X that Ukraine also needs artillery to push back Russian forces on the frontline and called for further pressure to be exerted on the Kremlin to prevent President Vladimir Putin "from building up his military potential."

"This is all entirely realistic," Zelenksyy said, referencing remarks made in his address to the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece.

"And it only depends on our partners' political will. Putin can only use his aggression to make up for the shortage of global solutions. A shortage that has gone on for too long. It is possible to win this war. But shortages do not advance victory," he added.

— Sam Meredith

The U.S. is restricting trade with 11 additional entities from Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates, for violations such as attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East and supporting Russia's military actions in Ukraine, according to a federal government posting.

Three Russian entities, Aerosila JSC SPE, Delta-Aero LLC, and JSC ODK-Star, were included on the government export control list for being part of a network to source aerospace components in Iran, according to the report which is scheduled for publication tomorrow.

"These components are used to develop and produce Shahed-series UAVs which have been used by Iran to attack oil tankers in the Middle East and by Russia in Ukraine," the notice said.

— April Roach

The eight Nordic and Baltic nations have called on NATO to play an increased role in assisting Ukraine with military support and equipment, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told a press conference on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Billstrom was speaking after a meeting of foreign ministers on Sweden's Gotland Island, where the eight countries also agreed to convene a group of experts to aid Ukraine's effort to join the European Union.

- Elliot Smith

Ukraine on Wednesday signed a framework agreement for cooperation on arms production as part of an effort to bolster Kyiv's wartime domestic weapons industry.

The signing took place in the Ukrainian capital during a military industry conference attended by 29 British defense businesses.

The U.K. Department for Business and Trade said the pact is designed to enable both countries to collaborate in tackling security challenges, enhancing their defense industries and delivering high-profile joint projects over the coming months.

"Now is the time to double down on our support so Ukraine not only wins the war but emerges from it as a strong and resilient country," U.K. Minister for Trade Policy Greg Hands said in a statement.

"Defence is a critical element of that which is why we're facilitating further defence trade between our nations with this Agreement."

British defense company BAE Systems also signed a contract with the U.K. Ministry of Defence to maintain and repair L119 light guns donated to Ukraine.

- Elliot Smith

A Russian combat helicopter has crashed in the Crimea region, Russia's defense ministry said Wednesday.

"While performing a scheduled flight over the Black Sea near the western coast of the Republic of Crimea, a Mi-24 helicopter crashed. The preliminary cause of the crash was an aircraft failure," the ministry said, according to a statement reported by RIA Novosti.

The accident occurred around 6 a.m. Moscow time. Search and rescue services are at the scene, the statement noted. No information about any casualties is yet known.

Mi-24s are specialized transport and combat helicopters that can transport small numbers of troops. RIA Novosti noted that the aircraft can provide "direct fire support for ground troops and combat enemy armored vehicles."

— Holly Ellyatt

Inflation in Russia has passed its peak, Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina told lawmakers at Moscow's State Duma on Thursday, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.

The central bank has tightened monetary policy aggressively since July 2023 in a bid to tame inflation, and its key interest rate currently sits at 16%.

Annual consumer price inflation came in at 7.7% in February, up from 7.4% in January. The year-on-year figure has been in a general incline over the past year after dropping sharply from a peak of 17.8% in April 2022 to a trough of 2.3% in the same month of 2023.

However, Nabiullina suggested the latest evidence shows CPI slowing once again.

"We are already seeing the first results of our policy: the peak of inflation is behind us," she said, according to Interfax.

"We will begin to reduce the key rate when we are convinced that the slowdown in inflation has gained the required speed and inflation expectations are returning to normal."

- Elliot Smith

The European Union Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday to remove Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven from a list of individuals facing European Union sanctions after Russia's attack on Ukraine in 2022.

"The General Court considers that none of the reasons set out in the initial acts is sufficiently substantiated and that the inclusion of Mr Aven and Mr Fridman on the lists at issue was therefore not justified," the Luxembourg-based court said in a statement.

The funds and economic resources of both men were frozen after the European Council imposed restrictions following the Russian invasion. Both are major shareholders of conglomerate Alfa Group, which includes Russia's top private bank Alfa Bank and its biggest food retailer X5 Retail Group.

The court ruled the billionaires should not have been included on the list between February 2022 and March 2023. An EU decision in March 2023 reimposed the restrictive measures on the two men, who have lodged a separate appeal against that action.

The court said the Council may have grounds to establish that Fridman and Aven have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but it does not demonstrate the men have supported actions or policies against Ukraine, or that they have supported Russian decision makers financially.

— Reuters

Russia continues efforts to conscript thousands of soldiers each spring and fall, the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update Wednesday.

The spring conscription round began on April 1, the ministry noted, with around 150,000 soldiers from the 18-30 age group set to be conscripted this season.

"These conscripts will serve for 12 months, in all branches of Russia's military forces, but are currently not employed in combat roles in Ukraine," the ministry said in an intelligence update on social media platform X.

Russian forces in Ukraine are instead staffed by contract service soldiers and some reservists mobilized in late 2022, the U.K. noted.

"Conscript soldiers are commonly put under pressure to enlist as contract soldiers and would then be liable for service in Ukraine. There is likely to be some reluctance among Russian authorities to risk combat casualties among conscript soldiers, which would likely be unpopular. Casualties among volunteer soldiers are more tolerated by society," the ministry added.

Russia seeks to recruit around 400,000 contract service personnel in 2024 "in order to sustain its forces in Ukraine, which have suffered huge losses, and support its announced plans to increase the size of the armed forces to 1.32 million this year and 1.5 million subsequently," it said.

— Holly Ellyatt

The water level in the Ural River in the city of Orenburg, an epicenter of dramatic flooding in southern Russia, has risen to 996 cm, the city's Mayor Sergei Salmin said on the Rossiya-24 TV channel Wednesday.

The level is reportedly 66 cm above the danger level and higher than readings taken earlier this morning, news agency TASS reported.

"At 12 o'clock local time (10:00 a.m. Moscow time) the water is still rising, now we have already exceeded all the highest marks. Our dangerous value is 930 cm. At the moment we have already recorded 996 cm," Salmin said, TASS noted.

He said 1,910 households were now flooded and 865 people had been evacuated from the city. Salmin said evacuations continued. 

— Holly Ellyatt

A drone attack targeted the southern Russian city of Taganrog on Wednesday, Russian officials said.

"Attention! UAV attack. If possible, go down to the lower floors, to the basement. Find a place without windows, sit on the floor," Andrei Fateyev, the head of the city administration, said on Telegram Wednesday.

Taganrog, which is located in the Rostov region of southern Russia, is one of a number of Russian towns and cities to be targeted by drone attacks in recent months. The governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, described the latest purported attack as "massive."

Russia accuses Ukraine of routinely attacking its territory although Kyiv rarely comments on such assaults. Officials in Taganrog say the city has been targeted with drones and missiles before. Kyiv has not commented on the latest accusation.

— Holly Ellyatt

More than 300 homes have been flooded in the southern Russian city of Orenburg after rapidly melting snow from the Ural Mountains caused the region's worst flooding in decades.

Authorities warned overnight that the situation in Orenburg is dangerous and ordered the evacuation of more than 100,000 by late Wednesday.

The Ural River, Europe's third-longest, rose by another 20 inches from its critical level of 30 feet late on Tuesday. The river flows through Russia and Kazakhstan and into the Caspian Sea, and the situation is expected to worsen through Thursday.

— Elliot Smith

Officials at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine on Tuesday accused Kyiv of another drone attack, claiming an unmanned aerial vehicle fell on the roof of its training center.

Ukraine has denied any knowledge of a series of drone attacks on Europe's largest nuclear plant in recent days that prompted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to sound the alarm over nuclear security.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukraine of being behind the attacks, but a spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence service said on national TV Tuesday that Ukraine does "not commit any military actions or provocations on nuclear facilities," according to Reuters.

Ukrainian intelligence officials have also accused Russia of using the seized nuclear site as a platform for "propaganda."

— Elliot Smith

Ukraine shot down 14 of 17 Shahed drones launched by Russia towards the Black Sea port of Odesa overnight, the country's air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian air defense forces also destroyed two Kh-59 guided air missiles headed towards Odesa, Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk said. CNBC was unable to immediately verify the claims.

— Elliot Smith

Deaths and injuries amongst civilians in Ukraine jumped 20% in March of this year compared to February, the United Nations human rights body said in a report Tuesday.

At least 604 civilians were killed or injured during the month, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine found. This includes at least 57 children, doubling the number when compared to the previous month, it added.

"The March increase in civilian casualties was mainly due to attacks by the Russian armed forces using missiles and loitering munitions across Ukraine and increased aerial bombardments near the frontline," the report said.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Russia has not been invited to the planned Ukraine summit in Switzerland, a spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Switzerland confirmed to CNBC.

"The Swiss side did not send Russia an invitation to the conference. At the same time, our position is well known. Even if we receive an invitation to such an event, the Russian side will not accept it," Vladimir Khokhlov, press secretary at the embassy said.

This is in line with comments previously made by Russian spokespeople, who have said the country would not join the proposed summit and that it was doomed to fail without Moscow's participation.

"The idea of a 'peace conference' promoted by the organizers is inappropriate for us, as it is just another variant of pushing through an unviable 'peace formula' that does not take into account Russian concerns," Khokhlov added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his allies have been working on plans for a Ukraine summit in Switzerland, which would see leaders discuss potential conflict resolution approaches. The talks would likely include Zelenskyy's 10-point peace formula.

According to Reuters, Zelenskyy over the weekend said a date for the summit could be agreed upon in the coming days or weeks and that 80 to 100 countries would participate.

— Sophie Kiderlin

A woman and a child were killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian village of Klimovo, the local governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said in a post on Telegram on Tuesday, which was Google-translated by CNBC.

Three other civilians were injured and were receiving medical support, while several cars were injured and a fire broke out in a residential building due to the strike, he added. Klimovo is located in western Russia, near the border to both Ukraine and Belarus.

CNBC could not independently verify the report.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Russia and Kazakhstan ordered more than 100,000 people to evacuate after swiftly melting snow swelled mighty rivers beyond bursting point in the worst flooding in the area for at least 70 years.

The deluge of melt water overwhelmed scores of settlements in the Ural Mountains, Siberia and areas of Kazakhstan close to rivers such as the Ural and Tobol, which local officials said had risen by metres in a matter of hours to the highest levels ever recorded.

The Ural River, Europe's third largest which flows through Russia and Kazakhstan into the Caspian, burst through an embankment dam on Friday, flooding the city of Orsk just south of the Ural Mountains.

Downstream, water levels in Orenburg, a city of around 550,000, were rising.

Sirens in Kurgan, a city on the Tobol river, a tributary of the Irtysh, warned people to evacuate immediately. An emergency was also declared in Tyumen, a major oil producing region of Western Siberia - the largest hydrocarbon basin in the world.

"The difficult days are still ahead for the Kurgan and Tyumen regions," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "There is a lot of water coming."

— Reuters

Kremlin hints at forthcoming Putin-Xi meeting; Russia scrambles to deal with massive floods