Ukraine war live: Kremlin finally speaks out on CIA director’s Moscow visit

Ratcliffe’s purpose and meetings in Russia are not immediately clear but it marks the first known trip from a US spy chief since November 2021

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The Kremlin revealed on Wednesday that CIA director John Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials during a mysterious visit this week but did not meet president Vladimir Putin.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov framed communication between the two countries’ intelligence agencies as a positive without going into detail on what was discussed.

“All I can tell you is that there have been contacts via the security services,” he said, adding: “These contacts often continue even during the most difficult periods in bilateral relations. Our president, incidentally, has spoken about this.

“However, it is still too early to say to what extent this will, overall, help to steer our bilateral relations out of the profound crisis in which they currently find themselves,” he said.

Ratcliffe’s visit is the first known trip to Moscow by a US spy chief since his predecessor, William Burns, held talks with Vladimir Putin in November 2021, before the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Sources told Reuters that the US contacted Ukraine last week to request that it avoid striking Moscow, St Petersburg and a stretch of northern Russia during Ratcliffe’s visit. The request was to cover Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

Volodymyr Zelensky says he has visited the frontline of the war with his new commander-in-chief, Mykhailo Drapatyi.

Robert Gilman’s release from Russian custody this month heralded a long-awaited homecoming for the Marine veteran after more than four years behind bars.

But as Harold Jezler followed the media coverage from the United States, he couldn’t help but notice Gilman’s gaunt and sickly appearance and think of the implications for his wife, Olga, who has been detained in Russia since 2022 and faces her own health problems.

“You just look at the pictures and the guy is not in good shape. It’s concerning for me and for all the families, I would imagine," Jezler said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“Is this what it takes for the government to really make a move and prioritize this — that the person is basically in dire straits? It was a very bittersweet thing to see that.”

Ukraine has targeted four logistics hubs owned by Russia's second-largest online retailer Ozon, widening a campaign of drone strikes on Russian e-commerce companies intended to inflict more damage on the war-battered economy.

Ozon's shares tumbled on Monday after it reported the strikes in southern Russia, which brought to six the number of its facilities targeted in the last three days.

Ozon said in a statement that a logistics hub in Makhachkala in Dagestan was on fire and had halted operations after a drone attack, adding: "According to preliminary information, several people were injured."

A Russian guided aerial bomb attack has seriously damaged a combined heat and power plant in Ukraine's southern city of Kherson, the plant's owner, Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz, said on Wednesday.

The extent of the damage will be assessed as soon as the security situation allows, Naftogaz said.

Russia launched its 10,000 ton doomsday submarine for the first time last week, according to reports.

Moscow sent the Khabarovsk nuclear submarine, designed to carry nuclear torpedoes, into trials in the White Sea, according to the Telegraph.

Russian media reports have said the submarines can carry up to six Poseidon torpedos which can be detonated underwater to create tsunamis.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials during his visit to Moscow on Tuesday but did not meet President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin had been briefed on the outcome of Ratcliffe's talks, but declined to provide further details.

Peskov said it was also too early to say whether such contacts between the two countries' intelligence agencies could help pull U.S.-Russia relations out of what he described as a "deep crisis".

Russia's Foreign Ministry has summoned Romania's charge d'affaires in Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.

It did not give a reason for the summons.

Russia and Ukraine have each exchanged 10 prisoners of war in the latest such trade, according to Interfax.

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