ABC News’ Patrick Reevell reports that some in the U.S want to label The Wagner Group, a secretive Russian paramilitary unit operating in Ukraine, as a terrorist organization. Two of the fiercest battles in Ukraine are near Bakhmut and Vuhledar, and the National’s Adrienne Arsenault was taken there to see how Ukrainian forces are fighting back against Russia.
President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would suspend its last major nuclear disarmament treaty with the US during his state of the nation address. The New START Treaty went into force in 2011 and was due to expire in 2026. During his televised speech, Putin also warned Washington that if the U-S resumes nuclear tests, so would Russia. The statement was greeted with rapturous applause by Putin’s audience before he gave more details. In his state of the nation address, Russian President Vladimir Putin falsely accused the West of starting the war in Ukraine. Putin laced his televised speech with disinformation speaking to an audience of military and political elites in Moscow. He vowed Russia would not be defeated on the battlefield, and that the offensive would continue. He also said that the majority of people in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region want to be Russian.
