Russia-Ukraine talks done for the day; EU agrees to fresh sanctions

An anti-war protester interrupted a live news bulletin on Russia’s state TV Channel One on Monday, holding up a sign behind the studio presenter and shouting slogans denouncing the war in Ukraine.

The sign, in English and Russian, read: “NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They are lying to you here.” Another phrase, which looked like “Russians against war”, was partly obscured.

The extraordinary act of dissent took place on day 19 of the war which began when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it calls a special military operation.

On Monday, U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan met in Rome with Yang Jiechi, director of the foreign affairs office for the Chinese Communist Party’s central committee, according to official statements.

The two sides had a “candid, in-depth and constructive communication” on bilateral relations, as well as international and regional issues of mutual concern, according to a state media report. This readout focused on China-U.S. relations, while mentioning Ukraine as a topic of discussion.

In a separate readout that focused on Ukraine, Yang repeated Beijing’s position that the situation in Ukraine has reached a point that China does not want to see.

He said the international community should push for negotiations that cool the down the situation as soon as possible, the report said.

— Evelyn Cheng

NATO leaders are discussing holding an extraordinary meeting in Brussels late next week, according to U.S. and foreign officials, which President Joe Biden and other heads of state would attend, CNBC’s Kayla Tausche reported.

The planning has not yet been finalized, the officials added.

—Riya Bhattacharjee

Photos show the aftermath of bombing in Okhtyrka, a city in eastern Ukraine.

Talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials will restart Tuesday, a member of Kyiv’s delegation said.

“A technical pause has been taken in the negotiations until tomorrow,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrote in a tweet after Monday’s negotiations between the sides. “For additional work in the working subgroups and clarification of individual definitions. Negotiations continue…”

Even as the two countries carry out talks, Russia has continued its destructive assault on its neighbor.

— Jacob Pramuk

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite ended Monday’s trading session with losses. The broad-market index slid by less than 1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained one point to close at 32,945.

Bond yields also leapt on Monday, as investors prepared for the Federal Reserve’s key meeting Wednesday. The central bank is expected to announce its first interest rate hike since Dec. 2018. The 10-year Treasury jumped to just over 2%, the highest level since July 2019.

U.S. crude oil, which jumped as high as $130 last week, slumped on Monday. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell by more than 8% to trade at $99.76 per barrel at the lows of the day. The international benchmark Brent crude also slumped 8% to $103.68 a barrel. Ultimately, both oil benchmarks trimmed their losses, with WTI settling 5.78% lower at $103.68. Brent ended the session at $106.90, down 5.1%.

— Darla Mercado

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will set the Russian economy back 30 years and erase decades of gains made in moving its citizens into the global middle class, experts told CNBC this week.

After decades of opening its economy to the West, the recent exodus from Russia of global brands will trigger a profound shift in how middle-class citizens make and spend their money.

As the country’s economy collapses under the weight of unprecedented international sanctions, the ruble has lost around 40% of its value against the dollar.

This economic fallout could also create domestic political problems for President Vladimir Putin.

Experts believe the standard of living in Russia will plummet in the next five years, raising questions about whether voters will become disillusioned enough with Putin to challenge his absolute authority.

— Christina Wilkie

National security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine with China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, in Rome on Monday.

The U.S. delegation underscored the “importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and China,” according to a White House summary of the meeting.

The high-stakes discussion, which included officials from the National Security Council and State Department, follows warnings from Washington that Beijing should not alleviate any economic pressure mounting on Moscow.

— Amanda Macias

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not rule out buying additional Russian weapons despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Erdogan, who spoke alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said Ankara would continue to meet its NATO commitments to Ukraine but that it would be “premature” to cancel future weapons agreements with Russia.

“Under the current circumstances, it would be premature to talk about what the future shows right now. We have to see what the conditions bring,” Erdogan said on Monday. “We have to maintain our friendship with Mr. Zelenskyy and Mr. Putin,” he added.

In 2017, Erdogan brokered with Russian President Vladimir Putin a reported $2.5 billion deal for the S-400 missile system. The S-400, a mobile surface-to-air missile system, is said to pose a risk to the NATO alliance as well as the F-35 aircraft, America’s most expensive weapons platform.

Despite warnings from the United States and other NATO allies, Turkey accepted the first of four missile batteries in July 2019. The Trump administration cut Turkey, a financial and manufacturing partner, from the F-35 program and imposed sanctions on the NATO ally.

— Amanda Macias

European Union member states agreed on a fourth sanctions package against Russia, the office of the French EU presidency wrote on Twitter on Monday.

In a three-part tweet, the French presidency also wrote that Russia’s “most-favored nation” trade status with the World Trade Organization would be revoked. Other details of the sanctions were not disclosed.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has previously said the EU was working to suspend Russia’s membership rights of leading multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

— Amanda Macias

The White House is considering a presidential trip to Europe in the coming weeks, multiple outlets reported Monday, citing anonymous sources.

A visit by President Joe Biden would amplify the effort to shore up American alliances in Europe as Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine escalates.

Since the start of Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine in late February, Biden has played a leading role in marshaling NATO allies and G-7 countries to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin using a combination of economic sanctions and military deterrence.

If he were to visit Europe, Biden would likely visit Brussels, the capital of the European Union and the location of NATO headquarters, NBC News reported.

— Christina Wilkie

The Pentagon is watching whether China supplies arms to Russia as Moscow continues its assault on Ukraine, a senior U.S. Defense official said.

“If China does choose to materially support Russia in this war, there will likely be consequences for China in that regard,” the official said on a call with reporters on Monday.

The official’s comments come as national security advisor Jake Sullivan meets with China’s top diplomat in Rome.

“We have seen China basically give tacit approval to what Russia is doing by refusing to join sanctions by blaming the West and the United States for the assistance we’ve given Ukraine and by claiming they wanted to see a peaceful outcome but essentially doing nothing to achieve it,” the official added.

— Amanda Macias

After 19 days of war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has approximately 90% of its devoted combat power still available for the fight, according to the Pentagon’s latest assessment.

Almost all of Russia’s deployed assets, including armored vehicles and munitions, have survived the conflict, a senior Defense official said on Monday.

“The Russians still have a lot of capability. We would assess their available combat power as just under 90%. So they have an awful lot remaining,” the official said.

The official declined to comment on Ukraine’s combat power.

– Amanda Macias

Russian forces have launched more than 900 missiles since the start of the Ukraine invasion, a senior U.S. Defense official said Monday.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Russian arsenal includes short-range, medium-range, ballistic and cruise missiles.

Since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Pentagon has observed a steady rise in missile launches amid stalled ground movements, the official said.

— Amanda Macias

A large Russian military convoy, widely tracked by satellite imagery, appears to be stalled on its route to Kyiv.

“We still hold that it’s stalled and they have not made any significant progress in unsticking it,” a senior U.S. Defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on a call with reporters on Monday.

The Russian convoy appears to have made little progress for days, according to U.S. assessments. Last week, the official told reporters that “the convoy is not really going anywhere,” when asked about the latest satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies.

It is not immediately clear how many vehicles are in the Russian convoy.

— Amanda Macias

Russian forces did not make significant progress in their advance on Kyiv over the weekend, a senior U.S. Defense official said Monday.

Russian troops are approximately 15 kilometers or 10 miles away from Kyiv’s city center, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to share new details from a Pentagon assessment.

“Almost all of Russia’s advances remain stalled,” the official said, adding that the Pentagon still believes that Russian forces intend to encircle Kyiv.

— Amanda Macias

The United Kingdom’s representative to the United Nations slammed Russia for “tearing up the rule book” during a UN Security Council meeting Monday.

“For decades, the OSCE has worked to bring security to Europe and yet we meet today in the middle of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” said Barbara Woodward, the permanent representative of United Kingdom to the UN, referencing the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

“One OSCE signatory tearing up the rulebook and pursuing war against another,” Woodward added, referencing Russia’s agreement to the security organization.

She urged UN members to hold Russia to account for its carnage in Ukraine.

“Russia is accused of the greatest war crimes. Bombing schools, hospitals and homes, targeting families as they try to run to safety,” she said, adding that the impact from the Kremlin’s war will be felt around the world.

— Amanda Macias

Russia’s war in Ukraine has gone on for 19 days.

Since Russia’s Vladimir Putin invaded his ex-Soviet neighbor last month, the unprovoked carnage has led to the displacement of more than 2.5 million Ukrainians. As desperate Ukrainians flee their homes to neighboring NATO member countries, Russian forces pummel the capital of Kyiv with missiles and artillery.

At least 596 people, including 43 children, have been killed since Russia invaded, the United Nations said.

Here is a look at some of the faces and lives affected by Russia’s horrific war:

Editors Note: Some Images may contain graphic content. (For a full version of this story, click here.)

— Adam Jeffery and Amanda Macias

National security adviser Jake Sullivan is slated to meet with China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, to discuss the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

The high-stakes discussion, which will include officials from the National Security Council and State Department, follows warnings from Washington that Beijing should not alleviate the economic pressure mounting on Moscow.

“The two sides will discuss ongoing efforts to manage the competition between our two countries and discuss the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on regional and global security,” the White House said in a statement Sunday announcing the meeting.

The delegations meet amid reports that Moscow asked Beijing for military support in its invasion of Ukraine, something Beijing denied Monday.

— Amanda Macias

Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company said Monday in a Telegram post that a line to the Chornobyl nuclear power plant was damaged again by Russian forces occupying the site.

A day prior, Ukraine’s atomic energy ministry said power had been restored to Chornobyl after days of repairs to the system.

Chornobyl, the site of a 1986 disaster, was seized by Russian forces on Feb. 24.

— Amanda Macias

“If there was an escalation [of the war in Ukraine] … we could be heading for World War III, with Russia and China posed against the rest of the world,” Jochen Wermuth, co-founder of Wermuth Asset Management and former advisor to the Russian Ministry of Finance, told CNBC on Monday.

Reports emerged on Monday that Russia had asked Beijing for military equipment to help with its invasion of Ukraine. Both countries have denied those reports.

— Chloe Taylor

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine has warned that Russia is continuing to spread disinformation about the U.S. Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP).

The U.S. BTRP has partnered with the government of Ukraine since 2005 to reduce the threats posed by pathogens, which are kept in facilities all over the world for public health research purposes.

In the last week, Russia has accused Ukraine of operating chemical and biological weapons laboratories backed by the U.S. — claims dubbed “outright lies” by the United States.

Many officials have warned that Russia could be inventing a false narrative to create a pretext for using its own biological or chemical weapons against Ukraine.

— Chloe Taylor and Holly Ellyatt

The Kremlin has denied that it asked China for military equipment to help with its invasion of Ukraine, as reported by western media.

“Russia has the potential to conduct an operation in Ukraine, has not asked for assistance from other countries,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said at a regular press briefing on Monday.

“Moscow did not ask Beijing for help to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine,” he added, according to an NBC News translation. “[The reports are] not true that Russia has asked China for military assistance in Ukraine.”

Peskov added that the Kremlin would not announce an expected end date for its so-called “special operation in Ukraine.”

— Chloe Taylor

Kyiv Regional Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said in a televised interview Monday that civilians in frontline towns in the Kyiv region were being successfully evacuated for the fifth consecutive day.

“The cease-fire in our region is holding,” he said, but he added that explosions could be heard in the distance from where he was working.

— Chloe Taylor

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukraine’s president and a participant in talks with Russia, has said the discussions are underway — but noted that negotiating with Moscow is “hard” due to what he described as its oppressive political regime.  

— Chloe Taylor

As of Monday morning, 90 children have been killed in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s “armed aggression,” Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office has said.

More than 100 children have also been injured since the invasion began on Feb. 24, the office said in a statement.

“Most victims were in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zhytomyr regions,” the statement said, according to a translation. It noted that two children had died in attacks on civil infrastructure on Sunday.

Bombing and shelling attacks had damaged 379 educational institutions across Ukraine, the general prosecutor’s office said.

“These figures are not final, given the inability to inspect the sites where the Russian armed forces are conducting active hostilities and in the temporarily occupied territories,” it added.

— Chloe Taylor

China has refuted Western media reports that Russia has asked Beijing to provide it with military equipment to help in its invasion of Ukraine.

Discussing the reports during a regular press briefing Monday, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, accused the U.S. of spreading “very dangerous” disinformation on the war in Ukraine.

“China is hosting a consistent and clear position on the Ukraine issue,” he said. “We have always been playing a constructive role in the peace negotiations and what’s most important is all sides can maintain restraints, mitigate the situation instead of adding fuel to the fire. We need to advance a diplomatic solution of the situation instead of further escalating the situation.”

China, a close ally of Russia, has not joined the coordinated effort to impose sanctions on Moscow, and has so far refused to call Russia’s attack on Ukraine an invasion.

— Chloe Taylor

The fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia, scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Ukraine time (4:30 a.m. ET), will see Ukrainian officials continue to push for an end to hostilities in their country.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukraine’s president and a participant in the talks, said ahead of the “hard discussion” that Ukraine’s objectives were to secure a cease-fire, the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and security guarantees.

— Chloe Taylor

Irish Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Pascal Donohoe has told CNBC that the EU must rise to the challenge of imposing sanctions on Russia.

“We will do so because the costs of not being able to stand by our sanctions, the costs of not increasing our energy independence are far greater both in the medium and long term than any costs that we might confront in the short term,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday.

“So yes, there will be economic impacts as a result of the decisions we are making, but ultimately these impacts are small in the context of the suffering of Ukraine at the moment, and these costs are small in comparison to the costs that the Russian economy is experiencing now as a result of the war that Vladimir Putin is waging.”

— Chloe Taylor

A pregnant woman who was pictured being carried out of a hospital in Mariupol after it was bombed by Russian forces last week has died, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Ukrainian surgeon Timur Marin told AP that the woman was rushed to another hospital after the attack on Wednesday, but doctors were unable to save her or her baby.

The woman was meant to give birth at the hospital in Mariupol.

Ukrainian officials said last week that three people, including a child, had been killed in the bombing of the children’s and maternity hospital.

Russian officials denied their forces targeted civilians by bombing the hospital, despite photo evidence showing women being carried from the hospital after the missile strike.

— Chloe Taylor

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took to Twitter Monday morning with a message “to those abroad scared of being ‘dragged into WWIII.'”

— Chloe Taylor

The U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update on Monday that “indiscriminate Russian shelling and air attacks are causing widespread destruction.”

British officials noted that the U.N. had already reported 1,663 civilian casualties in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.

“As with previous such estimates, the true figures are likely to be significantly higher and will continue to climb as long as Russian operations continue,” the ministry’s update added.

The update also said that more than 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees had been forced to flee their homes as a result of the invasion.

— Chloe Taylor

An attack on an apartment building in Kyiv’s Obolon district has killed two people and hospitalized three, Ukraine’s State Emergency Services said Monday morning.

The SES said on Telegram that an “unknown object” hit the residential building, with two people dying in the resulting fire. The organization added that the search for survivors continues.

Talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Monday morning, according to Ukrainian lawmaker David Arakhamia.

“Negotiations with Russia will take place this morning via video link,” he said in a statement posted to Telegram by Interior Ministry Advisor Anton Geraschenko.

The talks are due to begin at 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET).

Last week, talks between Russia and Ukraine’s foreign ministers failed to make progress on establishing a cease-fire agreement, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at the time.

— Chloe Taylor

Ukraine’s Air Force Command claims it downed eight Russian military aircraft on Sunday, including four fixed-wing aircraft.

The command said on Facebook that it used anti-aircraft missiles to take down four planes, three helicopters and an unmanned aerial vehicle during an attack by Russian forces in the Kyiv region.

CNBC was unable to independently verify Ukraine’s claim, which it made late Sunday. NBC News reported that air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv on Sunday morning.

Separately on Sunday, Russian missiles pounded a Ukraine military base near Lviv, only 20 miles (33 km) from the border with NATO nation Poland.

Ukraine officials said 35 people were killed and 135 injured in the Lviv attack.

Russian aircraft are flying 200 sorties a day, but mostly firing missiles from within Russian airspace rather than risking flights over Ukraine, according to a Friday report from military and security news site Defense One.

— Ted Kemp