The Cipher Brief Open Source Report for Wednesday, February 22, 2023

The Cipher Brief Open Source Report

In today’s report we’ve got a number of stories related to the Ukraine war, President Biden’s ongoing visit to Poland and Russian activities in the area. We’re following news that Russia conducted a failed ICBM test during the time that Biden was in Ukraine. This comes as China’s top diplomat Wang Yi is in Russia for a visit where he underscored that relations between Russian and China are ‘rock solid’, a sentiment echoed by Vladimir Putin who added that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia in the near future. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says his forces are holding their defensive positions in the face of constant Russian attempts to break thru, attempts that Zelenskiy says are resulting in ‘staggering’ losses for the Russian military. The Netherlands and Belgium say they are tracking a Russian spy ship in their waters, while further east, Australian and US officials announce plans to begin joint maritime patrol operations with the Philippines. This comes less than two weeks since the latest incident involving a Philippine Coast Guard Vessel and a Chinese Maritime Vessel. There is a lot packed into today’s full report. Let’s dive in now on a few of the major stories.