For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit
.
Russia's FSB security service said Thursday it opened a criminal case against a U.S. citizen suspected of espionage, as ties between Moscow and Washington disintegrate further over the Kremlin's nearly yearlong Ukraine offensive.
"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation initiated a criminal case against a US citizen on the grounds of a crime under the 276 'Espionage' Article of the Criminal Code," the FSB said.
"The American is suspected of collecting intelligence information in the biological sphere, directed against the security of the Russian Federation," it added, without any further details.
In Washington, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the United States had not confirmed the case and was seeking more information.
"Generally, the Russian Federation does not abide by its obligations to provide timely notification of the detention of US citizens," Patel told reporters. "We're looking into this matter and will continue to monitor," he said.
Several Americans are currently in detention in Russia and both countries accuse each other of political arrests.
The Russian army has launched a "local offensive" near the town of Orikhiv in southern Ukraine, where the front has been largely stagnant for months, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a Russian-installed official Thursday.
"Our troops have gone into a local offensive around Orikhiv," the head of Moscow's installed authorities in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov said, according to Russian state media.
The Kremlin has claimed it annexed the Zaporizhzhia region, and three other Ukrainian regions, despite not controlling them entirely.
The front in southern Ukraine has been largely frozen since Moscow withdrew from the major city of Kherson in November.
The Ukrainian army did not mention Orikhiv in its daily report on Thursday.
EU chief Charles Michel on Thursday said that tanks "must be delivered" to Ukraine as he visited the war-torn country, Agence France-Presse reported.
Michel traveled to Kyiv on the eve of a major meeting at the U.S. military base of Ramstein in Germany to discuss military aid to Ukraine on Friday.
"I firmly believe that tanks must be delivered," Michel tweeted after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"We want to support you because we are aware that the next few weeks may be decisive for what comes next," he wrote.
Zelenskyy for his part called his talks with Michel "meaningful."
"Ukraine and the European Union have already achieved significant results in our historic rapprochement," he tweeted. "We are working to achieve even more."
The Netherlands is finalizing plans to provide Patriot air missile defense systems to Ukraine with Germany and the United States and will announce further military support to Kyiv on Friday, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Dozens of Ukraine's allies meet on Friday at a U.S. army base in Ramstein, Germany, with billions of dollars in new weapons to be pledged.
"We are joining the United States, Germany in their project to provide Patriots to Ukraine," Ollongren told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "We are working out details and will provide details in Ramstein."
When asked whether that meant the Netherlands would provide spare parts, missiles or the system, she said the details were still being debated.
"What they need right now in this phase of the war is weapons to push the Russians back from the invaded parts of the country and more air defense because these attacks are still going on," she said.
A major question mark remains on whether German-made Leopard battle tanks, which are held by an array of NATO nations but whose transfer to Ukraine requires Germany's approval, will be on the table tomorrow. Germany has so far held back.
CIA Director William Burns visited Kyiv last week to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, The Associated Press reported Thursday, citing a U.S. official.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the director's classified schedule, said Burns emphasized Washington's "continued support for Ukraine" in the war. Burns also met with Ukrainian intelligence officials.
The CIA director has briefed Zelenskyy repeatedly before and since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last February, passing on U.S. intelligence findings about Moscow's war plans and intentions.