The European Union on Thursday added Russia's Wagner mercenary group to its sanctions list for "actively participating in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine" as US authorities made an arrest in connection with the leak of confidential documents. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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10:20pm: Ukrainian PM says critical to start reconstruction in 2023
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Thursday said it was critically important for Ukraine to begin reconstruction this year, and said Kyiv had identified a priority funding gap of $14 billion needed this year.
Shmyhal, speaking alongside US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, welcomed the "continuous, ironclad and unprecedented support" of the United States as his country fights Russia's invasion, and underscored Ukraine's commitment to battling corruption.
Yellen, who paid a surprise visit to Kyiv in February, told Shmyhal she had seen "first-hand the bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian military and people," recounting a visit to a school damaged by Russian attacks where community members were making trench candles to send to the front lines.
10:04pm: Russian politician appeals condemnation for watching Putin speech with pasta on ears
A Russian politician who was fined for posting a video of himself listening to President Vladimir Putin's address to the nation with pasta hanging from his ears will appeal the decision in court this month. The Russian expression "to hang noodles on someone's ears" means to tell lies to someone.
Mikhail Abdalkin, a communist lawmaker of the central Samara region, was fined 150,000 rubles (1,600 euros) in March, when he was found guilty of "discrediting" the Russian army and the authorities. Abdalkin has called the court verdict "illegal and politically motivated." On Wednesday, Abdalkin said his appeal will be heard in a court in Samara on April 27.
He had posted a video of himself watching Putin's speech with pasta dangling from his ears in February. In the video, Abdalkin nodded and looked serious as Putin railed against "centuries of colonialism, diktat and hegemony" by the West - rhetoric the Russian leader often uses to justify his Ukraine offensive.
9:06pm: US arrests suspect in connection with leaked documents
US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Thursday an arrest had been made "in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information".
FBI agents on Thursday arrested a young national guardsman suspected of being behind a major leak of sensitive US government secrets, including about the Ukraine war. Investigators believe that theguardsman, who specialises in intelligence, led an online chat group where the documents were posted.
8:40pm: EU sanctions Russia’s Wagner group for activities in Ukraine
The European Union on Thursday added Russia's Wagner mercenary group to its sanctions list for "actively participating in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine" and "for actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine", making it the second time the group was sanctioned by the EU.
Wagner, which is leading Russian battles to try to capture the Ukrainian towns of Bakhmut and Soledar, had already been placed on another EU sanctions list in February for violating human rights and "destabilising" countries in Africa.
That Wagner is twice-listed "underscores the international dimension and gravity of the group's activities, as well as its destabilising impact on the countries where it is active," the EU council said in a statement.
6:50pm: Serbia’s president denies sales of military equipment to Ukraine
Serbia never sold weapons or ammunition to Ukraine or Russia, although Serbian arms might have reached the battlefield via third countries, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday. Belgrade is Russia’s traditional ally.
He spoke a day after Reuters reported that according to a classified Pentagon document, Belgrade had agreed to supply arms to Kyiv, which is fighting a Russian invasion, or sent them already. Reuters could not independently verify the documents' authenticity.
"Serbia has not and will not export weapons to Ukraine," Vucic told reporters, adding that it equally "has not and will not" export arms or ammunition to Russia, its traditional ally. "There's no document that can prove that," he said.
5:15pm: Germany allows Poland to export old MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine
Germany has approved Poland's request to export five old MiG-29 fighter jets to bolster Ukraine's air power against the Russian invasion, the German defence ministry said on Thursday. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the request had arrived Thursday, and that Berlin's same-day approval showed that Germany could be relied upon.
Poland's defence ministry did not immediately comment.
Germany inherited 24 MiG-29 jets from the East German GDR during reunification in 1990. At the time, the aircraft were seen as among the most advanced fighter jets in the world. In 2004, Berlin passed on 22 of the aircraft to Poland. Poland needs Berlin's consent to send its remaining jets to a third country.
5:05pm: Russia identifies Ukrainian suspect in killing of war blogger in St Petersburg
Russia's top security agency accused on Thursday a Ukrainian man of involvement in a bombing that killed a prominent Russian blogger at a St. Petersburg café.
According to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), an Ukrainian citizen identified as Yuriy Denysov supplied a St Petersburg resident with explosives that killed on April 2 Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, an ardent supporter of the war in Ukraine who filed regular reports on the fighting from the front lines, as he led a discussion at a riverside cafe in the historic heart of Russia’s second-largest city. The bombing injured 50 other people.
>> Read more: St Petersburg café killing exposes Russia’s security woes
A 26-year-old St. Petersburg resident, Darya Trepova, who was seen on video presenting Tatarsky with a statuette moments before the blast, was quickly arrested. According to Russian media reports, Trepova told investigators she was asked to deliver the statuette but didn’t know what was inside it.
The security agency claimed that Denysov left Russia the day after the bombing, after acting on orders from the Ukrainian security services. Russian authorities described the bombing as an act of terrorism. Ukrainian authorities have not directly responded to the accusation, but an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the bombing was part of Russia’s internal turmoil.
3:09pm: Ukrainian army denies forces are cut off in Bakhmut, confirms delivery of 'provisions, ammunition, and medicines'
A Ukrainian army spokesman on Thursday rejected Moscow's claims of "blocking" Kyiv's forces from getting in or out of the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut.
"This does not correspond to reality," Sergiy Cherevaty, spokesman for Ukraine's eastern forces told AFP, referring to Russia's claims. He said Ukrainian forces were able to "deliver provisions, ammunition, and medicines" and take out wounded troops.
2:30pm: Wagner chief says 'too early' to say Russian forces surrounded Bakhmut
Russian paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Thursday said it was premature to say Russia encircled Bakhmut, shortly after the conventional army said it had blocked Ukrainian forces inside the city.
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to deploy reserves and transfer them," Prigozhin's press office said on social media, "the hardest bloodiest battles are going on, so it's too early to talk about the complete encirclement of Bakhmut".
2:10pm: Russia claims Ukraine forces cut off inside Bakhmut
Moscow says Russian troops are "blocking" Ukrainian forces from getting in or out of the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut.
"Airborne troops are providing support to advancing assault troops, blocking the transfer of Ukrainian army reserves to the city and the possibility of retreat for enemy units," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the Russian claim.
1:25pm: Russia to probe video showing alleged beheading of Ukrainian soldier
The Russian General Prosecutor's office says it has opened an investigation into a video showing the alleged beheading of a Ukrainian soldier.
"In order to assess the credibility of these materials and make an appropriate decision, they have been forwarded to the investigative authorities for verification," it said.
The video shows apparent Russian soldiers filming themselves beheading a Ukrainian captive with a knife. The Kremlin said on Wednesday the video, which has circulated on social media, was "awful" and that its authenticity needed to be checked.
Its reaction stood in contrast with past accusations of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers, said FRANCE 24's Ukraine correspondent Gulliver Cragg, noting that, "normaly, they (Russian officials) say right away it is a fake".
12:20pm: Norway declares 15 Russian embassy officials unwanted
Norway's foreign ministry says it has declared 15 Russian embassy officials in Oslo as "unwanted", adding that they were intelligence officers operating under the cover of diplomatic positions.
"The government's decision is in response to the changed security situation in Europe, which has led to an increased intelligence threat from Russia," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The Russian embassy in Oslo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
12:15pm: Kyiv calls for stronger NATO presence in Black Sea
NATO should play a bigger role in security in the Black Sea, and integrate Ukrainian air and missile defences with those of its allies, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba has said.
"The Black Sea is instrumental for making the whole of Europe peaceful and future-oriented," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba, speaking via video link, told a Black Sea security conference in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
"Sadly, it is also a showcase of how rapidly things can deteriorate if one neglects threats. It's time to turn Black Sea into what the Baltic Sea has become, a sea of NATO," he added.
The Black Sea and its Ukrainian coast have been crucial theatres of war since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year.
Responding to Kuleba's comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Black Sea would never be a "NATO sea".
11:30am: Ukraine's Naftogaz says Russia told to pay $5 billion for seizing Crimea assets
Ukraine's state-owned gas company Naftogaz says Moscow has been ordered by an arbitration court in The Hague to pay $5 billion in compensation for unlawfully expropriating its assets in Russian-annexed Crimea in 2014.
Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov described Wednesday's ruling by The Hague's Arbitration Tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration as a "key victory on the energy front" and said he expected more decisions in Ukraine's favour to come.
"Despite Russia's attempts to obstruct justice, the Arbitration Tribunal ordered Russia to compensate Naftogaz for losses of $5 billion," Naftogaz said. "Russia must now comply with this decision in accordance with its obligations under international law," it said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Russia's Gazprom on the ruling.
9:15am: Russian father of girl who drew anti-war pictures 'extradited' from Belarus
Alexei Moskalyov, a Russian man who was jailed for "discrediting the Russian army" after his daughter Masha drew anti-war pictures at school has been extradited from Belarus to Russia, state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing a Belarusian official.
9:05am: Ukraine's GDP fell 29.1% in 2022
Ukraine's gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 29.1% in 2022 as Russia's full-scale invasion battered the economy, the state statistics service has said.
Russia's invasion has killed tens of thousands, uprooted millions, damaged heavy industry, the power grid and the agriculture sector, and resulted in the loss of swathes of land in the south and east. Ukraine now has only highly restricted access to the Black Sea ports that are vital for grain and metals exports, the mainstays of Ukraine's export-led economy.
The economy ministry said earlier this year that exports had fallen 35% in 2022 from the year before, and that physical volumes were down 38.4%. Ukraine's grain crop fell to 53 million tonnes in 2022 from a record 86 million tonnes in 2021 due to the invasion.
Another key part of economy, the metals sector, reduced steel production by almost 71% after several leading plants were destroyed or occupied.
6:30am: US, Ukraine say many war secrets safe from intel leaks
Ukraine's leaders say they don’t see a major US intelligence leak as gravely damaging future offensives. A key reason: They have long held back on sharing their most sensitive operational information, doubting Washington's ability to keep their secrets safe.
Ukrainian and US officials said this week that only Ukrainians know some battle plans and other operational information, not the Americans, their most important ally. That means the leak of secret military documents, including some assessing Ukraine’s battlefield strengths and weaknesses against Russia, may not have been enough – so far – to change the course of the war.
“If military operations are planned, then only a very narrow circle of people know about the planning of the special operation,” Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Wednesday on Ukrainian television. “The risk of leaks is very minimal” for the most important war matters.
Meanwhile, Russia is making clear that it is avidly studying each spilled secret. “Quite interesting,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the leaks.
3:15am: Leaker of US intelligence is gun enthusiast in his 20s, says Washington Post
The person who leaked US classified documents prompting a national security investigation is a gun enthusiast in his 20s who worked on a military base, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing fellow members of an online chat group.
The person shared classified information to a group on the instant messaging platform Discord of about two dozen men and young boys who shared a "mutual love of guns, military gear and God", the Post said.
The Post based its report, which did not name the person, on interviews with two members of the Discord chat group. Discord said in a statement earlier on Wednesday that it was cooperating with law enforcement.
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Key developments from Wednesday, April 13:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday denounced Russian "beasts" after a video surfaced on social media purporting to show the decapitation of a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
The grisly footage, which prompted outrage and condemnation from UN and EU officials, came as Washington reaffirmed its confidence in Ukraine's military "capability" after a leaked trove of highly sensitive documents appeared online.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's military rejected as untrue a Russian claim to have captured more than 80% of the eastern battleground city of Bakhmut, claiming that Kyiv's forces controlled "considerably" more than a fifth of the war-ravaged city.
>> Read our live blog for all of yesterday’s developments as they unfolded
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)
