Closing summary
It’s almost 9pm in Ukraine. Here’s where we stand:
At least five people were killed and 17 wounded on Friday by a Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the regional governor said. Pavlo Kyrylenko said that seven more people remained under the rubble after S-300 missiles damaged five apartment buildings and five private buildings, among others. Sloviansk is one of two eastern cities coveted by Russian forces, currently bogged down in nearby Bakhmut, as they push ahead with their invasion of Ukraine.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has claimed in its daily intelligence briefing that Ukrainian troops have been forced to make “orderly withdrawals” from positions they previously held in the highly contested town of Bakhmut, and that the last two days have seen an intense artillery bombardment from Russian forces.
A Russian Su-35 aircraft carried out airstrikes on the settlement of Orihiv in the Zaporizhzhia region, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office said on Friday. In a post on Telegram, Andriy Yermak said private houses and the building of the DYSSH were damaged.
Ukraine will “test and use” any non-banned weapons to liberate its territory, including Russian-occupied Crimea, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council has said.
Rishi Sunak denounced a video purporting to show the beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner of war and said those responsible should be brought to book. Downing Street said the UK prime minister told Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a call on Friday that the footage was “abhorrent”. Sunak also “discussed efforts to accelerate military support to Ukraine”.
Ukraine’s security service has issued a warning to the millions of people in the country celebrating Orthodox Easter this weekend, Sky News reported. Ukrainians are asked to “limit the attendance of mass events” and avoid lingering “unnecessarily” in temples during the traditional blessing of the Easter basket.
Ukraine retrieved the bodies of 82 of its soldiers from Russian-controlled territory on Friday, a government ministry said. The ministry of reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories gave no details about how it retrieved the bodies, Reuters reports, but said it was carried out “in accordance with the norms of the Geneva convention”.
Jack Teixeira has been detained pending a detention hearing that is set for Wednesday 19 April. The member of the US air force national guard has been charged with the unauthorised removal and retention of classified documents and materials. The 21-year-old made his first appearance in a Boston federal court today after the FBI arrested him in Massachusetts on Thursday.
China approved the provision of lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine but wanted any shipments to remain a secret, according to leaked US government documents. A top-secret intelligence summary dated 23 February states that Beijing had approved the incremental provision of weapons to Moscow, which it would disguise as civilian items, according to a report in the Washington Post.
China’s foreign minister on Friday said the country would not sell weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine and would regulate the export of items with dual civilian and military use. Qin Gang was speaking at a news conference with his visiting German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock. He reiterated China’s willingness to help facilitate negotiations to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict and said all parties should remain “objective and calm”. Baerbock urged China to step up to exert its influence on Russia over Ukraine. She said Germany wanted “China to influence Russia to stop its aggression”.
Ukrainian forces are finding a growing number of components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, a senior adviser in Zelenskiy’s office told Reuters on Friday.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has written to Russia, Ukraine and Turkey raising concerns about recent impediments to the Black Sea grain export deal. The move comes after the UN said no ships were inspected on Tuesday under the deal “as the parties needed more time to reach an agreement on operational priorities”.
The US secretary of defence will meet with his counterparts in Sweden and Germany next week, including hosting a Ukraine-related defence meeting with top officials from almost 50 countries, the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday.
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition politician, has been grappling with severe stomach pain in jail that could be the result of slow-acting poison, a close ally said on Friday. “His situation is critical. We are all very concerned,” Ruslan Shaveddinov said in a phone interview.
Russia has put its Pacific naval fleet on high alert as part of a surprise inspection aimed at building its defensive capabilities. The defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said: “The main objective of this inspection is to increase the ability of the armed forces to repel the aggression of a probable enemy from the direction of ocean and sea.”
Finland’s embassy in Moscow has contacted the Russian foreign ministry after it received a letter containing powder.
The 15 Russian diplomats expelled by Norway this week had sought to recruit sources, conduct so-called signal intelligence and buy advanced technology, the Norwegian security police said on Friday.
Ukraine has barred its national sports teams from competing in Olympic, non-Olympic and Paralympic events that include competitors from Russia and Belarus, the sports ministry said. The decision published in a decree on Friday, criticised by some Ukrainian athletes, comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) angered Kyiv by paving the way for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
China’s defence minister, Li Shangfu, will visit Russia from 16 to 19 April, and meet Russian military officials.
Updated
The Russian missile that struck the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk on Friday killed at least five people and wounded 17, officials have said, increasing the number of wounded from an initially reported 15.
Ukraine’s National Police, in a post on Telegram, put the death toll at five after S-300 missiles damaged 10 apartment buildings and other sites.
A two-year-old boy, among those pulled from rubble after the shelling in Sloviansk earlier today, later died in an ambulance, according to Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska.
Updated
Editorial: the Guardian view on the Pentagon leaks
There must always be a place for necessary whistleblowing from inside governments. This newspaper will always stand, responsibly, for that principle. Yet leaks are also serious matters, which challenge a state. In a particularly serious case, or at a particularly serious time, such as during a war, a leak can help an enemy, dismay allies, weaken morale and, at least potentially, change the military balance and put lives at risk.
The leak of highly classified US intelligence documents covering plans to aid Ukraine’s war against Russia is unquestionably grave, both in its content and context. In Ukraine, Nato is in the midst of by far its most serious conflict for a generation. The inherent seriousness of the leaks is enhanced by other factors, including the details and numbers they contained, the breadth of the secrets’ online distribution, including to potential enemies, the length of time they were accessible, and the likelihood that the material becomes part of a disinformation campaign.
Updated
A two-year-old boy who was pulled from rubble after the shelling in Sloviansk earlier today later died in an ambulance, according to Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska.
“My condolences to the family,” she wrote on Twitter. “Every child is a small universe for their loved ones.”
A two-year-old boy who was pulled out of the rubble after the shelling of Sloviansk unfortunately died in an ambulance. My condolences to the family...
— Олена Зеленська (@ZelenskaUA) April 14, 2023
Every child is a small universe for their loved ones. Losing one is an indescribable grief. I feel this pain with you today...
At least five people were killed and 15 wounded on Friday by a Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the regional governor said on Friday.
Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram that seven more people remained under the rubble after S-300 missiles damaged five blocks of flats and five private buildings.
Updated
Brazil has reset its diplomatic ties with China, its largest trading partner, with a state visit on Friday where their leaders agreed to boost investments and cooperation on technology and sustainable development while urging peace talks in Ukraine.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and several of his ministers signed the accords with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, and other officials in Beijing, Reuters reports.
Xi said China had made relations with Brazil a diplomatic priority and that the two countries should deepen practical cooperation in sectors including agriculture, energy and infrastructure construction, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
“We have an extraordinary relationship with China, a relationship that every day gets more acute and stronger,” Lula said before his meeting with Xi.
He said that Brazil and China needed to work together so that their relationship was not merely one of commercial interest.
The two leaders agreed that dialogue and negotiation were the “only feasible way” to resolve the war in Ukraine, according to a joint statement. They called on other countries to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement between Ukraine and Russia.
Updated
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has written to Russia, Ukraine and Turkey raising concerns about recent impediments to the Black Sea grain export deal, Reuters reports a UN spokesperson saying on Friday.
The move comes after the UN said no ships were inspected on Tuesday under the deal “as the parties needed more time to reach an agreement on operational priorities”.
Inspections resumed on Wednesday.
Updated
Eight Leopard 2 battle tanks promised by Canada to help Ukraine have arrived in neighbouring Poland, the Canadian defence minister, Anita Anand, said on Friday.
Ottawa had announced in February it would double the number of tanks pledged to Kyiv the month before. The German-made 55,000kg tanks are the backbone of and among the most advanced in the Canadian military’s arsenal.
“All eight Leopard 2 battle tanks promised by Canada for Ukraine have now arrived in Poland,” she tweeted.
✳️ It’s official: All eight Leopard 2 battle tanks promised by Canada for Ukraine have now arrived in Poland.
— Anita Anand (@AnitaAnandMP) April 14, 2023
We’ll continue to #StandWithUkraine, and to provide Ukrainians with the tools that they need to fight and win this war. pic.twitter.com/23OCHILzbW
Germany and Britain last month delivered to Ukraine 18 advanced Leopards and 14 Challenger 2 tanks, respectively, that are ready to deploy to the frontline after Ukrainian troops finished training on them.
Spain also pledged to send six Leopards. The US for its part has pledged 31 Abrams tanks but said they cannot deliver them before the autumn.
Updated
At least five killed and 15 wounded in Sloviansk strikes
At least five people were killed and 15 wounded on Friday by a Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the regional governor said.
Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram that seven more people remained under the rubble after S-300 missiles damaged five apartment buildings and five private buildings, among other objects.
“The evil state once again demonstrates its essence,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote in a separate post accompanied by footage of a damaged building. “Just killing people in broad daylight. Ruining, destroying all life.”
Kyrylenko said rescuers, paramedics and police were working on the scene.
Sloviansk is one of two eastern cities coveted by Russian forces, currently bogged down in nearby Bakhmut, as they push ahead with their invasion of Ukraine.
Updated
Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Ukraine:
Updated
Finland is building the first stretch of a fence on its border with Russia on Friday, less than two weeks after it joined the Nato military alliance to complete a security U-turn taken in response to the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Fearing retaliation from the east following its Nato application, the government decided last year to construct the barrier, primarily in case Russia moved to flood the border with migrants.
Made of steel mesh, the Finnish fence is scheduled to cover some 200 kilometres (125 miles) of the most critical parts of its border by the end of 2026. Project manager Ismo Kurki said on Friday that, while it is not intended to stop any invasion attempt, the fence will have surveillance equipment.
Meanwhile, there has so far been little human activity along the border, which stretches to 1,300km in all.
Last year, Finland detected only 30 illegal crossings there, while Russian border guards stopped some 800 attempts to enter Finland, the Finnish Border Guard said.
“The situation at the Finnish-Russian border has been stable and is stable at the moment,” said Border Guard Brig Gen Jari Tolppanen, as one of his teams worked on the first 3km stage of the fence at Imatra, about 250km north-east of Helsinki.
“But in this totally changed (security) situation, Finland must have more credible and more independent border control. And Finland needs to be less dependent on the Russian border control,” he added.
Poland and the Baltic states have already begun erecting fences on their borders with Russia and Belarus following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Until now, the Finnish-Russian border has been a mere line in the vast forests covering the area, marked only by a low wire fence intended to stop cattle and other domestic animals but not people.
The new fence will be 3 metres (10ft) high, topped with razor wire and tracked by a road, and cost an estimated €380m (£335m).
Updated
Jack Teixeira allegedly began posting classified information to a Discord server as early as December 2022, according to court documents.
According to an FBI interview with another user on the platform (identified as User 1 in the complaint), Teixeira initially posted government information as “paragraphs of text”.
Then, in or around January 2023, he allegedly began posting photographs of the documents which “contained what appeared to be classification markings on official US government documents”, said the court complaint.
Read more on our Pentagon Leaks live blog here:
Updated
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition politician, has been grappling with severe stomach pain in jail that could be the result of slow-acting poison, a close ally said on Friday.
Ruslan Shaveddinov said an ambulance was called last week to the maximum security IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 155 miles east of Moscow, where he is being held.
“His situation is critical, we are all very concerned,” Shaveddinov said in a phone interview.
“We understand that the situation must have been very bad if an ambulance was called,” he said, adding that prison authorities refused to have Navalny admitted to hospital.
Updated
A pensioner who allegedly sent letter bombs to Spain’s prime minister and the Ukrainian embassy has been released on bail, a Spanish court said on Friday.
The 74-year-old is accused of having sent six letter bombs to targets including Spanish ministers and embassies to push Madrid into halting support for Kyiv in the fight against Russia’s invasion, AFP reports.
The homemade devices were sent in late November and early December to Spain’s prime minister and defence minister, the Ukrainian and US embassies, the EU satellite centre near Madrid and a Spanish arms manufacturer in the north-eastern city of Zaragoza.
Nobody was killed by the devices but a Ukrainian embassy staffer sustained light injuries while opening one of the packages. The pensioner was arrested in January and placed in pre-trial detention on the grounds that he could flee to “Russian territory”.
But Judge Jose Luis Calama of Spain’s top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, said on Friday that the man had been granted bail pending trial.
The judge ordered him to follow a list of bail conditions, including reporting to a court near his home every week and surrendering his travel documents so he can’t leave Spain.
In his ruling, the judge said there was no longer a risk that the suspect could destroy evidence and there was no evidence that he would repeat the crimes he was accused of. If convicted, the suspect could face up to 20 years in jail on terror offences.
Updated
A court in Albania decided on Friday not to extradite a Russian self-proclaimed blogger arrested last August on spying charges, who faces similar charges in Moscow, Reuters reports.
Svetlana Timofeeva, 34, was arrested with another Russian and a Ukrainian in August 2022 on charges of entering a former military factory 50 miles from the capital, Tirana.
Timofeeva has denied charges of espionage by Albanian prosecutors, saying her only desire in entering the former military base was to film abandoned buildings from the cold war era, and that there was no sign to suggest trespassing was forbidden.
Updated
Jack Teixeira has been detained pending a detention hearing which is set for Wednesday 19 April, the US attorney’s office in the district of Massachusetts has said.
The member of the US air force national guard has been charged with the unauthorised removal and retention of classified documents and materials.
The 21-year-old is making his first appearance in a Boston federal court today after the FBI arrested him in Massachusetts on Thursday. The judge has said Teixeira qualified for a public defender.
Updated
Suspilne reports that a man has been injured after an attack in the Chernihiv region. The state broadcaster posted to its official Telegram channel:
Around 4pm local time Russian troops hit an industrial enterprise near the border of Chernihiv oblast with guided aerial bombs. Buildings were damaged as a result of the impact. One worker was injured.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Ukraine will receive 19 French-made Caesar howitzer artillery systems within the coming weeks, the Danish defence ministry said in a statement on Friday, Reuters reports.
Denmark’s government in January announced it would donate the artillery weapons after Kyiv had asked Copenhagen to supply them.
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, has posted an update to its Telegram channel, writing:
Residents of Slovyansk, Kramatorsk and Kostyantynivka heard a series of explosions, correspondents report.
All three locations are in the Donetsk oblast, to the west of the fiercely contested town of Bakhmut.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Ukraine:
British PM Sunak discussed 'efforts to accelerate military support' in Zelenskiy call
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has “discussed efforts to accelerate military support to Ukraine” and called for those responsible for “the abhorrent beheading of a Ukrainian soldier” to be held to account during a phone conversation with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
In a readout of the call, the UK government said:
The leaders discussed the latest situation on the battlefield and the prime minister paid tribute to the efforts of the Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut.
Discussing the abhorrent beheading of a Ukrainian soldier shown on social media in recent days, the prime minister said the video was appalling and those responsible had to be held to account.
The leaders also discussed efforts to accelerate military support to Ukraine, and the prime minister said the UK and its allies needed to continue to ensure Ukraine was in the strongest possible position to build on its recent battlefield successes.
That included increasing interoperability with Nato both in the short and long term, the prime minister added.
Earlier Zelenskiy in a tweet thanked Sunak for “condemning the inhumane execution”.
Updated
The war in Ukraine has gutted Russia’s clandestine forces, and it will take Moscow years to rebuild them, according to classified US assessments seen by the Washington Post.
The finding, which the paper says has not been previously reported, is among a cache of sensitive materials leaked online through the messaging platform Discord. Alex Horton writes:
Typically, spetsnaz personnel are assigned the sorts of stealthy, high-risk missions – including an apparent order to capture Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy – for which they receive some of the Russian military’s most advanced training. But when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion last year, senior commanders eager to seize momentum and skeptical of their conventional fighters’ prowess deviated from the norm, ordering elite forces into direct combat, according to US intelligence findings and independent analysts who have closely followed spetsnaz deployments.
The rapid depletion of Russia’s commando units, observers say, shifted the war’s dynamic from the outset, severely limiting Moscow’s ability to employ clandestine tactics in support of conventional combat operations. US officials believe that the staggering casualties these units have sustained will render them less effective, not only in Ukraine but also in other parts of the world where Russian forces operate, according to the assessments, which range in date from late 2022 to earlier this year.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has claimed in its daily intelligence briefing that Ukrainian troops have been forced to make ‘orderly withdrawals’ from positions they previously held in the highly contested town of Bakhmut, and that the last two days have seen an intense artillery bombardment from Russian forces.
A Russian Su-35 aircraft carried out airstrikes on the settlement of Orihiv in the Zaporizhzhia region, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office said on Friday. In a post on Telegram, Andriy Yermak said private houses and the building of the DYSSH were damaged.
Ukraine will “test and use” any non-banned weapons to liberate its territory, including Russian-occupied Crimea, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council has said.
Rishi Sunak denounced a video on Friday purporting to show the beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner of war and said those responsible should be brought to book. Downing Street said the UK prime minister told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call that the footage was “abhorrent”.
Ukraine’s security service has issued a warning to the millions of people in the country celebrating Orthodox Easter this weekend, Sky News reported. Ukrainians are asked to “limit the attendance of mass events” and avoid lingering “unnecessarily” in temples during the traditional blessing of the Easter basket.
Ukraine has retrieved the bodies of 82 of its soldiers from Russian-controlled territory on Friday, a government ministry said. The Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories gave no details about how it retrieved the bodies, Reuters reports, but said it was carried out “in accordance with the norms of the Geneva Convention”.
The FBI on Thursday arrested a 21-year-old air national guardsman in Massachusetts suspected of being responsible for the leak of US classified defence documents that laid bare military secrets in Ukraine and upset Washington’s relations with key allies. Jack Teixeira could be facing charges under the Espionage Act. Each charge under the act can carry an up to 10-year prison term, and prosecutors could treat each leaked document as a separate count in his indictment.
China approved the provision of lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine but wanted any shipments to remain a secret, according to leaked US government documents. A top-secret intelligence summary dated 23 February states that Beijing had approved the incremental provision of weapons to Moscow, which it would disguise as civilian items, according to a report in the Washington Post.
China’s foreign minister on Friday said the country would not sell weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine and would regulate the export of items with dual civilian and military use. Qin Gang was speaking at a news conference with his visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, and he reiterated China’s willingness to help facilitate negotiations to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict and said all parties should remain “objective and calm”. Baerbock urged China to step up to exert its influence on Russia over Ukraine during a trip to Beijing. She said Germany wanted “China to influence Russia to stop its aggression”.
Ukrainian forces are finding a growing number of components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office told Reuters on Friday.
The US secretary of defence will meet with his counterparts in Sweden and Germany next week, including hosting a Ukraine-related defence meeting with top officials from nearly 50 countries, the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday.
Russia has put its Pacific naval fleet on high alert as part of a surprise inspection aimed at building its defensive capabilities. Defence minister Sergei Shoigu saying “The main objective of this inspection is to increase the ability of the armed forces to repel the aggression of a probable enemy from the direction of ocean and sea.”
Finland’s embassy in Moscow has contacted the Russian foreign ministry after it received a letter containing powder.
The 15 Russian diplomats expelled by Norway this week had sought to recruit sources, conduct so-called signal intelligence and to buy advanced technology, the Norwegian security police said on Friday.
Ukraine has barred its national sports teams from competing in Olympic, non-Olympic and Paralympic events that include competitors from Russia and Belarus, the sports ministry said. The decision published in a decree on Friday, criticised by some Ukrainian athletes, comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) angered Kyiv by paving the way for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
China’s defence minister, Li Shangfu, will visit Russia from 16 to 19 April, and meet Russian military officials.
Zelenskiy has tweeted about his call with Rishi Sunak on Friday in which he says they discussed defence needs, increased support and the “inhumane execution” of a Ukrainian soldier.
Had a phone talk with 🇬🇧 Prime Minister @RishiSunak. Discussed the situation at the front, our defense needs, increased support & planned intl events. I thanked him for condemning the inhumane execution of a 🇺🇦 soldier. Together we must stop the aggressor & put an end to terror!
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 14, 2023
Updated
Ukrainian forces are finding a growing number of components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office told Reuters, as western supplies are squeezed by sanctions.
In “the weapons recovered from the battlefield we continue to find different electronics,” said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, who advises the president’s chief of staff on sanctions policy.
“We’re picking [up] a lot of different stuff, China-made,” Vlasiuk said.
China has repeatedly denied sending military equipment to Russia since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The assault triggered western sanctions, including on sending military and dual-use technology such as microchips that could be used in either ordinary appliances or weapons.
Intelligence gathered by Ukrainian experts from the battlefield and shared with Reuters stated that Chinese-made components were found in a navigation system in Orlan aerial drones that had previously used a Swiss system.
The experts also reported finding Chinese parts in the fire control system in Russian tanks that had earlier used French-made parts.
Reuters could not independently verify the intelligence, including whether the components mentioned may have been intended for non-military use or whether they were moved to Russia by a third party.
Asked whether Chinese companies had provided parts for Russian military hardware, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson’s office told Reuters: “Throughout history, China has launched normal trade cooperation with all countries, including Russia, on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.”
“As for military item exports, China has throughout adopted a prudent and responsible attitude. China’s position and actions have always been this way.”
Updated
Ukrainian troops have been forced to withdraw from some parts of Bakhmut in the face of a renewed Russian assault on the ruined battlefield city, Britain said on Friday, with Moscow pressing to achieve a victory before Ukraine’s expected counteroffensive.
Ukrainian officials say Russia has been drawing down troops from other areas on the front for a major push on Bakhmut, which Moscow has been trying to capture for nine months to reenergize the all-out invasion it launched more than a year ago, Reuters reports.
Western countries have in the past pointed to acrimony between the Russian defence ministry (MoD) and the country’s main mercenary force Wagner as a major Russian weakness.
“Russia has re-energised its assault on the Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut as forces of the Russian MoD and Wagner Group have improved cooperation,” Britain’s military said in a daily briefing note.
“Ukrainian forces face significant resupply issues but have made orderly withdrawals from the positions they have been forced to concede,” it said.
Near Bakhmut, soldiers from a Ukrainian artillery unit were loading shells into a Soviet-era howitzer and firing towards the front line, where they said Russia had massed its foot soldiers.
“Our target in that direction is mostly infantry. There is a big concentration of the Russian Federation’s ‘human factor’,” said Dmytro, the artillery unit’s 44-year-old commander. The gun thundered as the unit blasted three shells, the first to find range, the second to adjust aim.
“The third one is finishing off. Most likely, I hope, the infantry they spotted was eliminated.”
China’s foreign minister has said Beijing will not sell weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine and will regulate the export of items with dual civilian and military use.
Qin Gang was responding to concerns that China was considering providing military assistance to Russia, which Beijing has backed politically and rhetorically in the conflict while formally saying it remained neutral.
Speaking at a news conference with his visiting German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, Qin reiterated China’s willingness to help facilitate negotiations to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict and said all parties should remain ‘objective and calm’.
The statement came after reports that China approved the provision of lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine but wanted any shipments to remain a secret, according to leaked US government documents.
A top-secret intelligence summary dated 23 February states that Beijing had approved the incremental provision of weapons to Moscow, which it would disguise as civilian items, according to a report in the Washington Post.
The intelligence was gathered by US agents eavesdropping on Russia’s secret service discussions, the newspaper reported. The Russians said China’s central military commission wanted the shipments to remain secret, it added.
Updated
Hedge funds have emerged as some of the biggest winners from the global food price spike that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the world’s 10 biggest hedge funds alone making profits estimated at nearly $2bn.
Analysis of the profits of the top 10 hedge funds for the first quarter of last year shows that they are likely to have made about $1.9bn (£1.5bn) from trading in two food commodities, grain and soya beans, in the run-up to and immediate aftermath of the invasion.
The findings, compiled by Greenpeace and the non-profit journalism organisation Lighthouse Reports, have raised fresh questions over the role of hedge funds and other speculators in inflating food prices, as a global cost of living crisis continues to bite. After the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, moved to invade last February, prices of many key commodities – many of which had already been on the rise as the world recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic – shot up in response.
The 15 Russian diplomats expelled by Norway this week had sought to recruit sources, conduct so-called signal intelligence and to buy advanced technology, the Norwegian security police said on Friday.
Norway’s decision marks its largest-ever expulsion of Russian diplomats and is the latest in a series of such moves by Western nations since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia on Thursday said it would respond to the expulsions.
China agreed to secretly arm Russia, leaked Pentagon documents reveal
China approved the provision of lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine but wanted any shipments to remain a secret, according to leaked US government documents.
A top-secret intelligence summary dated 23 February states that Beijing had approved the incremental provision of weapons to Moscow, which it would disguise as civilian items, according to a report in the Washington Post.
The intelligence was gathered by US agents eavesdropping on Russia’s secret service discussions, the newspaper reported. The Russians said China’s central military commission wanted the shipments to remain secret, it added.
Updated
A Russian Su-35 aircraft carried out airstrikes on the settlement of Orihiv in the Zaporizhzhia region, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office said on Friday.
In a post on Telegram, Andriy Yermak said private houses and the building of the DYSSH were damaged.
The Guardian cannot independently verify the reports.
Updated
Ukraine’s security service has issued a warning to the millions of people in the country celebrating Orthodox Easter this weekend, Sky News reports.
The SBU requested citizens to stay safe from possible Russian attacks, warning residents to observe curfews and not ignore air alarm signals.
Ukrainians are asked to “limit the attendance of mass events” and avoid lingering “unnecessarily” in temples during the traditional blessing of the Easter basket.
Belarus said on Friday that its pilots had finished training in Russia, where they were learning how to operate Su-25 fighter planes, according to Reuters.
“The acquired knowledge and skills will serve to ensure the military security of the Union State,” Minsk’s defence ministry said, referring to Belarus’ political union with Russia.
Rishi Sunak denounces Ukrainian POW beheading video
Rishi Sunak denounced a video on Friday purporting to show the beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner of war, saying those responsible should be brought to book.
Downing Street said the UK prime minister told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call that the footage was “abhorrent”, Reuters reports.
“The prime minister said the video was appalling and those responsible had to be held to account,” a statement read.
Russia announced on Thursday that it was opening a preliminaryinvestigation into the footage, which has sparked fury in Ukraine. The Kremlin has vigorously denied a series of war crime allegations from Kyiv and its Western allies since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last February.
Downing Street said Sunak paid tribute to Ukrainian troops fighting to prevent Russian forces from overrunning the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut.
“The leaders also discussed efforts to accelerate military support to Ukraine, and the prime minister said the UK and its allies needed to continue to ensure Ukraine was in the strongest possible position to build on its recent battlefield successes,” it added.
“That included increasing interoperability with Nato both in the short and long term.”
Updated
Ukraine has barred its national sports teams from competing in Olympic, non-Olympic and Paralympic events that include competitors from Russia and Belarus, the sports ministry has said
The decision published in a decree on Friday, criticised by some Ukrainian athletes, comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) angered Kyiv by paving the way for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, initially using its ally Belarus as a staging ground for troops driving towards Kyiv. The war, now in its 14th month, has killed tens of thousands, levelled cities and uprooted millions.
Ukraine had previously warned its sports federations that it would strip them of their status as governing bodies if their athletes competed on the international stage with Russians and Belarusians.
Asked about the decree, the head of the Ukrainian Association of Football told Reuters the UAF would comply with government decisions.
Andriy Pavelko, the sports official, said the body was currently making inquiries with the ministry about which competitions would be affected, as this was not clear.
Ukraine’s football team are due to play the next rounds of qualifiers for the 2024 European Championship in June.
Russia have been banned from competitions by European governing body UEFA due to the invasion, but Belarus are still participating, albeit in a different qualifying group to Ukraine.
“We are at war. We do not have the possibility to travel abroad without approval from the sports ministry,” Pavelko said, referring to the wartime ban on able-bodied men aged between 18 and 60 leaving the country without government permission.
The decree published on the sports ministry’s website overnight was signed by deputy sports minister, Matviy Bidnyi.
Some Ukrainian athletes, including Olympian skeleton racer, Vladyslav Heraskevych, criticised the ban saying it would lead to the destruction of Ukrainian sports.
“If Ukrainian representatives are not present at competitions, then we completely vacate the international sports grounds and give the Russian/Belarusian representatives the opportunity to promote their narratives and propaganda,” he wrote on Twitter.
The IOC sanctioned Russia and Belarus last year but in late March it recommended allowing their athletes to compete as neutrals in international competition. It also opened the door to allow them to qualify for next year’s Summer Olympics in Paris.
Updated
The US secretary of defence will meet with his counterparts in Sweden and Germany next week, including hosting a Ukraine-related defence meeting with top officials from nearly 50 countries, the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday.
The statement said that on 19 April in Sweden, pentagon chief, Lloyd Austin, will discuss:
security-related topics of mutual interest between our two nations and speak with senior Swedish defense and government officials.
In Germany, Austin and joint chiefs of staff Gen Mark Milley will host the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on 21 April to discuss:
the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and continue our close coordination on providing the Ukrainian people with the means necessary to protect themselves against Russia’s continued aggression.
Updated
Italy’s justice minister has sent in inspectors to investigate why a Russian national accused of smuggling military technology managed to escape house arrest a day after an Italian court agreed to hand him over to US authorities.
On 23 March, Artem Uss, who was detained at Milan’s Malpensa airport on an international arrest warrant last October, broke his court-ordered electronic bracelet, left his house in Cascina Vione di Basiglio in the province of Milan and returned to Russia, with the Italian police failing to locate him.
US prosecutors last year charged Uss and four other Russian citizens with shipping military technology bought from US manufacturers to Russian buyers, some of which ended up on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Investigators have not ruled out the involvement of Russian intelligence in his escape.
Italy’s justice minister, Carlo Nordio, has now sent inspectors to Milan to investigate why Uss was placed under house arrest and not sent to prison instead, considering the high escape risk before his extradition.
Updated
Ukraine will "test and use" any non-banned weapons to liberate its territory, says the secretary of Ukraine's national security and defence council
Ukraine will “test and use” any non-banned weapons to liberate its territory, including Russian-occupied Crimea, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council said on Friday.
“Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, and we will test and use there any weapons not prohibited by international laws, that will help liberate our territories,” tweeted Oleksiy Danilov.
Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, and we will test and use there any weapons not prohibited by international laws, that will help liberate our territories.
— Oleksiy Danilov (@OleksiyDanilov) April 14, 2023
Updated
A Chinese company bought at least $7.4m worth of copper alloy ingots from a plant in a Russian-annexed region of Ukraine that is subject to western sanctions, according to Russian customs data reviewed by Reuters.
China has not imposed any restrictions on trade with Russia, but the US has threatened to blacklist companies round the world for violating its sanctions and warned Beijing against supplying Moscow with goods banned by US export rules.
The customs information, drawn from one commercial trade data provider and cross-checked with two others, show some of the first evidence of Chinese trades with Russian-annexed regions of Ukraine since the war began on 24 February 2022.
The Chinese firm, Quzhou Nova, bought at least 3,220 tons of copper alloy in ingots worth a total of $7.4m from the Debaltsevsky Plant of Metallurgical Engineering between 8 Oct 2022 and 24 March 2023, according to the data.
The plant is located in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, close to the border with Luhansk. Donetsk and Luhansk were among four Ukrainian regions that PPutin claimed last September as part of Russia.
Quzhou Nova, a trading and manufacturing company based in the city of Quzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, told Reuters it did not have any import and export business related to the trade of copper alloy in ingots.
When Reuters showed details of the exports in the customs data to Quzhou Nova, the company said on 23 March that it “finds hard to understand the document, because this document is not stamped and signed”, and suggested contacting customs about the issue.
The database, which collects information on all shipments worldwide, does not display stamps or signatures on its information. The Chinese customs service did not provide detailed information on imports. It said that “company trade data are not disclosed in our public information”.
China imported copper and copper alloys worth $852m from Russia between October and February, according to public customs statistics.
A source at the Debaltsevsky plant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was a non-ferrous metallurgy workshop on the territory of the factory. The source declined to comment on the issue of copper alloy shipments to China, saying the information was a “trade secret”.
Contacted for comment, the Russian Federal customs service told Reuters that information on companies is confidential and is not disclosed by the service.
When asked about the matter on Friday, the Kremlin said it did not know whether the Reuters news story about the transaction was true or what proof was available. The Kremlin said it had no information about the subject itself.
The Debaltsevsky plant did not respond to Reuters requests for comments by phone and in writing.
Updated
Ukraine retrieved the bodies of 82 of its soldiers from Russian-controlled territory on Friday, a government ministry has said.
Ukrainian and Russian forces have held regular prisoner exchanges during Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which is now in its 14th month. Russia holds swathes of territory in Ukraine’s east and south.
The Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories gave no details about how it retrieved the bodies, Reuters reports, but said it was carried out “in accordance with the norms of the Geneva Convention”.
Summary of the day so far …
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has claimed in its daily intelligence briefing that Ukrainian troops have been forced to make ‘orderly withdrawals’ from positions they previously held in the highly contested town of Bakhmut, and that the last two days have seen an intense artillery bombardment from Russian forces.
The FBI on Thursday arrested a 21-year-old air national guardsman in Massachusetts suspected of being responsible for the leak of US classified defence documents that laid bare military secrets in Ukraine and upset Washingon’s relations with key allies. Jack Teixeira could be facing charges under the Espionage Act. Each charge under the act can carry an up to 10-year prison term, and prosecutors could treat each leaked document as a separate count in his indictment.
China’s foreign minister on Friday said the country would not sell weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine and would regulate the export of items with dual civilian and military use. Qin Gang was speaking at a news conference with his visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, and he reiterated China’s willingness to help facilitate negotiations to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict and said all parties should remain “objective and calm”. Baerbock urged China to step up to exert its influence on Russia over Ukraine during a trip to Beijing. She said Germany wanted “China to influence Russia to stop its aggression”.
Russia has put its Pacific naval fleet on high alert as part of a surprise inspection aimed at building its defensive capabilities. Defence minister Sergei Shoigu saying “The main objective of this inspection is to increase the ability of the armed forces to repel the aggression of a probable enemy from the direction of ocean and sea.”
Finland’s embassy in Moscow has contacted the Russian foreign ministry after it received a letter containing powder.
China’s defence minister, Li Shangfu, will visit Russia from 16 to 19 April, and meet Russian military officials.
Reuters has a quick snap to state that Russia will conduct missile launches and torpedo tests as part of its surprise inspection of its Pacific naval fleet.
Chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov said Russia’s naval forces would be put on high alert during the drills and deployed to training areas, where they will conduct combat exercises.
The drills come amid heightened tension in the Asia-Pacific region, as the US and South Korea conduct joint air exercises following an intercontinental ballistic missile test by North Korea, and China’s recent live-fire exercises near Taiwan.
Philip Oltermann, the Guardian’s Berlin bureau chief, reports:
Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, urged China to step up to exert its influence on Russia over Ukraine during her trip to Beijing. She said Germany wanted “China to influence Russia to stop its aggression”.
While she welcomed China signalling its willingness to broker a solution in the Ukraine war, she voiced reservations about Beijing’s starting point for peace talks. “I have to be honest and say I ask myself why China’s positioning doesn’t include the call on aggressor Russia to stop the war”.
The German foreign minister was originally due to make joint appearances in China with the European Commission’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, but his trip was cancelled after he caught Covid 19.
Updated
Finland’s embassy in Moscow has contacted the Russian foreign ministry after it received a letter containing powder, Reuters reports, citing the RIA news agency.
Relations between Moscow and Helsinki have sharply deteriorated since Finland formally joined Nato on 4 April.
This block was amended at 10.40 BST to correct the initial report that three letters containing powder had been received.
Updated
A quick snap from Reuters confirms that China’s defence minister will visit Russia 16-18 April.
It cites Russian state-owned news agency Tass saying that the visit will involve the defence ministers of both countries discussing defence cooperation, and global and regional security issues.
China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, earlier today said that China will not provide weapons to parties involved in the Ukraine conflict.
The deputy chair of Russia’s security council, Dmitry Medvedev, has again expressed his position that Ukraine will cease to exist. While praising Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, the long-term ally of Putin posted to Telegram:
Hungarian prime minister said that Ukraine is financially a nonexistent country. As soon as funding from the US and Europe ends, the war will end. Well said, boldly and accurately for a European politician. One can only add that as soon as western funding ends, Ukraine itself will end.
Updated
Russia has put its Pacific naval fleet on high alert as part of a surprise inspection aimed at building its defensive capabilities, state media reported on Friday.
Reuters cites the RIA news agency quoting defence minister Sergei Shoigu saying “The main objective of this inspection is to increase the ability of the armed forces to repel the aggression of a probable enemy from the direction of ocean and sea.”
China will not supply weapons to parties involved in Ukraine conflict – foreign minister
China’s foreign minister on Friday said the country would not sell weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine and would regulate the export of items with dual civilian and military use.
Qin Gang was responding to concerns from the US and others that China was considering providing military assistance to Russia, which Beijing has backed politically and rhetorically in the conflict while formally saying it remains neutral.
Speaking at a news conference with his visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, Qin reiterated China’s willingness to help facilitate negotiations to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict and said all parties should remain “objective and calm.”
“Regarding the export of military items, China adopts a prudent and responsible attitude,” Associated Press reports Qin said.
“China will not provide weapons to relevant parties of the conflict, and manage and control the exports of dual-use items in accordance with laws and regulations,” he added.
In her remarks, Baerbock said that as a permanent member of the UN security council, China bore a special responsibility for helping end the conflict.
While Germany has strongly backed Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion, Beijing has blamed the US and Nato for provoking the conflict, refused to criticise Moscow’s actions and criticised economic sanctions against President Vladimir Putin’s government.
“Territory is indivisible, and security is equally indivisible,” Qin said. “Without recognition of the security interests of a particular party, crises and conflicts are inevitable.”
“China is willing to continue to work for peace, and hopes that all parties involved in the crisis will remain objective and calm, and make constructive efforts to resolve the crisis through negotiations,” he added.
Ukraine formally bans its sports teams from competing in events that feature Russian competitors
Ukraine has banned its national sports teams from competing in Olympic, non-Olympic and Paralympic events that include competitors from Russia and Belarus, the sports ministry said in a decree published on Friday.
Reuters reports the decision, which has been criticised by some Ukrainian athletes, comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) angered Kyiv by paving the way for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, initially using its ally Belarus as a staging ground for troops driving towards Kyiv in what Russia called a “special military operation”.
Ukraine had previously warned its sports federations that it would strip them of their status as governing bodies if their athletes competed on the international stage with Russians and Belarusians.
The decree published on the sports ministry’s website overnight was signed by deputy sports minister Matviy Bidnyi.
China’s defence minister, Li Shangfu, will visit Russia from 16 to 19 April, and meet Russian military officials, Reuters reports the Chinese defence ministry said on Friday.
Updated
UK MoD: intense Russian artillery bombardment forcing ‘orderly withdrawals’ by Ukrainians in Bakhmut
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has claimed in its daily intelligence briefing that Ukrainian troops have been forced to make ‘orderly withdrawals’ from positions they previously held in the highly contested town of Bakhmut, and that the last two days have seen an intense artillery bombardment from Russian forces.
Writing on Twitter, the ministry posted:
Russia has re-energised its assault on the Donetsk oblast town of Bakhmut as forces of the Russian ministry and Wagner group have improved cooperation.
The Ukrainian defence still holds the western districts of the town but has been subjected to particularly intense Russian artillery fire over the previous 48 hours.
Wagner assault groups continue to conduct the main advance through the centre of town, while Russian airborne forces have relieved some Wagner units securing the northern and southern flanks of the operation.
Ukrainian forces face significant resupply issues but have made orderly withdrawals from the positions they have been forced to concede.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Today is Good Friday on the Orthodox Church calender, and the regional head of Lviv, Maksym Kozytskyi, has reported on Telegram what appears to have been an arson attack on a church in his region. Alongside images which show the charred door of a church, Kozytskyi posted:
On Good Friday, we receive news about the burning of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos of the UGCC (Ukrainian Greek Catholic church) in Sykhiv. The church near which Pope John Paul II talked with our youth during his visit to Lviv in 2001. Only a fierce enemy of our people could do this. All the culprits will definitely be found. They must be held accountable. Thanks to the rescuers who worked quickly and prevented tragic consequences for the shrine.
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that two settlements in the Sumy oblast have been shelled 19 times this morning. It also reports, citing regional authorities, that a 47-year-old man is in a serious condition after his car came under fire yesterday when Dvorichna in Karkhiv oblast was shelled.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Russia’s ambassador to the US has suggested it might be time to cut the number of US journalists in Russia while speaking on television about the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
“The Americans have threatened us with retaliatory measures if we do not release Gershkovich in the near future,” Anatoly Antonov told Russia’s First Channel state television. “We shall see how they will act.”
Reuters reports Antonov said he had had a “very harsh” conversation with the US under secretary of state Victoria Nuland, who accused Russia of illegally detaining Gershkovich. Antonov said Nuland had repeatedly interrupted him in a counterproductive way.
The Russian ambassador said that it might be time to reduce the number of American journalists working in Russia.
“The Americans have a very good word – reciprocity which they always insist on,” Antonov told the Bolshaya Igra show. “Perhaps it is the time for us to show reciprocity and reduce the number of American journalists who work in Moscow and in Russia as a whole to the number [of Russian journalists] who work in Washington and New York,” Antonov said.
Updated
The small agricultural town of Dighton, Massachusetts, seems an unlikely place to have any impact on Ukrainian battlefield tactics or spread diplomatic fallout halfway around the globe.
But it was from here, an hour south of Boston, that 21-year-old air national guardsman Jack Teixeira is suspected of posting intelligence documents meant for the highest levels of the Pentagon to a Discord gamers chatgroup called Thug Shaker Central.
“It’s like God’s country out here,” said farmer Cam Levesque, 26, standing beside a pickup truck at the gas station. “We shoot guns, ride dirt bikes. Nobody says anything so long as you’re respectful about it. Everyone does what they want to do.”
Late Thursday, roads to the home Teixeira shared with his mother, Dawn, a floral business owner, were still blocked off. Neighbors said that Teixeira, who was arrested on a spring day and led away in handcuffs wearing red shorts and a green T-shirt, appeared to them quiet and polite.
On Friday, Teixeira will appear in a US federal court in Boston. The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said Teixeira would be charged with the unauthorized removal of classified national defense information.
“Nice people – this is a shame,” said neighbor Mario Correia, adding that if convicted he might now face time in “Leavenworth”, America’s most famous military prison in Kansas:
The European Council also added to its sanctions list RIA FAN, a Russian media outlet that is part of the Patriot Media Group, whose board of trustees is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin – the chief of Wagner.
A Russian NGO and a Wagner deserter have alleged that Wagner fighters were responsible for a purported beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner of war, an apparent video of which has drawn condemnation from Ukraine and UN officials.
Prigozhin denied the allegations on Thursday. Russia said it has opened a probe into the footage.
Individuals and entities on the European Union’s sanctions list are subject to a freeze of assets in the EU, a travel ban and a prohibition on any EU person or firm making funds available to them.
The EU has adopted 10 successive sanctions packages against Russia in the past year over its invasion of Ukraine.
EU adds Wagner to sanctions list
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”.
Wagner, which is leading Russian battles to try to capture the Ukrainian towns of Bakhmut and Soledar, had already been placed in February on another EU sanctions list for violating human rights and “destabilising” countries in Africa.
The European Council, representing the 27 EU member states, said the new sanctions listing “completes” the previous one.
Wagner, it said, was added anew to the list “for actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”.
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 council said in a statement.
Pentagon leak suspect to appear in court on Friday
The US Department of Justice arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a suspect in the recent leaks of Pentagon intelligence online, US attorney general Merrick Garland announced on Thursday. The arrest was made “in connection with an investigation into an alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” said Garland.
Teixeira will appear in court in Massachusetts on Friday after being detained at his home in the town of North Dighton, Massachusetts, by FBI agents. Helicopter news footage showed a young man with shorn dark hair, an olive green T-shirt and red shorts being made to walk backwards towards a team of agents, who were pointing their rifles at him.
Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder said the leak of classified information was a “deliberate, criminal act.” He added that the Pentagon had taken measures to review distribution lists and make sure that individuals who receive information had a need to know.
The leak is believed to have started on a site called Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games and where Teixeira is believed to have posted for years about guns, games and racist memes.
The investigative website Bellingcat and The New York Times first publicly identified Teixeira, minutes before federal officials confirmed he was a subject of interest in the investigation. They reported tracking profiles on other more obscure sites linked to Teixeira.
Teixeira was a “cyber transport systems specialist”, essentially an IT specialist responsible for military communications networks, including their cabling and hubs. A defence official has told the Associated Press that in that role Teixeira would have had a higher level of security clearance – because he would have also been tasked with ensuring protection for the networks.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest.
Our top stories this morning:
The European Union has added Russia’s Wagner group to its sanctions list for “actively participating in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine”. The mercenary group had already been placed on another EU sanctions list in February for violating human rights and “destabilising” countries in Africa.
And the 21-year-old air national guardsman arrested by the FBI in Massachusetts suspected of being responsible for the leak of US classified defence documents will appear in court on Friday.
More shortly. In the meantime here are the other key recent developments:
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi warned on Thursday that “we are living on borrowed time” after two recent landmine explosions near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly expressed fears over the safety of the plant, which is Europe’s largest atomic power station.
Ukraine’s armed forces have said Russian troops are attempting to surround the embattled city of Bakhmut from the north and the south. “Every day in Bakhmut area, the enemy makes 40 to 50 offensive and assault attempts, launches more than 500 strikes using the entire range of available weapons,” said Brig Gen Oleksiy Hromov, deputy chief of the Ukrainian armed forces general staff’s main operational department.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed its troops had already surrounded Bakhmut, but Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, said it was “too early” to say. Prigozhin, whose forces have spearheaded much of the fighting for the embattled city, was responding to a statement by the Russian defence ministry that said Moscow’s forces were “blocking” Ukrainian forces from getting in or out of Bakhmut.
Fragmentation of the global economy into rival trading blocs runs the risk of prompting a new cold war, the head of the International Monetary Fund has said. Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, said a combination of the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and shortcomings with globalisation had led to a potentially dangerous splintering.
Serbia never sold weapons or ammunition to Ukraine or Russia, president Aleksandar Vučić has insisted, following a leaked secret Pentagon report that said Serbia had pledged to send arms to Kyiv or had sent them already. Vučić said he was “quite certain” that Serbian ammunition would appear “on one side or the other in the battlefield” in Ukraine, after having been exported to Turkey, Spain or the Czech Republic.
Russia’s prosecutor general said it had opened an investigation into a video showing Russian soldiers apparently beheading a Ukrainian prisoner of war lying on the ground. It comes a day after president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged international leaders to act, saying the world could not ignore the “evil” footage, which circulated on Telegram, Twitter and other social media channels, causing revulsion among Ukrainians.
Norway will expel 15 Russian embassy officials who it said were intelligence officers operating under the cover of diplomatic positions.
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, is grappling with a mystery ailment in jail that could be some sort of slow-acting poison, and has lost 8kg in weight in just over two weeks, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh has said. “We do not exclude that at this very time Alexei Navalny is being slowly poisoned, being killed slowly so that it attracts less attention,” Yarmysh said in a post on Twitter. “He is being held in a punishment cell with acute pain without medical help,” she said.
Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz on Thursday said Russia has been ordered by an arbitration court in The Hague to pay $5bn (£4bn / €4.5bn) in compensation for unlawfully expropriating its assets in Crimea, which the Russian Federation claimed to annex in 2014.
All Ukrainian cities and Crimea must be part of Ukraine again and a real peace will come by restoring the country’s borders, foreign minister Dmitro Kuleba has said on Thursday. “There is no difference between...any Ukrainian city, they all must and will be Ukraine again,” he said, speaking via a video link at a Black Sea security conference in Bucharest.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has awarded £650m to manufacturers working on its Tempest fighter jet, in the latest sign that the UK is pushing forward with the aim of producing the aircraft by 2035. The Tempest programme is seen as a key part of the UK’s plans for defence spending and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put pressure on the government to increaseits investment.
ExxonMobil handed its chief executive a 52% pay increase to $35.9m (£28.7m) for 2022 after the oil company reported its highest ever profits amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Darren Woods’ salary rose by 10% to $1.9m last year while his bonus and share awards surged by 80% compared with the year before.
