Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces has denied a claim by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group, who said Russian forces now controlled more than 80% of Bakhmut city. “I can confidently state that the Ukrainian defence forces control a much larger percentage of the territory of Bakhmut,” Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian armed forces, told CNN.
Russia’s lower house of parliament has voted unanimously to introduce electronic callup papers via an online portal for the first time. The State Duma gave its preliminary approval to changes in the law that are intended to facilitate mobilisation, as Russia seeks to make it harder to avoid the draft. Changes to the legislation would mean that once an electronic summons is received, citizens who fail to show up at the military enlistment office are automatically banned from travelling abroad.
Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, has announced new agreements to ensure the country’s continued access to Russian energy, a sign of the country’s continuing diplomatic and trade ties with Moscow amid the war in Ukraine. While in Moscow, Szijjártó met the Russian deputy prime minister for energy, Alexander Novak, and the chief executive of the Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev.
The Russian-appointed leader of Crimea has said Moscow’s forces are ready for a possible Ukrainian assault, days after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reaffirmed Kyiv’s intention to take back the Black Sea peninsula that Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Sergei Aksyonov said Russian forces in Crimea had built “modern, in-depth defences” and had “more than enough” troops and equipment to repel what may be an impending Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Almost 8,500 civilians are confirmed to have been killed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a UN body has said, with many thousands more unverified deaths feared. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has long described its figures as “the tip of the iceberg” because of its limited access to battle zones. The majority of the deaths were recorded in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and under attack by Russian forces.
A Danish decision on whether to supply western fighter jets to Ukraine is likely to take place “before the summer”, Denmark’s acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, has said. Discussions are taking time because countries have to act together, Poulsen said during a visit to Ukraine. Poulsen yesterday confirmed Denmark’s intention to provide refurbished 100 Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine.
The UN-brokered deal that enables Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea is in a “critical state” because of Russia’s actions, a Ukrainian government minister told the Guardian on Tuesday. Yurii Vaskov, Ukraine’s deputy minister responsible for seaports and maritime, said: “The Russians have violated the conditions of the Black Sea grain initiative. They decided to unilaterally change the plans of Ukrainian ports. It’s unacceptable.”
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has pledged fresh military support for Ukraine after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal. Canada will send 21,000 assault rifles, 38 machine guns and 2.4m rounds of ammunition to Ukraine and impose sanctions on 14 Russian individuals and 34 entities, including security targets linked to the private mercenary Wagner group, Trudeau said.
Leaked US intelligence documents appear to indicate that Egypt was planning to covertly supply Russia with rockets and munitions. A document dated 17 February is claimed to summarise conversations between President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials in which Sisi instructs officials to keep the production and shipment of rockets secret “to avoid problems with the west”, and additionally references plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.
Ukraine needs more long-range weapons and “less contemplation on leaks”, said the senior presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, referring to the recent leak of Pentagon documents. “If we had time, we could watch the [Russian Federation] fall apart & its “elites” devour each other. But we don’t have it, as our people are dying,” he posted to Twitter.
The Kremlin, appearing to pre-judge any judicial hearing, said on Tuesday that the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had “violated Russian law” and been caught “red-handed”, after the US state department officially designated him as having been “wrongfully detained” by Russia. Russia has presented no evidence to support the case against Gershkovich. Next week, a court will hear an appeal from Gershkovich’s legal team against an order that he be held in pre-trial detention at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison until 29 May.
Updated
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has pledged fresh military support for Ukraine after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal.
Canada will send 21,000 assault rifles, 38 machine guns and 2.4m rounds of ammunition to Ukraine and impose sanctions on 14 Russian individuals and 34 entities, including security targets linked to the private mercenary Wagner group, Trudeau said.
The Canadian government is also imposing sanctions on nine entities tied to the Belarusian financial sector to further pressure Russia’s “enablers in Belarus,” Trudeau said.
The US president, Joe Biden, addressed a question on the arrest of Evan Gershkovich by Russian authorities, calling his detention “totally illegal”.
Updated
Russian forces in Crimea ‘ready for possible Ukrainian assault’
The Russian-appointed leader of Crimea has said Moscow’s forces are ready for a possible Ukrainian assault, days after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reaffirmed Kyiv’s intention to take back the Black Sea peninsula that Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Associated Press cites Sergei Aksyonov as saying that Russian forces in Crimea have built “modern, in-depth defences” and have “more than enough” troops and equipment to repel what may be an impending Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Aksyonov said:
We cannot underestimate the enemy, but we can definitely say that we are ready and that there will be no catastrophe.
Satellite images published last week showed a complex web of trenches and other fortifications dug near Medvedivka, a small town near a crossing between Crimea and mainland Ukraine, suggesting Russia may be concerned about a possible Ukrainian attack there.
Updated
Joe Biden has described Russia’s detention of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter imprisoned on espionage charges, as “totally illegal”.
Biden said he planned to speak to Gershkovich’s family during his flight to Northern Ireland today. He said:
We’re making it real clear that it’s totally illegal what’s happening. And we declared it, so – changes the dynamic.
The US state department yesterday officially designated Gershkovich as being wrongfully detained, signalling that Washington views the espionage charges against him as bogus and that he is being held as a hostage.
Earlier today, the Kremlin said Gershkovich had “violated Russian law” and been caught “red-handed”, in comments that appeared to pre-judge any judicial hearing.
The 31-year-old journalist was detained on 29 March in the city of Ekaterinburg, and the Russian security service, FSB, said the following day that it had picked him up on suspicion of spying. He was formally charged with espionage on Friday, which Gershkovich and the Wall Street Journal deny.
Russia has presented no evidence to support the case against Gershkovich, which is proceeding in secret because Russia says the case materials are confidential.
Updated
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces has denied a claim by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group, who said Russian forces now control more than 80% of Bakhmut city.
“This statement by Prigozhin is not true,” Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian armed forces told CNN. He added:
I’ve just been in touch with the commander of one of the brigades that are defending the city. I can confidently state that the Ukrainian defence forces control a much larger percentage of the territory of Bakhmut.
He added:
Prigozhin needs to show at least some victory in the city, which they have been trying to capture for nine months in a row, so he makes such statements.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has warned of a “serious level of inaccuracy” in the widely reported leak of alleged classified US information.
In a statement posted to Twitter, it said:
Readers should be cautious about taking at face value allegations that have the potential to spread disinformation.
In response to the leak of alleged classified US information: pic.twitter.com/WWFLOhbeeU
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 11, 2023
Updated
Hungary signs new energy deals with Russia
Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, has announced new agreements to ensure the country’s continued access to Russian energy, a sign of the country’s continuing diplomatic and trade ties with Moscow amid the war in Ukraine.
Speaking at a news briefing in Moscow, Szijjártó said the Russian state energy giant Gazprom would maintain an option to supply additional gas to Hungary this year on top of the shipments agreed under a long-term deal.
The price of the gas, which would reach Hungary through the Turkstream pipeline, would be capped at €150 per cubic meter, he said, part of an agreement that will allow Hungary to pay down gas purchases on a deferred basis if market prices go above that level.
The Hungarian minister’s trip to Moscow was unusual, making him one of the only officials from an EU country to have met with Russian officials in the capital since its troops invaded Ukraine more than a year ago.
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has fostered good ties with Moscow over the past decade, and has avoided personal criticism of Vladimir Putin despite condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Budapest has lobbied heavily in the EU to be exempted from any sanctions imposed on Russian gas, oil or nuclear fuel, and has also threatened to veto proposed EU actions against Moscow.
While in Moscow, Szijjártó met the Russian deputy prime minister for energy, Alexander Novak, and the chief executive of the Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev.
Speaking during the briefing, he insisted access to Russian energy supplies was crucial for Hungary’s security, regardless of political considerations brought on by the war. He said:
As long as the issue of energy supply is a physical issue and not a political or ideological one, like it or not, Russia and cooperation with Russia will remain crucial for Hungary’s energy security.
Updated
The head of Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in a video posted today that his forces now controlled more than 80% of the besieged city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
In a video published by a Russian military blogger on Telegram, Prigozhin is seen with a map of the area, showing how his forces are continuing their encirclement of the city. The Wagner chief says:
In Bakhmut, the larger part, more than 80%, is now under our control, including the whole administrative centre, factories, warehouses, the administration of the city.
He used a red marker pen to highlight the relatively small, mainly residential area of the city that had not yet been captured by Russian forces.
Prigozhin’s claims have not been independently verified, and he has previously made claims about Russian control of Bakhmut that turned out to be premature.
Ukrainian forces have hung on for months in Bakhmut, a small city in the eastern Donetsk region, where the bloodiest and fiercest fighting of Russia’s invasion has killed thousands of soldiers.
The Russian-installed head of the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said yesterday that Russian forces controlled more than 75% of Bakhmut.
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, on Monday accused Russian forces of using “scorched earth” tactics in Bakhmut and destroying buildings and positions with airstrikes and artillery. He added:
The situation is difficult but controllable.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said he was assured of Washington’s “ironclad” support for Kyiv during a phone call with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken.
Posting to Twitter, Kuleba said Blinken “reaffirmed the ironclad US support and vehemently rejected any attempts to cast doubt on Ukraine’s capacity to win on the battlefield”.
The US “remains Ukraine’s trustworthy partner, focused on advancing our victory and securing a just peace”, he added.
During our call today, @SecBlinken reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. support and vehemently rejected any attempts to cast doubt on Ukraine’s capacity to win on the battlefield. The U.S. remains Ukraine’s trustworthy partner, focused on advancing our victory and securing a just peace.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 11, 2023
His tweet came after a recent report detailed a downbeat assessment by US intelligence officials of Ukraine’s potential to retake significant portions of Russian-occupied territory.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Almost 8,500 civilians are confirmed to have been killed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a UN body has said, with many thousands more unverified deaths feared. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has long described its figures as “the tip of the iceberg” because of its limited access to battle zones. The majority of the deaths were recorded in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and under attack by Russian forces.
Russia’s lower house of parliament has voted unanimously to introduce electronic call-up papers via an online portal for the first time. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, gave its preliminary approval to changes in the law that are intended to facilitate mobilisation, as Russia seeks to make it harder to avoid the draft. Changes to the legislation would mean that once an electronic summons is received, citizens who fail to show up at the military enlistment office are automatically banned from travelling abroad.
A Danish decision on whether to supply western fighter jets to Ukraine is likely to take place “before the summer”, Denmark’s acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, has said. Discussions are taking time because countries have to act together, Poulsen said during a visit to Ukraine. Poulsen yesterday confirmed Denmark’s intention to provide refurbished 100 Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine.
The UN-brokered deal that enables Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea is in a “critical state” because of Russia’s actions, a Ukrainian government minister told the Guardian on Tuesday. Yurii Vaskov, Ukraine’s deputy minister responsible for seaports and maritime, said: “The Russians have violated the conditions of the Black Sea grain initiative. They decided to unilaterally change the plans of Ukrainian ports. It’s unacceptable.”
Leaked US intelligence documents appear to indicate that Egypt was planning to covertly supply Russia with rockets and munitions. A document dated 17 February is claimed to summarise conversations between President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials in which Sisi instructs officials to keep the production and shipment of rockets secret “to avoid problems with the west”, and additionally references plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.
Ukraine needs more long-range weapons and “less contemplation on leaks”, said the senior presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, referring to the recent leak of Pentagon documents. “If we had time, we could watch the [Russian Federation] fall apart & its “elites” devour each other. But we don’t have it, as our people are dying,” he posted to Twitter.
The Kremlin, appearing to pre-judge any judicial hearing, said on Tuesday that the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had “violated Russian law” and been caught “red-handed”, after the US state department officially designated him as having been “wrongfully detained” by Russia. Russia has presented no evidence to support the case against Gershkovich. Next week, a court will hear an appeal from Gershkovich’s legal team against an order that he be held in pre-trial detention at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison until 29 May.
Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has arrived in Canada on an official trip, during which he will seek supplies of ammunition and armoured vehicles for a counteroffensive against invading Russian forces. Shmyhal is due to meet his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, and the deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland.
Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, has arrived in Moscow for discussions about energy. The head of the Hungarian foreign ministry said he planned to meet the Russian deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak, and the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev.
The Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov has announced he has “initiated arbitration proceedings against Russia”, as he seeks compensation for “seized assets” in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, is seeking compensation from Russia for all losses caused to him between 2014 and 2017 as a result of asset seizure, intervention in his business activities, and investment by the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.
More than 11 million Ukrainian refugees have fled to Poland since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February last year, according to Poland’s EU representative. About 87% of those crossing the border are women and children, it said.
Updated
A damaging batch of documents leaked from the Pentagon appears to have been initially shared on the video game chat platform Discord in an effort to win an argument about the war in Ukraine, according to open-source intelligence analysts.
The provenance of the leak may seem unusual but it is far from the first time that a dispute between gamers has sparked an intelligence breach, with the overlapping communities causing problems for military and gaming platforms alike.
The existence of the leaked cache was exposed as documents showing estimated casualties in the Bakhmut theatre of battle began circulating on public social networks last week.
Two versions of those documents, one of which had been crudely digitally altered to understate Russian casualties and overstate Ukrainian ones, were passed around among observers of the war. One, with the correct figures, stemmed from a leak to 4chan, the chaotic image board best known for birthing the “alt right” movement.
At the same time, a second set of documents, including the edited image, were being passed around pro-Russian Telegram channels.
Neither was the original source, however. Before they emerged on to the public internet, the documents had been shared on closed chatrooms hosted by Discord, a gamer-focused chat app. In one server, called “Minecraft Earth Map”, 10 of the documents were posted as early as 4 March, a month before they appeared on 4chan.
Updated
The Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov has announced he has “initiated arbitration proceedings against Russia”, as he seeks compensation for “seized assets” in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, is seeking compensation from Russia for all losses caused to him between 2014 and 2017 as a result of asset seizure, intervention in his business activities, and investment by the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.
In a statement released by his company SCM, he said:
Russia must be punished for its crimes against Ukraine and Ukrainians, which have been happening since 2014. Therefore, I am filing a claim for full compensation from the aggressor country for all the losses we have suffered since 2014 in the illegally occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
He added:
Justice must be restored, and the aggressor must be held accountable both financially and in the criminal proceedings. I am going to invest the awarded compensation to rebuild and open new factories and plants, create jobs, and contribute to the growth of the Ukrainian economy.
Akhmetov has pledged that the funds received as compensation for the losses would be directed to the restoration of Ukraine in the future.
Updated
Black Sea grain deal in a 'critical state', warns Ukrainian minister
The UN-brokered deal that enables Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea is in a “critical state” because of Russia’s actions, a government minister in Kyiv told the Guardian on Tuesday.
Representatives from Russia, Turkey and the UN inspect ships on their way to and from Ukrainian ports, as part of the deal signed last July by Kyiv and Moscow. A joint commission agrees the names of ships to be examined.
On Tuesday, however, no inspections happened, said Yurii Vaskov, Ukraine’s deputy minister responsible for seaports and martime. He said the Ukrainian side submitted the names of three bulk grain carriers, as per the treaty agreement.
The Russians, however, crossed out the names and submitted other inbound vessels from the current queue of 50. As a result, no ships were allowed to continue on their journey, Vaskov said, in what amounts to a de facto blockade by Moscow.
Vaskov, at his ministry in Kyiv, said:
Today we have a critical situation. The Russians have violated the conditions of the Black Sea grain initiative. They decided to unilaterally change the plans of Ukrainian ports. It’s unacceptable.
Russia has voiced its dissatisfaction with the deal. Last month, it said it would extend it for only 60 days instead of an agreed 120-day rollover. It wants an end to western sanctions on its agricultural sector. Kyiv, meanwhile, says that since October Russia has been deliberately slowing down the inspection process.
If the standoff continues, global food prices are likely to go up by 15%, Vaskov said. He said Ukrainian farmers would be forced to stockpile grain again, like last summer, and would face serious financial hardship. Kyiv has urgently raised Tuesday’s violation with the UN and Turkey, he added.
Updated
We reported earlier that Denmark’s acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said he expected his country and its allies to decide on whether to supply western fighter jets to Ukraine “before the summer”.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has tweeted photographs of his meeting with Poulsen in Kyiv today, where he said the pair discussed maritime security and other aspects of the Ukrainian army development.
I was honored to host Acting Defense Minister of Denmark @troelslundp in Ukraine.
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) April 11, 2023
We discussed maritime security and other aspects of #UAarmy development. Grateful to Denmark for all of its assistance, including Harpoons, tanks, CAESARs and other equipment.
🇺🇦🤝🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/jSpNlauI3k
Poulsen yesterday confirmed Denmark’s intention to provide refurbished 100 Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine. Speaking at a joint briefing with Reznikov, he said:
We will start delivering Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine before the summer. And then, hopefully, looking half a year ahead, it will be possible for us to donate about 100 Leopard 1 tanks, and that, I’ll say, would be a substantial thing for Ukraine’s army.
In response, Reznikov said:
In the near future, we will hear ‘Leopards’ roaring with the Danish accent.
Updated
Russian parliament votes to introduce electronic military draft system
Russia’s lower house of parliament has voted unanimously to introduce electronic call-up papers via an online portal for the first time.
The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, gave its preliminary approval to changes in the law that are intended to facilitate mobilisation, as Russia seeks to make it harder to avoid the draft.
As of now, conscription papers in Russia have to be delivered in person by the local military enlistment office or via an employer. The changes to the legislation would lead to conscription papers being sent via recorded mail and online.
Once an electronic summons is received, citizens who fail to show up at the military enlistment office will be automatically banned from travelling abroad.
Updated
Decision on western fighter jets for Ukraine likely ‘before summer’, says Denmark
Denmark’s acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, has said he expects his country and its allies to decide on whether to supply western fighter jets to Ukraine “before the summer”.
Discussions are taking time because countries have to act together, Poulsen said during a visit to Ukraine.
“Denmark will not do it alone,” he said, adding that a decision was still achievable “in the near future”. He said:
We need to do this together with several countries. We will also have a dialogue with the Americans about this.
Poulsen has previously said Denmark was open to the idea of sending fighter jets to Ukraine to help its war effort against the Russian invasion.
The Danish air force has bought 77 F-16 jets since the 1970s, according to its armed forces. About 30 of them are currently in operation, according to local media reports.
His comments came as the Nato members Poland and Slovakia have recently begun to hand over MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.
A senior Ukrainian air commander last week said that while donations of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets by allies were an “important step”, Ukraine was in need of F-16 fighter jets, which he described as being “four or five times” more effective than the Soviet-era planes currently used by Ukraine.
Serhiy Holubtsov, one of the most senior commanders in Ukraine’s air force, said:
The F-16 is a fighter that has become a multirole aircraft which can fulfil the entire spectrum of airborne tasks. The MiG-29 unfortunately, is (an aircraft) from the last century.
Updated
My colleague Peter Beaumont has written an explainer on what we know about the leak of what appear to be classified US intelligence documents circulating on social media.
What does the leak involve?
The leak involves what appear to be classified US intelligence documents – some top secret – a number of which relate to the war in Ukraine. Others give indications of how widely the US has compromised Russian decision-making, while others still contain material derived from spying on allies.
Unlike other recent leaks – including material released by the NSA contractor Edward Snowden and the former US army whistleblower Chelsea Manning – the files appear to be hard copies of what appear to be briefing materials and slides.
Images said to be classified US intelligence documents began popping up on social media servers associated with the gaming community – including on a section of the instant messaging platform Discord that hosted debates about Ukraine. An as yet unidentified poster first began sharing the material by typing it out with the poster’s own thoughts, and then, as of a few months ago, posting photographs of the documents, some lying on top of a hunting magazine.
The photographed papers had folds in them, leading to the working assumption that, given the state of the documents, they were put in a pocket and taken out of a secure location, suggesting it was done by someone with a degree of access.
How will it affect Ukraine?
Most attention has been paid to the documents relating to Ukraine. While Ukrainian officials have tried to play down the content, suggesting it might be disinformation and pointing out that it does not contain concrete battle plans for its spring offensive, the material broadly reflects what many have suspected: that Ukrainian casualties may be higher than acknowledged, and that Kyiv has been using ammunition for different systems at times at an exhausting rate, raising questions over combat endurance.
One document from late February said Ukraine’s “ability to provide medium-range air defence to protect the [frontlines] will be completely reduced by May 23. UKR assessed to withstand 2-3 more wave strikes” from attacking Russian missiles and drones.
The most damage is likely to be in the detail, ie rates of fire for US-provided systems, such as artillery systems and the precision-guided high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars), which – if accurate – would be militarily useful to Russian planners.
The documents also detail US and Nato training and assistance, which would also be useful to Moscow, including air defence status, battalion sizes and combat readiness at a key juncture in the war.
Updated
Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has arrived in Canada on an official trip, during which he will seek supplies of ammunition and armoured vehicles for a counteroffensive against invading Russian forces.
Shmyhal posted to Twitter that “friendly” Canada was among the first countries to “stand with Ukraine”, and that he was due to meet with his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, and the deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland.
Friendly Canada 🇨🇦 . A country among the first to stand by #Ukraine. Meetings with @JustinTrudeau and @cafreeland coming up. We are preparing new agreements and deals to strengthen the macro-financial and economic stability of 🇺🇦. We are working for victory. pic.twitter.com/X0EeaiJH2z
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) April 11, 2023
Updated
Ukraine 'needs more long-range weapons and less contemplation on leaks', says official
Ukraine needs more long-range weapons and “less contemplation on leaks”, said the senior presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, referring to the recent leak of Pentagon documents.
Posting to Twitter, he said:
If we had time, we could watch the [Russian Federation] fall apart & its “elites” devour each other. But we don’t have it, as our people are dying.
We need less contemplation on “leaks” and more long-range weapons in order to properly end the war and make the RF face the reality…
If we had time, we could watch the RF fall apart & its "elites" devour each other. But we don't have it, as our people are dying. We need less contemplation on "leaks" and more long-range weapons in order to properly end the war and make the RF face the reality…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) April 11, 2023
Updated
More than 11 million Ukrainian refugees have fled to Poland since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February last year, according to Poland’s EU representative.
About 87% of those crossing the border are women and children, it adds.
Today, the number of persons who have crossed the 🇵🇱-🇺🇦 border since the beginning of the Russian aggression has exceeded 1⃣1⃣ million.
— Poland in the EU (@PLPermRepEU) April 11, 2023
Around 87 percent of them are women and children.
All those fleeing the war will find shelter and all the help they need in Poland. pic.twitter.com/CZXL1wPcTA
The UN’s high commissioner for refugees reported that more than 10.6 million people had crossed the border at the start of April.
Updated
Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister, Emine Dzhaparova, has held talks with India’s minister for external affairs and culture, Meenakshi Lekhi, as part of a four-day visit in India – the first by a Ukrainian official since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February last year.
Had a fruitful meeting with @M_Lekhi 🇮🇳.Briefed Minister on #Ukraine’s efforts to fight🇷🇺unprovoked aggression.Discussed deepening bilateral cooperation in various fields,in particular culture.🇺🇦bookshelves&audio guides under patronage of @ZelenskaUA will be available soon in🇮🇳. pic.twitter.com/ztnxGpDuBk
— Emine Dzheppar (@EmineDzheppar) April 11, 2023
Dzhaparova, who arrived in India on Monday, is expected to meet officials from the country’s ministry of external affairs and the deputy national security adviser, Vikram Misri.
Speaking yesterday, Dzhaparova said Ukraine would like India to be involved in helping resolve its conflict with Russia “to a great extent”. She also said the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had requested a phone conversation with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Updated
The Kremlin, appearing to pre-judge any judicial hearing, said on Tuesday that the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had “violated Russian law” and been caught “red-handed”, after the US state department officially designated him as having been “wrongfully detained” by Russia.
Reuters reports the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, repeated Russia’s position that Gershkovich broke the law.
“I don’t understand what kind of innovations this new regime is introducing. As for what it means, I don’t know,” Peskov said of the designation. He said Gershkovich had “been caught red-handed and violated the laws of the Russian Federation,” before adding: “This is what he’s suspected of, but of course, the court will make a decision.”
Russia has presented no evidence to support the case against Gershkovich, which is proceeding in secret because Russia says the case materials are confidential.
Next week, a court will hear an appeal from Gershkovich’s legal team against an order that he be held in pre-trial detention at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison until 29 May.
Updated
UN tally of confirmed civilian deaths in Ukraine approaches 8,500
Almost 8,500 civilians are confirmed to have been killed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a UN body has said, with many thousands more unverified deaths feared.
The Office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) said it had recorded 8,490 people killed and 14,244 injured between the launch of the invasion of 24 February 2022 and 9 April 2023.
The body has long described its figures as “the tip of the iceberg” because of its limited access to battle zones.
The majority of the deaths were recorded in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and under attack by Russian forces, including 3,927 people in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where there has been intense fighting.
“OHCHR believes the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration,” Reuters reports it said in a statement.
It singled out Mariupol (Donetsk region), Lysychansk, Popasna, and Sievierodonetsk (Luhansk region) as areas where “there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties” that remain undocumented.
Updated
Romania’s supreme defence council has said it aims to buy the latest generation F-35 fighter planes to boost its air defences.
“Having robust, credible, interoperable, flexible and efficient air defence operational capabilities … as part of our commitments as a Nato and EU state is key to Romania meeting its defence policy objectives,” Reuters reports the statement said.
“The air force’s modernisation process will continue through the acquisition of last generation F-35 jets.”
Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, posted to Telegram an hour ago that “Russian Su-35 aircraft carried out airstrikes on the cities of Orikhiv and Hulyaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region. The losses are currently being ascertained.”
Within the last few minutes he has posted images that he claims come from the scene. They appear to show rescue workers putting out a fire in a non-residential building.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Leaked US intelligence documents appear indicate that Egypt was planning to covertly supply Russia with rockets and munitions. A document, dated 17 February, claims to summarise conversations between President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials. In the document, Sisi instructs officials to keep the production and shipment of rockets secret “to avoid problems with the west”, and additionally also references plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.
The US is attempting to mend fences with key allies, after leaked Pentagon documents claimed that Washington had been spying on friendly nations, including South Korea and Israel.
Russia continues to make gains in Bakhmut, but is suffering “significant” casualties in the process, the Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, says in its latest update.
Russia will soon draft men into the army by sending them electronic call-up papers via an online portal in addition to traditional letters, according to draft legislation due to be debated on Tuesday that aims to facilitate mobilisation. Currently, conscription papers in Russia have to be delivered in person by the local military enlistment office or via an employer, but the proposed changes to legislation would see conscription papers being sent via recorded mail and online. More than 300,000 former soldiers and ex-conscripts are believed to have been called up since President Vladimir Putin announced an emergency draft last year to support what Russia terms its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal has arrived in Canada, on an official trip during which he will seek supplies of ammunition and armoured vehicles for a counteroffensive against invading Russian forces
Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass reports that a man has been detained in Khabarovsk, one of Russia’s furthest eastern cities, charged with treason and accused of sending money to Ukrainian armed forces.
The RIA Novosti news agency in Russia reports on its Telegram channel that yesterday an unknown drone fell near Belgorod airport. Citing emergency services, it said “there were no casualties, the fence was slightly damaged”.
Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, has arrived in Moscow for discussions about energy. The head of the Hungarian foreign ministry said he planned to meet the Russian deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak, and the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev.
Poland’s prime minister has flown to the US for meetings aimed at strengthening the economic and defence cooperation of the two nations. Mateusz Morawiecki is due to meet the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, today at the White House. His three-day visit will also include meetings with the representatives of American defence companies.
The Kremlin has said there are no plans for an Orthodox Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, Russian state media reported.
The United States on Monday determined that Russia has “wrongfully detained” American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, effectively saying that espionage charges are bogus and that the case is political.
Russia set to introduce electronic military call-up system
Russia will soon draft men into the army by sending them electronic call-up papers via an online portal in addition to traditional letters, according to draft legislation due to be debated on Tuesday that aims to facilitate mobilisation.
Reuters reports that currently, conscription papers in Russia have to be delivered in person by the local military enlistment office or via an employer, but the proposed changes to legislation would see conscription papers being sent via recorded mail and online.
Once an electronic summons is received, citizens who fail to show up at the military enlistment office will be automatically banned from travelling abroad.
“The summons is considered received from the moment it is placed in the personal account of a person liable for military service,” Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Russian parliament’s defence committee, said in comments on television.
After a chaotic roll-out last year, Russia has moved to streamline its process of drafting soldiers into the army by digitising its military records.
More than 300,000 former soldiers and ex-conscripts are believed to have been called up since President Vladimir Putin announced an emergency draft last year to support what Russia terms its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The Kremlin promised to fix what it said were “mistakes” with its mobilisation campaign, after men who were ineligible for the draft because of their age or medical conditions were called up to fight in Ukraine.
Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass reports that a man has been detained in Khabarovsk, one of Russia’s furthest eastern cities, charged with treason and accused of sending money to Ukrainian armed forces.
It quotes Russian security forces who said:
The federal security service of the Russian Federation stopped the illegal activities of a resident of Khabarovsk, involved in committing high treason in the form of financial assistance to the armed forces of Ukraine in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation.
In the course of operational-search activities, it was established that the suspect made transfers of personal funds for the acquisition of weapons, ammunition and uniforms by the armed forces of Ukraine.
The man faces the prospect of up to 20 years in prison.
Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, has arrived in Moscow for discussions about energy with Russia. Tass reports the head of the Hungarian foreign ministry said he planned to meet the Russian deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak, and the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev.
It cites Szijjártó’s Facebook page, where he wrote:
The security of Hungary’s energy supply requires uninterrupted transportation of gas, oil and nuclear fuel. To fulfil these three conditions, Hungarian-Russian energy cooperation must be uninterrupted. It’s not about political taste, but about physics.
Updated
Leaked US documents say Egypt secretly planned to supply Russia rockets – reports
In the US, the Washington Post is reporting that leaked US intelligence documents indicate that Egypt was planning to covertly supply Russia with rockets and munitions.
The paper reports that a document, dated 17 February, claims to summarise conversations between President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials. In the document, Sisi instructs officials to keep the production and shipment of rockets secret “to avoid problems with the west”, and additionally also references plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.
Asked about the documents, a spokesperson for Egypt’s foreign ministry, the ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, told the Washington Post: “Egypt’s position from the beginning is based on non-involvement in this crisis and committing to maintain equal distance with both sides, while affirming Egypt’s support to the UN charter and international law.”
He said Egypt continued to “urge both parties to cease hostilities and reach a political solution through negotiations”.
The report also quotes an anonymous US official, who said that, to their knowledge, the weapons were not supplied. “We are not aware of any execution of that plan. We have not seen that happen.”
The Washington Post notes that Egypt is one of the US’s closest allies in the Middle East and a major recipient of US aid, and that the US justice department has opened an investigation into the leak of classified documents.
Julian Borger reported for the Guardian overnight that the recent leak of more than a hundred secret US defence documents could just be the “tip of the iceberg” of a trove of material that had started circulating long before it was widely noticed, according to a report.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us over the news wires, showing damage from Russian shelling in Chasiv Yar and Kramatorsk in Donetsk region, one of the areas of Ukraine which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed.
The RIA Novosti news agency in Russia reports on its Telegram channel that yesterday an unknown drone fell near Belgorod airport. Citing emergency services, it said “there were no casualties, the fence was slightly damaged”.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
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Associated Press reports that Poland’s prime minister has flown to the US for meetings aimed at strengthening the economic and defence cooperation of the two nations.
Mateusz Morawiecki is due to meet the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, today at the White House. His three-day visit will also include meetings with the representatives of American defence companies.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the US increased its military presence in Poland. The country is on Nato’s eastern flank and borders Ukraine. The US has also used Poland as a transit country for military and humanitarian aid going into Ukraine.
Updated
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that “the Russian army shelled Kherson at night and attacked Potemkin Island”. It adds “in total, during the day, the Russian military attacked the Kherson community three times”.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
ISW: Russia continues to make gains in Bakhmut
Russia continues to make gains in Bakhmut, but is suffering “significant” casualties in the process, the Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, says in its latest update.
Geolocated footage posted on 9 and 10 April shows that Russian forces made marginal advances northwest of Khromove (2km west of Bakhmut), in southwest Bakhmut, and north of Sacco i Vanzetti (15km north of Bakhmut.
US seeks to mend ties after claims Washington spied on key allies
The US is attempting to mend fences with key allies, after leaked Pentagon documents claimed that Washington had been spying on friendly nations, including South Korea and Israel.
The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, spoke to his South Korean counterpart on Tuesday, as officials in Seoul denied the possibility that the president’s office could have been the source of leaks over South Korean arms sales to the US.
The disclosure of the highly classified material represents Washington’s worst national security breach in many years and included details about Ukraine’s lack of ammunition and US intelligence collection methods used against Russia:
Japan’s finance minister, Shunichi Suzuki, said on Tuesday that Japan would chair a G7 financial leaders’ meeting on 12 April in Washington to discuss the underlying global economy, global supply chains, inflation and the war in Ukraine.
Suzuki will travel to Washington to hold the G7 financial leaders’ meeting on the sidelines of IMF and World Bank annual gatherings. G7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and Japan.
Gershkovich ‘wrongfully detained’, says US
The United States on Monday determined that Russia has “wrongfully detained” American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, “effectively saying that espionage charges are bogus and that the case is political,” Reuters reports.
“Journalism is not a crime,” US state department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement. “We condemn the Kremlin’s continued repression of independent voices in Russia, and its ongoing war against the truth.”
The US government would provide all appropriate support to Gershkovich and his family, said Patel.
Patel also called for Russia to release Paul Whelan, a former US Marine serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian prison and is also designated by Washington as “wrongfully detained.”
Ukrainian PM arrives in Canada
Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal has arrived in Canada, on an official trip during which he will seek supplies of ammunition and armoured vehicles for a counteroffensive against invading Russian forces, the Globe and Mail reports.
Shmyhal said in an interview with the Canadian newspaper that he was not concerned about the lack of new military aid allocated for Ukraine in Canada’s federal budget, and hoped the country would provide more aid among other forms of assistance.
“Now, we need heavy armoured vehicles. And we need more artillery shells: ammunition for howitzers and ammunition for tanks,” Shmyhal said. “It’s crucially important for the organization of our counteroffensive,”
Ukraine is expected to launch a counter-offensive to seize back land in the south and east of the country from Russian forces in the coming weeks or months.
Shmyhal will visit Canada in coming weeks, the Globe and Mail said, adding that for security reasons the Kyiv government was not divulging the date of the trip.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest.
Our top story this morning: the United States on Monday determined that Russia has “wrongfully detained” American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, “effectively saying that espionage charges are bogus and that the case is political,” Reuters reports.
Meanwhile Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has arrived in Canada on an official visit during which he will seek supplies of ammunition and armoured vehicles for a counteroffensive against invading Russian forces, the Globe and Mail reports.
Here are the other key recent developments:
The Kremlin has said there are no plans for an Orthodox Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, Russian state media reported. The Institute for the Study of War warned that Russia may try to use the upcoming Orthodox Easter holiday on 16 April to delay Ukrainian counteroffensives by calling for a ceasefire out of respect for religion.
Russia plans to increase air defences over its north-western border to counter Finland’s accession to Nato, a commander in its aerospace forces has said. Lt Gen Andrei Demin, the deputy commander-in-chief of aerospace forces, also said further reforms of Russian air defences were “undoubtedly planned and will be implemented”.
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, has accused Russian troops of using “scorched earth” tactics in the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut. The situation in Bakhmut was “difficult but controllable”, he said, adding that the defence of the city continued.
The Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said Russian forces controlled more than 75% of the besieged city of Bakhmut. It was still too soon to announce a total victory in the battle over Bakhmut, Denis Pushilin said on state television while visiting the embattled city in eastern Ukraine.
Reports claiming that a Russian fighter jet nearly shot down a British surveillance plane off the coast of Crimea in September “contain inaccuracies and do not reflect what happened in international air space over the Black Sea”, a British defence source said on Monday. Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, disclosed the incident to parliament in October and said at the time that the UK did not consider the case a deliberate escalation, but that it had been due to a technical malfunction.
Ukraine has denied a report that it had been forced to amend some military plans ahead of a long-anticipated counter-offensive because of the leak. Presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Kyiv’s strategic plans remained unchanged but that specific tactics were always subject to change.
More than 200 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have returned home in a prisoner swap, according to both sides. Russia’s defence ministry said 106 Russian soldiers were released from Ukrainian custody as part of an agreement with Ukraine. Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said Russia freed 100 Ukrainian prisoners.
The US defence department has said an interagency effort is assessing the impact of the leak could have on US national security and on its allies and partners. Officials say the breadth of topics addressed in the documents – which touch on the war in Ukraine, China, the Middle East and Africa – suggest they may have been leaked by an American rather than an ally.
The documents suggest that without a huge boost in munitions, Ukraine’s air defences could be in peril, allowing the Russian air force to change the course of the war, the New York Times has reported. One of the documents, dated 23 February and marked “Secret”, outlines in detail how Ukraine’s Soviet-era S-300 air defence systems would be depleted by 2 May at the current usage rate.
Only 1,800 civilians are still living in the “ruins” of Avdiivka, the embattled eastern Ukrainian city that had a prewar population of 32,000, according to the local governor. “The Russians have turned Avdiivka into a total ruin,” said Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsk’s regional governor. In a separate statement, the Ukrainian general staff said Russian forces were continuing to mount offensive operations around Avdiivka but were suffering heavy losses of personnel and equipment.
Russia continues to prioritise operations around Donetsk in eastern Ukraine “expending significant resources for minimal gains”, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in its daily briefing. The MoD said that over the past seven days Russia had increased armoured assaults around Marinka, a small town about 12 miles (20km) south-west of Donetsk city.
The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, held a meeting on Monday with Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu. Lukashenko said he needed guarantees that Russia will defend Belarus “like its own territory” in the case of aggression, state media reported.
Ukraine would like India to be engaged and involved in helping resolve its conflict with Russia “to a great extent”, its first deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova has said. Dzhaparova, the first Ukrainian minister to travel to India since Russia’s full-scale invasion, said the Ukrainian president had requested a phone conversation with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi.
The Kremlin has said it is hard to imagine France playing a role in brokering peace in Ukraine, since Paris is “both indirectly and directly involved in this conflict on the side of Ukraine”. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited China last week, where he urged his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to bring Russia “back to reason” over the war in Ukraine.
