Ukraine updates: 75 percent of Bakhmut under control – Russia
All the updates from April 10 as they happened.
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for April 10:
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for April 10:
- The Moscow-installed head of the part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region controlled by Russia, Denis Pushilin, said Russian forces control “more than 75 percent” of the city of Bakhmut.
- The commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russian troops have switched to “scorched earth” tactics in Bakhmut and are destroying buildings as well as positions with air strikes.
- Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, responding to the leaked Pentagon files, said there was a general tendency to blame Russia for everything.
- A commander in Russia’s aerospace forces said Moscow plans to overhaul and bolster its air defence forces in response to Finland’s accession to NATO.
US officials review intel sharing after damaging leak: Report
United States security agencies are reviewing how they share sensitive secrets inside the government while dealing with the diplomatic fallout from the release of dozens of confidential documents, the Reuters news said quoting three US officials.
Investigators are also working to determine what person or group might have had the ability and motivation to release the intelligence reports, said one of the officials.
The leaks could be the most damaging release of US government information since the 2013 publication of thousands of documents on WikiLeaks.
Kremlin critic facing 25 years in jail says regrets nothing
Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza said he stood by all of his political statements, including those he made against Russia’s war on Ukraine, which led him to face 25 years in jail.
“I subscribe to every word that I have said, that I am incriminated for today,” Kara-Murza said, citing his fight against the war and President Vladimir Putin.
“Not only do I not repent for any of it – I am proud of it,” he said in his last words to the court, which were published on journalist Alexei Venediktov’s Telegram channel.
Kara-Murza, 41, is accused of several charges including treason and spreading false information about the Russian army.
US calls for consular access to WSJ journalist in Russia
Washington has accused Moscow of violating international law for denying US officials consular access to detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Consular access allows diplomats to communicate with citizens jailed in foreign countries.
The US State Department said it was continuing to try to reach Gershkovich, an American citizen being held in Russia, but Moscow authorities have not granted requests.
“It is a violation of Russia’s obligations under our consular convention and a violation against international law,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said.
US officials have rejected espionage charges against Gershkovich and said a formal process was under way to label him as wrongfully detained.
Kara-Murza likens his case to Stalin’s show trials
Facing up to a quarter of a century in jail on treason charges he denies, Vladimir Kara-Murza told a Moscow court his trial recalled one of Josef Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s and said he had done nothing wrong.
Russian state prosecutors on Thursday requested a 25-year prison sentence for Kara-Murza, who they accuse of treason and of discrediting the Russian military after he criticised Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
His trial, which will culminate in a verdict on April 17, is being held behind closed doors, but a copy of his final speech to the court on Monday was made available by his wife and lawyer.
In it, he struck a defiant tone, declined to ask the court to acquit him, and said he stood by and was proud of everything he had said. The current environment, he said, was not so much like the 1970s – a period when the state faced off against Soviet dissidents – as the 1930s when Stalin conducted a series of show trials and purges of his opponents.
“For me, as a historian, this is cause for reflection,” said Kara-Murza. “Criminals are supposed to repent of what they have done. I, on the other hand, am in prison for my political views. I also know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate.”
Russia jails two for protest against military mobilisation
A Russian court has sentenced two former officials to 19 years in prison for throwing Molotov cocktails at a town hall in protest against military mobilisation, according to Russian news agencies.
The sentence is the heaviest punishment handed out so far for this type of attack, of which there have been dozens since Russia began its military campaign in Ukraine.
In September last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilisation to prop up forces in Ukraine, leading to a mass exodus of men from Russia to avoid being sent to the front lines.
US aims to rally allies to up pressure on Russia
The US government will seek to rally allies this week to ratchet up economic pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and shore up support for Kyiv, a top US Treasury official is slated to say.
Treasury Undersecretary Jay Shambaugh will underscore the US’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine in a speech at the Brookings Institution as global finance officials gather in Washington for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings, according to excerpts obtained by Reuters.
Shambaugh, who traveled to Kyiv with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in February, said current inflationary pressures could not be separated from the war and its economic spillovers.
Russia increases diesel exports to Brazil and Latin America
Russia has increased its diesel exports to Brazil and other parts of Latin America following an embargo on shipments to Europe, traders said, and Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Russia has long been the leading diesel supplier for Europe; however, a European Union embargo on Russian oil products since February 5 has diverted Russian diesel exports to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Last month, Russia sent more than 580,000 tonnes to Latin and South America, with almost 440,000 tonnes of those volumes heading to Brazil, and another 140,000 tonnes destined for Panama, Uruguay and Cuba, Refinitiv data showed.
In total, diesel supplies from Russia-controlled ports to Brazil totalled 663,000 tonnes in January-March.
Ukraine to possibly change offensive plans amid Pentagon leak
According to CNN, Ukraine might amend its military plans ahead of an expected counteroffensive after leaked classified Pentagon papers.
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine’s strategic plans remained unchanged but that more specific tactical plans were always subject to change.
“There are strategic tasks – they are unchangeable,” he told Reuters.
“But operational and tactical scenarios are constantly refined, based on an assessment of the situation on the battlefield, resource provision, intelligence data on the enemy’s resources, etc,” he said.
“Right now, it’s impossible to reassess plans, because they are only being worked out [now],” he added.
Seventy-five percent of Bakhmut controlled by Russia: Moscow official
The Russian-installed head of the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said Russian forces controlled more than 75 percent of Bakhmut.
“I can say with absolute certainty, that more than 75 percent of the city is under the control of our units,” Denis Pushilin told state-run the Rossiya-24 TV channel, though he cautioned it was too early to talk about Bakhmut’s fall.
Russia says the capture of Bakhmut will open up the possibility for future offensives across Ukraine, while Kyiv and the West say the now-smashed city has only symbolic importance for Russia.
Ukraine, Russia swap more than 200 POWs
Ukraine released 106 Russian prisoners of war (POWs) in exchange for 100 Ukrainians, both countries say.
In a Telegram post, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said the released Ukrainians included defenders of the southeastern city of Mariupol and its Azovstal steel plant, captured in the war’s opening months.
The Russian news outlet Tass reported Russia’s Ministry of Defence saying in a statement: “On April 10, as a result of the negotiation process, 106 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime, who were in mortal danger in captivity.”
The Russian POWs will be sent to Moscow, where they will be given medical treatment and rehabilitation, the ministry said.
Russian journalists urge release of opposition politician
Dozens of Russian journalists and human rights activists have called on authorities to free an opposition politician facing up to 25 years in jail for alleged treason. They say the case is politically motivated.
On Thursday, Russian state prosecutors requested a 25-year prison sentence for Vladimir Kara-Murza, an author and former journalist with Russian and British passports.
A letter petitioning for Kara-Murza’s release was signed by many journalists who have fled the country.
“We demand that the Russian authorities, law enforcement officers and judges return to the path of justice,” the letter said. “Prosecute murderers and criminals rather than honest and responsible citizens who dare to think and speak the truth.”
“Stop Russia’s new slide toward Stalinism and a totalitarian system,” it said.
Kara-Murza spent years opposing Putin and lobbied foreign governments to sanction Russia and individual Russians for human rights violations.
Prosecutors accuse him of discrediting the Russian military and committing treason by criticising Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Ukraine seeks visit by Indian PM Modi, deputy foreign minister says
Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister says Kyiv is seeking a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top officials, adding that New Delhi should be more involved in resolving the war in Ukraine.
Emine Dzhaparova told broadcaster CNBC TV18 that India was expected to invite Ukrainian officials to participate in G20 events in September in New Delhi while adding that India should intensify political dialogue with Kyiv.
Dzhaparova is on a four-day visit to New Delhi.
Arrest of WSJ reporter a ‘brazen act’, World Bank president says
Russia’s arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is a “brazen act” and violates the vital freedom of the press, including the safety of journalists, World Bank President David Malpass says.
Last week, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) investigators charged Gershkovich with espionage, which he denied and said he was working as a journalist.
Gershkovich was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg after the FSB accused him of collecting what it said were state secrets about the military-industrial complex.
No plans for an Easter truce, Kremlin says
There are no initiatives for an Easter truce in Ukraine, a Tass news agency report cites the Kremlin spokesman as saying.
“Nobody has put forward [the idea of an Easter truce]; it was not put forward,” Peskov said
“So far, there have been no initiatives on this score, but we have just started Holy Week,” he said.
The spokesman added, “Moscow has already put forward initiatives [on a truce]. It itself adhered to this but faced the unwillingness of the Kyiv regime to follow such a regime.”
Population of Avdiivka drops to 1,800 from pre-war 32,000: Governor
The population of Avdiivka has dwindled to 1,800 people from 32,000 before the war as Russian forces target the city to try to capture it, the governor says.
“The Russians have turned Avdiivka into a total ruin,” said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Donetsk region’s top government official.
He said the city was hit by an air strike on Monday that destroyed a multistorey building.
“Fortunately, there were no casualties as all the residents of the building evacuated in time,” he said.
“In total, around 1,800 people remain in Avdiivka, all of whom risk their lives every day,” Kyrylenko said.
Avdiivka has been one of the main targets of a Russian winter offensive that Moscow hoped would reinvigorate its invasion of Ukraine but that has achieved only small advances in the east.
Brazil’s Lula to meet Chinese counterpart, discuss Ukraine
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva plans to meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing this week to discuss trade and the war in Ukraine.
Lula hopes to promote his proposal for mediated talks to end the war, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told reporters.
The Brazilian leader is looking to position Brazil as a mediator as he did in 2010 during nuclear talks between Iran and the US.
His diplomatic stock went down last year when he came under fire for claiming that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was “as responsible” for the war as his Russian counterpart, Putin.
He has also refused to join Western nations in sending weapons to Ukraine to help in its defence.
Lula is expected to arrive in China on Tuesday and meet Xi on Friday.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 411
Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 411 of the war.
Keep reading:
There’s a ‘tendency to always blame everything on Russia’: Kremlin
When asked about a leak of US intelligence documents, the Kremlin’s spokesman says there is a general tendency to always blame Russia.
Some national security experts and US officials say the leaker could be American but they do not rule out pro-Russian actors.
“I cannot comment on this in any way,” Peskov told reporters. “You and I know that there is, in fact, a tendency to always blame everything on Russia. It is, in general, a disease.”
Asked about the idea that Washington had spied on Zelenskyy, Peskov, who called the leaks “quite interesting”, said that could not be ruled out.
“But the fact that the United States has been spying on various heads of state, especially in European capitals, for a long time now has come up repeatedly, causing various scandalous situations,” he said.
Hard to imagine France as a mediator: Kremlin
The Kremlin says it is hard to imagine France playing a role of mediator in Ukraine because Paris had taken the side of one of the parties in the conflict.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited China last week to try to dissuade Beijing from supporting Russia in the war. He also implored China to “bring Russia to its senses”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters that China had every right to respond to what it called “provocations” and to carry out military exercises around Taiwan.
US opens interagency assessment on leaked classified documents
The US Department of Defense says multiple agencies are assessing the impact that leaked intelligence documents could have on national security and US allies and partners.
“The Department of Defense continues to review and assess the validity of the photographed documents that are circulating on social media sites and that appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material,” the department said in a statement.
The leak of documents containing details ranging from Ukraine’s air defences to Israel’s Mossad spy agency have officials scrambling to identify tots source.
Some experts say it could be an American.
“The focus now is on this being a US leak as many of the documents were only in US hands,” Michael Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, told the Reuters news agency in an interview.
Belarusian president meets Russian defence minister
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has met Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu for an unannounced meeting in Minsk, Belarusian state-owned news agency BelTA reported.
Lukashenko said Belarus needs guarantees that Russia will defend Belarus “like its own territory” in the event of external attack.
Russian-installed Donetsk official visits Bakhmut
A Moscow-backed official said he visited Bakhmut, suggesting that Russian forces have made significant gains there.
Denis Pushilin posted a video of himself on Telegram in the heavily destroyed city.
“Here is our Artemovsk,” Pushilin said, using the Soviet-era name for Bakhmut.
“It is being liberated by Wagnerites,” Pushilin, who wore a camouflage helmet, said, with destroyed buildings in the background. The sound of artillery could be heard in the video.
Zelenskyy condemns Russian air strikes on Orthodox Sunday
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned Russian air strikes on Orthodox Palm Sunday, including an attack that killed a man and his daughter at home in the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Ukraine’s State Emergencies Service said the 50-year-old and his daughter, 11, were killed after Russian forces struck a residential building.
“This is how the terrorist state marks Palm Sunday,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “This is how Russia places itself in even greater isolation from the world.”
Zelenskyy also praised several units defending positions in the east and said he hoped Palm Sunday next year “will take place with peace and freedom for all our people”.
Russia to overhaul air defence forces
Russia plans to overhaul and bolster its air force after gaining experience in the war in Ukraine and in response to Finland joining NATO, a Russian commander said.
In an interview with the Red Star newspaper, Lieutenant General Andrei Demin, deputy commander-in-chief of Russia’s aerospace forces, said air defence forces had faced a number of challenges in the face of Ukrainian strikes.
Reforms “are undoubtedly planned and will be implemented”, Demin told the Russian defence ministry’s newspaper.
“The purpose of the upcoming changes is the development of the armed forces, aimed at improving the air defence system of the Russian Federation.”
Demin said Russia would also bolster its defences after Finland, which shares a 1,300km (800-mile) border with Russia, joined NATO.
Russian troops switch to ‘scorched earth’ tactics: Ukraine
The commander of the Ukrainian ground forces says Russian troops have switched to “scorched earth” tactics in Ukraine’s eastern city of Bakhmut.
“The enemy switched to the so-called scorched earth tactics from Syria. It is destroying buildings and positions with air strikes and artillery fire,” said Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Ukraine’s defence of Bakhmut continues, he said, adding, “The situation is difficult but controllable.”
Syrskyi also said Moscow was bringing in special forces and airborne assault units to help its attack on the city as members of the Wagner military group had become “exhausted”.