US arrests suspect behind leak of Pentagon documents

Jack Teixeira, 21-year-old US air national guardsman, is believed to have led online group where classified files appeared

The FBI has 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 and upset Washington’s relations with key allies.

Jack Teixeira was arrested at his home in the town of North Dighton 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 standing by an armoured vehicle dressed in camouflage and body armour, pointing their rifles at him.

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Russian ally Serbia denies supplying weapons to Ukraine

President says Belgrade ‘has not nor will it’ send Kyiv arms, after leaked Pentagon paper claimed Serbia had agreed to send weapons

The Serbian president says his country has not sold arms to Ukraine and would not do so, after a leaked Pentagon report said Belgrade had agreed to provide arms to Kyiv, according to foreign media reports.

“Serbia has not nor will it export weapons to Ukraine,” Aleksandar Vučić told reporters on Thursday, according to the Beta news agency.

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US attorney general confirms arrest of air national guardsman suspected of being behind intelligence leaks – as it happened

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Overnight the Times of London has reported that MPs have warned that British lives have been put at risk by the leak of classified US intelligence documents. It writes:

Tobias Ellwood, [the Conservative MP] who chairs the defence select committee, said the US leaks could “endanger lives”.

“Given our long-established lead in scale and capability when it comes to elite forces it will come as no surprise that our special forces are doing much of the heavy lifting,” he said.

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Ukrainian orchestra’s key members refused visas to play in UK

Promoter claims ‘catastrophe’ has cost it more than £88k and accuses British government of hypocrisy

Key members of a Ukrainian state orchestra were refused visas to play a series of concerts in the UK this month in a “catastrophe” that the promoter claims cost it more than €100,000 (£88,000).

The Khmelnitsky Orchestra was due to tour the UK this month with two shows: The Magical Music of Harry Potter, and The Music From the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit andThe Rings of Power.

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UK imposes sanctions on ‘enablers’ accused of helping Russian oligarchs

‘Financial fixers’ alleged to have helped Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov to hide assets are among those targeted

The UK government has imposed sanctions on the “financial fixers” who have allegedly helped the Russian oligarchs Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov hide their assets.

The sanctions, announced by the Foreign Office on Wednesday, are targeted at what officials describe as “oligarch enablers”, whom they accuse of knowingly assisting the billionaire businessmen to shield their wealth.

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Leaked US intelligence document claims Serbia agreed to arm Ukraine

Classified Pentagon document seems to show Serbia has committed to sending lethal aid or has supplied it already

Serbia, the only country in Europe that has refused to impose sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, agreed to supply arms to Kyiv or has sent them already, according to a classified Pentagon document.

The document, a summary of European governments’ responses to Ukraine’s requests for military training and “lethal aid” or weapons, was among dozens of classified documents posted online in recent weeks in what could be the most serious leak of US secrets in years.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: US sanctions over 120 people and entities supporting Russia’s invasion — as it happened

Latest sanctions target a wide network tied to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov

Associated Press today has a feature on people in Ukraine who are in need of mental health treatment after months of war.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in this situation, experts say, and the number of people needing psychological help is only expected to rise as the war continues.

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US feared Ukraine could fall ‘well short’ in spring counter-offensive, leaks reveal

‘Top secret’ document reportedly warned Kyiv faced shortfalls in troops and weaponry and suggested any gains would be modest

US intelligence reportedly warned in February that Ukraine might fail to amass sufficient troops and weaponry for its planned spring counter-offensive, and might fall “well short” of Kyiv’s goals for recapturing territory seized by Russia, according to one of a trove of leaked defence documents.

A document tagged as “top secret” quoted by the Washington Post said that Kyiv was facing significant “force generation and sustainment shortfalls” and was therefore only likely to achieve “modest territorial gains”. The document is a snapshot of the situation in early February, and it is unclear how far Ukraine, with the support of Nato member states, has been able to make up the shortfalls since then.

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Up to 50 UK special forces present in Ukraine this year, US leak suggests

Documents appear to list number of western special forces personnel in Ukraine in February and March

Leaked US military documents indicate that the UK has deployed as many as 50 special forces to Ukraine.

The documents suggest that more than half of the western special forces personnel present in Ukraine between February and March this year may have been British.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Hungary signs new energy deals with Russia; UN tally of Ukraine civilian deaths approaches 8,500

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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.

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Pentagon leaks: US seeks to mend ties after claims Washington spied on key allies

Defence secretary speaks to South Korean counterpart after leak suggesting US was spying on Seoul’s internal discussions on arms sales

The US is attempting to mend fences with key allies after leaked Pentagon documents claimed Washington had been spying on friendly countries 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.

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Latest leak highlights how many have access to US top secret material

Classified documents revealing Ukraine military troubles and US intel gathering against allies were probably spread through gaming servers

The evidence emerging on the leak of classified US defence documents suggests that it was probably not some dastardly hacking or disinformation plot by Russia or the US, but rather another example of how carelessly Washington handles its secrets.

The least likely version of reality is the one being circulated among Kremlin supporters, that it was a clever piece of CIA distraction ultimately aimed at demoralising Russians by showing how many lives they had lost, and how badly their war was going in Ukraine.

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Ukraine’s air defences could soon run out of missiles, apparent Pentagon leak suggests

Documents dating from February suggest looming risk to Ukraine’s ability to protect troops and vital sites from Russian airpower

Ukraine’s air defences risk running out of missiles and ammunition within weeks, an apparent leak of Pentagon documents dating from February suggests, as US defence officials raced to trace how the files became public.

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. It is unclear if the usage rate has since changed.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: two killed in Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia; Pope prays for peace

Man and his young daughter killed after forces strike residential building in the south-eastern city; Francis references war in Easter message

Pope Francis appeared to ask Russians to seek the truth about their country’s invasion of Ukraine in his Easter message to the world, in which he called for an end to all conflict.

Francis, 86, presided over the solemn Easter day Mass in St Peter’s Square and delivered his twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message and blessing from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.

Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia.

… comfort the wounded and all those who have lost loved ones because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families.

Open the hearts of the entire international community to strive to end this war and all conflict and bloodshed in our world.

There are no French forces engaged in operation in Ukraine. The documents cited do not come from the French armies. We do not comment on documents whose source is uncertain.

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‘Savages’: Ukrainian resort town resisting Russian attempts to repeat past glories

Ochakiv was ‘paradise’ before unwelcome visitors began raining down missiles from spit of land nearby

The view from the Ukrainian town of Ochakiv appears idyllic. Beyond the beach, a narrow strip of land stretches out across the sea. The peninsula in Mykolaiv province is known as the Kinburn spit. In happier times holidaymakers would take a boat from Ochakiv and camp among the dunes. The nature reserve is home to swans, pelicans and migrating birds.

Last June it got a new and unwelcome visitor: Russia. Soldiers captured the rustic territory, with its summer houses and mini-lakes, and turned it into a military base. Ever since the Russian army has bombarded Ochakiv, which is five miles (8km) away. Truck mounted launchers release Grad missiles, sending them over the Black Sea. Afterwards the crews speed off and take cover amid the mazy sands.

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Russia-Ukraine war – as it happened: Ukraine to boost defences along border with Belarus

Lt Gen Serhiy Nayev, commander of Ukraine’s joint armed forces, announced the decision on social media

The Russian-backed head of Crimea’s administration, Sergei Aksyonov, said a missile fired from Ukraine was shot down over the Black Sea town of Feodosia in Russian-controlled Crimea.

Russian state-run Tass news agency quoted an adviser to Aksyonov, Oleg Kryuchkov, as saying that debris had fallen in a Crimean town, but no damage or casualties have been reported.

Сhildren abducted by Russians from the Kherson and Kharkiv regions have been reunited with their families after several months of separation.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 409 of the invasion

US Justice Department launches probe into possible leak of classified military papers; WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich charged with espionage in Russia but denies accusation

The US Justice Department has launched an investigation into the possible release of Pentagon documents that were posted on several social media sites including Twitter and appear to detail US and Nato aid to Ukraine, but may have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign. Associated Press reported that the documents were labelled secret and resembled routine updates the US military would produce daily. Reuters reported three unnamed US officials said Russia or pro-Russian elements were likely behind the leak and that the documents provided a month-old snapshot of the war and appeared to have been doctored to play down Russian losses.

Three civilians were killed and 17 wounded over the past 24 hours in Russian artillery, missile and aerial attacks on 114 settlements in nine regions, the Ukrainian defence ministry said on Friday. Authorities in Russian-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine said seven civilians were killed on Thursday in two Ukrainian artillery strikes. Both sides deny targeting civilians.

Russian Federal Security Service investigators formally charged Evan Gershkovich with espionage but the Wall Street Journal reporter denied the charges and said he was working as a journalist, Russian news agencies reported on Friday. Gershkovich is the first American journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the cold war.

The Ukrainian military said it had downed a Russian Su-25 ground attack jet near Marinka. A video showed a big explosion as the plane slammed into the ground, with its pilot descending on a parachute. The Russian military did not confirm the plane’s downing, AP reported.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has threatened to abandon a landmark grain deal with Ukraine if obstacles to Moscow’s exports remained. The agreement last July allows Ukraine to export grain through a safe corridor in the Black Sea. “If there is no further progress in removing barriers to the export of Russian fertilisers and grain, we will think about whether this deal is necessary,” Lavrov told a news conference in Ankara alongside his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on Friday.

Ukraine can resume exporting electricity after a six-month gap, given the success of repairs carried out after repeated Russian attacks, the energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, said on Friday. Last October, Ukraine halted exports of electricity to the European Union – its main export market for energy since the war began – following Russia strikes on energy infrastructure. “The most difficult winter has passed,” Halushchenko said.

Ukraine has said Russia is concentrating all its efforts on capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, where it described the situation as “difficult” but said it was holding out. The UK Ministry of Defence said earlier that Russian forces had “highly likely” advanced into Bakhmut’s town centre and seized the west bank of the Bakhmutka River, severely threatening Ukraine’s key supply route to the west.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday criticised Russia’s treatment of the Muslim-minority Tatar community in Kremlin-controlled Crimea and vowed to recapture the peninsula from Russia during a first official state iftar. Speaking outside the centre of the capital, Zelenskiy announced Ukraine was beginning a new tradition of hosting an official iftar, the meal breaking the daily fast during the month of Ramadan.
Reuters, Agence-France Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report

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