WAR IN UKRAINE: April 19, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 420
Russia is attacking Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine ever more fiercely with aerial attacks and artillery strikes, but Ukrainian forces remain in control of the embattled city, the commander of Kyiv’s ground forces said on Tuesday - NYT
U.S. warns Russia not to touch its nuclear technology inside the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - Europe’s largest - inside Ukraine - CNN
The American, Canadian and British ambassadors to Russia were summoned today by Moscow for their “crude interference” in internal affairs
Retired four-star General David Petraeus is a veteran of nearly four decades in the U.S. Army, commanding U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan before serving as director of the CIA in 2011-12. In an interview with RFE/RL's Georgian Service, Petraeus argues that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is "about as clear a right-versus-wrong as we've seen in our lifetime." He also talks about the "staggering failure" of Russia's military leadership and its refusal to learn from its mistakes, the aims and strengths of Kyiv's impending "combined arms" offensive, and why the West can't seek "an early exit."
The Wagner Group private military company (PMC) may be trying to force mobilized Russian personnel to sign contracts with the mercenaries fighting for Moscow to offset their troop losses in Ukraine. Spearheading Moscow's fierce fight for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that has raged for months, the group, headed by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, has seen a huge number of troops killed in action. The independent Russian language news outlet Astra shared a video of a group of mobilized personnel from the Moscow and Ivanovo regions complaining that they had been taken to Ukraine without their knowledge. They had been sent by plane from Kursk to Rostov-on-Don supposedly for training but were then transferred at night to the Ukrainian oblast of Luhansk. "A group of around 170 mobilized men from these aircraft ... were forced to sign contracts with the Wagner PMC," Astra reported, citing the soldiers' relatives. Russian sources had previously reported that 100 mobilized personnel in Luhansk Oblast disappeared from April 7 after refusing to sign contracts with Wagner - Newsweek
Evan Gershkovich's lawyer says he's in a mood to fight after his appearance in a Moscow courtroom where he faced farcical espionage charges lodged by Russian authorities. The U.S. says the Wall Street Journal reporter is "wrongfully detained" and President Biden has made his release a priority - Wall Street Journal publisher and Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour
Russia-aligned "hacktivists" have carried out largely harmless online campaigns that have defaced prominent public websites or knocked them offline. Among the dozens of highly classified U.S. intelligence documents which were posted online in recent weeks was one marked "Top Secret" that warned a pro-Russia hacking group named "Zarya" had infiltrated networks within Canada's gas infrastructure. According to that document, the group offered screenshots to FSB officers as proof that they were able to "increase valve pressure, disable alarms, and initiate an emergency shutdown of an unspecified gas distribution station".
The United States believes that the position of Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on Russia's war against Ukraine and the role of the United States and Europe in opposing Russian aggression does not correspond to the tone of a neutral state. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this at a press briefing in Washington on Tuesday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "We were struck by the tone of the press conference of the [Brazilian] foreign minister yesterday [on April 17], which was not a tone of neutrality, suggesting that the United States and Europe are not interested in peace or that we share responsibility for the war. We believe - and it is true - that it is plainly wrong," she said.