April 14, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian authorities have updated the death toll for Russian missile strikes in the eastern city of Sloviansk, with the head of the Donetsk region military administration saying eight people were killed and 21 injured.

At least seven locations were hit by S-300 surface-to-air missiles, which Russia has often used to hit ground targets, Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian national television.  

"It is confirmed that seven S-300 missiles were launched on the multi-apartment buildings," he said.

"A little boy was pulled out of rubble in front of my eyes, while he was still alive," Kyrylenko said. "Unfortunately, he died in the ambulance."  

The missiles hit residential areas and "ordinary civilian buildings,” according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"People are under the rubble. Everything is done to save them, everything is done to save the wounded," Zelensky said in his nightly address.

The president said on his official Telegram that the attack is just another example of Russia's brutality during its invasion.

Rescue operations in the areas hit are still ongoing. 

Kyrylenko said these incidents were not uncommon, calling on civilians to evacuate to parts of the country further away from the front line. 

"The evacuation is provided; the place for temporary location is provided," he added.

According to Kyrylenko, Kramatorsk was also hit by an S-300 missile, and Kostianynivka was struck by multiple launch rocket system artillery.

Ukrainian soldiers have finished their training on the Danish-donated CAESAR artillery system, and the equipment is expected to arrive in Ukraine "in the coming weeks," Denmark’s defense ministry said in a statement on Friday. 

“Education and training [on the CAESAR system] has now been completed and the Ukrainians are ready to put the system into use,” according to the ministry statement.

Denmark had announced it would donate all of its 19 French-produced CAESAR artillery systems to Ukraine earlier in the year. 

“This is a newly developed artillery system which was still being implemented in the Danish defence,” the statement read. “The artillery system is expected to be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks.”

The suspect in the leak of classified US intelligence documents posted on social media was formally charged Friday during his first appearance in federal court in Boston.

The FBI arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Thursday in North Dighton, Massachusetts.

He faces two charges:

An affidavit revealed new details about Teixeira's case, including that investigators suspect him of leaking information as early as December 2022. A member of his online chat group told the FBI Teixeira was scared to copy documents at work so he took them home to photograph, according to the court documents.

The affidavit also revealed a US government agency's claim that Teixeira used his government computer to search for the word "leak" in classified intelligence reporting, and that he used his real home address to register for the social media platform where he allegedly shared the classified documents.

Why it matters for the war in Ukraine: The documents included a wide range of highly classified information, including eavesdropping on key allies and adversaries and blunt assessments on the state of the Ukraine war.

Follow live updates on the story here.

The sister of Paul Whelan, who is wrongfully detained in Russia, on Thursday called on the White House to bring her brother home.

Paul Whelan has been detained in Russia for more than four years on espionage charges, for which he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020.

The US government was unable to secure his release last year when it brought home Trevor Reed in April and Brittney Griner in December.

Paul Whelan is now one of two Americans who have been designated as wrongfully detained by Russia following the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. David Whelan said earlier this week that his brother expressed concern to their parents about being left behind again.

In her video, Elizabeth Whelan echoed those concerns, noting that her family has "repeatedly seen the US government talk about lines beyond which they will not go to bring Paul Whelan back to Michigan."

"First it was trades. Then it was trades for certain people," Elizabeth Whelan said, adding that lines had been "erased" to bring Reed and Griner home. 

US officials have said that Russia refused to negotiate a trade for Paul Whelan when they brought home Brittney Griner. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the US has put forward a "serious proposal" to secure Paul Whelan’s release. 

"We need the White House to take charge and get the upper hand with the likes of the Kremlin," Elizabeth Whelan said.

"As far as I can tell, there is no creative strategy to get Paul Whelan home," she added. 

Over a dozen Russian diplomats expelled by Norway on Thursday were working for Russian intelligence agencies — the Chief Intelligence Office (GRU), Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) or Federal Security Service (FSB) — the Norwegian Police Security Service said Friday.

"We are certain these individuals are what we call intelligence officers under diplomatic cover," Inger Haugland, counterintelligence chief of the Norwegian Police Security Service, said at a news conference in Oslo.

Risk posed by Russian intelligence in Norway has been reduced following this decision, yet it’s unlikely that Russia will cease its espionage operations in the country, Haugland said.

The move comes in response to an increasing intelligence threat from Moscow and a "deteriorating security situation" in Europe, according to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It said it had been monitoring the 15 embassy workers and have found them to be "engaging in activities that are not compatible with their diplomatic status." They've been declared to be personae non gratae, stripped of diplomatic immunity, and must leave the country "shortly," the ministry said in a statement.  

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said in a tweet on Friday that Kyiv will "test and use" any non-banned weapons to retake Crimea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said since Russia's full-scale invasion that Ukraine plans to retake Crimea.

Crimea was declared annexed by Russia in 2014. After the revolt that forced pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych from office, Russian troops poured into the Crimean peninsula.

Russia's Spetsnaz special forces have been gutted by President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine, the The Washington Post reported Friday, citing more classified US intelligence documents leaked online.

CNN has not reviewed the documents and cannot verify the content.  

The Washington Post reports that the documents – obtained through the Discord social media platform — reference intelligence intercepts, which assess that the 346th Spetsnaz Brigade has lost almost its entire unit with "only 125 personnel active out of 900 deployed."

US officials believe that the large numbers of casualties that Russia has sustained will have a dramatic effect in Ukraine and anywhere else its forces are operating. And US officials believe the highly trained forces will need up to a decade to be replenished, the Post reports. 

It also published satellite imagery from the leaked documents that — although not conclusive — suggest a depletion of vehicles among the 22nd Separate Spetsnaz Brigade’s motor pool in southwestern Russia. The images show a contrast in the size of its motor pool between November 2021 and November 2022; the later date, the Post reports, shows the force following its return from Ukraine last summer. 

CNN has contacted the Pentagon for comment. CNN has also contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.

According to Ukrainian officials, Russian special forces are currently deployed in the eastern city of Bakhmut, where the fiercest and heaviest fighting is currently being waged.

Some key background: Russian special forces were poorly deployed early in the invasion, especially around Kyiv, and took heavy losses. In the early days of the war, CNN's Matthew Chance reported live as Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) engaged in a firefight with Ukrainian forces at Antonov Airport in Hostomel, a suburb of Kyiv, before they were heavily defeated and retreated by the beginning of April. 

CNN has previously reported how the Russian invasion has also been marked by an inordinate number of casualties among high-ranking Russian officers.

In the first months of this year, CNN also reported how Russian forces were badly hit in the hotly contested town of Vuhledar in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, where the 155th Marine Brigade were prominently involved. At least two dozen Russian tanks and infantry vehicles were disabled or destroyed in a matter of days, according to videos, which were released by the Ukrainian military and analyzed by CNN and military experts.  

The perpetrators of the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier seen in a video released on social media earlier this week must be held accountable, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky Friday.

“Discussing the abhorrent beheading of a Ukrainian soldier shown on social media in recent days, the Prime Minister said the video was appalling and those responsible had to be held to account,” Downing Street said in a statement.

Sunak also stressed the importance of continued Western support for Ukraine, including information exchange between NATO and Kyiv. The two leaders agreed to stay in touch.

Zelensky tweeted following the phone call, saying that the leaders spoke about the execution as well as the situation at the front line and defense support.

The family of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has spoken out for the first time since his detention in Moscow on spying charges, saying the journalist was passionate about showing people other sides of Russia and felt it was his duty to report there.

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