April 7, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Ukraine news?here?or read through the updates below.

The Pentagon is investigating what appear to be screenshots of classified US and NATO military information about Ukraine circulating on social media, a Pentagon official told CNN. CNN reviewed some of the images on Twitter and Telegram but is unable to verify if they are authentic or have been doctored.

The emergence of the documents — whether genuine or not — has heightened focus on when the planned Ukrainian counteroffensive will begin and what, if anything, either side knows about the other’s preparations for it.

Here’s the latest headlines out of Russia’s war on Ukraine today:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky honors Muslim soldier Ilimdar Khodzhametov with The "Defender of the Motherland" medal before sharing Iftar with Ukrainian Muslim soldiers in a front of a mosque in the outskirts of Kyiv on April 7.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared Iftar with Ukrainian Muslim soldiers observing Ramadan, along with representatives of the Muslim clergy and leaders of the Mejlis — the single highest executive-representative body of the Crimean Tatars.

The Ukrainian President said that as of 2023, the Iftar dinner will be held annually and called it “a new tradition of respect.”?Iftar is the breaking of the fast after sundown.

Zelensky said the month of Ramadan “is respected everywhere in Ukraine, and even at the frontline, even in combat conditions.”?

The fallout from the leak of what appear to be classified US military documents on the war in Ukraine took a bizarre turn Friday, as evidence surfaced that versions of the documents had been posted over a month ago to a video game-focused chatroom online.

Images of some of the documents —?which include estimates of Russian casualties and a list of Western weapons systems available to Ukraine — were posted to the chat app Discord in early March, according to screenshots of the posts reviewed by CNN.

(Minecraft is among the world’s most popular video games, and Discord servers are dedicated spaces to discuss a common topic.)

It wasn’t until this week that the documents started to gain more attention. A user posted a portion of the documents to 4chan, a largely unmoderated online forum, and then a Russian speaker posted an altered version of one of the documents on the Telegram messaging platform, Toler said.

US officials believe someone altered that document to make the estimated number of Ukrainians killed in the war to be far higher than it actually is.

The US is investigating: The Pentagon is aware of the online posts and looking into the matter, it said Thursday.

Speculation and paranoia were rife Friday on Discord, with some users wondering if they could get in trouble for re-posting the documents, now that the US government is investigating. A user who posted photos of the documents on March 1 appeared to have deleted his accounts on Twitter and Discord.

An expert interviewed by CNN questions whether this was the work of state actors:

Historically, if an intelligence agency has access to classified material from an adversary and decides to falsify some of the material, they don’t make both versions of those documents public, said Rid, who is a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

“That only makes it easier to detect the facts, and thus defeats the purpose,” Rid said.

The Russian State Duma meets in Moscow on January 17.

Russian legislators in its State Duma, or lower parliament, are set to consider imposing a life sentence for those who commit acts of treason, a Moscow official said on Telegram Friday.?

Piskarev also announced amendments that would result in harsher sentences for those convicted of terrorism and sabotage, including raising the maximum sentence for “carrying out a terrorist act” from 15 to 20 years.?

Piskarev said those found guilty of sabotage could face up to 20 years in prison, while those convicted of “international terrorism” could also face a life sentence, up from 10 years.?

The United States and its allies are working constantly to keep Russia from getting around Western sanctions and obtaining the technology and financing it needs to fund its war machine in Ukraine, according to senior US Treasury officials.

The sanctions in question: Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the US has?imposed thousands of sanctions. They have, among other things:

Moscow’s moves: Despite the sanctions’ impact, some observers note concerns over Russia’s ability to re-orient trade routes and acquire what it needs through neighboring countries or more permissive jurisdictions, such as the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

The Treasury says Russia has even tasked its intelligence services with finding sanction workarounds —?a sign, in the US view, that they are keeping the pressure on.

The US response: The US has made major efforts to share information with allied countries and businesses on how the Kremlin is trying to evade the sanctions regime, according to senior US officials.

In recent months, the US has seen some encouraging results from its public and private efforts. The Turkish government told the US last month it has taken further action to block shipments of sanctioned goods directly to Russia, according to a source familiar with the discussion.

More diplomacy to come: Leaders of the global financial system will attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, D.C. next week, providing the Treasury another opportunity to ramp up pressure on countries key to Russia’s attempts to evade sanctions.

Over the next month, senior officials will also fan out across the world to strategize with other governments. Two of the Treasury’s top sanctions officials – Brian Nelson and Liz Rosenberg – will play a part in this effort.

Nelson will meet with Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany to compare notes with counterparts. Rosenberg will travel to Kazakhstan in Central Asia, a region with a long history of ties to Russia, where officials worry Russia has been sourcing materials.

Evan Gershkovich, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, appears in an undated handout image.

Russian investigators have formally charged Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich with espionage, Russian state media reported Friday.

Gershkovich denied the accusations, according to the state news agency TASS. The newspaper has “vehemently” denied the Kremlin’s claims and the chief executive of Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, said it is working “around the clock” to secure his release.

The representative declined to comment further, as the journalist’s case was marked “top secret,” the state news agency said.

Dow Jones later reiterated its view that Gershkovich’s charges are “false and unjustified,” according to a statement, The company added: “We continue to demand Evan’s immediate release.”

The US State Department does not have a comment on Gershkovich’s being formally charged, a spokesperson told CNN Friday, and the US Embassy in Moscow still has not been granted consular access to the detained journalist.

What the US has said about the case: US President Joe Biden’s administration is preparing to officially declare Gershkovich wrongfully detained in Russia, two US officials told CNN earlier this week, a move that will trigger new government resources to work toward his release.

US Secretary of State?Antony Blinken?spoke last weekend with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and called for Gershkovich’s immediate release. The White House has said there is “no reason to believe” Russia’s justification for the detention.

More background: Gershkovich is the first US journalist detained on spying accusations by Moscow since the Cold War. His detention came a week after US authorities announced charges against a Russian national, Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, accusing him of being a Russian spy.

The episode signals a significant ratcheting of both Moscow’s tensions with the United States and its campaign against foreign news media, which has been under intense pressure since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood, Sarah Dean,?Julia Horowitz, Eliza Mackintosh and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

In this still from a video by humanitarian organization Save Ukraine, children return to Ukraine months after they were taken illegally to Russia.

Thirty-one children are back in Ukraine after they were taken illegally to Russia, according to Save Ukraine, a Kyiv-based humanitarian organization.

The children — pulling suitcases and bags of belongings, with some clutching stuffed animals — accompanied by family members, were embraced by volunteers after crossing the border into Ukraine by foot. They then boarded a coach to continue their journey.

“Children abducted by Russians from Kherson and Kharkiv regions have finally crossed the border with their families and are now safe,” Mykola Kuleba, the founder of Save Ukraine, said in a Telegram post.

Save Ukraine’s Olha Yerokhina told CNN this was the fifth rescue mission arranged by the organization.

A group of 13 mothers had left Ukraine a little over a week ago, many of them granted power of attorney which allowed them to collect other parents’ children in addition to their own, she said.?

The party crossed into Poland before traveling through Belarus, Russia and finally entering Russian-occupied Crimea, where they were reunited with 24 of the children. The other seven children were collected in Voronezh, Rostov and Belgorod, all inside Russia, she said.

Yerokhina said facilitating the rescue missions was difficult because Save Ukraine has no official contact with anybody in Russia. Instead, the organization received crucial help from volunteers in different locations.

Remember: Allegations of widespread forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia form the basis of war crimes charges brought against Russian President Vladimir Putin and a senior official, Maria Lvova-Belova, by the International Criminal Court last month.

Ukraine has said there are more than 16,000 such cases under investigation.

Russia has denied it is doing anything illegal, saying it is bringing Ukrainian children to safety.?

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands in Moscow on March 21 during Xi's state visit to Russia.

While China and Russia have strengthened ties since the Kremlin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the US has not yet seen evidence of Beijing providing systemic, material support for Moscow’s war effort, according to senior US Treasury officials.

The US assessment comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government look for avenues to evade Western sanctions and backfill its military.

One senior Treasury official said China is, as of now, unwilling to provide material support to Russia at a significant scale, pointing instead to Russian efforts to source material from North Korea and Iran.

A Western deterrence campaign: Senior US officials credit the efforts of their sanctions coalition — including public US comments and direct messages delivered by European allies —?for prompting China to hold off from providing more substantive support to Russia.

The Biden administration has worked to plug the gaps of the sanctions regime, broadening intelligence sharing with allies and targeting areas where Russia hopes to sidestep sanctions and export controls.

The US and its allies have also taken more direct action, sanctioning a Chinese satellite company providing intelligence to Russian forces in January and putting some Chinese companies on the US export control list.

Two ambulance crew members and six residents were injured when an ambulance came under fire in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on Friday, the?Kherson regional military administration said in a Telegram post.?

The incident happened in the city of?Beryslav as the ambulance crew was trying to reach a resident who was injured as a result of shelling, the administration said.?

Yurii Sobolevskyi, first deputy head of the Kherson Regional Council, posted an update later, saying in addition to the two ambulance crew members, six residents were also wounded.??

“Eight wounded as of now. Two of them are ambulance workers who were on their way to the injured after the shelling. According to the preliminary information, Russian soldiers dropped mines from drones on the ambulance,” he said.

CNN is unable to independently verify this claim.?

Battles between Ukrainian and Russian forces for Bakhmut continue, as Russian forces try?to take “full control” of the key eastern city, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said Friday in an update.

The main focus of Russian attacks remains in the?areas of Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Mariinka and Lyman, where Russian forces have launched more than 40 attacks over the last 24 hours, the General Staff said.

Ukrainian defense?forces repelled about 14 Russian attacks over the last 24 hours in the Bakhmut area, the General Staff said.?

Russian forces also continue their offensive south of Bakhmut in the?Avdiivka and Mariinka sectors, according to the General Staff, adding that “the fiercest fighting in this sector is taking place near Mariinka, where over 10 enemy attacks were repelled.”

The General Staff said?a Russian Su-25 aircraft was destroyed near Mariinka. CNN is unable to independently verify this claim.?

Over the last 24 hours, across Ukraine, Russian forces launched 14 air and two missile strikes, and also fired more than 10 multiple launch rocket systems “at the positions of our troops and civilian infrastructure of settlements,” the General Staff said.?

Ukrainian forces carried out nine strikes on areas of “occupiers’ concentration” over the last 24 hours, the General Staff said.?

Chinese Leader Xi Jinping, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron, right, walk in the garden of the residence of the governor of Guangdong on April 7.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told French President Emmanuel Macron that it is “in nobody’s interest for the Ukraine war to drag on,” according to a readout published by Chinese state media Friday night local time.

A political solution is the “only correct path,” for which all parties should shoulder responsibility, the Chinese leader added.?In the readout, China said it welcomes France to bring forward concrete proposals of a political solution for the Ukraine crisis, adding that China will support France and is willing to play a constructive role.???

According to the readout, France “highly values” China’s international influence and is willing to work and communicate closely with China to arrive at a political solution to the Ukraine crisis as soon as possible.

In a separate joint statement by both countries, China and France said they support efforts to restore peace in Ukraine, oppose armed attacks on nuclear power plants and other nuclear-related facilities, and uphold their position on nuclear nonproliferation.??

China and France reaffirmed ties and expressed willingness to push for more developments together on the basis that both countries “respect each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and major interests,” according to the 51-item statement.?

Chinese Leader Xi Jinping, right, and French President Emmanuel Macron, left, attend a tea ceremony at the Guangdong province governor's residence in Guangzhou on April 7.

Moscow is following talks between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

“These are very important contacts, we followed all developments on this matter,” Peskov told reporters during a regular call, adding that Russia and China have “rich and multifaceted relations.”

Asked if China is likely to change its position on the war after the negotiations, Peskov said China is a “very serious, big power with its sovereign position,” a position that has been “strongly formed.”

The French president and?EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen wrap their three-day visit to China on Friday.?

Some background: China has claimed neutrality in Russia’s conflict with Ukraine and attempted to frame itself as an agent of peace. But it has?refused to condemn?the Russian invasion and continued to tighten its?economic and diplomatic ties?with the Kremlin over the past year – including a?state visit from Xi to Moscow?last month.

CNN’s Simone McCarthy, Jake Kwon and Pauline Lockwood contributed to this post.

The Pentagon is seen from the air in 2022.

The Pentagon is investigating what appear to be screenshots of classified US and NATO military information?about Ukraine?circulating on social media, a Pentagon official tells CNN.?

CNN has reviewed some of the images circulating on Twitter and Telegram, but is unable to verify if they are authentic or have been doctored.?

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh would not weigh in on the documents’ legitimacy,?but said in a statement that the Defense Department is “aware of the reports of social media posts, and the Department is reviewing the matter.”?

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, told CNN he believes the Russians are behind the purported leak, and that the documents they disseminated are inauthentic, have “nothing to do with Ukraine’s real plans,” and are based on “a large amount of fictitious information.”

The emergence of the documents, whether genuine or not, has heightened focus on when the planned Ukrainian counter offensive will begin and what, if anything, either side knows about the other’s preparations for it.”

One image that has been circulating on Russian Telegram channels and was reviewed by CNN is a photo of a hard copy of a document titled “US, Allied & Partner UAF Combat Power Build.”

Another is titled “Russia/Ukraine Joint Staff J3/4/5 Daily Update (D+370).” J3 refers to the operations directorate of the US military’s joint staff, J4 deals with logistics and engineering, and J5 proposes strategies, plans and policy recommendations.

The New York Times, which first disclosed the Pentagon investigation, reported that some of the images circulating online describe intelligence that could be useful to Russia, such as how quickly the Ukrainians are expending munitions used in US-provided rocket-systems.

Podolyak called the documents “a bluff, dust in your eyes,” and said that “if Russia really did receive real scenario preparations, it would hardly make them public.”

The battle rumbles on for Ukraine’s battered eastern city of Bakhmut, as the United Kingdom’s military intelligence unit says Russian troops have “regained some momentum” —?and have “likely advanced” into the town center.?

The Ukrainian military said Thursday the “most intense battles” are raging for the eastern Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mariinka, with Ukrainian troops focused on Bakhmut to try to exhaust the Russians.

Here’s what’s going on elsewhere:

The destroyed Antonov An-225 sits at the Hostomel airfield on April 8, 2022.

The sheared nose cone of the Antonov An-225 cargo plane towers over Yevhen Bashynsky.

Affectionately known as the Mriya, or “Dream,” the leviathan plane was the pride of Ukraine and of 38-year-old Bashynsky, one of its pilots.

This is the first time Bashynsky has come back to see what remains of the Mriya.

In the first hours of the war, elite Russian paratroopers descended on the Antonov airfield, a major cargo airport in Hostomel, to the northwest of Kyiv. It was supposed to be an anchor point to attack the capital. The assault did not go as planned. Russian troops inside the airport were encircled, with no chance to bring in reinforcements quickly.

Word soon got out in aviation circles that the Mriya had been damaged in the fighting. When Ukrainian forces retook the airport, the extent of the destruction became clear.

The Security Service of Ukraine said Wednesday that a joint investigation had been launched with the national police into the failure of the former head of the state-owned Antonov company to order the aircraft’s planned evacuation to safety in Germany.

And in May last year, likely sensing the symbolic importance for his country, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine would rebuild the plane.

How? Read the full story:

Antonov airfield in Hostomel, outside Kyiv, where they've been looking at what's left of the world's largest aircraft, the Antonov AN-225

Related article The giant Antonov An-225 plane was destroyed in Russia's invasion. But Ukraine says it will fly again | CNN

A general view of the 47th UEFA Ordinary Congress meeting in Lisbon on Wednesday.

A delegation of the Football Union of Russia voted at the UEFA Congress elections in Lisbon on Wednesday despite sanctions for the Ukraine invasion, UEFA confirmed to CNN on Thursday.

In February last year, UEFA, the European soccer governing body along with FIFA announced they were suspending all Russian international and club teams from their competitions – including the men’s and women’s Champions League, the men’s Europa League and the men’s UEFA Conference League – “until further notice.”

Russia’s national teams and clubs were in May banned from participating in UEFA competitions, while Russia’s bid to host Euro 2028 or Euro 2032 was ruled ineligible.?

“Yes, a delegation of the Football Union of Russia was present at the UEFA Congress in Lisbon and took part in the voting,” a UEFA spokesperson told CNN,?adding that each member association has one vote.

On Wednesday, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said the ban on Russian sides from competing in European soccer tournaments would be hard to change “until the war (in Ukraine) stops.

Ukrainian service members ride military vehicles near the front line city of?Bakhmut, Ukraine on April 6.

The United Kingdom’s Military Intelligence believe that Russian troops have “regained some momentum in the Battle for Bakhmut” and have “likely advanced into the town centre”.?

Some context: The “most intense battles” are raging for the eastern Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mariinka, with Ukrainian troops focused on the battered city of Bakhmut to try to exhaust the Russians, the Ukrainian military said Thursday.

Xi Jinping (C), Emmanuel Macron (L) and Ursula von de Leyen meet in Beijing on April 6.

Beijing’s “top priority” is to push for a ceasefire and end the war in Ukraine, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told European Union Commission Chief Ursula Von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron during?their meeting Thursday, according to the Chinese readout.

Meanwhile, battles continue in parts of eastern Ukraine, the country’s military said Thursday, with Ukrainian troops focused on the battered city of Bakhmut to try to exhaust the Russians.

Here’s what you may have missed:

Russian prosecutors seek maximum prison term for Kremlin critic:?Prosecutors have asked a Moscow court to sentence Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza?to 25 years in prison?for criminal offenses that include treason, spreading “fakes” about the Russian army, and facilitating activities of an undesirable organization, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Thursday.?

No concessions on Crimea, Ukrainian officials say:?Senior Ukrainian officials insisted that Kyiv will make zero territorial concessions in its fight against Russia, following remarks from a deputy in the Ukrainian president’s office about the future of Crimea. In comments first reported Wednesday by the?Financial Times, Andriy Sybiha said if a Ukrainian counteroffensive pushed Russian forces back to the?administrative border with Crimea, “we are ready to open (a) diplomatic page to discuss this issue.”

Russian court to hear US reporter’s arrest appeal:?A Moscow court on April 18 will hear an appeal filed by lawyers of?Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich?against his arrest, Russian state media said citing the court. Gershkovich is being held in a?pre-trial detention center?at the notorious Lefortovo prison until May 29. He faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges.

This undated picture shows Evan Gershkovich in an unknown location.?

A Moscow court on April 18 will hear an appeal filed by lawyers of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against his arrest, Russian state media said citing the court.

Gershkovich is being held in a pre-trial detention center at the notorious Lefortovo prison until May 29. He faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges.

The Journal has vehemently denied the charge against Gershkovich, describing his arrest as “a vicious affront to a free press” which “should spur outrage in all free people and governments throughout the world.”

Russian shelling left seven people hurt in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine on Thursday evening, the head of the regional military administration said on Telegram.

The strikes hit a series of communities along the Dnipro River near the city of Beryslav, according to the official, Oleksandr Prokudin.

Six people were wounded when a drone dropped explosives on the village of Zmiivka, Prokudin said, and another person was hurt in the nearby settlement of Kozatske.

Medical workers provided emergency treatment and will eventually transfer the injured civilians to a hospital in the larger city of Kherson, according to the regional leader.