At least eight people were killed and 21 others injured by seven Russian S-300 missiles in Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine, the governor of the Donetsk region announced. In the United States, the affair of the leak of confidential documents continues to agitate the debates, back to the events that marked the night of Friday 14 to Saturday 15 April.
A two-year-old child, who had been pulled out alive from the rubble of this civilian building, died shortly afterward in the ambulance, said Daria Zarivna, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Sloviansk is in a part of the Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk region, 45 kilometers northwest of Bakhmout, near Russian-controlled territory.
According to Kyiv, it was targeted by seven missiles, which damaged five buildings, five houses, a school, and an administrative building.
President Zelensky accused Russia of “brutally bombing” residential buildings and “killing people in broad daylight.”
In a statement, the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office said a preliminary investigation had been opened in criminal proceedings for violation of the laws and customs of war.
“According to preliminary information, the occupiers used an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system against the civilian population,” adds the text—information confirmed by Pavlo Kirilenko, the governor of the Donetsk region.
Rescue workers were seen picking up survivors from the top floor of a Soviet-era residential building, and black smoke billowing from burning houses across the street.
On the same day, in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law facilitating the mobilization of young Russians into the army .
According to this text, the Russian agencies said that a reservist can now be mobilized electronically via a Russian public service portal or if the order is given to a third party.
Until then, invitations had to be delivered by hand.
The author of the leaked American documents arrested
Jack Douglas Teixeira, a suspect in the leak of secret Pentagon documents, has been charged with two counts: unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and “removal and unauthorized retention of classified documents or materials,” CNN reported. He had been brought before the federal court in Boston, explains Reuters, to be charged under the “Espionage Act,” according to the press.
In the race for scoops around leaked Pentagon documents, the New York Times, front page yesterday tracked down the suspect, 21-year-old Jack Douglas Teixeira, an hour and a half before the FBI arrested him in Massachusetts. CNN showed aerial footage of the National Guard member in red shorts and a khaki T-shirt being escorted by officers amid an armada of law enforcement vehicles under cameras from a surveillance plane from the FBI.
The leak was a “deliberate criminal act,” the Pentagon commented.
The New York Times explains how it tracked down the suspect (with clues left in the photos) and describes the race with the Washington Post and the FBI to arrive last at the suspect’s home. He says his associates do not call him a “whistleblower.”
The Washington Post describes a suspect from a “family of patriots” but with an “irresponsible online” personality.
Many media wondered how young people could access classified documents, but Politico assures that “it’s not that rare.” He had been trained as a cyber transport specialist, whose function is usually the maintenance of communication tools. Jack Teixeira (alias “OG”) belonged to an intelligence unit on a Cape Cod base, the New York Times explains .
A member of the group nicknamed Vakhi describes the “OG” as a “Christian” and “anti-war” young man who wanted to “educate” and “impress.” Vakhi, aged 17, considered him a “legend,” a “myth.” The New York Times underlines the “racist” and “anti-Semitic” nature of the remarks exchanged in the group, not hiding its “extremist” ideology. He reportedly posted 350 documents from October to March.
On the conservative side, the tabloid New York Post points out that he launched “frantic appeals” and invoked “God.” On Fox News, polemicist Tucker Carlson ardently defended Jack Teixeira, accusing authorities of treating him “like Osama bin Laden,” arresting him for exposing a government “crime.” He denounces CNN, which refuses to describe him as a “whistleblower.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin should be arrested for his “crimes” and his lies to the nation about the state of the war. The secret documents would indeed reveal, according to Tucker Carlson, that it is Russia that is winning the war, not Ukraine. With Glenn Greenwald, he engages in a virulent attack against the mainstream media.
Lula tackles the United States.
The United States must stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine and “start talking about peace,” said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday, April 15, 2023, after a visit to China, where he is closer to Xi Jinping.
“The United States must stop encouraging war and start talking about peace; the European Union must start talking about peace,” Lula told reporters in Beijing before leaving for the United Arab Emirates.
The soap opera of the leak of American documents
According to The Washington Post, new Pentagon documents leaked to Discord show that Russia’s elite Spetsnaz commandos have suffered heavy casualties in Ukraine that “will take years” to fill. The 22nd Brigade and two other brigades would have an attrition rate of 90-95%. The 346th Brigade would have only 125 active soldiers left out of 900 deployed.
“Ukraine Says Leaks Won’t Impact Offensive,” the Wall Street Journal headlines. The leaked documents do not contain “major revelations” about the nature of the counter-offensive: where, when, how, adds the Daily.
In a summary of Politico on the content of secret documents on Europe, the media retains several points: the continent is “spared” from revelations harmful to relations between the United States and its allies. There would be a solid presence of European special forces in Ukraine, including “15 French”. The Americans would have about “100 people” in Ukraine, Europe would be the ” first supplier of tanks” (mainly Poland and Slovenia), but European deliveries would be “lagging,” Hungary would see the United States as an ” adversary »but perhaps let the allies use its airspace, the UK would have “played down” an incident with Russia. Finally, Turkey would play an “ intermediary” role in the war, “distinctly favorable to Russia.” France is barely mentioned.
According to leaked documents from The New York Times, Ecuador is believed to be the first Latin American country to supply weapons to Ukraine.
Disinformation, China and negotiations
The United States is stepping up the fight against Russian disinformation in the Balkans, an “information battleground,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “We are way behind schedule,” said US envoy James Rubin. The United States has offered help to governments to build their capacity to flush out Russian and Chinese disinformation sites, the daily said.
Bloomberg reports that Beijing is preparing to send its defense minister to Russia to “discuss military cooperation and global and regional security.” According to the Associated Press, the visit “underscores China’s deepening engagement with Russia, which has primarily aligned its foreign policy. “
In Foreign Affairs, Richard Haass and Charles Kupchan of the CFR argue that continuing the war carries severe strategic risks for the West. They called on the United States and its allies to find a “new strategy” to end the war and to bring Kyiv and Moscow to the “negotiating table” after the spring offensive.
The Gershkovich case is still in the American media
The Wall Street Journal reports the possibility raised in Moscow of an “exchange” of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan “with someone,” which would only be possible “after the trial” through the usual channel and without involving a “third” country, point out NBC and ABC. “Evan Gershkovich is not a spy,” insists Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan. Russia suggests “fewer” American journalists in Russia. Politico‘s Jack Shafer quips ‘Send Tucker Carlson to Moscow’ to get him released because the journalist needs someone who has “an affinity with Moscow and good relations with Vladimir Putin.”
The parents of the journalist of Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia, said Friday they were optimistic about the fate of their son during their first public speech since his arrest.
“It’s one of the American qualities that we have made ours to be optimistic, to believe in a ‘happy ending,'” confided his mother, Ella Milman, to the American economical daily. “But I’m not stupid; I understand what’s at stake, but that’s what I believe. “
Ella Milman and her husband, Mikhail Gershkovich, separately fled the Soviet Union in 1979 and settled in the US state of New Jersey, where they raised their two children, Evan and his sister Danielle.
In this filmed interview, his mother explains that Evan Gershkovich considered it his responsibility to stay in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Despite the risks, he was one of the few Western journalists to continue working in Moscow.
“I know he felt it was his duty to inform… He likes Russians. He continues to love them,” she said.
For Ella Milman, Mr. Gershkovich’s recent work on internal reflections within the Kremlin has drawn the attention of the authorities. “The article that came out about (Vladimir) Putin in December worried me a lot. “
