April 10, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news | CNN (2024)

Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who is being held in Russia, has been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department.

The designation underscores the United States government’s statements that the espionage charges against the reporter are baseless, and it will empower the US government to explore every avenue to try to secure his release.

Gershkovich’s case will now be handled at the State Department through the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

Both of the Americans who have been recently brought home from Russia — Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner — had been designated as wrongfully detained, and were freed in prisoner swaps.

Paul Whelan, who remains imprisoned in Russia, also has been declared wrongfully detained.

In his statement, Patel said the “U.S. government will provide all appropriate support to Mr. Gershkovich and his family.”

Richard Branson speaks after he flew into space aboard a Virgin Galactic vessel in New Mexico on July 11, 2021.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson met with Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv Monday. Branson became a new ambassador for UNITED24, Ukraine’s official fundraising platform.

Branson told Zelensky that on the way to Kyiv, he stopped in Lviv and met some soldiers, including one “who lost both arms and a leg and he was still smiling and positive and wanted to get back to the frontline.”

Earlier Branson was in Bucha, outside Kyiv, with American philanthropist Howard Buffett, supporting the building of a kitchen that will help feed children in educational facilities. The kitchen will help communities in Bucha, Nemishaevo and Borodianka.

Branson attended an event for the kitchen with Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, and Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Oleksiy Kuleba.

“More than 10,000 hot meals will be cooked here every day for our children. Another similar factory will be built in the Kharkiv region with Mr. Howard’s support as well,” Mayor Fedoruk said on Telegram Monday.

This isn’t the first time Branson went to Ukraine. He also met with Zelensky in June.

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in the State Dining Room of the White House on April 4, 2023, in Washington.

US President Joe Biden is staying briefed on thehighly classified Pentagon documents leakedin recent weeks, the White House said Monday.

Kirby said the Department of Defense had referred the case to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation and directed questions to them when asked if the government has any sense of who leaked the documents,

“I’m not aware that they’ve come to any conclusions at this point about where they’re coming from,” Kirby said.

Asked if the administration believed the leak is contained or if there’s an ongoing threat, Kirby responded: “We don’t know. We truly don’t.”

CNN previously reported that the documents provided a rare window into how the US spies on allies and foes alike, deeply rattling US officials, who fear the revelations could jeopardize sensitive sources and compromise important foreign relationships.

In response to questions about whether Biden has contacted foreign allies in response, Kirby said US officials “have been in touch with relevant allies and partners over the last couple of days at very high levels.”

Kirby said “we know that some of them have been doctored,” but that he didn’t want to “speak to the validity of all the documents.”

“We’re still working through the validity of all the documents that we know are out there,” Kirby said.

Pressed on if the US believes that some of the documents are valid, Kirby said the administration “cannot speak to the veracity and the validity of any of those documents at this point.”

Kirby added that there is, “no excuse for these kinds of documents to be in the public domain” and he said the bigger concern was that the documents had become public at all.

Deputy Secretary of StateWendyShermanlistens to lawmaker’ statements during a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing about at the government's policy towards China in “the era of strategic competition” at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2023.

US State Department Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman has been tapped to lead the diplomatic response to the leak of highly classified Pentagon documents, according to a US official familiar with the matter.

US government officials “are engaging with allies and partners at high levels over this including to reassure them of our commitment to safeguarding intelligence and the fidelity of securing our partnerships” following the mass leak of highly classified documents, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Monday.

Patel would not go into details about which countries they had engaged, saying “that work is ongoing.”

Asked by CNN if the State Department is taking the lead on those conversation, Patel said that “as the main diplomatic branch and agency of this administration, of course the Department of State would have a role in communicating with our allies and partners, but these conversations are happening across the administration.”

“US officials are engaging with allies and partners at the highest level over this,” he said.

Patel would not say if any steps had been taken to restrict access to classified information at the State Department as a result of the leak, saying he did not want to discuss policy decisions.

CNN has reported that some of the leaked documents included intelligence related to the war in Ukraine.

International response: Patel would not speak on specific comments from South Korean and Israeli officials reacting to leaked documents.South Korea’s presidential office said it will hold “necessary discussions with the US” regarding the document leak, which comes as the relationship between Seoul and Washington is already strained due to South Korean anger over the Inflation Reduction Act harming South Korea’s electronic vehicle industry and concerns related to the US CHIPS Act.

“There is a lot of frustration towards the Yoon administration for being too committed to the US alliance so every aspect of the US-South Korea relationship is under the microscope,” said a former US Ambassador to South Korea.

The South Korean president is scheduled to visit the White House later this month, making the timing around this incident particularly unfortunate the former diplomat said.

“Does Yoon have to raise this during the State Visit? We don’t know yet,” the diplomat said

More broadly, one diplomat from a NATO country told CNN that they do not believe Moscow was overly surprised by the most of the intel that was revealed in the leaked documents, noting Russia has robust intelligence gathering operations.

They also said that they were not frustrated that there was US intelligence that was not widely shared with allies. This diplomat said most nations do not share everything with their allies nor is there an expectation that they do so.

“That’s not the way it works,” the diplomat said.

Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza is escorted to a hearing in a court in Moscow, Russia, February 8, 2023.

Russian opposition politician, Vladimir Kara-Murza, told a Moscow court that he was “proud” of his political views during his final hearing on Monday.

Kara-Murza was arrested in April 2022 after returning to Moscow to campaign against Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russian prosecutors have requested a 25-year sentence in prison for criminal offenses that include treason, spreading fakes about the Russian army, and facilitating activities of an undesirable organization, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Kara-Murza delivered closing remarks before the court.

The opposition politician said he blamed himself for not being able to convince enough of his “compatriots” and politicians of democratic countries of the danger that the current regime in the Kremlin poses for Russia and the world.

Kara-Murza said he hoped “that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate,” adding, “even today, even in the darkness surrounding us, even sitting in this cage, I love my country and believe in our people. I believe that we can walk this path.”

Kara-Murza confirmed onTwitterthat the verdict for his case would be announced on April 17.

Last month, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on a number of Russian individuals connected to the arbitrary detention of Kara-Murza.

Ukrainian service members ride a tank in Donbas region, Ukraine, on April 8.

The Pentagon is still working to determine the scale of a leak of classified information that has occurred in recent weeks, Chris Meagher, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, said Monday.

CNN has reported that some of the leaked documents included intelligence related to the war in Ukraine.

Meagher said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was first briefed on the leak on April 6 and began “convening senior leaders on a daily basis” the next day.

Over the weekend, US officials engaged with allies and partners —some of whom were also implicated in the document leak, Meagher said.

ThePentagonteam is also working to determine if the leak of classified material includes the Defense Department’s legislative affairs, public affairs, policy, general counsel, intelligence and security, and joint staff offices, Meagher said.

Meagher said the team is a “coordinated effort amongst several different components of DOD” who were all working to “get our arms around everything that has to do with” the leak.

Meagher declined to say who specifically was in charge of that team and overseeing those efforts.

Valeria Karpylenko, a border guard from the Azovstal steel plant, is visible in videos released by the Ukrainian government.

Valeria Karpylenko, a border guard from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, is among the military personnel released during Monday’s prisoner swap.

She is visible in videos released by the Ukrainian government showing prisoners of war returning home.

Karpylenko fought alongside her husband in the besieged Azovstal steel plant. On May 5, 2022, she and her husband were married in an Azovstal bunker — but just three days later, he was killed, according to a Facebook post by Karpylenko at the time.She had promised that she would survive the siege and live for them both.

Some background: CNN reported earlier that Russia and Ukraine exchanged more than 200 prisoners of war in their latest swap.

Ukraine’s presidential office head, Andriy Yermak confirmed that 100 Ukrainians were returned home. They included “military, sailors, border guards, and National Guard servicemen.”

Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire a mortar on a front line, amid Russia's attack onUkraine, near the front line city of Bakhmut,Ukraineon April 10, 2023.

Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said Monday evening that its main focus is repelling Russian forces in Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivak and Marinka in the east.

It said over twenty attacks were repelled in the last 24 hours in those areas.

Russia launched 21 airstrikes and five missile strikes across Ukraine, including four in Kramatorsk from S-300 air defense systems.

Russia is also increasing the number of checkpoints and patrols in several occupied areas, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Over the last day, Ukrainian Defense Forces say they shot down a Russian Mi-24 helicopter and six UAVs.

Ukraine's presidential office head, Andriy Yermak confirmed there was a prisoner swap saying 100 Ukrainians were returned home.

Russia’s Defense Ministry says that 106 Russian servicemen “who had been held captive in mortal danger, were returned from Kyiv-controlled territory” Monday. The servicemen will be flown to Moscow and provided with medical and psychological assistance.

Ukraine’s presidential office head, Andriy Yermak confirmed there was a prisoner swap saying 100 Ukrainians were returned home. They included “military, sailors, border guards, and National Guard servicemen.”

He said that “defenders of Mariupol, Azovstal and Hostomel” who were “seriously injured and have diseases” are among those released, adding it’s a key priority for President Volodymyr Zelensky to “return all our people.”

Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War provided more details on the Ukrainian servicemen who were returned.

“Almost half of the released prisoners have serious injuries, illnesses or have been tortured. The youngest of the liberated defenders is 19 years old,” it added.

Separately from the prisoner of war exchange with Russia, “in accordance with the Geneva Conventions,” Ukraine also handed over five “more severely wounded” prisoners including “the only woman who was held in Ukrainian captivity,” according to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Their repatriation took place without any conditions from the Russian side, according to the organization.

Two more prisoners were also released who are Muslim. This was part of a proposal to exchange Muslims “all for all” on both sides as a sign of respect during the holy month of Ramadan.

And earlier on March 24, Ukraine repatriated five seriously wounded Russians,according to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

DenisPushilin meets with civilians evacuated from the salt-mining town of Soledar in Russian-controlled Ukraine, on January 14.

Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, posted a video of his visit to the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on his Telegram channel Monday.The video shows Pushilin driving into the tattered city with mangled military vehicles on the sides of the road and buildings with windows blown out or reduced to rubble.

Pushilin says he went to the city center where Russia’s Wagner private military group “installed our flags” in the place where the administrative building was.He blamed Kyiv for the damage.

Kyiv has blamed the damage on Russia. Moscow’s troops have switched to so-called “scorched Earth” tactics in the eastern city ofBakhmut, and are destroying buildings and positions with airstrikes and artillery fire, said Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian Land Forces, in a Monday statement posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian military.

Pushilin also met with a Russian official who maintains contact with voters in the DPR and he says they discussed organizing humanitarian aid points from Russia.In September, pro-Russian authorities held so-called referendums in four regions of Ukraine. The votes have beenuniversally dismissed as “a sham”by Ukraine and Western nations.

In the video, Pushilin saidWagner soldiers are evacuating people, and “we are providing accommodations for them in the DPR.” He said they take 15 to 45 people out at once. Ukraine has described these types of evacuations as forced.

Pushilin has claimed more than 75% of Bakhmut is now under the control of Russian forces, Russian state media TASS reported Monday, citing an interview on the state television channel Russia 24.

Though Pushilin reportedly said it was too early to talk about the complete liberation of the city, he said fierce battles were ongoing on its Western flank, according to TASS.

Pushilin also said the liberation of the nearby town of Marinka, which has been decimated by Russian shelling, had been delayed due to Ukraine constantly bringing in reserve troops. TASS reported he also claimed Russian forces were making serious advances in the Avdiivka area, which the Ukrainian military warned last month was at risk of becoming a “second Bakhmut.”

Children from Kherson, Ukraine, return home after detainment in Russia.

Twenty-four more children from the region have returned home on Monday, after being taken illegally to Russian territory, Kherson authorities said.

“Today I met them in Kherson to talk to them and present them with nice gifts,” Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration, said in a Telegram post.

“This was one of the most difficult rescue missions. The Russians interrogated the children for 13 hours and later forced them to participate in a propaganda report,” he said. CNN is unable to independently verify this claim.

However, a February report from US State Department-backed Conflict Observatory by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab alleged Moscow’s involvement in an expansive network of camps where kids underwent “political reeducation.”

“We will definitely bring home all Ukrainians illegally detained by Russia!” he said, but did not share additional details about this latest “rescue mission.”

More on family reunification efforts: This comes after a group of 31 Ukrainian children was reunited with their families over the weekend — months after they were taken from their homes and moved to Russian-occupied territories.

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

The Office of Ukraine’s President recently estimated the total number of Ukrainian children forcibly removed from their homes is at least 20,000. Thousands of cases are already under investigation, Kyiv has said. Russian denies it is doing anything illegal and says it is bringing Ukrainian children to safety.

Russia has turned to airstrikes and artillery as it attempts to take the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut using “scorched earth” tactics, according to Ukraine’s top land commander.

Elsewhere, the fallout from the leak of classified US intelligence documents continues, with the Kremlin denying any involvement.

Here are the latest headlines:

ThePentagonbuilding in Arlington, Virginia, seen from the air on March 3, 2022.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has dismissed accusations that Moscow may have been involved in the Pentagon leak of classified documents.

Asked during a regular call with journalists on Monday whether Russia or pro-Russian sources could be behind the leak, Peskov criticized what he said was a tendency to blame Moscow.

Peskov also said the leaks are “quite interesting” and that he cannot rule out that the US could have been eavesdropping on its key allies.

“The fact that the United States has long begun surveillance of various heads of state, especially of European capitals, has repeatedly surfaced and caused scandalous situations,” Peskov said. “Therefore, this cannot be ruled out.”

The leaked Pentagon documents, which include highly classified information on US support for Ukraine and key US allies such as Israel, were posted online.

US officials have confirmed the authenticity of some of the leaked documents, which also allege the US was eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel, and Ukraine.

A Ukrainian Defense Ministry representative on intelligence accused Russia of altering the highly classified Pentagon documents leaked online in recent weeks.

“In recent decades, Russia’s most successful intelligence operations have been carried out in Photoshop,”Andrii Yusov, a representative of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, said in a national televised interview, according to remarks posted on the directorate’s website on Saturday.

The ministry’s intelligence representative saidthe needs of the Ukrainian army have been “discussed at all levels” and that it’s “no secret that Ukraine is asking for aircraft, tanks, ammunition and other things.”

The comments echo earlier claims byMykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, who said on his Telegram channel Friday he believes the Russians are behind the purported leak.

Podolyak said the documents that were disseminated are inauthentic, have “nothing to do with Ukraine’s real plans” and are based on “a large amount of fictitious information.”

As CNN reported earlier, bad actors are using the leaked documents to spread disinformation, analysts say. The document with casualty numbers, for example, was altered in recent weeks to more than halve the number of Russian deaths, before being spread on pro-Russian Telegram channels.

Asked earlier about the images circulating on Twitter and Telegram, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN in a statement that “we don’t have the slightest doubt about direct or indirect involvement of the United States and NATO in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.”

What was in the classified documents: The highly classified Pentagon documents leaked online cover everything from US support for Ukraine to information about key US allies like Israel.

Some of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, expose the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.

Some of the documentsdivulge key weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry, air defense, and battalion sizes and readiness at a critical point in the war, as Ukrainian forces gear up to launch a counteroffensive against the Russians – and just as the US and Ukraine have begun to develop a more mutually trusting relationship over intelligence-sharing.

As CNN reported earlier, Ukraine has already altered some of its military plans because of the leak, a source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN.

Belarusian President AlexanderLukashenko met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Minsk on Monday, according to Belarusian state news agency BelTa.

The Russian defense minister arrived in the Belarusian capital to follow-up on recent agreements between Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to BelTa.

Lukashenko told Shoigu that he hopes Russia would protect Belarus “as its own territory” in case of aggression, according to BelTa.

They also discussed combat training and cohesion of the two countries’ joint forces, which includes Russian servicemen who are on the territory of Belarus,according to BelTA, which quoted Lukashenko saying there are currently “several thousand” Russian servicemen in Belarus.

Some context: Belarus is one of Russia’s few allies in its war on Ukraine. While the country’s military isn’t directly involved in the fighting, Belarus helped Russia launch its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing the Kremlin’s troops to enter the country from its territory.

CNN’s Ivana Kottasová, Lindsay Isaac and Anna Chernova contributed to this post.

An aerial view of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on April 9.

Russia has switched to so-called “scorched Earth” tactics in the eastern city of Bakhmut and is destroying buildings and positions with airstrikes and artillery fire, according to Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ukrainian Land Forces.

On Sunday, Syrskyi visited some of the hottest spots on the front line in the Bakhmut area and met with the brigades who are defending Ukrainian positions near the embattled city, according to a statement posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian military on Monday.

“Our brave soldiers have exhausted the Wagner fighters with their actions, so the enemy is now forced to engage special forces and air assault units in the battle for Bakhmut,” Syrskyi said in the statement. “The fighting is fierce on both sides.”

“The defense of Bakhmut continues. The situation is difficult but under control,” he added.

On Monday, the Ukrainian military General Staff said in its latest operational update that Russia continues to focus its main efforts on offensive operations in the areas of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mariinka.

On Sunday, Ukrainian defenders repelled 58 enemy attacks on these axes, the General Staff said.

Aerial view of the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, on Sept 24, 2017. (Photo By

Highly classified Pentagon documentsleaked online in recent weekshave revealed how the US spies on allies and foes alike — with leaked conversations including those about the war in Ukraine and international efforts to supply aid.

One document reviewed by CNN describes, in remarkable detail, a conversation between two senior South Korean national security officials about concerns by the country’s National Security Council over a US request for ammunition.

The officials worried that supplying the ammunition, which the US would then send to Ukraine, would violate South Korea’s policy of not supplying lethal aid to countries at war. According to the document, one of the officials then suggested a way of getting around the policy without actually changing it – by selling the ammunition to Poland.

Seoul’s response: The document has already sparked controversy in Seoul, with the country’s presidential office saying on Sunday it would hold “necessary discussions with the US” regarding the leak.

The office said the government will “review precedents and other countries’ cases, and come up with our response accordingly.”

South Korea’s policy of not supplying lethal aid to countries at war remains unchanged, the office said.

Read the full story here.

The massive leak also reveals that US penetration of Russia’s Defense Ministry and the mercenary organization Wagner Group goes deeper than previously understood.

Much of the information about Russia was gathered via intercepted communications, raising concerns that the Russians might now change their method of communication to better conceal their planning.

Human sources could be at risk too. Maps of Russian troop movements and capabilities included in the trove of documents are sourced in part to human confidential sources, prompting fears among US officials that those assets could now be in danger.

What was eavesdropped: The documents show that the US has been able to intercept Russian targeting plans, down to which exact thermoelectric power plants, electric substations and railroad and vehicle bridges Russian forces planned to attack inside Ukraine and when.

The US was also able to intercept the Russian strategy for combating NATO tanks due to enter Ukraine beginning in April. The plan “called for establishing three fire zones based on range – long, medium, and short – with each zone covered by specific weaponry and unit types,” the US intelligence report says.

Highlighting US concerns about the Wagner Group, which has thousands of personnel operating in Ukraine, the documents discuss Wagner’s renewed recruitment of Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine – underscoring its leader’s “continued influence with Putin,” one report says – and the group’s plans to strengthen its presence across Africa and in Haiti.

Rising casualties: The documents also provide a window into casualty figures on both sides, numbers that are notoriously difficult to estimate accurately and that the US has been reluctant to share publicly in detail.

According to one of the documents, Russian forces had suffered 189,500 to 223,000 casualties as of February, including as many as 43,000 troops killed in action. Ukraine, meanwhile, had suffered 124,500 to 131,000 casualties, with up to 17,500 killed in action, the report says.

Read more here.

Ukraine has had to alter some of its military plans after the leak of highly classified Pentagon documents, a source close to Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskytold CNN, as US officials race to assess the damage.

CNN has reviewed 53 leaked documents, all of which appear to have been produced between mid-February and early March.

One document reveals that the US has been spying on Zelensky. That is unsurprising, said the source close to the President, but Ukrainian officials are deeply frustrated about the leak.

War plans: The US intelligence report, which is sourced to signals intelligence, says that Zelensky in late February “suggested striking Russian deployment locations in Russia’s Rostov Oblast” using unmanned aerial vehicles, since Ukraine does not have long-range weapons capable of reaching that far.

Signals intelligence includes intercepted communications and is broadly defined by the National Security Agency as “intelligence derived from electronic signals and systems used by foreign targets, such as communications systems, radars, and weapons systems.”

The intelligence could explain public US comments about not wanting to give Ukraine long-range missile systems over fears that Kyiv will use them to strike inside Russia. But Ukraine has pledged not to use US-provided weapons to do so.

Ukraine’s response: Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said on his Telegram channel Friday that he believes the documents that have been disseminated are inauthentic, have “nothing to do with Ukraine’s real plans” and are based on “a large amount of fictitious information” disseminated by Russia.

Read the full story here.

ThePentagonbuilding is seen in Arlington, Virginia, on April 6.

A massive leak of classified Pentagon documents reveal the US’ efforts in spying on Russia, with details of intercepted communications of Russia’s Defense Ministry and the mercenary organization Wagner Group.

The documents also divulge weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry — reportedly forcing the country’s military to alter some plans as fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, with a deadly attack by Russian forces on Easter Sunday.

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

Highly classified Pentagon documentsleaked online in recent weekshave provided a rare window into how the US spies on allies and foes alike, deeply rattling US officials, who fear the revelations could jeopardize sensitive sources and compromise important foreign relationships.

Some of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, expose the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.

Others reveal the degree to which the US has penetrated the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian mercenary organizationWagner Group, largely through intercepted communications and human sources, which could now be cut off or put in danger.

Still others divulge key weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry, air defense, and battalion sizes and readiness at acritical point in the war, as Ukrainian forces gear up to launch a counteroffensive against the Russians – and just as the US and Ukraine have begun to develop a more mutually trusting relationship over intelligence-sharing.

Ukraine has already altered some of its military plans because of the leak, a source close to Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskytold CNN.

The leak has also led the Pentagon to take steps to tighten the flow of such highly sensitive documents, officials said, which are normally available on any given day to hundreds of people across the government.

Read more here.

Volodymyr Zelensky speaks in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 7.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Russia during his nightly speech Sunday forthe deadly attackreported by Ukraine’s emergency service in Zaporizhzhia overnight.

At leasttwo people were killed when Russian strikeshit the southern city overnight, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.

A 50-year-old man and his 11-year-old daughter were killed after the strikes partially destroyed a residential building, officials said on Telegram. Rescuers pulled a 46-year-old woman out of the rubble, it added.

Oksana Markarova speaks during a rally in Washington, on March 27.

Seven-year-old Karolina plays the piano at the Ukraine House cultural center in the United States capital, poking at keys, swinging her sneakers underneath. She could be any child playing the piano — except the legs swinging below the bench are prosthetic.

Karolina lost her legs last fallin a Russian attackon the Ukrainian city of Nikopol and came to the United States to receive treatment.

Sitting with Karolina is Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States,Oksana Markarova, who helped arrange the young girl’s care.

Visits like these are now typical for the wartime ambassador.

This month marks two years since Markarova became ambassador. She was less than a year into her post when Russian leader Vladimir Putininvaded Ukraineon February 24, 2022.

“We were preparing for it,” she recalled. “We knew that the intent to attack us was there, but you never completely believe until, unfortunately, something horrific like war happens.”

Markarova said that for the first couple of months of the war she would wake up and wonder if it was a bad dream.

“Everyone in Ukraine, of course, it’s more difficult for them,” she acknowledged. “As I say always, the bombs are not falling on us here – but we work literally 24/7 since February 24, and we will continue working like that until we win.”

All around Washington: These days, much of Markarova’s time is spent outside the embassy, shuttling between various government agencies around Washington.

On a recent car ride from the Capitol to the Commerce Department for one of those meetings, Markarova noted the cars she uses have become “a second office.”

“This is where I prepare between the meetings, drive around everywhere,” she told CNN from the back seat.

The former private equity associate said she is not only working on securingmilitary aid from Congressbut also seeking support from American companies and entities as Ukraine begins rebuilding.

While House Republicansare divided over helping Ukraine, Markarova said she doesn’t see a difference with the chamber’snew GOP majority. She conceded, however, that there are members she has to “talk to more.”

Markarova hopes theburgeoning political debatewill not weaken support overall.

Read CNN’s full profile on Markarova here.

Ukrainian servicemen fire a military vehicle with anti-aircraft cannon near the front line city ofBakhmut, Ukraine on April 7.

The battles inside the eastern town of Bakhmut, Ukraine, are “the most difficult ones since you are very close to the enemy,” Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on national television Sunday.

“But the supply route is still open and Ukrainian forces are holding their positions,” he said.

Wagner mercenary fighters have been “the most aggressive in the Bakhmut direction” but Russian paratroopers and infantry soldiers are also fighting in Bakhmut and in the area, he said.“Russians still hold a significant advantage in artillery in the areas of their main attack,” he said.

“We are supplying Bakhmut with ammunition, food and supplies, as well as taking our wounded out,”Cherevaty, said.

Moscow’s recent push: Russian forces continue their push to take “full control” of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian military said in its latest operational update Sunday morning.

Unofficial reports suggest Russian forces are maintaining their slow advance through the center of Bakhmut and into the western parts of the city, with the railway station as a potential next key target.

Yuriy Syrotyuk, a grenade launcher in Ukraine’s military, said in an interview on national television Sunday that the situation in Bakhmut is “really hard” for Kyiv’s forces, as they are outnumbered by Russian troops and Wagner fighters.

“Bakhmut stands; there is a supply” but “Russians outnumber us and hold more ammunition,”Syrotyuk said.

“It is really hard now because Russian artillery and tanks have pulled up very close, they are trying to shoot everything. (Enemy) paratroopers with weapons have arrived. Unfortunately, the enemy is fine with weapons. In Bakhmut they have no shortage of personnel or ammunition,” he added.

The Russian offensive on the southern flank of the city has weakened, “which is why they are trying to attack head-on through the city,” Syrotyuk said. Russia has moved its artillery and rocket launchers within the city’s boundaries.