Moscow struggling with narrative to justify war as Wagner chief questions ‘Nazis’ claim, says UK
The UK Ministry of Defence has issued its intelligence update for 22 April saying Russia is struggling to maintain consistency in a core narrative used to justify the Ukraine war: that the invasion is akin to the Soviet experience during the second world war.
The update posted to Twitter detailed Russia’s attempts to unify the public around its central message:
On 18 April 2023, Russian state media announced the cancellation of this year’s Immortal Regiment ‘Great Patriotic War’ remembrance marches on ‘safety’ grounds. In reality, the authorities were highly likely concerned that participants would highlight the scope of recent Russian losses.
This follows Wagner group owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, publicly questioning whether there are actually any “Nazis” in Ukraine, going against Russia’s justification for the war. The authorities have continued attempts to unify the Russian public around polarising myths about the 1940s.
On 12 April 2023, state news agency RIA Novosti reported “unique” documents from FSB archives, implicating the Nazis in the murder of 22,000 Polish nationals in the Katyn Massacre of 1940. In reality, FSB’s predecessor agency, the NKVD, was responsible. Russia’s State Duma officially condemned Joseph Stalin for ordering the killings in 2010.
Key events
Ukraine plans to deploy software from the US data analytics provider Palantir Technologies Inc to help it prosecute alleged war crimes committed by Russia, the company told Reuters.
Palantir, which has supplied Ukraine with systems that could help it target tanks and support refugees, is now working with the country’s prosecutor general’s office to let investigators across Europe pool and process data, the company said.
Its software will combine intelligence and satellite imagery to build a map of evidence, for instance establishing the proximity of Russian equipment to crime scenes or aggregating photographs that Ukrainians have uploaded to social media, Palantir said.
Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, said in a statement provided by Palantir: “Analysing this amount of evidence would be virtually impossible without modern IT solutions.”
The data that Palantir’s software will process relates to claims of alleged killing, rape, torture and destruction, part of more than 78,000 crimes reported in Ukraine since Russia invaded more than a year ago.
Moscow has denied attacking civilians or perpetrating war crimes.
Spain will deliver six Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in the next few days, according to the country’s foreign minister.
José Manuel Albares told the German publication Tagesschau that it would be followed by a second package of four more tanks.
Earlier, Spain had postponed the delivery, with its defence minister, Margarita Robles, saying that Leopard 2 tanks would leave the country in the second half of April, whereas initially the delivery had been due to take place “shortly after Easter”, 9 April.
While Spain promised to send at least 10 of its German-made tanks to Ukraine in 2022, the transfer was delayed due to their poor technical condition. The tanks have not been used since the 1990s and require repairs and combat readiness testing.
According to the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, the Ukraine Defence Contact Group has delivered more than 230 tanks and 1,550 armored vehicles “in just a few short months”.
According to Austin, Ukraine has also received other equipment and ammunition to support more than nine new armoured brigades.
Earlier, Austin said nine western countries had pledged to supply more than 150 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
So far, Germany has delivered 18 Leopard 2 tanks, Portugal has delivered three, and Poland has transferred 14. Britain has delivered 14 Challenger 2 tanks.
Modern western tanks could be crucial in Ukraine’s planned spring counter-offensive. However, critics have pointed out that their piecemeal delivery may hamper their strategic effectiveness.
Ukraine’s operational command has reported that 11 Russian warships are in combat readiness in the Black Sea, including two submarines armed with Kalibr cruise missiles.
According to Ukrinform, the press service of Ukraine’s Operational Command South reported this on Facebook.
“The situation in the southern area of responsibility of the defence forces remains difficult, but we continue our combat work. The enemy ship grouping in the Black Sea consists of 11 units, including two submarine missile carriers armed with eight Kalibrs,” it said.
The top official in Russian-occupied Crimea said its air defence systems had been activated but there were no reports of damage or casualties.
“Air defence forces worked in the sky over Crimea. No damage or casualties. I ask everyone to remain calm and trust only trusted sources of information,” the official, Sergei Aksyonov, said on the messaging app Telegram.
He did not say what the target of the air defences was or specify the location of the military activity.
Here are some of the latest images coming out of Ukraine:
Moscow struggling with narrative to justify war as Wagner chief questions ‘Nazis’ claim, says UK
The UK Ministry of Defence has issued its intelligence update for 22 April saying Russia is struggling to maintain consistency in a core narrative used to justify the Ukraine war: that the invasion is akin to the Soviet experience during the second world war.
The update posted to Twitter detailed Russia’s attempts to unify the public around its central message:
On 18 April 2023, Russian state media announced the cancellation of this year’s Immortal Regiment ‘Great Patriotic War’ remembrance marches on ‘safety’ grounds. In reality, the authorities were highly likely concerned that participants would highlight the scope of recent Russian losses.
This follows Wagner group owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, publicly questioning whether there are actually any “Nazis” in Ukraine, going against Russia’s justification for the war. The authorities have continued attempts to unify the Russian public around polarising myths about the 1940s.
On 12 April 2023, state news agency RIA Novosti reported “unique” documents from FSB archives, implicating the Nazis in the murder of 22,000 Polish nationals in the Katyn Massacre of 1940. In reality, FSB’s predecessor agency, the NKVD, was responsible. Russia’s State Duma officially condemned Joseph Stalin for ordering the killings in 2010.
A Moscow court has ordered the arrest in absentia of Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev, adding him to its list of “foreign agents”, state-owned news agency RIA has reported.
Grozev is the lead Russia journalist for the Bellingcat news outlet. He played a key role in its investigation into the poisoning of opposition politician Alexei Navalny and has extensively covered Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
Grozev is not currently in Russia. In 2022, he was put on a wanted list by Russian authorities, accusing him of helping Ukrainian intelligence.
Jack Teixeira shared secret intelligence earlier and to a much larger audience, NYT reports
The US air national guardsman accused of leaking classified defence documents to a small group of gamers, posted sensitive information months earlier than previously known and to a much larger chat group, according to online postings reviewed by The New York Times.
In February 2022, soon after the invasion of Ukraine, a user profile matching that of Jack Teixeira began posting secret intelligence on the Russian war effort to a previously undisclosed chat group of about 600 members on the social platform Discord.
The newly discovered information included details about Russian and Ukrainian casualties, activities of Moscow’s spy agencies and updates on aid being provided to Ukraine. The user claimed to be posting information from the National Security Agency, the CIA and other intelligence agencies.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the new report.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. I’m Yang Tian and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments.
The US confirmed it would soon start training Ukrainian troops to use its Abrams tanks after providing 31 advanced vehicles to support the war effort. US Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the tanks won’t be a silver bullet, but will make a difference in the war.
More details coming shortly, here are the other key developments:
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The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said he is “confident” that Ukraine is prepared to retake more territory as Kyiv readies for a new offensive against invading Russian forces. Stoltenberg told journalists in Germany when asked if Ukraine has what it needs to successfully execute the offensive: “I’m confident that they will now be in a position to be able to liberate even more land.” He also invited the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to the Nato summit in July and emphasised the need to support Ukraine’s battlefield logistics.
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Jack Teixeira, the US air national guardsman accused of leaking classified defence documents to a small group of gamers, posted sensitive information months earlier than previously known and to a much larger chat group, the New York Times has reported. In February 2022, soon after the invasion of Ukraine, a user profile matching that of Teixeira began posting secret intelligence on the Russian war effort on a previously undisclosed chat group of about 600 members on the social platform Discord. The Pentagon has declined to comment on the new report.
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A Moscow court has ordered the arrest in absentia of Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev, adding him to its list of “foreign agents”, state-owned news agency RIA has reported. Grozev is the lead Russia journalist for the Bellingcat news outlet, and played a key role in its investigation into the poisoning of the opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
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Germany, Poland and Ukraine signed an agreement on Friday for a hub to repair Leopard tanks used in Ukraine to fight Russian forces, Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said at a meeting of allies at the Ramstein airbase. He sounded a note of caution about any early invitation for Ukraine to join Nato. All parties agreed on how to finance such a hub, which will cost €150m-€200m a year and could begin operations at the end of May.
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International backing for Ukraine holds “strong and true”, said the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, as he opened a meeting in Germany with allies to discuss further support for Kyiv. Austin confirmed the US is helping to train nine Ukrainian “storm” brigades for the counteroffensive and stressed the need to make Ukraine’s air defence system “robust” and “rigorous”. Austin said: “Our support for the forces of freedom in Ukraine holds strong and true. At today’s contact group meeting, we’ll focus on three key issues: air defence, ammunition and enablers.”
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Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has tweeted about the meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group in Ramstein, Germany, saying that Ukraine is “de facto already a part of the alliance’s security space” having reached “unprecedented levels of interoperability”.
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A Moscow court has issued a warrant for the arrest of the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, accusing the spy chief of organising “terrorist attacks” inside Russia, state-owned news agency RIA reported. RIA cited the court as saying that Budanov was accused of offences related to terrorism and arms smuggling. The move against him was announced “in absentia”, in an apparent acknowledgment that Budanov cannot be immediately detained.
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The Canadian government announced C$39m (£23.26m) in new military assistance for Ukraine including 40 sniper rifles, 16 radio sets and a donation to a Nato fund to help in the war. The latest round of Canadian aid, which also includes ammunition for the rifles, was announced by Canada’s defence minister, Anita Anand, at the Ramstein airbase in Germany where Nato defence officials met to discuss further military supplies for Ukraine.
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The UK has imposed sanctions on five people linked to the arrest of the Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was jailed this week for 25 years. Elena Lenskaya, a judge who approved Kara-Murza’s arrest, along with Denis Kolesnikov and Andrei Zadachin, investigators involved in the arrest of Kara-Murza, will all be hit with sanctions. FSB agents Alexander Samofal and Konstantin Kudryavtsev, who followed Kara-Murza on multiple trips before he was poisoned in 2015, will be sanctioned as well.