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A spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces has denied a claim by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russias private Wagner mercenary group, who said Russian forces now controlled more than 80% of Bakhmut city. I can confidently state that the Ukrainian defence forces control a much larger percentage of the territory of Bakhmut, Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian armed forces, told CNN.

Russias lower house of parliament has voted unanimously to introduce electronic callup papers via an online portal for the first time. The State Duma gave its preliminary approval to changes in the law that are intended to facilitate mobilisation, as Russia seeks to make it harder to avoid the draft. Changes to the legislation would mean that once an electronic summons is received, citizens who fail to show up at the military enlistment office are automatically banned from travelling abroad.

Hungarys foreign minister, Pter Szijjrt, has announced new agreements to ensure the countrys continued access to Russian energy, a sign of the countrys continuing diplomatic and trade ties with Moscow amid the war in Ukraine. While in Moscow, Szijjrt met the Russian deputy prime minister for energy, Alexander Novak, and the chief executive of the Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev.

The Russian-appointed leader of Crimea has said Moscows forces are ready for a possible Ukrainian assault, days after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reaffirmed Kyivs intention to take back the Black Sea peninsula that Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Sergei Aksyonov said Russian forces in Crimea had built modern, in-depth defences and had more than enough troops and equipment to repel what may be an impending Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Almost 8,500 civilians are confirmed to have been killed in Russias invasion of Ukraine, a UN body has said, with many thousands more unverified deaths feared. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has long described its figures as the tip of the iceberg because of its limited access to battle zones. The majority of the deaths were recorded in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and under attack by Russian forces.

A Danish decision on whether to supply western fighter jets to Ukraine is likely to take place before the summer, Denmarks acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, has said. Discussions are taking time because countries have to act together, Poulsen said during a visit to Ukraine. Poulsen yesterday confirmed Denmarks intention to provide refurbished 100 Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine.

The UN-brokered deal that enables Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea is in a critical state because of Russias actions, a Ukrainian government minister told the Guardian on Tuesday. Yurii Vaskov, Ukraines deputy minister responsible for seaports and maritime, said: The Russians have violated the conditions of the Black Sea grain initiative. They decided to unilaterally change the plans of Ukrainian ports. Its unacceptable.

Canadas prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has pledged fresh military support for Ukraine after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal. Canada will send 21,000 assault rifles, 38 machine guns and 2.4m rounds of ammunition to Ukraine and impose sanctions on 14 Russian individuals and 34 entities, including security targets linked to the private mercenary Wagner group, Trudeau said.

Leaked US intelligence documents appear to indicate that Egypt was planning to covertly supply Russia with rockets and munitions. A document dated 17 February is claimed to summarise conversations between President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials in which Sisi instructs officials to keep the production and shipment of rockets secret to avoid problems with the west, and additionally references plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.

Ukraine needs more long-range weapons and less contemplation on leaks, said the senior presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, referring to the recent leak of Pentagon documents. If we had time, we could watch the [Russian Federation] fall apart & its elites devour each other. But we dont have it, as our people are dying, he posted to Twitter.

The Kremlin, appearing to pre-judge any judicial hearing, said on Tuesday that the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had violated Russian law and been caught red-handed, after the US state department officially designated him as having been wrongfully detained by Russia. Russia has presented no evidence to support the case against Gershkovich. Next week, a court will hear an appeal from Gershkovichs legal team against an order that he be held in pre-trial detention at Moscows Lefortovo prison until 29 May.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Hungary signs new energy deals with Russia; UN tally of Ukraine civilian deaths approaches 8,500 as it happened - The Guardian

Today, the U.S. is supporting a proxy war with Russia while attempting to deter a China cross-strait invasion of Taiwan. Both are wake-up calls that victory and deterrence in modern war will be determined by a states ability to simultaneously use traditional weapons systems and rapidly acquire, deploy and integrate commercial technologies (drones, satellites, targeting software, etc.) into operations at every level.

Ukraines military is not burdened with the U.S. Defense Departments decades-old acquisition process and 20th century operational concepts. It is learning and adapting on the fly.

China has made the leap to a whole-of-nation approach. This has allowed the Peoples Liberation Army to integrate private capital and commercial technology and use them as a force multiplier to dominate the South China Sea and prepare for a cross-strait invasion of Taiwan.

The DoD has not done either of these. It is currently organized and oriented to acquire traditional weapons systems and execute operational concepts with its traditional vendors and research centers, and it is woefully unprepared to integrate commercial technologies and private capital at scale.

Copying Defense Secretary Ash Carters 2015 strategy, China has been engaged in civil-military fusion that employs a whole-of-government, coordinated effort to harness disruptive commercial technologies for its national security needs. To fuel the development of technologies critical for defense, China has tapped into $900 billion of private capital in civil-military guidance (investment) funds and has taken public, state-owned enterprises to fund their new shipyards, aircraft and avionics. Worse, China will learn from and apply the lessons from Russias failures in Ukraine.

But unlike Americas arch strategic rival, the U.S. has been unwilling and unable to adapt and adopt new models of systems attritable systems, autonomous systems, swarms, and other new, emerging defense platforms and operational concepts ones that threaten but look beyond legacy systems as well as incumbent vendors, organizations and cultures at the speed of our adversaries.

Concept art from the Air Force Research Laboratory shows a drone swarm that the service could potentially use. (U.S. Air Force)

Viewing the DoD budget as a zero-sum game has turned the major defense primes and K Street lobbyists into saboteurs for DoD organizational innovation that threaten their business models. Using private capital could be a force multiplier by adding hundreds of billions of dollars outside the DoD budget. The U.S. is on a collision course to experience catastrophic failure in a future conflict because of it. Only Congress can alter this equation.

For the U.S. to deter and prevail against China, the DoD must create both a strategy and a redesigned organization to embrace those untapped external resources private capital and commercial innovation.

A reorganized and refocused DoD could acquire traditional weapons systems while simultaneously rapidly acquiring, deploying and integrating commercial technologies. It would create a national industrial policy that incentivizes the development of 21st century shipyards, drone and satellite factories, and a new industrial base along the lines of the CHIPS and the Innovation and Competition acts.

Congress must act to identify and implement changes. These include:

National power is ephemeral. Nations decline when they lose allies, economic power or interest in global affairs, or when they experience internal or civil conflicts, or miss disruptive technology transitions and new operational concepts.

The case can be made that these are happening to the U.S.

The 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act is a precedent for Congress reorganizing the DoD. It created the combatant commands. Today, Congress must view the conflict in Ukraine and Chinas actions in the South China Sea as a call for action. We urge it to establish a commission to determine what reforms and changes are needed to ensure the U.S. can fight and win our future wars.

While parts of the DoD understand were in a crisis, the DoD as a whole shows little urgency and misses a crucial point: China will not defer solving the Taiwan issue on our schedule. Russia will not defer its future plans for aggression to meet our dates. We need to act now.

We fail to do so at our peril and the peril of all those who depend on U.S. security to survive.

Joe Felter and Steve Blank are co-founders of Stanford Universitys Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. Pete Newell, former director of the U.S. Armys Rapid Equipping Force, is the CEO of advisory firm BMNT.

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A reorganizational road map for DoD to deter China, win in Ukraine - Defense News

Ukraines Special Operations Forces have tracked down a Russian Zhitel R-330Zh jamming station, and another defence unit has deployed HIMARS to strike it [Zhitel is Russian for "resident" ed.].

Source: Special Operations Forces

Quote: "Officers of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine and units from the defence forces carried out a number of actions on the Donetsk front, which allowed them to establish the location of a Zhitel R-330Zh automated jamming station. The jamming station was quite far behind the front line.

The coordinates [of the jamming stations location] were promptly transmitted to a rocket artillery unit, which knows how to do its job very well.

The video captures the moment when a HIMARS M142 rocket hit the jamming station."

Details: The Zhitel R-330Zh jamming station is designed to automatically detect radio signals, establish the direction they are coming from, and analyse them.

Zhitel R-330Zh automated jamming station

ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!

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Ukraine's Special Operations Forces and other troops deploy HIMARS to strike Russian jamming station - Yahoo News

A Marine veteran who volunteered to fight in support of Ukraine is dead, the State Department confirmed to Marine Corps Times.

Retired Capt. Grady Kurpasi, 50, was last seen April 26, 2022, in southern Ukraine, The Washington Post reported in July 2022.

Working as part of a team of international volunteers, Kurpasi and a British man, Andrew Hill, went to investigate the source of gunfire, the Post reported. They radioed to their team that they were under fire.

Hill was captured by Russian-backed forces and reportedly charged with being a mercenary. Two other members of the unit were killed, according to the Post.

Loved ones had feared Kurpasi had been captured or killed, the Post reported.

We can confirm the death of a U.S. citizen in Ukraine, a Statement Department spokesperson said via email Wednesday in response to a Marine Corps Times request for confirmation of Kurpasis death. We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance. Out of respect for the familys privacy during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add.

A GoFundMe fundraiser organized by William Lee on behalf of Kurpasis wife, Heeson Kim, stated that the Marine veteran had been killed in action.

GoFundMe spokesman Jalen Drummond confirmed that the fundraiser is verified and that the funds will go to Kim.

Kurpasi, who grew up in New York City following his adoption from Korea, enlisted in the Marine Corps at the unusually late age of 29 following the 9/11 attacks, according to the GoFundMe.

He became an infantry assaultman and ultimately became a scout sniper, the GoFundMe states. He deployed three times to Iraq, according to the Post and the GoFundMe.

Kurpasi attended UCLA through a selective enlisted-to-officer commissioning program and then became an infantry officer, according to the GoFundMe. He retired in September 2021 as a captain.

Kurpasis awards included the Good Conduct Medal three times, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal three times, the Purple Heart Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, among other awards, CNN reported.

After retiring from the Marine Corps, Grady felt obligated to assist in Ukraine as they defended their country against the Russian invasion, the GoFundMe reads. Grady went to train soldiers but due to the intensity of the war and the need for combat-experienced leaders, Grady ended up leading a squad into battle and was killed in action.

He is survived by a wife and a 14-year-old daughter, according to the GoFundMe.

He led his Marines by example and loved his family - speaking of them often, the GoFundMe reads.

Marine Corps Times attempted to contact Lee, the organizer of the fundraiser, but did not receive a response. Military.com first reported news of the GoFundMe.

The confirmation of Kurpasis death comes a little more than two months after the death of Marine veteran Pete Reed, 33, who was killed in Bakhmut, Ukraine. Reed had reportedly been administering medical aid to civilians.

Irene Loewenson is a staff reporter for Marine Corps Times. She joined Military Times as an editorial fellow in August 2022. She is a graduate of Williams College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper.

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Marine vet, not seen alive in a year, declared dead in Ukraine - Marine Corps Times

The Kremlin has said there are no plans for an Easter ceasefire in Ukraine, Russian state media reported. So far, there havent been any initiatives on this matter but our Holy Week has just begun, Russias state-run Tass news agency quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying. His comments came after the Institute for the Study of War warned that Russia may try to use the upcoming Orthodox Easter holiday on 16 April to delay Ukrainian counteroffensives by calling for a ceasefire out of respect for religion.

Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraines ground forces, has accused Russian troops of using scorched earth tactics in the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut. The situation in Bakhmut was difficult but controllable, he said, adding that the defence of the city continued. His claims have not been independently verified.

The Russian-installed head of Ukraines Donetsk region said Russian forces controlled more than 75% of the besieged city of Bakhmut. It was still too soon to announce a total victory in the battle over Bakhmut, Denis Pushilin said on state television while visiting the embattled city in eastern Ukraine. His claims have not been verified.

A Russian fighter jet nearly shot down a British surveillance plane last year, according to a leaked US military document circulating online. The near miss occurred on 29 September off the coast of Crimea, the Washington Post reported, citing the document which is among a number apparently leaked from the Pentagon. The authenticity of the documents has not been verified.

Ukraine has been forced to amend some of its military plans before an anticipated counteroffensive due to a leak of highly classified Pentagon documents, according to a report. One of the documents, citing signals intelligence collected using intercepted communications, outlines how the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in late February suggested striking Russian deployment locations in Russias Rostov oblast using unmanned aerial vehicles. Ukraines presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said Kyivs strategic plans remained unchanged but that more specific tactical plans were always subject to change.

The US defence department has said an interagency effort is assessing the impact that leaked intelligence documents, many concerning the war in Ukraine, could have on US national security and on its allies and partners. Officials say the breadth of topics addressed in the documents which touch on the war in Ukraine, China, the Middle East and Africa suggest they may have been leaked by an American rather than an ally.

South Koreas main opposition party has urged the government to verify the Pentagon documents, which include claims that the US attempted to eavesdrop on senior officials in Seoul over arms sales. The floor leader of the Democratic party, Park Hong-keun, made the demand after reports that CIA operatives had been monitoring an internal discussion about concerns that artillery shells South Korea planned to sell to the US could ultimately end up in Ukraine.

The documents suggest that without a huge boost in munitions, Ukraines air defences could be in peril, allowing the Russian air force to change the course of the war, the New York Times has reported. One of the documents, dated 23 February and marked Secret, outlines in detail how Ukraines Soviet-era S-300 air defence systems would be depleted by 2 May at the current usage rate.

Russia plans to increase air defences over its north-western border to counter Finlands accession to Nato, a commander in its aerospace forces has said. Lt Gen Andrei Demin, the deputy commander-in-chief of aerospace forces, also said further reforms of Russian air defences were undoubtedly planned and will be implemented.

More than 200 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have returned home in a prisoner swap, according to both sides. Russias defence ministry said 106 Russian soldiers were released from Ukrainian custody as part of an agreement with Ukraine. Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said Russia freed 100 Ukrainian prisoners.

Only 1,800 civilians are still living in the ruins of Avdiivka, the embattled eastern Ukrainian city that had a prewar population of 32,000, according to the local governor. The Russians have turned Avdiivka into a total ruin, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsks regional governor. In a separate statement, the Ukrainian general staff said Russian forces were continuing to mount offensive operations around Avdiivka but were suffering heavy losses of personnel and equipment.

Russia continues to prioritise operations around Donetsk in eastern Ukraine expending significant resources for minimal gains, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in its daily briefing. The MoD said that over the past seven days Russia had increased armoured assaults around Marinka, a small town about 12 miles (20km) south-west of Donetsk city.

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, held a meeting on Monday with Russias defence minister, Sergei Shoigu. Lukashenko said he needed guarantees that Russia will defend Belarus like its own territory in the case of aggression, state media reported.

Brazils president, Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, this week where the pair will talk about the war in Ukraine, Brazils foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, said. Lula, who is due to arrive in China on Tuesday and meet Xi on Friday, is hoping to promote his proposal for mediated talks to end the war.

Ukraine would like India to be engaged and involved in helping resolve its conflict with Russia to a great extent, its first deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova has said. Dzhaparova, the first Ukrainian minister to travel to India since Russias full-scale invasion, said the Ukrainian president had requested a phone conversation with Indias prime minister, Narendra Modi.

The Kremlin has said it is hard to imagine France playing a role in brokering peace in Ukraine, since Paris is both indirectly and directly involved in this conflict on the side of Ukraine. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited China last week, where he urged his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to bring Russia back to reason over the war in Ukraine.

Russian journalists and rights activists have appealed for the release of Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent opposition politician who faces up to 25 years in jail on charges including treason. Prosecutors last week requested a 25-year sentence for Kara-Murza, one of a small number of prominent opposition figures who stayed in Russia, who has been on trial in a closed court in Moscow on charges his supporters say are politically motivated.

A Russian court has sentenced two men to 19 years in prison each for setting fire to a government building in a demonstration against the war in Ukraine. Roman Nasryev, a former driver for the Russian national guard, and Alexei Nuriev, an officer in the emergency situations ministry, threw a molotov cocktail on 11 October 2022 into an administrative building in the town of Bakal in Russias Chelyabinsk region in protest of the war in Ukraine and Russias partial mobilisation.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russia nearly shot down British spy plane near Ukraine, alleged leaked US document claims as it happened - The Guardian