April 21, 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 UK government sanctioned a Russian judge and two other individuals it says are connected to the arrest of jailed Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza.

In response to the move, which involves asset freezes and a travel ban, former Russian President and deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, called Britain "our eternal enemy."

Here are other headlines you should know:

Calls for aid: Ukraine's foreign minister asked the EU to expedite more aid one week after the European Union approved a fund of approximately $1.1 billion to reimburse states that have sent ammunition to Ukraine. Dmytro Kuleba said he called on EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, "to help finalise discussions on the 2nd €1 billion ($1.12 billion) joint procurement tranche as soon as possible to ensure security in Europe."

NATO developments: Ukraine has received a "green light" for close cooperation with NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Friday. Reznikov's comments come on the heels of Stoltenberg's remarks, reaffirming that Ukraine will eventually "become a NATO member." The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning Friday about NATO's "dangerous" statements regarding Ukraine joining the alliance. 

Military training: The US will begin training Ukrainian forces on how to operate Abrams tanks next month as it seeks to get them onto the battlefield against Russia before the end of the summer. US M1A1 Abrams tanks will be sent by mid-May to Grafenwoehr, Germany, where roughly 250 Ukrainians will undergo a 10-week training course with US troops, a US official told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The tanks are a long-awaited capability for Ukraine, which has been battling Russia for more than a year. In total, the US is providing 31 tanks, the size of one Ukrainian tank battalion. 

On the ground: A dancer with Odesa Opera has been killed while fighting on the front line, the ballet company has said. International Atomic Energy Agency experts at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have heard shelling nearly every day over the past week, the agency said in an update on Friday. At one point, they were told to shelter at the site because of the potential dangers, according to an update from IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning Friday about NATO's "dangerous" statements regarding Ukraine joining the alliance. 

"NATO sets itself the goal of 'defeating' Russia in Ukraine, and to motivate Kyiv, it promises that after the end of the conflict, the country can be accepted into the alliance," ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

It comes after NATO Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg visited Kyiv on Thursday and said that “Ukraine’s future is in NATO."

Stoltenberg said he discussed a “multiyear support initiative” with President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that it would help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to “NATO standards.” This would “ensure full interoperability with the alliance,” Stoltenberg said.

His visit and the statements about Ukraine joining NATO were met with pushback from Russia. The Kremlin reiterated on Thursday that preventing Kyiv from joining NATO is one of its key goals.

Stoltenberg also reaffirmed Friday during a meeting of allies at Ramstein Air Base in Germany that Ukraine will join the military alliance. He told reporters all NATO allies have agreed Ukraine should be a member — but did not give a definitive date of when this would happen.

International Atomic Energy Agency experts at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have heard shelling nearly every day over the past week, the agency said in an update on Friday. 

At one point, they were told to shelter at the site because of the potential dangers, according to an update from IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

The plant still relies on one functioning power line "for the external electricity it needs for reactors cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions," Grossi added. Prior to the war, the plant had four such power lines.

In addition, due to the "significant reduction" of staff at the site, the plant "currently does not have a systematic maintenance and in-service inspection schedule," Grossi said.

Some background: Russian forces continue to control the plant, which is the largest nuclear power station in Europe and sits in a part of the Zaporizhzhia region that Russia occupied after its invasion of Ukraine last February. The plant has frequently been disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid due to intense Russian shelling in the area, raising fears across Europe of a nuclear accident.

The IAEA announced in January that it would establish a continuous presence of nuclear safety and security experts at all of Ukraine’s nuclear power facilities, significantly stepping up its efforts to help prevent a nuclear accident during the current military conflict.

This week, CNN viewed a letter dated from March that the US Department of Energy sent to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom, warning Russia not to touch sensitive nuclear technology the US has at the plant.

The Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large has warned of an "uncontrollable" arms race and emphasized the need for Russia to build up its tactical missile potential.

Mashkov also wrote "there is an obvious need for Russia to build up its tactical missile potential, to further increase the effectiveness of its use and to stockpile missile weapons in advance to effectively respond to any challenges to national security, including in Kaliningrad, where NATO set out to take Russian territory under the guns of American MLRS [multiple launch rocket systems]". 

The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is an isolated but strategically significant territory on the Baltic coast.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, experts have feared that Kaliningrad could become a flashpoint in tensions between Moscow and Europe. It is Russia’s westernmost territory, and the only part of the country surrounded by EU states; Lithuania stands between it and Belarus, a Russian ally nation, while Poland borders it to the south.

In the article, Mashkov also said once the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty expires in 2026 there could be a "vacuum" in strategic stability.

More on the treaty: Russian President Vladimir Putin said in February he was suspending his country’s participation in the treaty with the United States, imperiling the last remaining pact that regulates the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals.

The treaty puts limits on the number of deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons that both the US and Russia can have. It was last extended in early 2021 for five years, meaning the two sides would soon need to begin negotiating on another arms control agreement.

Former Russian President and deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, called Britain "our eternal enemy" after the UK government imposed sanctions on Russian individuals.

The UK government sanctioned a Russian judge and two other individuals it says are connected to the arrest of jailed Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza. The sanctions involve asset freezes and a travel ban.

Some background: On Monday, Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of high treason and other charges.

It came after he publicly condemned Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Kara-Murza was initially detained one year ago, hours after an interview with CNN in which he criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “regime of murderers.”

While the Ukrainian military “continues to perform very well” in its fight against Russia, the Russian military lacks will and morale, US Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday.

Milley said Russia is “expending significant manpower for very little gain,” and tightening its conscription laws as they “indiscriminately feed their citizens into the chaos of war.”  

A Russian court has dismissed a case that sought to restrict the rights of 13-year-old Masha Moskalyov's parents, after both the teen and her father drew attention from Russian authorities for their criticism of the war in Ukraine.

Officials briefly placed Masha in an orphanage after her father, Alexey Moskalyov, who was raising Masha alone, was charged with “discrediting the Russian military” for expressing anti-war sentiments online.

But the Commission on Juvenile Affairs in the city of Yefremov — located in Russia’s Tula region south of Moscow — dropped the case against her parents Wednesday, according to independent human rights organization OVD-Info.

A lawyer with OVD-Info, Vladimir Biliyenko, said in a statement Friday that protecting Alexey's parental rights was an important moral victory. Biliyenko, who represents the father, thanked "all caring people who worried about this family."

Russian officials say Masha is now with her mother: An official on the Commission on Juvenile Affairs said they had been making arrangements with Masha's relatives while the teen was in the orphanage, according to OVD-Info.

Now she is in her mother's care and has resumed her studies, said the official, Svetlana Davydova, according to the human rights group.

“Thus, today the reasons that were indicated in the lawsuit on the restriction of the rights of parents have been eliminated,” it quoted Davydova as saying.

More background: In April 2022, Masha drew a picture of Russian missiles being fired at a Ukrainian family and wrote “No to war” and “Glory to Ukraine” during her art class, according to Russian independent news outlet, Mediazona. Her school subsequently called the police.

Almost a year later, a Russian court sentenced Alexey Moskalyov to two years in prison over his online posts critical of the invasion of Ukraine. That sentence came down in March 2023.

Alexey escaped house arrest on the eve of the verdict but was tracked by the authorities and detained in Belarus two days later. Last week, Russian state media reported Belarusian law enforcement agencies had handed him over to Russia.

His current location is unknown.

The US will begin training Ukrainian forces on how to operate Abrams tanks next month as it seeks to get them onto the battlefield against Russia before the end of the summer.

US M1A1 Abrams tanks will be sent by mid-May to Grafenwoehr, Germany, where roughly 250 Ukrainians will undergo a 10-week training course with US troops, a US official told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. 

The tanks are a long-awaited capability for Ukraine, which has been battling Russia for more than a year. In total, the US is providing 31 tanks, the size of one Ukrainian tank battalion. 

Though the US had originally said it would send the newer M1A2 versions of the tanks, officials said in March that the Ukrainians would instead get the M1A1, dramatically accelerating the timeline for delivering the tanks.  

In addition to tanks being provided by the US, Ukraine will also be receiving German Leopard 2 tanks and British Challengers. The armored capability is likely to make a difference on the battlefield for embattled Ukrainian troops, but the impact won’t be immediate due to the timeline for training — not to mention the significant logistical demands to keep the tanks up and running.

Training status: Roughly 8,800 Ukrainian troops have already finished combined arms training in Germany and returned to Ukraine, Col. Martin O’Donnell, spokesperson for US Army Europe and Africa, said in a statement Friday. Currently, there are approximately 2,250 Ukrainian conducting combined arms training in Germany. 

Austin met with allied officials again on Friday as part of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany. The group has provided more than $55 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, Austin said. 

Tanks repair hub: Germany, Poland and Ukraine also signed an agreement Friday to set up a hub in Poland to repair the Leopard 2 battle tanks, Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters.

Pistorius said that all parties agreed on how to finance it and said that operating the hub could start at the end of May.  

CNN's Nadine Schmidt in Berlin contributed reporting to this post.