April 12, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has launched a war crimes investigation into a video that purports to show the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier, it announced Wednesday.

“Yesterday, a video was posted online of the Russian occupiers showing their beast side by brutally torturing a Ukrainian prisoner and cutting off his head,” the SBU said in a statement on Telegram.

“The Security Service of Ukraine launched a pre-trial investigation into this war crime under Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine,” the SBU said.

"We will find these inhumans. If necessary, we will get them wherever they are: from under the ground or from the other side. But they will definitely be punished for their actions," SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk added.

The video seen by CNN, which was posted on Twitter and is heavily blurred, looks to have been filmed during the summer because of the amount of plant life on the ground. 

It purports to show a Russian fighter using a knife to cut off the head of a Ukrainian soldier. A voice at the beginning of the video suggests the victim might have still been alive when the brutal attack began.

The video was one of two purportedly showing beheaded Ukrainian soldiers that have emerged on social media in the past week. The other may have been filmed more recently.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russia “worse than ISIS” and said it is “absurd” that the country is currently presiding over the UN Security Council.

“Russian terrorists must be kicked out of Ukraine and the UN and be held accountable for their crimes,” he said on Twitter.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Head of the Office of President of Ukraine, tweeted: “Russian soldier is recorded enjoying cutting off head of Ukrainian war prisoner. Proving their beast nature and convincing world of RF's [Russian Federation’s] bloodthirstiness once again.”

“There is something that no one in the world can ignore: how easily these beasts kill,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in response to a social media video that purportedly shows the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier.

“We are not going to forget anything. Neither are we going to forgive the murderers. There will be legal responsibility for everything. The defeat of terror is necessary,” he said in a video message on Wednesday.

Two videos have emerged in the past week that purport to show beheaded Ukrainian soldiers.

Dariia Zarivna, adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said in a statement Wednesday that the videos are "aimed at intimidation."

“It completely dehumanizes and demonstrates the essence of a terrorist country,” she said of the videos.

“But it is important to understand the purpose. This is an PSYOP [psychological operation] aimed at intimidation. The target audience is not only Ukraine, but also Western societies,” she said.

“It doesn't work on us, though. The Russians are afraid of this, but not us,” she added.

The videos appear to be of separate events -- one of them may have been filmed very recently, while the other, from the amount of foliage seen on the ground, looks like it was filmed during the summer.

The second video was posted on Twitter and is heavily blurred. It purports to show a Russian fighter using a knife to cut off the head of a Ukrainian soldier.

A voice at the beginning of the video suggests the victim might have still been alive when the brutal attack began.

Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova has requested more medicine and medical equipment from India, according to India's Ministry of External Affairs.

Dzhaparova concluded a three-day visit to India on Wednesday, where she met with Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi.

In a statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) following her visit, Dzhaparova also “proposed that rebuilding infrastructure in Ukraine could be an opportunity for Indian companies."

According to the MEA, she “handed over a letter from President Zelensky, addressed to Prime Minister Modi," but the ministry didn't provide further details about the letter.

The MEA also announced that the next session of the Inter-Governmental Commission, a group focused on trade and bilateral cooperation between the two countries, will be held in India.

In contrast, the next round of Foreign Office Consultations, which focus on diplomatic ties between the two countries, will take place in Kyiv. The dates for both meetings are yet to be decided.

The European Union strongly condemns the decision of Russian authorities to declare the activities of EU-Russia Civil Society Forum as "undesirable," according to a statement from the European Union External Action (EEAS) on Wednesday.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office on Tuesday had effectively shut down the Berlin-based organization which hosts intergovernmental conferences and civil society events.

This decision further intensifies the crackdown on independent civil society and media in Russia, taking place against the backdrop of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the EEAS said in its statement.

The European Union urges the Russian authorities to repeal the current legislation on the so-called “undesirable organizations” and “foreign agents”, which severely restricts the freedoms of association and opinion, the statement added.

Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea and the city of Sevastopol have cancelled parades and marches to celebrate Victory Day on May 9 and May Day (May 1) citing security reasons.

The two dates are public holidays in Russia, with May 9 marking Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.  

Aksenov noted that representatives of local authorities will visit veterans and congratulate them on Victory Day.

The situation in Crimea: While any Ukrainian offensive to reclaim Crimea is at best distant, the Russians are taking no chances. 

As CNN reported last month, Russia is going to great lengths to fortify the peninsula, which it illegally annexed in 2014. 

The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, has been carrying out attacks in Crimea with two goals: harass the Russian Black Sea fleet and disrupt vital Russian supply lines.

Few details emerge about Ukrainian strikes in Crimea. Only occasionally does unofficial social media video provide clues about what has been hit. And only occasionally do normally circumspect Ukrainian officials refer to any actions in Crimea.

Previous reporting from CNN's Tim Lister

Two videos have emerged on social media in the past week which purport to show beheaded Ukrainian soldiers.

The videos appear to be of separate events – one of them may have been filmed very recently, while the other, from the amount of foliage seen on the ground, looks like it was filmed during the summer.

The first video was posted to a pro-Russian social media channel on April 8. It was purportedly filmed by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group and appears to show the beheaded corpses of two Ukrainian soldiers lying on the ground next to a destroyed military vehicle.

In the video, a voice can be heard, behind the camera, the sound seemingly distorted to prevent the speaker’s identification.

“(The armoured vehicle) got f**ked by a mine,” the voice, speaking Russian, says. 

Apparently referring to the bodies on the ground, the voice, laughing, continues, “They killed them. Someone came up to them. They came up to them and cut their heads off.” 

The dead soldiers also appear to have had their hands cut off. 

Russian social media accounts say the video was shot near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which has been the scene of the war’s fiercest fighting for many months, with Wagner fighters heavily involved. CNN is unable to independently confirm the video’s location.

The second video, which was posted on Twitter and is heavily blurred, looks to have been filmed during the summer because of the amount of plant life on the ground. It purports to show a Russian fighter using a knife to cut off the head of a Ukrainian soldier. A voice at the beginning of the video suggests the victim might have still been alive when the attack began.

Shortly after the videos emerged, Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, tweeted: “There will be an accountability for everything.”

Read more here.

The highly classified leaked Pentagon documents posted to social media offer a pessimistic US view of the war's progress in Ukraine.

The documents highlight flaws in Ukraine's weaponry and air defenses and predict a stalemate in the war for months to come.

The documents, which appear to date from February and March, detail many of Ukraine's perceived military shortfalls as Kyiv prepares for a spring counteroffensive against Russia. 

Several of the classified documents warn Ukraine's medium-range air defenses to protect front-line troops will be "completely reduced by May 23," suggesting Russia could soon have aerial superiority and Ukraine could lose the ability to amass ground forces in a counteroffensive. 

The documents also underscore lingering problems with Russia's own military offensive, predicting that the result will be a stalemate between the two sides for the foreseeable future.

Officials familiar with the situation tell CNN the documents appear to be part of a daily intelligence briefing deck prepared for the Pentagon's senior leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. 

The leaking of the documents — many of which are marked top secret — represents a major national security breach, and the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into who may have leaked them while the Pentagon is investigating how the leak impacts US national security.

In addition to the assessment of the Ukraine war, the documents include intelligence gathered on allies and adversaries alike.

Here are the latest headlines:

Russia successfully conducted a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Tuesday, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. 

The launch from the Kapustin Yar test range in the Astrakhan region was part of testing on next-generation ICBM combat equipment, the Defense Ministry reports. 

"On April 11, 2023, a Strategic Missile Forces combat crew conducted a successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Kapustin Yar state central joint forces test range in the Astrakhan region," the statement said.

The launch helped confirm the correctness of schematic and structural and technical solutions used in developing new strategic missile systems, the Defense Ministry said. The missile's test warhead hit the target at the Sary Shagan firing range (Republic of Kazakhstan) with the target accuracy, according to the statement.

Back in February, Russia carried out a test of an ICBM that appears to have failed around the time President Joe Biden was in Ukraine, according to two US officials familiar with the matter.

CNN's Oren Liebermann and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia’s failure to grant consular access to wrongfully detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich “puts it, once again, in violation of international commitments it’s made."

“I think it sends a very strong message to people around the world to beware of even setting foot there, lest they be arbitrarily detained,” he said.

Blinken noted that he had designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained Monday, and reiterated that he called on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to immediately grant consular access and release the detained journalist.

Blinken did say what measures are being taken to free Gershkovich, only saying that the US is “engaged every single day in pressing for that access as well as pressing for Evan’s release.”