April 18, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Russia is "going backwards" with the equipment it is using in Ukraine, Western officials said, explaining they’ve seen Moscow deploy tanks originally built after World War II while it struggles to replenish stocks of lost armored vehicles. 

Officials said during a briefing on Tuesday they hadn't seen "a large uptick in increasing equipment."

"If anything, the equipment they [the Russians] are using is older generation," they said, adding Moscow had been increasingly relying on older models of tanks in the war. 

"They started with the T-80 and T-90 [tanks], went down to T-72, and indeed, we saw the first T-55s rolled out of the refurbishment to be put into battle and the same picture across artillery pieces as well," the officials said.

The T-90 was first introduced in 1992, the T-80 in 1976, while the T-72 came into service in 1972 and the T-55 after World War II in 1948.

The officials also said Russia was still struggling with manpower, explaining that despite being able to muster large numbers of personnel, Moscow was still not providing them with adequate training. 

“We've seen two quite relatively small training cycles go through Belarus, but out of a force of 150,000 which they claimed were mobilized, we've probably seen maybe 15,000 which have gone for any kind of company level training,” the officials said. “That's where we see the Russian force at the moment; it’s been degraded from the force that originally went into Ukraine.”

Switzerland "cannot be asked to break our own laws," the country's president Alain Berset said when discussing whether Swiss weapons could be re-exported to Ukraine.

Berset addressed the issue of neutrality at a joint press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Berset said that, while discussions are ongoing regarding whether the country "should, must or could develop" its stance on re-exporting weapons to Ukraine, it is currently out of the question, with Swiss law "clear on that."

Key background: Switzerland has been a neutral country since 1815, with its legal framework ensuring it does not send weapons directly or indirectly to belligerent states. Since Russia’s war on Ukraine began, the country has faced increasing pressure from its European neighbors to approve the re-exportation of weapons to Ukraine.

Switzerland did, however, break its neutrality status quo shortly after the war began by adopting European Union sanctions in March 2022. Berset said Switzerland is taking the implementation of these sanctions seriously and is "doing everything that can be done in order to enforce them."

The US intelligence documents leaked over the past few weeks have had no visible impact on the battlefield in Ukraine, Western officials say.

“We haven't seen any change in the battlefield,” the officials told CNN during a briefing on Tuesday.

The officials declined to comment on the content of the leaked documents. 

What's in the documents: Several of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, disclose the extent of US eavesdropping on Ukraine among other key allies. Others divulge significant weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry, air defense, and battalion sizes and readiness at a critical point in the war, as Ukrainian forces prepare to launch a counteroffensive against the Russian. Ukraine has already altered some of its military plans because of the leak, a source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline town of Avdiivka, which is surrounded on three sides by Russian forces, according to the president’s office.

Zelensky's office said that he listened to the report of the commander of the Donetsk operational-tactical group and talked with the servicemen of the Marines, airborne assault, mechanized and artillery units.

According to his office, Zelensky told the soldiers:

Zelensky handed out military awards and, in turn, was presented with insignia from the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade.

Zelensky also visited a hospital in the Donetsk region where Ukrainian soldiers are being treated and awarded medals to the injured troops.

Current status of Avdiivka: The town has seen intense fighting for months and is largely destroyed, although about 1,800 civilians still remain despite efforts to persuade them to leave.

There are no safe routes out of the town, but Ukrainian forces still control the routes to the west.

The town is under fire almost daily by Russian artillery, but Ukrainian defenses have largely held, despite marginal Russian advances to the north.

The legal team for jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich says it offered bail amounting to about US $613,000 to the court to release the reporter from detention. The court denied bail. 

When his decision was being read out in court, Gershkovich told the judge that he did not need the decision translated into English, “No no, I don’t need translation.”

Gershkovich is a bilingual Russian-English speaker.

The Moscow City Court also published an official statement on the decision.

“On April 18, 2023, the Moscow City Court upheld the decision of the Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow dated March 30, 2023 against Evan Gershkovich, who is suspected of committing a crime under Art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” it said.

After a Moscow City Court decided to uphold the terms of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's detention, US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy called the charges "baseless" and urged Russia to "immediately release him.”

Tracy also said that she visited Gershkovich in prison yesterday and that he remains strong and is in good health.

Gershkovich was detained in late March and formally charged with espionage. The US State Department has officially designated him as wrongfully detained by Russia.

The Moscow City Court has decided to uphold the terms of the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

The US citizen appeared at the hearing on Tuesday to appeal the terms of his detention.

Gershkovich asked that his pre-trial detention be under house arrest rather than in jail.

"On April 18, 2023, the Moscow City Court upheld the decision of the Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow dated March 30, 2023 against Evan Gershkovich, who is suspected of committing a crime under Art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation," according to an official statement from the court.

US ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy said she spoke to Gershkovich on Monday, and he remains strong and is in good health.

“The charges against Evan are baseless, and we call on the Russian Federation to immediately release him,” she said, speaking after the court made its ruling on Tuesday.

Lawyer for Gershkovich plans further appeal: Tatyana Nozkhkina, a lawyer for Gershkovich, told journalists outside the court that his team would continue to appeal.

The next hearing is scheduled for the end of May, Nozkhina said, when the court will decide whether to extend his detention.

Nozkhina said that Gershkovich is keeping in good spirits and reading Russian classic novels, as well as watching cooking shows on TV and exercising.

“He does not complain,” she said.

Jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has appeared in court to appeal the terms of his detention in Russia.

Elsewhere, four Ukrainian civilians have been killed by Russian strikes in the past day, with almost 30 others injured.

Here are the latest headlines:

Four civilians have been killed and nearly 30 injured in the latest Russian artillery and missile attacks across the front lines in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.

Kherson regional military administration said that one person was killed in Russian shelling of Kherson city center Tuesday, and nine were injured.

The city is frequently shelled by Russian forces based on the east bank of the Dnipro river.

Sloviansk, where 15 people were killed in a missile strike last Friday, again came under fire.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk regional military administration said the Russians had used S-300 missiles and drones, damaging a number of buildings but causing no casualties.

Fighting continues around Avdiivka, Kyrylenko said, and one person had been wounded in Siversk, north of Bakhmut, which has been frequently bombarded as the Russians try to make further westward advances in Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian military said the Russians used attack aircraft in the Avdiivka area, which has become one of several hotspots along the frontline.

It listed nearly 20 settlements which it claimed had come under fire in that part of the front.

It said a similar number of places had been hit by Russian fire along front lines further south – in Zaporizhzhia, where the Russians “continue to conduct defensive actions.”

The Zaporizhzhia regional military administration said most of the strikes were by artillery fire, but said there had also been two air strikes.

Anatolii Kurtev, secretary of Zaporizhzhia city council, said the “contact line” was unchanged.