April 18, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The US has sensitive nuclear technology at a nuclear power plant inside Ukraine, and is warning Russia not to touch it, according to a letter the US Department of Energy sent to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom last month.

In the letter, which was reviewed by CNN and is dated March 17, 2023, the director of the Energy Department’s Office of Nonproliferation Policy, Andrea Ferkile, tells Rosatom’s director general that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine “contains US-origin nuclear technical data that is export-controlled by the United States Government.” 

Goods, software and technology are subject to US export controls when it is possible for them to be used in a way that undermines US national security interests. 

The Energy Department letter comes as 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. 

While the plant is still physically operated by Ukrainian staff, Rosatom manages it. The Energy Department warned Rosatom in the letter that it is “unlawful” for any Russian citizens or entities to handle the US technology.

CNN has reached out to Rosatom for comment.

It is not clear whether Rosatom has responded to the letter. The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration told CNN in a statement that the letter is authentic.

The letters were first reported by the news outlet RBC Ukraine.

“The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration can confirm that the letter is legitimate,” said Shayela Hassan, the deputy director of public affairs for the National Nuclear Security Administration. 

She added, “The Secretary of Energy has the statutory responsibility for authorizing the transfer of unclassified civilian nuclear technology and assistance to foreign atomic energy activities. DOE does not comment on regulatory activities.” 

Another letter from Ferkile to the Energy Department’s Inspector General, reviewed by CNN and dated October 24, 2022, outlines the technology the US has exported to Ukraine for use in the Zaporizhzhia plant and reiterates that the department has “no record of any current authorization to transfer this technology and technical data to any Russian national or entity.” 

The Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy has been public about the US’ support for the plant, and stated on its website in June 2021 that “the United States helped implement new maintenance procedures and operations at the reactor that should ultimately strengthen energy security” in Ukraine. 

Correction: This post incorrectly described the news outlet which first reported the letters. It was RBC Ukraine.

The UK's top defense official cast doubt on the veracity and impact of the recently leaked US intelligence documents — some of which contain information about the war in Ukraine — going further than US officials have in questioning the contents of the hundreds of pages of classified intelligence that were posted online. 

UK Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace declined to comment on specific subjects in the documents. Speaking to journalists in Washington, DC, he acknowledged that some of the information "might be a bit compromising, might be a bit difficult for a number of nations" but expressed confidence that the leak won't have significant effects.

While members of the US government — from President Joe Biden to his top national security officials — have repeatedly said they are taking the leak seriously, engaging with allies to smooth things over and referring to the Justice Department's ongoing investigation, Wallace was more dismissive and said he wouldn't "be the only one who would look at those reports and see they're not entirely accurate." 

"I know for a fact having read what I've seen in the open source that some of those assertions are untrue," Wallace said on Tuesday.

Aside from a clearly doctored document that changed Russian and Ukrainian casualty numbers, American officials have largely not expressed doubt about the legitimacy of the leaked documents, most of which have "top secret" or "secret" headings.

Wallace is in the US this week for meetings at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.

Remember: Last week, Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old airman with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials in connection to the leak.

The Russian parliament, the State Duma, voted in favor of a bill that would allow life imprisonment for high treason, according to TASS state media.  

Currently, the maximum sentence for high treason in Russia is 20 years in prison. Only Russian citizens or dual citizens can be charged with high treason.

According to the bill, under the article of high treason, Russian citizens — including those with double citizenship — can be sentenced for sharing state secrets with foreign countries, organizations or its representatives; espionage; and providing financial, logistical, advisory, or other assistance in activities against the security of the Russian Federation.

The bill was proposed on April 7, before Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza — a dual Russian-British citizen — was sentenced to 25 years in prison after a Moscow court found him guilty of treason, discrediting the army and participating in the activities of an undesirable organization. Kara-Murza had publicly condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine. 

Next steps: The bill still needs to be approved by the upper house, the Federation Council, of Russia’s parliament before it can be signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The amendments to the bill also toughen the punishment for terrorism charges; for example, under the article on terrorist attacks, the maximum sentence will be increased from 15 to 20 years.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited frontline troops in the hard-hit eastern town of Avdiivka, according to the president's office.

Zelensky was briefed by the commander of the regional operational-tactical group and spoke with the service members.

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

Zelensky's trip to the beleaguered town comes hours after President Vladimir Putin visited troops at a military base in Russian-occupied Kherson, in southern Ukraine.

Here are some photos from Zelensky's trip to the front lines:

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.