April 15, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. You can read more on Russia’s war in Ukraine here, or scroll through the updates below.

The fight grinds on this week for the eastern city of Bakhmut, which has seen some of the most brutal fighting in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russian and Wagner mercenary forces are trying to inch closer to the city center. Both sides claim the other has suffered huge losses.

Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, at least 11 people were killed and 22 wounded in Russian strikes that pounded the city of Sloviansk on Friday, Ukrainian officials said.

While each military has made only incremental gains in most frontline territories over the past few weeks, Ukraine appears to be readying a spring counteroffensive.

This map shows where things currently stand in the conflict:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron held an hour-and-a-half phone conversation Saturday, according to a post on Zelensky’s Telegram account.   

Zelensky said “the results of President Macron’s recent visit to China were discussed,” and that he “praised France’s intention to further strengthen important support for Ukraine on the battlefield.”

Macron has said he told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping earlier in the month that he was counting on him to “reason” with Russia and help end the war in Ukraine.

Key context: China has claimed neutrality in the conflict and attempted to frame itself as an agent of peace. But it has refused to condemn the Russian invasion and continued to tighten its economic and diplomatic ties with the Kremlin over the past year – including a state visit from Xi to Moscow last month.

Ukrainian Orthodox priests attend Good Friday service at Saint Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv on April 14.

Authorities will bolster security measures across the country as Ukrainians prepare to celebrate another Orthodox Easter while fighting Russia’s war. 

Residents are discouraged from attending church services late at night this weekend, and many cemeteries will remain closed due to the danger of unexploded mines and Russian shelling.

Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Palm Sunday and Easter one week after many Christians in the US and other Western countries observe the holiday.

Ukrainian officials have warned in the past that Russian attacks may increase around specific dates, holidays or events. Oleksiy Biloshytskyi, a national law enforcement official, said police will use special monitoring centers to look out for any signs of attacks.

In the capital Kyiv, residents will be able to attend late evening church services despite a curfew, but they must arrive at church before the curfew takes effect, the head of the Kyiv city military administration, Serhii Popko, said Thursday in a Telegram post.

Popko said churchgoers and clergy should research the nearest shelter to their congregation and be prepared to flee to safety if an air raid alarm sounds.

The curfew hours in Kyiv last from midnight to 5 a.m. local time (10 p.m. ET), as is the case for most of the country.

A missile crater at a cemetery in Shevchenkove village of Mykolaiv Oblast is pictured February 26.

In the broader Kyiv region, residents will only be able to attend church services when the curfew is not in effect, and only a limited number of people will be allowed on the grounds of churches and cemeteries due to security reasons, the Kyiv region’s military administration said Monday. 

Many churches will broadcast services online, it added.

In northeastern Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest city, officials will close a number of cemeteries.

Authorities warned that one of the cemeteries, the Slobozhanskyi memorial complex, has not been fully cleared of explosive mines.

Other city cemeteries will be closed on Easter “to avoid provocations by the enemy and to protect citizens from unpredictable missile attacks,” the city council said.

In the southern city of Kherson, residents won’t be able to visit cemeteries or attend church services during curfew hours, the city council said Tuesday.

It said the ban on cemeteries was due to mine danger.

Rescue workers search a building in Sloviansk, Ukraine, on April 15.

Tatiana’s eyes were fixed on rescue workers digging through the jumble of rubble on what was once the top floor of an apartment building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk.

Friday afternoon, several Russian S-300 missiles slammed into her community, with an eighth hitting the nearby town of Kramatorsk. Eleven people were killed, including a toddler, and more than 20 people were wounded, local authorities said. 

The father and son were part of a family that had fled Sloviansk early in the war. Like many others, they recently returned after Russian forces were driven back in last autumn’s Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The missile made a direct hit on the building, throwing debris all over the surrounding area. 

Military officials and firefighters rescue people following a rocket attack in Sloviansk, Ukraine, on April 14.

Sloviansk mayor Vadym Liakh announced Saturday that a free train service would begin Tuesday, offering citizens the chance to move to safer areas in the Donetsk region, as well as accommodation, meals and social benefits. In a statement posted on his Facebook page, the mayor noted the town’s current population is 50,000 — up from 20,000 last summer.

Elsewhere, in another part of Sloviansk, a deep crater marked a missile impact point in the middle of a children’s playground. The hit had thrown dark, rich soil into the seats of a swing.

Friday had been rainy and cold, and the playground was empty when the missile struck.

Firefighters work at the site of a burning residential building after shelling in Sloviansk, Ukraine, on April 14.

At least 11 people have died and 22 more are wounded after Friday’s strikes on residential buildings in the eastern city of Sloviansk, according to an update from the State Emergency Services.

The Ukrainian agency said four more people may still be trapped under the rubble Saturday.

“A total of 75 tonnes of rubble have been dismantled at the site,” the service’s report said.

At least eight explosions rocked the city Friday afternoon local time, as Russian forces targeted it with S-300 rockets, according to Sloviansk Mayor Vadym Liakh. The strikes hit apartment buildings, houses, administrative buildings and a schoolyard.

A 2-year-old boy was among those killed in the assault.

View footage from a CNN team on the ground in Sloviansk:

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01:16 • Source: CNN

People stand around a partially destroyed residential building in Sloviansk, Ukraine, on April 14.

A 2-year-old boy was killed in Russian strikes on residential buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, according to Vadym Liakh, the city’s mayor.

At least eight other people were killed in the strikes, officials said in an earlier update. Liakh said 33 multi-story buildings, 33 private houses and several other administrative buildings had been damaged, as well as a schoolyard.

Liakh said there were eight explosions in the city around 4 p.m. local time Friday (9 a.m. Friday ET), which were hit by S-300 rockets in almost all districts of the city.

Rescue operations continue Saturday, according to the mayor.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said recent US intelligence leaks, which included sensitive information about the war in Ukraine, have not affected cooperation with allies and security partnerships.

Blinken commented on the leaks Saturday during a trip to Vietnam.

“What I have heard so far, at least, is an appreciation for steps we are taking, and it has not affected our cooperation,” Blinken told reporters.

Some context: On Thursday, the FBI arrested 21-year-old Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira in connection with the damaging leak of US classified documents.

He was charged on Friday with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information, as well as unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials.

CNN has reviewed some of the documents, which reveal sensitive information about key weaknesses in Ukraine’s defenses, the extent to which the US has penetrated the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group, and the extent to which the US has been spying on foes and allies, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

A source close to Zelensky told CNN that some of Ukraine’s military plans have already been altered due the leak.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a news conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 15.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that consular access has not yet been granted to Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained in late March, when asked by a reporter to comment during a presser in Vietnam.

“On Gershkovich, I don’t have anything new to share. We continue to seek consular access that has not yet been granted. It needs to be. This is a Russian obligation,” Blinken said.

On Monday, Blinken determined that Gershkovich was “wrongfully detained,” and the reporter’s case is now being handled by the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

This decision empowers the Biden administration to explore avenues such as a prisoner swap to try to secure the journalist’s release.

Brazilian President Lula is seen at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that the United States should “stop encouraging” the war in Ukraine.

“The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace; the European Union needs to start talking about peace so that we can convince Putin and Zelensky that peace is in the interest of everyone and that war is only interesting, for now, to the two of them,” Lula told reporters in Beijing.

Lula also revealed that during his talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, he also discussed the idea of forming a group of leaders “willing to find a way to make peace.”

“I have a theory that I have already defended with (French President Emmanuel) Macron, with Olaf Scholz of Germany, and with Biden, and yesterday, we discussed at length with Xi Jinping. It is necessary to constitute a group of countries willing to find a way to make peace,” Lula said.

Some context: The White House has so far been skeptical of China’s attempt at to play peacemaker between Russia and Ukraine, and has focused its efforts on supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the war.

Early in March, the US announced a new security assistance package for Ukraine worth up to $400 million. Later that month, it announced an additional $350 million in security aid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law to change the annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in eastern Ukraine to the Moscow time, according to the decree published on the state government portal on Friday. 

Unofficially, the regions have been operating on Moscow time since the annexation, though Russia does not fully control the territories, and his country’s claim to the regions is rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies as illegal under international law. 

According to the adopted law, these four regions are now included in the second time zone (Moscow time, UTC + 3), switching from Kyiv time UTC + 2 (one hour less than in Moscow) in winter and UTC + 3 in summer.

In September, Putin declared that people living in the occupied regions of “Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens. Forever.”

This was announced in a ceremony to assimilate the regions, which make up 18% of Ukraine, following referendums denounced by Western institutions as illegal. In the referendums, pro-Russian officials in the controlled areas voted on whether the territories should join Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an event in Moscow, on April 12.

A new conscription law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to make draft dodging harder is “highly likely part of a longer-term approach to provide personnel” in the war in Ukraine, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.

Adopted by the Russian State Duma, the law establishes an electronic registry of individuals eligible for military service.

This will allow military call-up papers to be delivered electronically rather than just by letters that are only considered delivered after being physically presented and signed for.

In a statement posted on Twitter, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said: “With individuals’ call-up data now digitally linked to other state-provided online services, it is likely that the authorities will punish draft-dodgers by automatically limiting employment rights and restricting foreign travel.”

Those who ignore the electronic summons face being prevented from getting a loan, moving into a new apartment, registering as self-employed and driving.

“The measures are reported to be coming into force later in the year; they do not specifically indicate any major new wave of enforced mobilisation,” the statement continued.

“Russia is, for now, prioritising a drive to recruit extra volunteer troops. However, the measure is highly likely part of a longer-term approach to provide personnel as Russia anticipates a lengthy conflict in Ukraine,” it added.

Some context: Men are routinely conscripted for military service in Russia twice a year, in spring and autumn. This spring, between April 1 to July 15, around 147,000 citizens between the ages of 18 and 27 are eligible for conscription by Russia’s Defense Ministry.

In September, Putin ordered a “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens to aid fighting in Ukraine. This led to traffic jams at land border crossings into several countries as many Russians attempted to flee to avoid being drafted.

Firefighters work at a site of a Russian military strike in Sloviansk on Friday.

Russian strikes in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk are now known to have killed at least nine people, including a small boy, Ukrainian officials say.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk region military administration, visited the area at the epicenter of the strikes and said that seven multi-apartment buildings had been hit with Russian missiles.

After the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his official Telegram on Friday: “The evil state once again demonstrates its essence. Just killing people in broad daylight. Ruining, destroying all life.”

He added that “we will not leave any enemy unpunished.”

Sloviansk is in the Donetsk region, not far from the frontline city of Bakhmut. It has seen frequent attacks but this is one of the worst since the start of the year.

Vladimir Putin is seen during a military parade in Saint Petersburg on July, 31 2022.

President Vladimir Putin signed a law Friday creating an electronic conscription registry that aims to make draft dodging harder in Russia.

The new system will deliver military call-up papers to a state government portal called GosUslugi. Once the summons appears in the portal, it will be considered delivered.

Previously, draft letters were only considered valid when physically presented and signed for.

The law also allows for any draftee ignoring an online summons to be legally declared a fugitive after a week, banned from leaving Russia and have their assets frozen.

During Russia’s partial mobilization last September, men dodged the draft by leaving their registered addresses, not signing for draft letters and warning their family and coworkers from doing the same for them.

Fears of a new draft: When the Russian parliament approved the law making the country’s conscription program more efficient and harder to evade on Wednesday, it spurred fears that more citizens may soon be mobilized to fight in Ukraine.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, characterized the law as an unremarkable streamlining of Russia’s biannual conscription process.

But CNN spoke to a number of Russians who dismiss the Kremlin’s reassurances, and say the move lays the groundwork for another attempt to force Russians onto the battlefields in Ukraine.

“This may well be an attempt to avoid the full-scale manhunt they employed before, which caused so much panic,” said a 25-year-old Russian named Artem. He dodged the September mobilization despite receiving a call-up.

You can read more here.

An undated picture shows Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard.

The suspect in the leak of classified US intelligence documents posted on social media was formally charged Friday during his first appearance in federal court in Boston.

The FBI arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Thursday in North Dighton, Massachusetts.

He faces two charges:

An affidavit revealed new details about Teixeira’s case, including that investigators suspect him of leaking information as early as December 2022. A member of his online chat group told the FBI Teixeira was scared to copy documents at work so he took them home to photograph, according to the court documents.

The affidavit also revealed a US government agency’s claim that Teixeira used his government computer to search for the word “leak” in classified intelligence reporting, and that he used his real home address to register for the social media platform where he allegedly shared the classified documents.

Why it matters for the war in Ukraine: Some of the leaked documents divulged key weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry, air defense, and battalion sizes and readiness at a critical point in the war just as the US and Ukraine have begun to develop a more mutually trusting relationship over intelligence-sharing.

One document reveals that the US has been spying on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That is unsurprising, said a source close to Zelensky, but Ukrainian officials are deeply frustrated about the leak.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Friday declined to say if he had discussed the mass leak of classified documents in meetings with US officials in Washington this week –but emphasized that the two countries are united.

Firefighters work at a site of a Russian military strike in Sloviansk on Friday.

A Russian attack on an eastern Ukrainian city left at least eight people dead Friday as the missiles hit residential areas and “ordinary civilian buildings,” according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The man accused of leaking classified US intelligence documents was formally charged in Boston. Meantime, Ukraine’s prime minister declined to say anything about the documents as he met with US officials in Washington, DC, but emphasized the countries are united.

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