Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia on spying charges, has been awarded the US National Press Club‘s highest press freedom honour as the Washington Post runs an advertisement calling for his release.
Gershkovich, 31, was arrested on Thursday in Ekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city. He is the first US correspondent since the cold war to be detained on espionage accusations. The Journal has denied the charges.
The National Press Club named Gershkovich its John Aubochon Honoree for 2023. In a statement, the organisation called for his release.
Journalist Evan Gershkovich has been dedicated and courageous while reporting from Russia during a period of dramatically increased danger for journalists. In an environment filled with risks, he has consistently delivered honest, bold and enlightening news coverage. Evan’s journalism is the cause of his unjust detention by Russian security forces. Journalism is not a crime and Evan should not be jailed for his profession – he should be honoured for it. We call for Evan to be released immediately and without conditions.”
News of the award came as the Washington Post ran an ad calling for Gershkovich’s release:
Ukraine has repaired, and in some cases rebuilt, many of the sites destroyed by Russian attacks, including bridges, roads and government buildings. It is only the beginning of what Kyiv has described as the largest reconstruction effort since the second world war and perhaps the most expensive in history, with an estimated cost of half a trillion dollars.
Here is that effort – in pictures:
Russia appears to have made important gains in Bakhmut, the British defence ministry says.
The UK Ministry of Defence says in its daily update that Russian forces have “highly likely advanced into the [Bakhmut] ]town centre, and has seized the West Bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened.”
It adds that, “There is realistic possibility that, locally, Wagner and Russian MoD commanders have paused their ongoing feud and improved co-operation.”
More now in the leaked Nato files.
Information in the documents also details expenditure rates for munitions under Ukraine military control, including for the Himars rocket systems, the US-made artillery rocket systems that have proven highly effective against Russian forces.
The New York Times report quotes military analysts who warn that some documents appear to have been altered in a disinformation campaign by Russia. In one document Ukrainian troop deaths are inflated and Russian battlefield losses are minimised.
French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Guangzhou in southern China today to meet students on Friday, taking with him a broad delegation of top politicians, business leaders and even celebrities, including composer Jean-Michel Jarre.
On Thursday Macron called on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping Thursday to “bring Russia to its senses” over Ukraine and urged him not to deliver weapons to Moscow.
The French president, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, has made clear he is seeking to dissuade China from supporting Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
“I know I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses and everyone to the negotiating table,” Macron told Xi during a bilateral meeting.
In remarks to the press after their meeting, Xi said he “stood ready to issue a joint call with France” for the resumption of “peace talks as soon as possible”, according to Chinese state media Xinhua.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who is accompanying Macron on his visit, welcomed Xi’s openness to speaking with Zelensky.
She said that in her own meeting Thursday with Chinese leaders, she warned that arms shipments to Russia would “significantly harm” relations.
“As a member of the UN security council, there is a big responsibility and we expect that China will play its role and promote a just peace, one that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, one of the cornerstones of the UN charter,” Von der Leyen said.
The Pentagon is investigating a reported security breach that saw documents that provide details of US and Nato plans to help prepare Ukraine for a spring offensive against Russia have leaked to social media platforms, the New York Times reports.
“We are aware of the reports of social media posts, and the Department is reviewing the matter,” Deputy Press Secretary of the US Department of Defence Sabrina Singh said.
The documents were spread on Twitter and Telegram, and reportedly contain charts and details about weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and other sensitive information, the Times said.
Information in the documents is at least five weeks old, with the most recent dated 1 March, the report said.
One of the documents summarized the training schedules of 12 Ukraine combat brigades, and said nine of them were being trained by US and Nato forces, and needed 250 tanks and more than 350 mechanized vehicles, the newspaper said.
The documents – at least one of which carried a “top secret” label – were circulated on pro-Russian government channels, it said.
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.
Our top story this morning:
The Pentagon is investigating a reported security breach that saw documents that provide details of US and Nato plans to help prepare Ukraine for a spring offensive against Russia have leaked to social media platforms, the New York Times reports.
And European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and French president Emmanuel Macron are in China for the final day of their three-day visit.
Here are the other key recent developments:
China’s president Xi Jinping expressed willingness to speak to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the head of the European Commission said, after French president Macron urged Beijing to talk sense to Russia over the war in Ukraine. Xi, who has sought to position China as a potential mediator in the conflict but is seen by the West as favouring Russia, responded by saying he hoped Moscow and Kyiv could hold peace negotiations as soon as possible.
However, an adviser to Russian president Putin rated the chances of peace talks starting this year at “zero” and a top Ukrainian official ruled out talks with Moscow about territory until it withdraws all troops, pushing back on a colleague who had touted the idea of negotiations to resolve the Russian occupation of the Crimean peninsula.
Earlier, an advisor to Zelenskiy had suggested Ukraine may be willing to discuss the future of Crimea with Moscow if its forces reach the border of the Russian-occupied peninsula. Andriy Sybiha, the deputy head of the president’s office, expressed Kyiv’s interest in negotiations should Ukrainian forces reach the region’s administrative border as a result of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive many expect will begin in the coming months.
But Mykhailo Podolyak, another senior adviser to Zelenskiy, ruled out peace talks until Russian forces have left all of Ukraine, including the Russian-occupied Crimea. Posting to Twitter on Thursday, Podolyak said there was “no question of any territorial concessions or bargaining of our sovereign rights”. Crimea has been under Russian occupation since February 2014 and was illegally annexed by Moscow the following month after a sham referendum.
Putin held talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in Moscow to discuss expanding economic cooperation and bolstering defence ties between the two countries. The talks held at the Kremlin on Thursday involved senior Russian and Belarusian officials and followed the leaders’ one-on-one meeting on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the pair did not discuss the placement of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.
The Kremlin has said Russia is taking steps to “ensure our safety” and defended its decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Finland formally became Nato’s 31st member on Tuesday, doubling the length of the transatlantic defensive alliance’s land border with Russia. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would keep an eye on any Nato military deployments to Finland and respond accordingly.
The head of Russia’s private Wagner militia group has said there are no signs of Ukrainian forces leaving Bakhmut, and that fighting continues to rage on in the western part of Ukraine’s eastern city. In a Telegram post, Prigozhin, who has been critical of Russia’s military top brass, made clear he was not satisfied with the support he was receiving from the country’s mainstream forces.
A Russian girl sent to an orphanage after drawing an anti-war sketch at school has been taken from the facility by her mother, the Kremlin children’s rights commissioner has said. In a case that drew international outrage, the father of 13-year-old Maria Moskalyova was convicted of discrediting the Russian military and handed a two-year prison term, and his daughter was sent to the orphanage.
A Moscow court will consider an appeal by lawyers for Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal correspondent arrested on espionage charges in Russia, to lift his pre-trial detention. The hearing on 18 April will be held behind closed doors since Russia considers information related to the charges as classified, the Interfax news agency reported, citing the court’s press service. Russia’s refusal to give consular access to detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is “inexcusable,” the White House said.
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