Ukraine is considering a multi-pronged offensive and a failed counter-offensive
10:25 am | The Ukrainian counteroffensive to recapture Russian-held territories could easily turn into a multi-pronged attack. This prediction is made by several officials and experts.
Oleksii Danilov, chief security adviser to Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky, indicates that “an entire country” can be liberated. “So we are not attacking on one front, not on two, not on three and not on four. But everywhere.’
Anti-aircraft fire in Crimea engaged
10:12 am | Sergei Aksyonov, who has been appointed leader of Crimea by the Russians, said anti-aircraft systems in Crimea were activated but caused no damage or deaths. “I want to ask everyone to keep calm and only believe the trusted media,” he added. It is not known what the objectives were or where the military activity took place.
Wagner’s boss ‘doubts’ responsibility for Russian war
10:09 am | Moscow is finding it increasingly difficult to justify the war in Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry reports in its daily intelligence update. Especially since the head of the Wagner Group mercenary army Yevgeny Prigozhin has doubts about the comparison with the Second World War that the Russians are making.
Russians want to arrest Bulgarian investigative journalist
10:06 am | A Moscow court has issued an arrest warrant for Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev, considered by Russians to be a “foreign agent”, state media RIA reports.
Grozev is the top Russian journalist of the Bellingcat investigative collective and played a key role in the investigation into the poisoning of Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. He has also written extensively on the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Currently, Grozev is not in Russia. Also because he was already wanted in 2022, because he allegedly helped Ukraine with intelligence.
NYT: Suspect leaked military intelligence early in war
10:03 am | The 21-year-old man suspected of leaking secret military documents may have started doing so at the start of the war in Ukraine. The New York Times writes that Jack Teixeira not only shared information online longer than previously thought, but that he also did so in a second larger chat group.
The newspaper notes that a profile matching Jack Teixeira’s shared secret information on the Discord messaging service as early as February 2022. The group to which he sent the documents had about 600 members. They saw information about, among other things, the number of deaths in Ukraine, spy agencies in Moscow and the nature of the aid that had been offered to Ukraine. In the messages, the sender claims that the documents are from the NSA, CIA and other intelligence agencies.
Teixeira, who worked as a technical specialist in the US Air Force, was arrested last week and charged with leaking classified military documents. The allegation involves sharing that information in a Discord group consisting of fifty members. According to the New York Times, it’s unclear whether authorities are aware that he shared documents even in the largest group.