Ukraine war live updates: Pentagon leak suspect, 21, to appear in court; Ukraine making withdrawals in Bakhmut, UK says

Ukraine has retrieved the bodies of 82 of its soldiers from its Russia-occupied territories, the Ukrainian Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories said on Telegram on Friday.

Russia and Ukraine have carried out exchanges of prisoners of war over the course of the 14-month-long conflict. It was not immediately clear if the latest retrieval of Ukraine’s fallen was the result of such a swap.

“It should be noted that the transfer of the bodies of the fallen defenders is carried out in accordance with the norms of the Geneva Convention,” the ministry said, according to a Google translation.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu will visit Russia from April 16-19 for talks with military leaders at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, the Chinese Defense Ministry said Friday.

Russia and China have tightened their military cooperation in recent years, conducting joint drills and exercises.

The meeting comes as Ukraine’s Western allies have boosted their calls for China to exert its influence on Russia in its conflict with Kyiv. Beijing submitted a 12-point peace plan on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but it has yet to gain traction.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russian revenues from oil exports recovered by $1 billion on the month to $12.7 billion in March, but fell 43% year on year, the International Energy Agency found in the latest issue of its monthly Oil Market Report.

The agency assessed that Russian oil exports last month hit their highest since April 2020, with total oil shipments rising by 600,000 barrels per day to 8.1 million barrels per day.

Russia, whose economy relies heavily on hydrocarbon revenues, suffered twin blows after losing the EU buyer base of its seaborne crude oil and oil product exports in December and February, respectively.

A Group of Seven initiative allows nations outside of the G-7 alliance access to western insurance and financing to continue purchases of Russian oil and oil products, provided they are acquired under a pre-determined price cap.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The European Union announced sanctions on Wagner Group, the Russian private military contractor — often called a mercenary group — known for its brutality and more recently for its significant role in Russian combat operations in Ukraine, particularly in Bakhmut.

Wagner already features on an EU sanctions list for what the bloc describes as violating human rights and “destabilizing” countries in Africa.

The addition of Wagner to the latest list “completes” the previous sanctions listing, the European Council said in a statement. This inclusion was “for actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine” and “actively participating in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” it said.

Wagner’s double listing “underscores the international dimension and gravity of the group’s activities, as well as its destabilizing impact on the countries where it is active,” the council added.

— Natasha Turak

Ukrainian forces have made “orderly withdrawals” from positions they have conceded in the eastern city of Bakhmut under heavy Russian bombardment, Britain’s Ministry of Defense wrote in its daily intelligence update.

“Russia has re-energised its assault on the Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut as forces of the Russian MoD and Wagner Group have improved co-operation,” the ministry wrote in its update on Twitter.

“The Ukrainian defence still holds the western districts of the town but has been subjected to particularly intense Russian artillery fire over the previous 48 hours,” it said, adding that Russia’s Wagner group has been leading the main advance through the center of the city.

“Ukrainian forces face significant resupply issues but have made orderly withdrawals from the positions they have been forced to concede.”

Ukraine has for months refused to give up on its defense of Bakhmut, despite both sides suffering heavy casualties and the city being entirely destroyed. Kyiv said conceding Bakhmut would give Russia a major access route to much more of eastern Ukraine.

— Natasha Turak

Twenty-one-year old Jack Teixeira, a cyber transport systems journeyman for the Massachusetts Air National Guard, will appear in a Massachusetts court Friday as the prime suspect in the leak of highly classified Pentagon documents, the United States’ largest security breach in more than a decade.

The U.S. Department of Justice carried out Teixeira’s arrest at his home in a small town roughly an hour outside of Boston on Thursday.

The arrest was made “in connection with an investigation into an alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The leak of classified materials was a “deliberate, criminal act,” Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder said, adding that the Pentagon was reviewing and restricting access to sensitive information among its ranks.

— Natasha Turak

The Pentagon provided a military service record of the suspect behind the leak of highly-classified U.S. intelligence documents.

Jack Douglas Teixeira is a current member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard and was stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base, according to the service record obtained by NBC News.

Teixeira holds the rank of Airman 1st Class and entered service on September 26, 2019. His latest job title, according to the service record, is cyber transport systems journeyman.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a press conference that the FBI took Teixeira into custody and that the 21-year-old will have an initial appearance at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The classified Pentagon documents that were leaked online revealed details of U.S. intelligence on Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, among other national security matters.

— Amanda Macias

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency reiterated calls for relevant parties to establish a security perimeter around Ukraine’s embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

“We are living on borrowed time when it comes to nuclear safety and security at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Unless we take action to protect the plant, our luck will sooner or later run out, with potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment,” IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said in a statement.

Grossi said that IAEA experts present at the facility continue to regularly hear shelling in the area. He added that the experts also reported that two landmine explosions occurred near the nuclear power plant earlier this month.

Russian forces seized Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, in the days following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias