Tom Steyer

The lawyer for jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich says he is doing well but is only able to receive letters in Russian due to the prison rules. Tatiana Nozhkina, who was retained by the Wall Street Journal to represent Gershkovich, said all of his letters are “censored,” but he has sent and received letters from family and friends.  Nozhkina told the Russian language channel Current Time TV that she was “constantly in touch with Evan’s mother, we support her as much as we can, we send her regards, as Evan is very worried about her state of health.” She said she could not divulge the specifics of the criminal case as it has to do with state secrets, but reaffirmed that Gershkovich rejects the accusation. Nozhkina said she and her colleague Maria Korchagina, who also represents Gershkovich, visited the journalist in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center with permission from investigators. The lawyers have the opportunity to visit Gershkovich in Lefortovo about once every three weeks, she said. Gershkovich was in quarantine when he was first brought to Lefortovo but has since been placed in a cell with another inmate. She added that Gershkovich reads and writes notes that he plans to turn into a novel or work. He also has a TV in his cell and is granted one hour of walking per day which he uses to exercise. Nozhkina declined to comment on suggestions by some Russian officials that discussions about any prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich could only take place once a verdict was reached. “How soon the verdict will take place will also depend more on the investigating authorities and, in the future, on the court,” she added. The bright flashes near the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday night may have been caused by a NASA space satellite falling to Earth, according to the Kyiv Regional Military Administration. "Around 22:00 on April 19, a bright glow of an aerial object was observed in the sky in Kyiv. According to preliminary information, this phenomenon was the result of a NASA space satellite falling to Earth," the administration said. “To avoid casualties from falling debris, an air alert was declared. The air defense system did not work," added the administration’s head, Serhiі Popko. CNN is reaching out to NASA for comment. The agency previously reported a defunct satellite that observed solar flares would fall to earth late Wednesday, US Eastern Time. The retired Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) spacecraft, was launched in 2002 and was decommissioned in 2018. Air raid alerts went into force Wednesday night across several parts of Ukraine, according to the Kyiv Regional Military Administration. The administration said on Telegram that an “air target was detected in the sky" and that "air defense forces are ready.” A series of flashes and an apparent explosion in the air some distance from the capital can be seen in social media video. Air raid alerts were triggered for Kyiv city and the region, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. The head of the President’s office, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram that Iranian-made Shahed drones had been brought down over Dnipro city. The United States government has gained "vitally important" intelligence about the war in Ukraine from a surveillance law that allows the government to collect foreign communications without a warrant, US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Wednesday. The law, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, enables the US government to obtain intelligence by targeting non-Americans overseas who are using US-based communications services. "When it comes to this conflict and what Russia is doing in Ukraine, it has proved vitally important," Monaco said to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Section 702 "has helped us uncover gruesome atrocities in Ukraine, including the murder of noncombatants, the forced relocation of children from Russian-occupied Ukraine to Russia, and the detention of refugees fleeing violence by Russian personnel." Monaco's comments come amid an ongoing battle over whether to reauthorize the law, which is set to sunset at the end of 2023. The law has previously garnered bipartisan backing, although that support has frayed over the past several years over scrutiny for alleged misuse. The searches are governed by a set of internal rules and procedures designed to protect Americans' privacy and civil liberties, but critics say loopholes allow the program to look through the emails and other communications of American citizens — as opposed to foreign adversaries — without proper justification.  Reauthorization imperative: However, Monaco said losing Section 702 would hamper the department's efforts to hold Russia accountable because the information the department has uncovered from the law "has helped us as a country and as a national security community galvanize accountability efforts regarding Ukraine by allowing us to confidently and accurately speak with the international community about Russian atrocities." Monaco also raised concerns that there are other areas where the Justice Department lacks the resources or the authority to take stronger action against Russia. She emphasized that while the department has "active investigations" into crimes perpetrated in the war and those cases "are moving just as fast as we can possibly move them," the department is hoping to work with Congress to give federal prosecutors criminal jurisdiction over "crimes against humanity" and "expanding the department's authority to prosecute acts of torture committed against US nationals abroad." "We cannot — and we will not — let war criminals escape accountability for the aggression and atrocities they have committed in Ukraine," she added. Monaco also told the Judiciary Committee that the US government is "leaving money on the table" to support Ukraine that the Justice Department has seized from Russian oligarchs. According to Monaco, the department has seized more than half a billion dollars in assets from Russian oligarchs and people who support the Russian government and have evaded US sanctions. But the department is only able to seize and transfer Russian assets that came from certain types of sanctions evasion, Monaco said. That means "millions" of dollars can't be transferred to the Ukrainian government for humanitarian efforts like repairing damage from the war, she said. "We are leaving money on the table if we don't expand our ability to use the forfeited access that we gain from enforcement of our export control violations," Monaco said, adding that the DOJ wants "Congress to give us that authority so we can make the oligarchs pay for rebuilding Ukraine." The Ukrainian military says its units are standing firm in the eastern city of Bakhmut and elsewhere in the Donetsk region amid heavy fighting. Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has welcomed the arrival of more foreign weaponry – amid growing speculation about when and where Ukraine might launch a counter-offensive. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian Land Forces, said Russia “is concentrating the largest number of its forces in Bakhmut and wants to take full control of the city. However, the Defense Forces are holding back the enemy's offensive in dynamic battles, inflicting significant losses on them.” Besides Bakhmut, fighting is heaviest along the Donetsk front in Lyman, Avdiivka and Mariinka, according to the Ukrainian military's General Staff. In the Lyman sector, to the northeast of Bakhmut, the enemy “conducted unsuccessful offensives near the southern outskirts of Kreminna,” the Ukranian military said. And the Russians, it claimed, made no progress in the Avdiivka area, which President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Tuesday. “In the Mariinka sector, our defenders repelled numerous enemy attacks in the areas of Mariinka and Pobieda,” the Ukrainian military said. Further south in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson sectors, it reported Russian shelling of more than 30 settlements. But unlike in Donetsk, Russian forces in these areas are in defensive mode. The Ukrainian military asserted that Russian occupation “authorities” continue to set up military hospitals behind the front lines – the latest being in the Luhansk village of Kabychivka. More US, French and German hardware arrives While Ukrainian units hold their ground, Ukraine continues to receive Western equipment for both offensive and defensive units, including French armored vehicles (AMX-10 RC) and US Patriot missile defense systems. Defense Minister Reznikov said that “building a multi-level air and missile defense system as soon as possible is our priority. This is to protect peaceful cities, critical infrastructure, and our people in the rear and at the front. Patriot systems create a capability that did not exist before — to defeat ballistic targets.” Recently leaked US military documents indicate the Ukrainians were rapidly depleting or had exhausted some categories of anti-air munitions. Reznikov also welcomed another IRIS-T from Germany – a highly effective system for combatting cruise missiles.  But, he said, “We need more platforms of various levels and ammunition for them. We need more man-portable air defense systems.” Reznikov’s deputy — Oleksandr Pavliuk — later confirmed that “Patriot air defense systems from the United States, the Netherlands and Germany arrived to Ukraine.” The United States is pledging an additional $325 million security assistance package to Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Wednesday. The package “includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and artillery rounds, as well as anti-armor systems, small arms, logistics support vehicles, and maintenance support essential to strengthening Ukraine’s defenders on the battlefield," Blinken said in a statement. The aid will help Ukraine defend itself against Russia, he said. "Russia could end its war today. Until Russia does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine for as long as it takes," the statement said. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told US lawmakers Wednesday that his office has registered around 80,000 incidents of potential war crimes, and to date has convicted 31 Russians for war crimes in Ukrainian courts. Kostin told lawmakers in the House Foreign Affairs Committee that his office has also identified 310 potential perpetrators of the crimes, and has “finished cases against 152 potential war criminals." He said some of the cases “are held in absentia because we have identified the perpetrators, we have full set of evidences, but we can't wait if we someday will capture them, but the procedure of cases in absentia is a little bit longer because of procedural limitations.” Kostin urged the international community to share intelligence information to help aid his office’s work in convicting alleged war criminals, noting that they have identified thousands more but they do not have complete evidence to convict those alleged criminals. The Biden administration is set to announce additional security assistance for Ukraine, marking the 36th drawdown of aid amid Russia’s ongoing war.  The package is expected to be announced by the Pentagon and the State Department on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. The security assistance is "part of our ongoing efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's brutal invasion,” Jean-Pierre said.  “The package will include more ammunition for US-provided HIMARS rocket systems and anti-armor systems, as well as additional artillery rounds. The United States will continue to work with our allies and partners to help Ukraine defend itself to defend its democracy and protect its people,” she added.  Jean-Pierre did not say how much the assistance will cost. A 16-year-old Ukrainian was forcibly sent to Russia "for vacation" and was placed with a family who attempted to indoctrinate him with pro-Russian propaganda, a representative for the teen told the US House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee. Last month, the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another top Russian official, Maria Lvova-Belova, for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia. At Wednesday’s hearing, the representative told lawmakers that 16-year-old Roman, who is an orphan, left his school after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and walked 60 kilometers (about 37 miles), all while allegedly being threatened by Russian soldiers along the way. After he reached his destination — a village in Donetsk — Russians occupied that village as well, and Roman was put in a local hospital with other children, the representative said. "At that hospital, he was notified that he will now have a different family," his representative said via a translator. "The occupation authorities ignored the fact and his words that he wanted his brother or sister to be his legal representatives because he had them there." The representative said he was then sent to another hospital in Donetsk, issued a new birth certificate on behalf of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, and then was sent to Russia "for a vacation." Once there, Roman and other Ukrainian children were visited by Lvova-Belova, who told them they would be adopted, which the children protested. They were instead sent to a boarding school, the representative said. "Eventually, they found a new family for Roman," the representative said. "They tried to reshape his mind. … They made him watch propaganda programs on TV." His communication with his peers was restricted, his movements were tracked through his cell phone, and they "forced him to say that he liked his new family and his new life," she said.  "He was forced to obtain a passport of the Russian Federation, but then immediately they took it away from him, saying that they will process papers for adoption," she said. Roman was able to make his way back to Ukraine with the help of volunteers from the country, the representative said. More background: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said there have been 16,000 forced deportations of Ukrainian children, but that number could be higher. The Russian government doesn’t deny taking Ukrainian children and has made their adoption by Russian families a centerpiece of propaganda. According to Lvova-Belova’s office, Ukrainian children have been sent to live in institutions and with foster families in 19 different Russian regions. Moscow battered parts of eastern Ukraine with a fresh round of strikes on Wednesday, in a region that has been the site of some of the most intense fighting since the war began. Catch up on the latest developments in the war: Shelling in Bakhmut: Russia launched 60 air strikes in the past 24 hours, especially in and around the beleaguered eastern city of Bakhmut, according to the Ukrainian military. Further south, Moscow bombarded the southern city of Odesa with Iranian-made "Shahed" drones. Russian troop losses in Bakhmut are high, Ukrainian official says: Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar says Russian losses in the battered eastern city are several times higher than Ukrainian ones, while conceding that Moscow’s troops have been advancing in some areas of the city. She added: "For them [the Russians], this is probably one of the most expensive operations because it has already cost a lot of equipment and weapons." Weapons in transit: Germany dispatched a Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine. And in southern Spain, six Leopard 2 tanks arrived at a port for shipping to Ukraine, as the US and Western allies send weaponry to bolster Kyiv's forces. South Korea-Russia relations: The Kremlin says South Korea has taken an “unfriendly position” toward Russia over the war, after the country's leader signaled it could send military aid to Kyiv in a major shift that would see Seoul changing its stance against arming Ukraine for the first time. Testing defenses in Zaporizhzhia: Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed council in Zaporizhzhia, said a group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces "tried to probe" Russian defenses in the area, adding that it is unusual for Kyiv to do so during the night. Ukrainian grain imports: The European Union is preparing an additional $109.3 million package to help farmers combat increased imports of Ukrainian grain, which had sparked widespread protests from workers suffering financial blows. Kremlin critic loses appeal: Ilya Yashin lost his appeal on Wednesday, with Moscow’s city court ruling to uphold his 8-and-a-half year sentence in jail for discrediting the Russian army. Speaking in court, Yashin said he was guilty of "fulfilling [his] duty of a Russian politician and patriot, of speaking the truth about this war, in particular, about the crimes committed by Putin’s troops in the city of Bucha." Russian regions cancel Victory Day celebrations: Several Russian regions have canceled their May 9 Victory Day parades and other celebrations, citing security concerns over organizing large gatherings. The Kremlin said the main parade at the Red Square in Moscow is still due to go ahead, with enhanced security measures in place. Ukrainian woman recounts horrors to US Congress: A Ukrainian woman from Kherson recounted to US House of Representatives lawmakers on Wednesday how she was beaten at the hands of Russian forces earlier this year. Lyubov, 57, whose last name was withheld and face was not shown, said she was taken to what she called a "torture chamber" and held for five days, where she was beaten, forced to undress, cut with a knife, threatened with rape and murder, and "forced ... to dig my own grave." US defense secretary confident Sweden will join NATO soon: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that he is “confident” Sweden will be welcomed as a new member of NATO by July.  “I join the other 30 ministers of defense in the alliance and I know that they feel the same way,” Austin said, speaking alongside Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson in Stockholm. ##Catch Up## A Ukrainian woman from Kherson recounted to US House of Representatives lawmakers on Wednesday how she was beaten at the hands of Russian forces earlier this year.  Lyubov, 57, whose last name was withheld and face was not shown, worked as an accountant and lived under Russian occupation for more than a year.  “In January of this year, they came for me,” she told the House Foreign Affairs Committee via a translator. Lyubov said that Russian soldiers forced their way into her house, claiming they were looking for weapons, and confiscated "a map of Ukraine, the flag of Ukraine, souvenir magnets with Ukraine images, and a token with blue and yellow ribbon symbolizing victims of World War II." “Those were their evidence against me,” she said. She was taken to what she called a "torture chamber" and held for five days, where she was beaten, forced to undress, cut with a knife, and threatened with rape and murder. "I also was taken out into the field and they beat me again and they were putting a handgun next to my head and shooting as if, as if executing me," she recounted. "Also forced me to dig my own grave." She said she saw other people being tortured, "taken out with black plastic bags on their heads." "I worry so much for them. I would love to find them one day but I am not sure if they’re still alive," she said. Lyubov said the soldiers let her go, “but they said they will come back.” When she returned to her house, it had been looted, and they had taken away medals that belonged to her father. She was able to flee Kherson and made her way to the United States to be with her daughter, but she hopes be able to return to Ukraine. "I'm telling you my story, and there are other people who are getting robbed and raped and beaten in those territories now," she said. "These terrible crimes need to be stopped." Documenting atrocities: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights catalogued thousands of cases of civilian casualties along with cases of torture, rape and arbitrary detention in the Ukraine conflict over six months, from August 2022 to January 2023, calling the situation "dire." State of control: Russia currently occupies areas of the southern Kherson region, while Moscow's troops were pushed out of the city of Kherson and the western part of the region in November 2022. As speculation intensifies about where and when a Ukrainian counteroffensive may take place, the mayor of one town in occupied Zaporizhzhia has warned residents to be aware of tougher scrutiny by Russian forces. “Russian military are increasingly conducting tough checks on the streets. They also enter apartments. They are particularly interested in people with Ukrainian passports,” which was most of the inhabitants, Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov claimed on Telegram. The town is adjacent to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power plant (ZNPP). Orlov himself is not in Enerhodar, and his remarks cannot be verified.  Russian forces check phones for "Ukrainian channels, patriotic photos," call the Ukrainian currency hryvnia a "foreign currency" and suspect everyone of "illegal currency transactions,” Orlov added. Additionally, Ukrainian officials and Western analysts have said that Russian forces have strengthened their defenses in the Zaporizhzhia region with extensive use of minefields. Last week, a Russian mine exploded near the engine room of a reactor at ZNPP, according to Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company Energoatom. Orlov also claimed that the minefields are also near Enerhodar. Over the weekend Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, a military spokesman in the east, said the Russians were “trying to take children out from the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia region." According to posts on an unofficial Enerhodar telegram group in recent days, the evacuation of children has already begun. One post said: “Information about forcible evacuation is being spread in local schools and kindergartens in Enerhodar. The evacuations has already begun and will last until April 20. They plan to take children to Crimea using ZNPP buses, thus allegedly authorising the theft of ZNPP vehicles used for the staff transfer to work.” CNN is unable to verify the claim. The Russian-backed local authorities in Zaporizhzhia denied that there are plans to organize the evacuation of children from the town of Enerhodar. In a Telegram post on Wednesday, authorities said the town’s civil military administration had reported “false information about the evacuation of children.” “We inform you that: there is no evacuation. Do not succumb to provocations.” The Russian-backed local government was responding to the circulation on social media of a poster advising that children in Enerhodar would be evacuated. It said the text referred to a Department of Education and Youth, which does not exist. US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the Justice Department has an unwavering commitment to prosecuting Russian war crimes during her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning.  "The facts are clear: Russia has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine," Monaco said in her opening remarks.  "We cannot — we will not — let war criminals escape accountability for the aggression and atrocities they have committed in Ukraine," she added. Monaco thanked the Senate Judiciary Committee for supporting the Biden administration's response to the war in Ukraine on a bipartisan basis, adding that the Justice Department could work with the committee on other matters, such as "conferring federal criminal jurisdiction over certain crimes against humanity, increasing the range of seized assets we can transfer for the rebuilding of Ukraine, and expanding the department’s authority to prosecute acts of torture committed against US nationals abroad." Monaco’s testimony comes amid several days of focus from the Justice Department on their efforts to hold Russia accountable for crimes in Ukraine.  Earlier this week, Attorney General Merrick Garland hosted Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin and announced that the US Justice Department would detail a prosecutor to the Hague to assist in investigating Russian crimes of aggression in Ukraine.  Remember: In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another Russian official for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia. The day prior, the UN found in a report that Russia has "committed a wide range of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law" in Ukraine, including "attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, wilful killings, unlawful confinement, torture, rape and other sexual violence, as well as unlawful transfers and deportations of children." The local authorities in the Russian-controlled part of Kherson region in southern Ukraine say they have begun seizing boats for the use of the military.  The Russian state news agency TASS said that the acting head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, ordered the seizure of civilian boats in the region for the military. “Last week I gave an order to gather the possible number of small vessels and boats which our military needs," TASS quoted Saldo as telling a meeting of the regional government. Saldo said the boat owners would receive compensation if their livelihoods were affected, and the boats would be returned after "a certain time.” On his Telegram channel, Saldo said that the confiscations were permitted under martial law. “In particular, about 30 boats with motors were seized in Henichesk to provide the military with watercraft," he said. Henichesk is a port on the Sea of Azov near Crimea. Some more context: Russian forces control the whole of the coastline of the Sea of Azov, as well as the east bank of the Dnipro river in Kherson. The city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine has been battered by heavy fighting for months. The struggle has come at considerable cost to manpower and resources to both Ukrainian and Russian forces. With a pre-war population of 70,000 dwindling down to estimated 4,000, there isn't much left to fight for. Yet the fight continues. Ukraine has repeatedly ignored some Western calls to tactically retreat from Bakhmut amid the losses, choosing instead to keep fighting. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky previously said in March letting go of Bakhmut "would be open road for the Russians to other towns in Ukraine, in the Donetsk direction.” While the strategic value of the city might be limited — most analysts agree that its capture would not dramatically alter the course of the war — it is seen as important for the morale of the troops. Its capture would represent a long sought-after success for Russian forces, a first significant gain since taking the eastern town of Soledar in mid-January. On his visit to Ukraine's northwest border, shared with Poland and Belarus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky surveyed the defense preparations that are underway. “To repel a possible enemy invasion from the territory of Belarus, engineering barriers, fortifications and remote video surveillance systems are being built up,” a readout from Zelensky’s office said. “From the position of the observation post, it was demonstrated how remote video surveillance systems are used to monitor the border line around the clock,” it added. Zelensky used the occasion to praise the role of the State Border Service in defending both the border and the city of Bakhmut. "I know how strongly you stood there, holding Bakhmut. I would like to thank you and your brothers-in-arms,” he said. This visit comes as Zelensky continues a tour of Ukraine's front lines. On Tuesday, he paid a surprise visit to Avdiivka, a town in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, that is surrounded on three sides by Russian forces. Some background: Tensions have been mounting at the 1,000-kilometer border between Ukraine and Belarus, a country that has played a key role in aiding Russia’s attack. Kyiv has closed all border crossings to Belarus out of concern Belarus could be used for a further invasion by Russia — just as it was used as one of its launch pads for the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Joint military drills over the past year between Belarus and Russia have contributed to concerns that Belarusian troops could join the Kremlin's forces in Ukraine. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar says Russian losses in the battered eastern city of Bakhmut are several times higher than Ukrainian ones, while conceding that Moscow’s troops have been advancing in some areas of the city. "The enemy has thrown all its efforts to take it under control. They have concentrated not only their main professional units there — Wagner, special forces, air assault troops — they are also sending weapons and equipment there," Maliar said in an interview with Ukraine’s state broadcaster on Wednesday. "They cannot fight street battles with us because they are losing in them, so they have resorted to their proven Syrian tactics and are actually wiping out buildings. In such a state, it is very difficult to hold positions." "In fact, it is impossible to hold them in such a situation. Indeed, in some areas there is a slight advance of the enemy," she added. That advance, though, came at a cost for Russian forces, Maliar added.  "For them [the Russians], this is probably one of the most expensive operations, because it has already cost a lot of equipment and weapons, which, by the way, have been destroyed by the Armed Forces to a large extent," she said. "They are suffering huge losses there. These losses are several times higher than our losses. Our planning leads to the fact that we have minimal losses that could be incurred in such battles." Maliar said restraining Russian forces in Bakhmut was an important task, not just because of the losses Ukraine was able to inflict on Moscow but also because it prevented its armies from advancing further.  "This is a very important defense not only for this settlement, but it is important in the context of the enemy's movement deeper into the territory," she said. Some key context: While leaked US intelligence documents allege troop casualty numbers, death tolls for both Russian and Ukrainian service members are difficult to pin down, and CNN cannot independently verify either side’s reported death toll. Back at the end of March, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said the battle over Bakhmut has turned into a “slaughter-fest" for the Russians and Wagner mercenary group fighters. Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said earlier in April that Wagner fighters have been "the most aggressive in the Bakhmut direction," but Russian paratroopers and infantry soldiers are also fighting in the area. CNN's Radina Gigova and Maria Kostenko contributed reporting to this post. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that he is “confident” Sweden will be welcomed as a new member of NATO by July.   “I join the other 30 ministers of defense in the alliance and I know that they feel the same way,” Austin said, speaking alongside Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson in Stockholm. The Russian invasion of Ukraine drove previously non-aligned Finland and Sweden to abandon their neutrality and seek protection within NATO. The alliance has an open-door policy, meaning that any country can be invited to join if it expresses an interest, as long as it is able and willing to uphold the principles of the alliance’s founding treaty. However, under the accession rules, any member state can veto a new country from joining. And while an overwhelming majority of NATO members welcomed Finland and Sweden’s applications, two countries – Turkey and Hungary – stalled the process. Turkey has accused Finland and Sweden of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations,” while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed they were spreading “outright lies” about his country’s rule of law record. Turkey and Hungary softened their stance on Finland last month, approving its application and allowing it to become NATO's 31st member nation. However, they continue to block Sweden's accession. Turkey said it would not approve the country's NATO membership unless it extradites “terrorists” upon Turkish request. Sweden has made clear this won’t happen and, for now, the process is stuck. Speaking on Wednesday, Austin said he believed the stalemate would be resolved soon. "I'm sure that these countries will reach that decision. And I feel confident that they'll reach it before July," he said. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar has rejected calls for a timeline on the country’s long-awaited spring counteroffensive against Russian forces, saying that, Kyiv will not make an announcement as those plans are classified.  “It is important to understand that there will be no day when the Armed Forces will say: tomorrow we will launch a counteroffensive,” Maliar told the National Ukrainian broadcaster during an interview on Wednesday. “This is impossible in a time of war because this is classified information.” The expected counteroffensive would not just involve a few operations, but rather a larger effort towards the strategic goal of liberating the entire Ukrainian territory from Russian occupation, Maliar added, noting that it would include training its forces on equipment and multiple plans as options. “The plan is finally chosen so that the enemy does not have time to react to it,” she said. “We need to understand that the Armed Forces are constantly, daily preparing for the complete liberation of our territories. And this is a huge set of measures, not just a counteroffensive.” Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin lost his appeal on Wednesday, with Moscow’s city court ruling to uphold his 8-and-a-half year sentence in jail for discrediting the Russian army. A close ally of jailed regime opponent Alexey Navalny and one of the few opposition politicians who remain in Russia, Yashin was found guilty of spreading "false information" about the war in Ukraine, a charge he denied and appealed. According to the official statement from the court’s press service, the court "upheld the verdict of the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow dated September 12, 2022 against the former municipal deputy Ilya Yashin, who was found guilty of committing a crime under paragraph 'd' part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation." Speaking in court, Yashin said he was guilty of "fulfilling [his] duty of a Russian politician and patriot, of speaking the truth about this war, in particular, about the crimes committed by Putin’s troops in the city of Bucha." “While Russia is choking in blood, the court is considering an appeal against my sentence,” Yashin said in a court statement before the verdict, shared by his team on Telegram. Yashin’s arrest and jail term further tightens the screws on opposition politicians and dissidents in Russia. The decision comes after another prominent Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison for condemning the war in Ukraine. Several Russian regions have canceled their May 9 Victory Day parades and other celebrations, citing security concerns over organizing large gatherings. The governor of the Belgorod region said this year's Victory Parade would not take place so as not to "provoke" Ukrainian forces with a significant concentration of military personnel and equipment. "No one will take risks," Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said during a live broadcast on his official page on Russia social media Vkontakte in early April. Authorities in the western Kursk region made a similar decision for "security reasons." "Today, the safety of fellow countrymen is a priority, so it was decided to cancel holding a parade and launching fireworks on May 9," Kursk region Gov. Roman Starovoit said on his Telegram channel Tuesday. Key background: Both Belgorod and Kurst regions held Victory Day parades in 2022, which has analysts suggesting the decision may have been made due to shortages of military equipment, notably tanks and other armored vehicles. This week, Western officials said Russia was "going backwards" in terms of the equipment it is using in Ukraine, explaining they’ve seen Moscow deploy tanks originally built after World War II. In Crimea, the Russian-installed head of the region, Sergey Aksyonov, also announced the cancellation of the customary festive events on May 1 and May 9, including exhibiting the military parade and holding the Immortal Regiment march — a procession in memory of the generation that fought in World War II. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ensuring citizens’ safety is "the main and only priority" when asked about the cancellations last week. Peskov said the main parade at the Red Square in Moscow "is being prepared for and planned to be held," adding that enhanced security measures will be in place. The European Union is supporting its farmers by preparing an additional financial support package to combat increased imports of Ukrainian grain, which had sparked widespread protests from agricultural workers suffering financial blows. “You will recall that we have already provided a support package of 56.3 million euros ($61.5 million) for the most affected farmers and we are now preparing a second financial support package of 100 million euros ($109.3 million),” European Commission deputy chief spokesperson Dana Spinant said at a briefing Wednesday.  She added that the bloc will take preventive measures under applicable trade rules and launch an investigation on other products. European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis will discuss these measures on Wednesday with the five EU states that have enforced Ukraine grain important bans, as well as counterparts in Ukraine, Spinant added. Spinant said the EU is "committed" to supporting Ukraine's exports, which provide "an important lifeline for Ukraine’s economy," as well as helping to get the products to the world markets that depend on them. "And we are fully committed to supporting our farmers," she added. Some context: When Russia invaded Ukraine it blocked ports and sea routes used to export grain to Africa and the Middle East. Fearing widespread famine, the EU lifted duties on grain from Ukraine to ease distribution to those global markets. Local producers say they cannot compete with the price of Ukrainian grain and have demanded compensation from the European Commission. Earlier this month, the EU condemned Poland and Hungary for banning imports of grain and other food products from Ukraine following a surge in cheap goods. CNN's Mariya Knight and Jonny Hallam contributed reporting. The Kremlin says South Korea has taken an “unfriendly position” toward Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, days after the country's leader signaled Seoul could send military aid to Kyiv. President Yoon Suk Yeol said in an interview with Reuters that South Korea would consider sending lethal aid to Ukraine if there was a large scale attack on civilians, in a major shift that would see Seoul changing its stance against arming Kyiv for the first time. “To our regret, Seoul has taken a rather unfriendly position in this whole story,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday when asked about Yoon’s remarks. “Of course, there will be attempts to drag increasingly more countries into this conflict.” “Certainly, the start of arms supplies will indirectly mean a certain stage of involvement in this conflict,” Peskov added. Moscow was responding to remarks made by Yoon ahead of a visit to the United States. “If there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the laws of war, it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support,” Yoon told Reuters. "I believe there won't be limitations to the extent of the support to defend and restore a country that's been illegally invaded both under international and domestic law," Yoon added. "However, considering our relationship with the parties engaged in the war and developments in the battlefield, we will take the most appropriate measures." Yoon's comments come ahead of a momentous trip to the White House next week, when he is set to meet US President Joe Biden on the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the US and the Republic of Korea. The six Leopard 2 tanks that Spain is donating to Kyiv have arrived at the port of Santander, in the northern part of the country, as the US and Western allies send military supplies to bolster Ukrainian defenses. Footage and stills released by Spanish media showed a video of the six tanks at the city, according to a video recorded on Monday. The tanks, along with other armored vehicles donated by Spain, are expected to be ready to deploy to the front line in Ukraine by the end of the month. Spain's defense minister said last month the tanks would be sent after Easter, after undergoing repairs and testing at a facility in Cordoba, in southern Spain. Leopard 2 tanks are seen as a vital, modern military vehicle that would bolster Kyiv’s forces more than one year into the war. The Leopard’s relatively low-maintenance demands compared to other models lead experts to believe the tanks could help Ukraine quickly. CNN's Rob Picheta contributed reporting. Germany has dispatched a Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, as Kyiv tackles depleted ammunition stocks in a grinding war of attrition against Russian forces. Updating its list of delivered lethal and non-lethal German military support to Ukraine, the government confirmed that, in the last week, military deliveries included a Patriot missile defense system with missiles, 16 additional Zetros trucks, and two additional border protection vehicles. The Patriot missile defense system, which is highly effective at intercepting ballistic and cruise missiles, is broadly seen as one of the most advanced and effective air defense systems. Germany and the US pledged to send Ukraine the advanced long-range air defense system last December, following repeated requests from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Netherlands has also expressed its “intention” of sending Ukraine a Patriot missile defense system. Russian officials claim Ukrainian forces are probing their defenses in the occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia region.  Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed council of the military-civilian administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, said a group of Ukrainian Armed Forces "tried to probe" Russian defense in "the area of responsibility of the 291st regiment." Rogov said in his official Telegram on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces made an "unsuccessful attempt to break through near Orikhiv," which is in the southeastern part of the Zaporizhzhia region. “After an artillery preparation, an AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) armored group went on the offensive near the town of Orikhiv in the Polohy district of Zaporizhzhia region," Rogov said. Rogov added that it had been unusual for Ukrainian forces to test Russian defenses during the night.  “The enemy is again probing our defense in this section of the front, but now doing so in the dark. Probably because of getting new night-time equipment,” he wrote. In comments to Russian state news agency RIA, Rogov went further by saying Ukrainian forces had intensified shelling of settlements on the frontline, including Vasylivka, Tokmak and Polohy in the Zaporizhzhia region, and Vodiane in the adjacent Donetsk region. “What is it connected to, we can only guess," Rogov said, according to RIA. Some context: Rogov had previously said Ukraine was accumulating reserves close to the intersection of the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Donetsk regions.  Ukrainian officials have yet to comment on Rogov’s claims, but traditionally do not comment on offensive operations until they are concluded.  Russia launched 60 air strikes in the past 24 hours as fierce fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, especially in and around the beleaguered eastern city of Bakhmut, according to the Ukrainian military. “Over the past day, the enemy launched four missiles and 60 air strikes, carried out 58 rounds from MLRS; civilians were also injured,” the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in a situational update on Wednesday morning. It added that units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled more than 60 Russian attacks in areas on the front over the past 24 hours. The military went on to say Russia was on the defensive in the Zaporizhzhia region and mining areas in the occupied Kherson region.  Russian forces launched an overnight attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa using Iranian-made "Shahed" drones, the Ukrainian Airforce said on Tuesday. “This time, soldiers of the Odesa anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Air Command South destroyed 10 out of 12 Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones," the Ukrainian Airforce said. Ukraine’s Operational Command South added that one of the drones hit a recreational facility causing a fire, but that it was quickly extinguished. There were no reported casualties.  Battlefield losses and Western sanctions have left the Russian military in a state of decline, but Moscow will still have enough firepower to extend the war in Ukraine, according to a new independent analysis. The report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies gives stark numbers of Russian military losses – almost 10,000 units of key equipment such as tanks, trucks, artillery pieces and aerial drones, according to one estimate. But it also says Russia can dip into Cold War-era and older stocks on the front lines to make up in numbers what it may have lost in technology. “The quality of the Russian military in terms of advanced equipment will likely decline, at least over the near term,” the CSIS report says. It notes how Russian losses of main battle tanks, especially modern ones, have been severe. “Moscow is estimated to have lost anywhere from 1,845 to 3,511 tanks one year into the war,” the CSIS report says, with losses of its newer, upgraded T-72B3 main battle tank, first delivered in 2013, noted as especially damaging. The CSIS report says Moscow has to refurbish and put its decades-old tanks back into action because it just doesn’t have the resources to build new ones, with Western sanctions leaving it unable to source parts and tools needed to put together a modern tank. Read the full story. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will remain in a Russian jail after a Moscow court decided to uphold the terms of his detention. US officials looking at "creative and sometimes quite challenging options" to bring him home. On the frontlines, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited hard-hit troops in the easter town of Avdiivka, which is surrounded by Russian forces on three sides, according to the president's office Tuesday. Zelensky's trip to the beleaguered town came hours after President Vladimir Putin visited troops at a military base in Russian-occupied Kherson, in southern Ukraine. Here are the latest headlines: Leaked documents: The leaked Pentagon documents are not impacting the actions of NATO allies when it comes to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN Tuesday, adding some of the items leaked are "incorrect and manipulated." Western officials also told CNN during a Tuesday briefing the leaked documents have had no visible impact on the battlefield in Ukraine. US warns Russia: The US has sensitive nuclear technology at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine and has warned 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. The letter comes as Russian forces continue to control the plant, which is the largest nuclear power station in Europe and sits in one part of a region Russia occupied after its invasion of Ukraine last February. The plant is still physically operated by Ukrainian staff, but Rosatom manages it. Russia's using post-WWII equipment: Western officials say Russia is "going backwards" with the equipment it is using in Ukraine, and add that they've seen Moscow deploy tanks that were originally built after World War II while it struggles to replenish stocks of lost armored vehicles. The officials also said Russia was continuing to struggle with manpower, saying that despite being able to muster large numbers of personnel, Moscow was not providing them with adequate training. Biden extends ban on Russian-affiliated vessels: US President Joe Biden extended the ban on Russian-affiliated vessels from US ports, an order that was originally published last April and set to expire this week. Russia's policies and actions "continue the premeditated, unjustified, unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine," Biden wrote in a letter to Congress, explaining the extension. ##Catch Up## Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised a framework introduced by China and Brazil, which proposed an end to the conflict in Ukraine. “We applaud the position from China, and we have also held talks with Brazil on this, and these are very useful proposals because they can help to share ideas and help resolve problems,” Lavrov said Tuesday during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela. “All this, however, is not part of the West’s rules.” Lavrov explained the West would not accept the so-called “peace proposal” that would see the Crimean Peninsula fully integrated into the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, Ukraine has repeatedly said peace in the conflict will only be achieved if Russia restores the country's borders and Kyiv takes back Crimea. “We hope the regime in Kyiv respects the rights of Crimea, we already know the West, it’s demanding that Crimea is returned,” Lavrov said. Since taking office this year, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has suggested his country could help broker a negotiation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing Kyiv should relinquish sovereignty claims over Crimea in exchange for the end of the conflict.  Last week, Lula traveled to China and both countries reiterated calls for a peaceful solution to the conflict. Lula has largely adopted a policy of non-intervention over the war in Ukraine, following in the same footsteps of many leaders in middle-income and developing countries. On Saturday, Lula said the US and the EU need to start talking about peace between Ukraine and Russia. “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 on Saturday. Some context: The US and EU have been major suppliers of arms and aid to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion. Lavrov is in Caracas as part of a five-day trip to Latin America, visiting Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. On Tuesday, Lavrov criticized US sanctions on Venezuela and said Russia intends to strengthen diplomatic and commercial relationships with the Andean country. CNN's Tatiana Arias and Duarte Mendonca contributed reporting. President Joe Biden extended the ban on Russian-affiliated vessels from US ports. The order, originally published last April, was originally set to expire this week. “The policies and actions of the Government of the Russian Federation to continue the premeditated, unjustified, unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine continue to constitute a national emergency by reason of a disturbance or threatened disturbance of international relations of the United States,” Biden wrote in a letter to Congress. “Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Proclamation 10371.” A Russian man who said he had killed children and other civilians while serving with the Wagner private military company in Ukraine appears to have recanted the claim, suggesting he was blackmailed into making it. Azamat Uldarov, a former convict, made his retraction in a video call with the Russian news agency RIA-FAN. It’s unclear if there were any conditions to the interview. He and another former convict, Alexey Savichev, previously gave long and rambling interviews to Russian human rights group Gulagu.net, saying they were among the tens of thousands of Wagner fighters recruited from Russian jails to fight in Ukraine. Speaking with Gulagu founder Vladimir Osechkin, Uldarov said he shot and killed a young girl, calling it “a management decision.” “I wasn’t allowed to let anyone out alive, because my command was to kill anything in my way,” he said, estimating that the girl was five or six years old. In his interview with RIA-FAN — which is associated with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin — Uldarov said he was drunk when he gave the interview, and alleged that Osechkin had blackmailed him about his time in prison. Asked by RIA-FAN: “They made you say what you said in the video, correct?” Uldarov replied: “Not only correct, it’s [expletive] correct. I had to say it because I had no choice.” “I said whatever I was told to say,” Uldarov then said. “Prigozhin is a great guy,” he added, giving a thumbs up. “He saved our lives.” But Gulagu’s Osechkin, who is based in France, told CNN he stood by the content of his interviews with the two men, citing Uldarov’s retraction as proof of how quickly dissenting voices are silenced in Russia. Osechkin also claimed that both interviewees, Uldarov and Savichev, had been threatened with murder if they didn’t retract their statements to him. Savichev told Gulagu that his unit was ordered to kill any men 15 years old or older. Read more here The United States “will look at creative and sometimes quite challenging options” to try to bring home detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but the process could take a long time, a senior administration official told CNN on Tuesday. The official declined to provide details on these options and also on whether any proposals have been discussed with Russia. “Until an American is home, we're always exploring and re-exploring and re-exploring what the options might be available to bring that American home,” the official added. In the past the Russians have wanted legal proceedings — which the US views as “illegitimate” — to play out in court first before they will engage in any serious negotiations, the official said, and the process may take a long time On Tuesday, a Russian court denied Gershkovich’s appeal to serve out his pre-trial detention under house arrest rather than at the notorious Lefortovo Prison. He will be held there until at least May 29 and faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years on espionage charges that the US has strongly condemned.  Calling the lack of regular consular access for Gershkovich “appalling,” the senior administration official said that the US hasn’t heard “specific” concerns about the conditions of the US national's detention, but said that his detention writ large is “inhumane.” The US State Department has officially designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained by Russia. “I think the starting point for our position on this, including engaging with the Russians, but also for helping the world to understand what's happened, is that this just should never have been this way in the first place,” the official said, adding that officials are “still figuring out exactly where all of this goes” in terms of negotiations. Last week, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens said that the Russians have not indicated what they would want in exchange for the release of Gershkovich. The leaked Pentagon documents are not impacting the actions of NATO allies when it comes to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN Tuesday.  "We have all seen that some of these leakages are incorrect and manipulated," he said. "I don't think they will impact what NATO allies are doing when it comes to Ukraine." Fact check: CNN has reviewed 53 leaked documents, all of which appear to have been produced between mid-February and early March. They contain a wide range of highly classified information — providing a rare window into how the US spies on allies and adversaries alike. Some of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, expose the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.