The U.S. government is struggling to explain how a 21-year-old man in a junior post was in a position to allegedly leak a massive trove of classified US documents related to the Ukraine conflict.
(Bloomberg) — The U.S. government is struggling to explain how a 21-year-old man in a junior post was in a position to allegedly leak a massive trove of classified US documents related to the Ukraine conflict.
Jack Teixeira, a cyber specialist for the US Air Force National Guard, was arrested in Massachusetts and is scheduled to be arraigned in US District Court in Boston on Friday.
Moscow would consider swapping a Wall Street Journal reporter jailed for spying last month for a Russian prisoner held by the US, but only after the American is convicted, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to Tass.
Key Developments
- US Left Red-Faced Over 21-Year-Old’s Alleged Tie to Secrets Leak
- China Sends Defense Minister to Russia for First Time Since War
- Russia Oil Cap Works as Planned With Flows Up, Revenue Down
- What We Know About the Leak of US Military Documents: Q&A
(All times CET)
Ukraine’s Energoatom Sues Russia for Occupation of Nuclear Plant (12 p.m.)
Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom initiated international arbitration proceedings against Russia for damages caused by its military action that it estimates topped $3 billion, according to a statement on the company’s website. This includes the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and other Ukrainian assets temporarily controlled by Russia.
The case follows another action, launched in 2021, connected to expropriation of Energoatom’s assets in Crimea, the company said.
China Criticizes Polish Premier Over Taiwan and Ukraine Comments (11:45 a.m.)
China has expressed “strong dissatisfaction and vehement opposition” to comments from a Polish government official it didn’t name that drew comparisons between the situations of Taiwan and Ukraine.
The embassy urged the official to “exercise caution” regarding the Taiwan issue and “avoid disrupting Chinese-Polish relations.”
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said during an event hosted by the Atlantic Council on Thursday that “if Ukraine gets conquered, the next day China may attack, can attack Taiwan.”
Russia Holds Snap Drills of Pacific Fleet North of Japan (11 a.m.)
Russia is holding unplanned military drills in the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan, using ships and long-range bombers to repel a simulated attack on Sakhalin and the disputed islands near it, Tass reported.
The country’s Pacific Fleet was put on high alert as part of the snap exercises, Interfax said. The maneuvers will practice “actions to prevent the enemy from marshaling forces in an operatively important area of the Pacific Ocean — the south of the Sea of Okhotsk — and repelling landings on the southern Kuril Islands and Sakhalin,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told officials, according to Tass.
Japan claims four islands in the Kuril chain as its own but Russia has occupied them since the end of World War II. In recent years, Moscow has built up military installations there.
IAEA Inspecting Effort to Connect Zaporizhzhia to Russian Grid (9 a.m.)
Efforts by the Kremlin-controlled Rosatom Corp. to connect the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the electricity grid in Russian-controlled territory will be inspected next week, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. While re-connecting cables to more back-up power would reduce the risk of an accident, doing so via territories held by Moscow would further diminish Ukraine’s control over the site.
“We are living on borrowed time when it comes to nuclear safety and security at the Zaporizhzhya,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement late Thursday. “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.”
Warmer weather is prompting Rosatom operators to cool a fifth Zaporizhzhia reactor, leaving just a single unit in so-called hot shutdown to provide hot water and steam to the site, the IAEA reported.
Polish Solar Firm Opens Ukrainian Division (8:40 a.m.)
Columbus Energy, a Polish company that provides photovoltaic panels for households, set up a Ukrainian unit, saying it sees large demand for its products because of the push for energy independence in southwest Ukraine. Columbus expects a boom in renewable energy installations, including heat pumps, after the war
Orban Says EU Support for Ukraine Can’t Last ‘Indefinitely’ (8:30 a.m.)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the European Union’s financial commitment to Ukraine is damaging the bloc’s economy and “obviously it cannot go on indefinitely.”
“The question is whether we will maintain Ukraine,” he said on state radio. “The moment the Americans and Europe say no to that question, the war is over.”
Fiercest Fighting Seen In Ukraine’s Bakhmut (7:50 a.m.)
Russia continues to focus its main efforts on offensive operations in Bakhmut and Maryinka, in the besieged Donetsk region, with Ukraine’s troops repelled 49 attacks in past 24 hours, according to Ukraine’s military authorities.
Suspect Arrested in Document Leak was Cyber Specialist (10:58 p.m.)
The FBI arrested Teixeira in connection with the leak of highly classified documents including maps, intelligence updates and the assessment of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The cyber specialist for the US Air Force National Guard will be charged with “unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters at a Washington press conference.
The leaked trove of classified US documents on Ukraine is a mixture of true, false and outdated information, the country’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said separately. The leak would clearly appear to benefit Russia and its supporters, he said.
Ukraine Secured $42 Billion in Support This Year, Central Banker Says (10:02 p.m.)
Ukraine has secured $42 billion in international support this year, including $4.6 billion from the International Monetary Fund, deputy central bank governor Sergiy Nikolaychuk said.
“International partners promised to provide us during the next four years an amount of $150 billion,” Nikolaychuk said in an interview on Bloomberg TV, a figure that includes a $15.6 billion program from the IMF.
Ukraine received $32 billion in 2022, which “was not enough to cover all budget needs,” he said. In 2023, the economy will start to recover from the 29% contraction in gross domestic product last year.
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