Russia plans to increase air defences over its north-western border to counter Finland’s accession to Nato, a commander in its aerospace forces has said, Reuters reports. Lt Gen Andrei Demin, the deputy commander-in-chief of aerospace forces, also said further reforms of Russian air defences were “undoubtedly planned and will be implemented … In these conditions, the air defence forces are working out issues of protecting the state border in the north-west of the country in accordance with the increased threat level.”
The US defence department said agencies were assessing the impact that purported leaked intelligence documents – many concerning the war in Ukraine – could have on US national security and on allies and partners. The cache is a growing source of anxiety for US intelligence agencies, while US allies have been forced into denials over the contents.
The documents suggest that without a huge boost in munitions, Ukraine’s air defences could be in peril, according to the New York Times, which added that it could allow the Russian air force to change the course of the war.
The documents also say Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group has ambitions to operate in African states as well as Haiti, and that it plans to source arms covertly from Nato member Turkey.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, chaired a full security council session on 5 April, the first since 2022, according to the latest intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence. The main report was presented by interior minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, a choice the MoD said was likely an attempt by the Kremlin to portray the situation in those territories as being “normalised”. However “in reality, much of the area remains an active combat zone, subject to partisan attacks, and with extremely limited access to basic services for many citizens”.
A Ukrainian government minister is due to visit India on Monday and will seek humanitarian aid and equipment to repair energy infrastructure damaged during Russia’s invasion, according to the Hindu newspaper. Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister, Emine Dzhaparova, will make the first visit to India by a minister from Kyiv since the Russian invasion.
Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, used their Easter messages to call for peace. The pope asked God to “shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia”, appearing to ask Russians to seek the truth about their country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian shelling killed at least seven civilians in the cities of Kupiansk and Zaporizhzhia over the weekend, Ukrainian authorities said. “This is how the terrorist state marks Palm Sunday,” said the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly address. “This is how Russia places itself in even greater isolation from the world.” Most Ukrainians are Orthodox Christian and will celebrate Easter on 16 April.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had destroyed a depot containing 70,000 tonnes of fuel near Zaporizhzhia as well as Ukrainian military warehouses in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
