Ukraine cities pounded, US scrambles to find source of leaked documents
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[April 11, 2023]
By Pavel Polityuk
KYIV (Reuters) -Russian forces pounded frontline cities in eastern
Ukraine with air strikes and artillery attacks, while U.S. officials
stepped up efforts to locate the source of a leak of classified U.S.
documents, including those on Ukrainian counter-offensive plans.
The Russians pressed on with their offensive in the eastern Donetsk
region where several cities and towns came under heavy bombardment,
Ukraine's general staff said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian forces repelled several attacks, it said, as the Russian
military kept up its effort to take control of Bakhmut.
A top Ukrainian commander accused Moscow of using "scorched earth"
tactics.
"The enemy switched to so-called scorched earth tactics from Syria. It
is destroying buildings and positions with air strikes and artillery
fire," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground
forces, said of Bakhmut.
The battle for the small and now largely ruined city on the edge of a
chunk of Russian-controlled territory in Donetsk has been the bloodiest
of the 13-month war as Moscow tries to inject momentum into its campaign
after recent setbacks.
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Both sides have suffered heavy casualties in the Bakhmut fighting, but
Syrskyi said: "The situation is difficult but controllable."
The head of the Moscow-controlled part of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said
Russian forces now held 75% of the city, though he cautioned it was too
early to talk about Bakhmut's fall.
Moscow's military was also targeting the city of Avdiivka.
"The Russians have turned Avdiivka into a total ruin," said Pavlo
Kyrylenko, Donetsk's regional governor, describing an air strike on
Monday that destroyed a multi-storey building.
"In total, around 1,800 people remain in Avdiivka, all of whom risk
their lives every day."
In Chasiv Yar, the first major town to Bakhmut's west, few buildings
remain intact and those queuing for food and other aid do not even
flinch at the sound of artillery.
"It used to be scarier, but now we have got used to it," said
50-year-old humanitarian volunteer Maksym. "You don't even pay
attention," he added, his words nearly drowned out by the sound of
explosions.
As the battles ground on, U.S. broadcaster CNN said Ukraine was forced
to amend some military plans ahead of its long-anticipated
counter-offensive because of the leak of dozens of secret documents.
U.S. officials are trying to trace the source of the leak, reviewing how
they share secrets internally and dealing with the diplomatic fallout.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/11/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
The documents detail topics such as information on the Ukraine conflict,
in which Washington has supplied Kyiv with huge amounts of weapons and
led international condemnation of Moscow's invasion.
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![](../images/041123PIX/news_r8.jpg)
An armoured military vehicle speeds
through Chasiv Yar passing by a destroyed vehicle from recent
shelling during heavy fighting at the frontline of Bakhmut and
Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, April 10, 2023. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/11/images/ads/current/beescub_lda_SFARM_2023.png)
Asked about the report, Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo
Podolyak said Kyiv's strategic plans remained unchanged but that
specific tactics were always subject to change.
Some national security experts and U.S. officials have said they
suspect the leaker could be American, but have not ruled out
pro-Russian actors.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the leak, but
said: "There is in fact a tendency to always blame everything on
Russia. It is, in general, a disease."
HOT ON THE EASTERN FRONT
A Ukrainian counter-offensive has long been expected after months of
attritional warfare in the east.
A Russian winter offensive failed to make much progress, and its
troops have made only small advances at huge cost.
The Ukrainian defenders have also taken heavy casualties.
Syrskyi said Moscow was sending in special forces and airborne units
to help their attack on Bakhmut as members of Russia's private
mercenary Wagner group, who have spearheaded the Bakhmut assault,
were exhausted.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield accounts.
Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces had made unsuccessful
advances on areas west of Bakhmut while shelling many towns and
villages, including Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar.
Ukrainian forces repelled 52 enemy attacks, it said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/11/images/ads/current/brandt_sda_SFARM_2023.png)
Donetsk is one of four provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine
that Russia declared annexed last year and is seeking to fully
occupy in what appears to be a shift in its war aims after failing
to overrun the country after its February 2022 invasion.
Control of Bakhmut could allow Russia to directly target Ukrainian
defensive lines in Chasiv Yar and open the way for its forces to
advance on two bigger cities in the Donetsk region - Kramatorsk and
Sloviansk.
Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said troops could be
withdrawn if they ran the risk of being encircled. Kyiv and the West
say the now smashed city of Bakhmut has only symbolic importance.
(Additional reporting by Ron Popeski, Nick Starko and Tom Balmforth;
Writing by Angus MacSwan, Andrew Cawthorne, Arshad Mohammed and Shri
Navaratnam; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Clarence Fernandez)
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