Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

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