April 3, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Ukraine news here or read through the updates below.

The preventive detention hearing for Daria Trepova, who was detained in connection with the explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, will take place on Tuesday at Basmanny District Court in Moscow, according to Russian state news agency Vesti.

Russian authorities detained Trepova, 26, claiming she was involved in the blast that killed well-known military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky at a café in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on March 1.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Monday described Russia assuming the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) presidency this month as “an April Fool’s joke.”

Greenfield said she is not surprised if the Russians asked the foreign minister to come to UNSC headquarters in New York but also said council does work beyond Ukraine.

“We haven’t decided yet on what our attendance levels will be, but we intend to carry out the business of the Security Council during this month. The Security Council does more than Ukraine. We work on many issues, and we again expect that Russia will carry their presidency in a professional way, but when they don’t, we will stand ready to call them out,” Greenfield said. 

Vasily Nebenzya, Russian ambassador to the United Nations, dismissed concerns that Russia could fairly be the president of the Security Council for April during the ongoing war in Ukraine.

He said there were no complaints in February 2022 when Russia was last president of the council, while Russia invaded and pointed out that the US was president of the council in 2003 — the year Iraq was invaded. 

The ambassador said as long as world order is maintained, there will not be any change in UN procedures that might lead to a change in Russia’s status. 

Russia took over presidency on Saturday of the UN’s top security body, which rotates every month.

Here are the latest headlines:

People walk past a portrait of Russian military journalist Vladen Tartovsky, who was killed in a cafe explosion in Moscow, Russia on Monday.

Newly published video shows the moments running up to an explosion that killed Russian military journalist Vladen Tartovsky in a St Petersburg café on Sunday.

Tatarsky died when a blast tore through the cafe where he was appearing as a guest of a pro-war group called Cyber Front Z. Prior Russian media reports suggested that Tatarsky may have been killed by a device hidden in a figurine presented to him by a woman before the blast.

The 25-second video shows Tartovsky putting a statuette given to him at the event into a box after passing the microphone to another man.

He places the statuette back into the box and then covers it with what appears to be paper wrapping. As he presses down the paper, there is an explosion.

In the last two seconds of the video, Tartovsky is pixillated, but the rest of the scene is not.

More to know: The well-known Russian blogger was killed in what appeared to be an audacious attack on a high-profile pro-Kremlin figure, officials said.

Authorities said they were treating the case as suspected murder.

At least 32 people were injured in the blast, with 10 people in serious condition, state media Ria Novosti reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Health.

Vasily Nebenzya speaks at the UN headquarters in New York on February 22.

Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya on Monday scoffed at concerns that his country could fairly be the president of the Security Council for April during the war in Ukraine.

Nebenzya pointed out that the US was president of the council in 2003 — the year Iraq was invaded. 

He said there were no complaints in February 2022 when Russia was last president of the council, while Russia invaded. 

The ambassador said as long as world order is maintained, there will not be any change in UN procedures that might lead to a change in Russia’s status. 

Russia took over presidency on Saturday of the UN’s top security body, which rotates every month.

Ukraine has received the first tranche of $2.7 billion from a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said in a tweet Monday.  

The IMF, which regularly makes emergency loans to countries in crisis, on Friday approved a new four-year extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) of around $15.6 billion as part of a $115 billion total support package for Ukraine.  

The program aims to “anchor policies that sustain fiscal, external, price and financial stability and support economic recovery, while enhancing governance and strengthening institutions to promote long-term growth in the context of post-war reconstruction and Ukraine’s path to EU accession,” the IMF said in a statement. 

The program also helps Ukraine to carry out “more ambitious structural reforms,” it said.

The Extended Fund Facility (EFF) loan is the first major conventional financing program approved by the IMF for a country involved in a large-scale war, Reuters reported.

The risks to the arrangement are “exceptionally high,” said Gita Gopinath, first deputy managing director of the global lender.  

“The success of the program depends on the size, composition, and timing of external financing on concessional terms to help close fiscal and external financing gaps and restore debt sustainability on a forward-looking basis under the baseline and downside scenarios,” she added.  

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday assured Moldova of Berlin’s support on its path to accession to the European Union as Moldovan and American officials allege Russia of trying to weaken the government in Chisinau.   

“Moldova can be sure of our support on this path. I assured the President [Sandu] of this once again today. Moldova does not stand alone, but receives massive international support,” the German chancellor continued.  

Scholz expressed “great concern” about reports of alleged Russian attempts to destabilize Moldova and said Germany would do its “utmost” to support Moldova in arming itself against “attempts of destabilization by Russia.” 

In February, Moldova’s President Sandu accused Russia of planning to use “saboteurs who have undergone military training and are disguised as civilians” to destabilize the country — claims which were rejected by Russia’s foreign ministry as “unfounded.”  

According to White House officials, the US believes that Russia is working to weaken the Moldovan government, as it continues to seek closer ties with the European Union. 

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of any state is inviolable. This requirement of the Helsinki Final Act and other agreements under international law was also signed by Russia. And it is still valid. Therefore, we do our utmost to support Moldova in arming itself against attempts of destabilization by Russia,” Scholz said. 

Speaking at the same event, Sandu said that “it is very important, and I am happy that Moldova is a dialogue partner with Romania and Germany. The projects we are involved in together are very useful for our people and will strongly lead us to the accession (to the European Union).” 

CNN’s Radina Gigova, Anna Chernova and Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke during a press conference to present the next North Atlantic Council (NAC) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on April 3.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that the alliance has not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced late last month Moscow’s plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus.   

Stoltenberg described Putin’s announcement as a “pattern of dangerous, reckless nuclear rhetoric.”  

“President Putin tries to use nuclear weapons as a way to prevent us from supporting Ukraine… intimidation, coercion to stop NATO Allies and partners for supporting Ukraine in their right to defend their own country,” he said.   

NATO’s chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that Western allies have delivered more than $70 billion in military aid to Ukraine over the last year since the Russian invasion started.  

“We do not know when this war will end. But when it does, we will need to put in place arrangements so that Ukraine can deter future aggression. And history does not repeat itself. We cannot allow Russia to continue to chip away at European security,” he said. 

Stoltenberg added that allies have delivered 65 billion euros (around $70.7 billion) in military aid, and said he welcomed the recent arrival of modern battle tanks and other armored vehicles in Ukraine.  

“This can make a real difference on the front lines and allow the Ukrainian forces to liberate more territory,” he said.  

The NATO head affirmed that the alliance’s support is for the “long haul” and said, “we will discuss how we can step up our support, including by continuing to strengthen Ukraine’s armed forces and supporting the transition from Soviet-era to NATO equipment and doctrine.”   

Stoltenberg also said allies must address other threats and challenges, citing instability, terrorism, and the growing influence of Iran, Russia, and China. He urged allies to invest more in defense to tackle all these wide range of issues. 

Norway and Denmark will cooperate to donate 8,000 artillery rounds to Ukraine, the Norwegian government announced in a statement on Monday. 

“Norway donates the shells, while Denmark donates the associated fuzes, propellant bags and primer cartridges,” the statement said.   

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the announcement, saying in a tweet that he was grateful for the donation. 

The rounds will be “standard NATO 155 mm artillery ammunition and will supplement the Danish donation of 19 Caesar self-propelled howitzers,” Norway’s statement added. 

Norway’s artillery shells will be delivered from the country’s armed forces’ own stock, according to the statement. 

Norwegian defense minister Bjørn Arild Gram said “Ukraine has a significant need for artillery ammunition. Norway will contribute where we can. It is important for both Europe’s and Norway’s security that Ukraine succeeds in standing up to Russia’s attack.”  

“The Ukrainians still have a great and urgent need for ammunition for their fight for freedom against Russia. Denmark, together with other EU and NATO countries, is in the process of accommodating with a number of different military contributions. Our cooperation with Norway is an important example of this,” the Danish acting defense minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said in the statement. 

A Ukrainian tank is seen near the frontline area amid the Russia-Ukraine war, in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on April 02.

The Ukrainian military has reported little change to the front lines but heavy fire from Russian forces at various parts of the front line in the Donetsk region.

The General Staff said that more than 45 enemy attacks had been repelled over the past day, with the focus on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mariinka.

It said there were 17 air strikes and more than 20 strikes by multiple launch rocket systems.

“In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy is trying to take full control over the city of Bakhmut and continues to storm it,” the General Staff said.

West of the city, Ukrainian defense forces repelled about 20 enemy attacks, according to the General Staff.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, posted on Telegram that in Bakhmut he had met with “soldiers and commanders who destroyed the myth of invincibility of the Wagner fighters and Russian paratroopers.”

Syrskyi referenced the possibility of a future counter-offensive, saying that “the forward movement of our entire army depends on what every soldier is doing right now on their section of the front.”

Some of the most intense fighting is to the northwest and west of the city of Donetsk – as the Russians continue months-long efforts to dislodge Ukrainian defenses in Avdiivka and Mariinka. The General Staff said that some 20 assaults had been repelled.

“There are also some operational successes of our military in the Donetsk area. Our military have taken some positions. They have taken a more strategic and favourable position,” said Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, spokesperson for the military in that zone.

He also noted that Russian special forces had been introduced in the area.

“The enemy is trying to attack our positions between Avdiivka and Marinka. These attempts do not stop. It should be noted that the enemy has suffered quite significant losses,” Dmytrashkivskyi said.

He also claimed that the Russians “don’t have the same amount of equipment and, as they themselves say, they are on a ‘diet’ of ammunition for assaults.”

Social media video showed both sides engaged in heavy fire in the Avdiivka area, which the Russians have surrounded on three sides. 

Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed that Russian forces were still advancing in the Avdiivka direction. 

“It is still premature to speak of encirclement, but the situation is being created, if not critical, then extremely difficult for the enemy… After clearing Kamianka, our units are moving further. There are difficulties both with the terrain, which must also be overcome, and there are also similarities with weather conditions. But these difficulties are mutual — both for the enemy and for us,” Pushilin said.

Firefighters work at the site of a House of Culture hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine on August 18, 2022.

The war in Ukraine has cost an estimated $2.6 billion of damage to heritage and cultural sites in the country, the UN cultural body UNESCO said in a recently published report. 

The report, which covers one year of war in Ukraine between February 24, 2022, and February 24, 2023, was a joint assessment conducted by the Ukrainian government, the World Bank, the European Commission, and the United Nations.

UNESCO was in charge of the part of the report dedicated to culture and tourism.  

Some $1.7 billion of that cost was distributed to “historic cities, buildings, and sites imbued with recognized cultural/social values,” $650 million to tourism facilities, $143 million to “movable cultural properties and collections, repositories of culture,” and $150 million to “buildings/workshops/ateliers dedicated to cultural and creative industries,” according to UNESCO. 

The most impacted region in Ukraine was Kharkivska, which has suffered 30% of the total damage to its cultural assets, the report added. 

UNESCO said that losses are estimated at around $15.2 billion, which includes revenue losses from tourism, art, sports, entertainment, recreation, cultural education, and creative and cultural industries.  

UNESCO’s head Audrey Azoulay is currently in Ukraine, the organization told CNN on Monday. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attends a news conference before a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, on April 3.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said it will be historic when the military alliance raises the Finnish flag for the first time at its headquarters on Tuesday. 

“It will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security, and for NATO as a whole,” Stoltenberg added.

Finland is set to become a member of the alliance on Tuesday, with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö traveling to Brussels to attend an accession ceremony at NATO headquarters.

Stoltenberg also spoke about Sweden’s bid to join NATO, saying Finland’s accession is “in itself something we should celebrate” but is also good for Sweden. 

“It makes Sweden more integrated into NATO and makes Sweden even more safer,” Stoltenberg said, adding “at the same time we celebrate and enjoy that Finland is now full-fledged member, we should continue work to finalize the Swedish accession process.”

CNN’s Laurent Kent contributed to this report.

At least 501 children have been killed in Ukraine since February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, said Catherine Russell, executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“Another tragic milestone for Ukraine’s children and families,” Russell said in a tweet on Monday. 

Russell warned the real figure is “likely far higher” than the numbers verified by the UN agency.

Additionally, almost 1,000 Ukrainian children have been injured, “leaving them with wounds and scars - both visible and invisible - that could last for life,” she added.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's General Director Rafael Grossi addressing the media on the results of his visit to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Dnipro, Ukraine, on March 29.

The head of the United Nations nuclear agency, International Atomic Energy Agency, will travel to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad in the Baltics Wednesday to discuss the safety of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a spokesperson for the agency told CNN. 

“IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi will visit Kaliningrad on Wednesday as part of his ongoing consultations aimed at ensuring the protection of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during the military conflict,” the spokesperson said Monday.

The plant has been occupied by Russian forces since March of last year and is now run by the Russian atomic agency, Rosatom. 

The situation at the nuclear plant has not improved, according to the IAEA chief, who visited the facility last week and cited increased military activity in the area. 

Grossi during the visit said he was trying to formulate “realistic, viable proposals” that would be acceptable to both sides. 

Twelve Ukrainian prisoners have been returned home from captivity – 10 military and two civilians, Ukraine says.

Five of them were seriously wounded, according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

The soldiers were captured in various parts of the front lines, it added.

The Russian decision showed “a blatant lack of interest in establishing further exchanges for particularly vulnerable categories of prisoners and civilian hostages,” the headquarters said. 

Since the beginning of the invasion in February last year, 2,005 Ukrainians have been released from captivity, according to the headquarters.

Municipal workers clean an area near the site of an explosion at the "Street Bar" cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 3.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said Monday that he “gave” the St. Petersburg cafe, where an explosion killed Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky on Sunday, to the Cyber Front Z group, which hosted an event at the cafe. 

When asked to confirm whether he was the owner of the cafe, Prigozhin didn’t deny it, in comments published Monday by his holding company Concord on its VK social media page. 

“Indeed, I gave the cafe to the patriotic movement Cyber Front Z, and they held various seminars there,” Prigozhin said.

Russia’s independent news outlet Fontanka is reporting that the cafe belongs to Prigozhin, on the basis of the Concord company’s ownership mentioned on the cafe’s receipt. 

Prigozhin is the founder and sole owner of Concord, according to public records.

CNN has not been able to independently verify Prigozhin’s claims and whether he is the legal owner of the cafe.

In the same post, Prigozhin is also commenting on who may be behind the blast. 

“I do not know the details of the incident now, I was only informed that, unfortunately, Vladlen Tatarsky died. I don’t know about the rest of the details,” Prigozhin said.

“Most likely, this tragedy happened at the seminar. As for the death of Darya Dugina, yes, everything is similar,” he said referencing the death of the daughter of ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin, who was killed by a car bomb on the outskirts of Moscow last year. 

“But I would not blame the Kyiv regime for these actions. I think that there is a group of radicals that is hardly related to the government. That’s what I would call it,” Prigozhin said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declined to make any comment about the explosion that killed Russian military journalist Vladlen Tatarsky in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

Zelensky said while on a tour of the northern Chernihiv region, “About St. Petersburg. I’m not thinking what is going on in St. Petersburg, or in Moscow. They have to think. Russia have to think about their cities. I’m thinking about our country. And our cities.”

Russia has arrested an anti-war activist named Daria Trepova in connection with the explosion that killed Tatarsky and injured at least 32 others at a cafe on Sunday.

Trepova’s husband Dmitry Rylov told the independent Russian publication The Insider that he is convinced his wife “was really just set up and used.”

Some more context: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said Ukraine may be behind the explosion. “There is evidence that the Ukrainian special services may be involved in the planning of this terrorist attack,” Peskov said. However, no evidence has yet been presented about who carried out the bombing.

Ukraine has said little about the explosion, beyond blaming in-fighting in Russia.

Two independent organizations in Russia — the Libertarian party and Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation — have denied any association with Trepova.

Reporter for U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich in an undated handout image.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has filed an appeal against his arrest, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.

The agency cited the press service of the Lefortovo court in Moscow, where he was taken into custody last week.

“The court received a complaint from Gershkovich’s defense against the choice of a preventive measure in the form of detention,” TASS reported. 

No date for hearing the appeal has been set.

Gershkovich is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center at the notorious Lefortovo prison until May 29. He faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges. 

It is the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations by Moscow of spying since the Cold War.

Pope Francis has called for prayers for “the war-torn people” of Ukraine in a tweet on Monday, just days after he was discharged from a hospital after being treated for a respiratory infection.  

Here’s what he said: 

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force, speaks in a video message that was allegedly filmed near the city administration building in Bakhmut, Ukraine, in this still image from an undated video filmed through a night vision device and released on April 3.

Ukrainian officials have dismissed the claim made Sunday by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin that “in legal terms” Russian forces hold the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut.

Prigozhin made the claim while raising a Russian flag in Bakhmut in honor of the murdered military journalist Vladlen Tatarsky. He said the flag was being raised at the site of the council building. Video later surfaced of a flag being raised amid some rubble.

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told CNN that “all administrative buildings in Bakhmut have been destroyed. I don’t even know which one he was talking about.”

By contrast, the official said Ukrainian forces only raised the flag once enemy units are expelled and stabilization measures are undertaken. 

Cherevatyi said that a significant part of Bakhmut remains completely under the control of the Ukrainian defense forces, so this is “just more wishful thinking” on Prigozhin’s part. 

“We are able to deliver everything we need there, including ammunition, medicine, food, and to take the wounded out of there,” he told CNN, adding that “the situation is very difficult but under our control and there are no signs of a systemic breakthrough or any significant operational success.”

The Russians failed to surround Bakhmut and made no battlefield breakthroughs while still suffering heavy losses, Cherevatyi said.

“Over the past 24 hours alone, 154 occupiers were killed in the Bakhmut sector, primarily Wagner fighters, 144 were wounded, and one was taken prisoner,” the official said.

Chervatyi said that so far Wagner’s units continue to be the main Russian striking force in Bakhmut, but “because of significant losses, they are unable to act entirely on their own in this area today…We can see that airborne troops and motorized infantry units are being deployed.”

He said the Wagner chief tried to create the illusion of self-sufficiency, but had failed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke about the battlefield Monday, alluding to the expectation that Ukrainian forces might soon launch a counteroffensive.

NATO allies are “united in [their] determination to stay the course and support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference Monday.  

The secretary general warned that “any provision of lethal aid by China to Russia” would be a “major mistake,” but also highlighted that NATO has not seen any changes in Russia’s “nuclear posture” that requires any response from NATO.  

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press conference prior to the meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Brussels, Belgium, on April 3.

NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called for the “immediate release” of US national Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested in Russia on spying charges last Friday.

“I join the United States in their call on Russia to release the American journalist Evan Gershkovich,” Stoltenberg said in a news conference Monday. “His arrest is of concern. It is important to respect freedom of the press, the rights of journalists, and the rights to ask questions and to do their jobs. Therefore, we call on his immediate release.” 

Russian authorities detained Gershkovich last week and accused him of spying, signaling a significant ratcheting of both Moscow’s tensions with the United States and its campaign against foreign news media, which has been under intense pressure since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. The Wall Street Journal categorically rejected those allegations, saying in a statement that it “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter.”

Russia has arrested an anti-war activist named Daria Trepova in connection with the explosion which killed prominent blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and injured at least 32 others at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Finland is set to officially become a member of the NATO military alliance at an accession ceremony in Brussels on Tuesday.

Here are the latest developments:

Russia’s interior ministry released a short video of the female suspect who has been detained in connection with an explosion that killed a prominent Russian military blogger in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

In the video, a male voice asks the woman, identified by Russian authorities as Daria Trepova, if she understands why she has been detained.

She replies in the affirmative, and says she was detained for being at the scene of the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed in the bombing at the Street Food Bar No. 1 cafe in central St. Petersburg. 

Russian state media, quoting law-enforcement authorities and eyewitnesses, say an explosive device appeared to have been inside a figurine handed to Tatarsky by a woman at the cafe.

A male interrogator then asks Trepova what she did at the cafe. She replies that she brought the figurine, but declined to answer who gave it to her.

It is unclear whether Trepova was speaking under duress.

Human-rights advocates and international observers say Russian police routinely use torture and ill treatment to extract confessions. Russia’s security service uses coercion and entrapment to recruit informants among Russia’s opposition groups.

Footage allegedly showing Daria Trepova carrying a bulky box outside the cafe in St Petersburg, Russia, on April 2

The husband of the woman alleged to have carried out the bombing that killed a prominent Russian military journalist on Sunday has said he is convinced she was “set up.”

Dmitry Rylov told independent Russian publication The Insider that his wife had been detained at the apartment of a friend, who was also arrested.

“She was really just set up and used. Over the last day I contacted her, but I lost contact about four to five hours ago,” Rylov, who is not in Russia, told The Insider at the time of the interview.

Daria Trepova was detained on Monday in connection with the explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, which killed prominent military journalist Vladlen Tatarsky and injured at least 32 others.

Speaking of the event during which the explosion occurred, Rylov said: “All I knew was that Daria needed, either for some task, or for some reason, to give some gift, I didn’t even know what.”

“There is one very important point that she told me several times: She was sure that this thing would allow access to a person. That is, it was not something that should have exploded,” he said.

“Dasha [Daria], in principle, is not the kind of person who could kill anyone,” added Rylov.

“Daria said that she was set up, and I completely agree: No one expected this. As far as I know, it was necessary to hand over this figurine, in which there was something … We talked about this at least twice. Daria would not be able to do this,” he told The Insider.

The Kremlin has said Ukraine may be behind the murder of military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, describing the killing as a “terrorist attack.”

Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed in an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday. The incident left 32 people injured, state media reported.

“Judging by the NAC [National Anti-Terrorism Committee] statement, there is evidence that the Ukrainian special services may be involved in the planning of this terrorist attack,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call with reporters Monday.

No evidence has yet been presented about who carried out the cafe attack, but Russia’s state media RIA Novosti carried a statement Monday from the NAC saying that the explosion involved agents of the Ukrainian special services and associates of Navalny-founded Anti-Corruption Foundation. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also pointed the finger at Ukraine, without citing evidence.

Alexey Navalny’s longtime associate rejected accusations that the jailed opposition leader’s Anti-Corruption Foundation was involved with the explosion.

Ukraine has said little about the attack, beyond blaming in-fighting in Russia. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the President’s office, wrote on Twitter: “Spiders are eating each other in a jar. Question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time.”

Peskov wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the attack and sent condolences to Tatarsky’s family and friends.

Peskov said: “[This is] the regime that is behind the murder of Daria Dugina. This is the regime that is quite possibly behind the assassination of Fomin and the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg,” Peskov said. “That is why the special military operation is being carried out.” Moscow has repeatedly called its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation.”

Ukraine has denied allegations of involvement in the murder of Dugina, the daughter of influential ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin. She was killed in August by a bomb attached to the car she was driving near Moscow. Dugina knew Tatarsky and shared some of his outspoken, nationalistic views about the conflict. They moved in the same circles, and they had been photographed multiple times together.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö will travel to Brussels on Tuesday to attend an accession ceremony at NATO headquarters, officially marking the start of the country’s membership of the military alliance.

“Finland will deposit its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty with the US State Department in Brussels on Tuesday, 4 April, before the start of the meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The deposit will be made by Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto,” the presidency said in a statement Monday.

A flag-raising ceremony marking Finland’s accession to NATO will follow.

Niinistö and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will hold a bilateral meeting followed by a press conference and both are expected to deliver remarks at the ceremony. 

Finland submitted a joint application for NATO membership alongside Sweden shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

While Finland’s membership has been ratified by all member states, Sweden’s bid has been stalled due to opposition from Hungary and Turkey. 

Robert Habeck, center left, visits an electricity substation with Volodymyr Kudrytski, Chairman of the Board of Ukrenergo, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 3.

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck arrived in Kyiv on Monday, accompanied by a business delegation, to discuss rebuilding Ukraine from the war with Russia.

“The purpose of this trip is to give Ukraine a clear sign that we believe that it will be victorious, that it will be rebuilt, that there is an interest from Europe not only to support in times of need, but also that Ukraine will be an economically strong partner in the future,” Habeck told journalists upon arrival in Kyiv.

This is his first visit to Kyiv since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine over a year ago.

The alleged bomber, Daria Trepova.

Two independent organizations in Russia have denied any association with the woman alleged to have carried out the bombing in St. Petersburg that killed military journalist and blogger Vladlen Tatarsky on Sunday.

Daria Trepova, the alleged assailant, “has never been a member of our party,” said the Libertarian Party, a small political party in Russia, in a statement Monday. “According to our records, she has never been a supporter of the Libertarian Party either.”

Her husband, Dmitry Rylov, who is a party member, “has been abroad for a long time and, according to him, has nothing to do with Daria’s alleged actions and was not aware of them,” the organization added, condemning “aggressive violence against civilians.”

Separately, Alexey Navalny’s longtime associate rejected accusations that the jailed opposition leader’s Anti-Corruption Foundation was involved with the explosion.

Russia’s state media RIA Novosti carried a statement Monday from the National Anti Terrorism Committee, saying that the explosion involved agents of the Ukrainian special services and associates of Navalny-founded Anti-Corruption Foundation “of which the detained Daria Trepova is an active supporter.”

“This is a rather idiotic situation. To refute the fact that we did it is idiocy. Obviously, we are not involved in this,” Ivan Zhdanov said, adding that the accusation was an attempt to prolong Navalny’s jail term.

Zhdanov said that it seemed Russia needed “not only an external absolute enemy in the form of Ukraine, but also an internal one in the form of Navalny’s team.”

Ukraine has said little about the attack, beyond blaming in-fighting in Russia.

Russian police officers are seen at the site of an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 2.

Russia claims the explosion that killed military journalist Vladlen Tatarsky on Sunday involved agents of the Ukrainian special services and associates of the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

“The terrorist act committed on April 2 in St. Petersburg against the well-known journalist Vladlen Tatarsky was planned by the special services of Ukraine with the involvement of agents from among persons collaborating with the so-called Anti-Corruption Fund of Navalny, of which the detained Daria Trepova is an active supporter,” Russia’s National Anti Terrorism Committee (NAC) said Monday in a statement carried by state media outlet RIA Novosti.

Earlier Monday, the Russian interior ministry announced Trepova’s arrest in connection with the explosion, which injured at least 32 people.

Ukraine has said little about the attack, beyond blaming in-fighting in Russia. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian President’s office, wrote on Twitter on Sunday evening: “Spiders are eating each other in a jar. Question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time.”

Some context: Tatarsky was one of Russia’s most outspoken and ultranationalist military bloggers, known for his ardent pro-war commentary and occasional criticism of Moscow’s battlefront failures. 

His hardline views in support of the war were unremittingly hostile towards Ukraine, and made little distinction between civilian and military targets.

Tatarsky gained prominence after attending a Kremlin ceremony that marked the annexation of four Ukrainian regions — a move dismissed as illegal under international law by Ukraine and Western allies.

“I congratulate everyone, everyone who waited till this moment. We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone we need. Everything will be as we like,” he said in September.

A foreign citizen has been detained in St. Petersburg, Russia, for allegedly committing “indecent acts” against a 15-year-old girl, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reports, citing the Russian interior ministry press service.

Law enforcement authorities told TASS that the suspect is an American citizen, but did not provide a name.

CNN has reached out to the US State Department for comment but has not heard back.

“Journalists were informed of this on Sunday during a Russian Interior Ministry press service for St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast,” TASS said in its report.

“On April 2, 2023, a criminal investigation operative group was formed in light of operational and investigative measures taken to detain a foreign national born in 1986 on suspicion of committing the specified act at a residence on Central Street, 4A, Metallostroy, Kolpinsky district,” the Russian Interior Ministry Press service said, reports TASS.

“The mother of the assaulted girl approached them with a statement that an unknown man committed indecent acts against a child on a bus,” the press service said, according to TASS.

The investigating authorities opened a criminal case according to Part 1 of Article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Indecent acts).

The site of the explosion in the Ukrainian city of Melitopol on April 2.

A Russian-appointed official was injured in a car explosion in the Ukrainian city of Melitopol on Monday, the Ukrainian mayor of the city, Ivan Fedorov, said in a Telegram post. 

The injured person, Maksym Zubarev, is reportedly the head of the Russian-occupied Yakymivka community, located about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) southwest of Melitopol, Fedorov said. 

According to Ukraine’s Security Service, Zubarev was among the organizers of pseudo-referendums in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. 

In September, four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine staged votes on joining Russia. The polls, which are contrary to international law, paved the way for Russian annexation of the areas.

Some context: The occupied city of Melitopol is a hub for Russian forces nearly 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the front lines.

Last week, Ukrainian forces shelled the city causing power supply suspensions and damaging railway infrastructure.

Two Polish MiG 29 fighter jets take part in the NATO Air Shielding exercise near the air base in Lask, central Poland, on October 12.

Poland has already delivered “several” MiG-29 fighter aircraft to Ukraine, the Polish president’s foreign affairs adviser Marcin Przydacz said Monday during an interview with Polish radio RMF FM.

Poland announced it would send the aircraft, which were about to be decommissioned by the country’s air force, on March 16.

“When it comes to the MI-29 aircraft, which are still operating in the defense of Polish airspace, a decision has been taken at the highest levels, we can say confidently that we are sending MiGs to Ukraine,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the time.

“We have a dozen or so MiGs that we got in the ’90s handed down from the German Democratic Republic and they are functional and play a part in the defense of our airspace. They are at the end of their operational life but are still functional,” he added.

“We will replace them with deliveries of `south Korean FA-50s and American F-35s,” said Duda.

Ukraine has long pushed for deliveries of fighter jets from its allies. So far only Poland and Slovakia, which has promised to deliver 13 MiG-29 fighter jets, have answered that call.

Some context: Warsaw has taken the lead among NATO allies in supplying Kyiv with heavy weapons, and Poland had been one of the most vocal European nations against Russia – even before the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is still seen by many in Poland’s political and diplomatic circles in a Cold War context. Russian President Vladimir Putin has always been seen by Warsaw as untrustworthy and Russian expansion is something to be fought against at all costs.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Ukrainian military for defending the country during his nightly address on April 2.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Ukrainian military for defending the country, particularly Bakhmut, after fresh claims that the embattled eastern city had fallen to Russian forces.

“I am grateful to our warriors who are fighting near Avdiivka, Maryinka, near Bakhmut … Especially Bakhmut. It’s especially hot there today,” Zelensky said in his evening address Sunday, without elaborating further on the situation in Bakhmut. 

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed in a short video published Sunday that “in legal terms, Bakhmut has been taken. The enemy is concentrated in the western districts.”

In its operational update Sunday, the Ukrainian military said Russian forces continued to storm Bakhmut but Ukrainian forces were “bravely holding the city and repelling numerous enemy attacks.”

There is no independent evidence to suggest that Wagner now holds Bakhmut. However, its fighters are inside the city limits, as they have been for several weeks.

Some background: On March 28, the Commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that their main task in Bakhmut was to “deplete the enemy’s overwhelming forces and inflict heavy losses on it.”

“We are now at a time when the enemy, trying to capture Bakhmut, has thrown all its best units in to achieve victory,” said Syrskyi. 

“Our task is to destroy as many enemies as possible and create the conditions for us to launch an offensive.”

Darya Trepova has been detained in connection with the bombing.

A suspect has been detained in connection with the explosion that killed ultranationalist military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday, the Investigative Committee of Russia has said.

Earlier, Daria Trepova had been added to a Russian wanted list as a suspect in connection with the explosion, which injured at least 32 people, state media reported.

Russian blogger Vladlen Tatarsky speaks during a party in front of projection of an image of him, before an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 2.

Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed in an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday, was one of Russia’s most outspoken and ultranationalist military bloggers, known for his ardent pro-war commentary and occasional criticism of Moscow’s battlefront failures. 

His hardline views in support of the war were unremittingly hostile towards Ukraine, and made little distinction between civilian and military targets. At one point, he wrote: “At least a little distracted from constantly thinking how can we quickly kill all the enemies.”

He made perhaps his most infamous remark last September from inside the Kremlin, as the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions was sealed.

Tatarsky’s real name was Maxim Fomin, but he borrowed his alias from the protagonist of the novel “Generation ‘P,” by Russian author Victor Pelevin. 

The character is a failed poet who becomes an ad writer. The novel is set in the early years of Boris Yeltsin’s time as Russian leader and is meant to be a criticism on the corruption and consumerism of the era. 

While an enthusiastic supporter of the Russian invasion, Tatarsky was among a small but influential group of military bloggers sometimes critical of the way the campaign was conducted. Tatarsky later told CNN that he was not criticizing the entirety of what the Kremlin continues to call Russia’s “special military operation” but “individual episodes,” and he still believed Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine.

Read more about Tatarsky here.

Russia’s Interior Ministry has added a woman to a wanted list as a suspect in connection with Sunday’s St. Petersburg blast.

The woman, identified as Daria Trepova, is wanted “in the murder of military war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky,” the ministry said in a release which included her mug shots.

Russian media reports previously suggested that Tatarsky may have been killed by a device hidden in a figurine presented to him by a woman before the blast.

Russian state news media, citing law enforcement agencies and eyewitness accounts, said the woman was attending the event at which Tatarsky was speaking.

Russian authorities have not yet commented on the reports and CNN is not able to independently verify the claim. 

Who is Daria Trepova?: TASS also reports that Trepova was arrested for participating in a rally when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.  

Court records confirm that Trepova was arrested on March 9, 2022 for “Participation of mass simultaneous stay and (or) movement of citizens in public places, resulting in violation of public order,” and sentenced to 10 days in prison. 

According to TASS, law enforcement officers searched Trepova’s place of residence in St. Petersburg on Sunday night, where her sister and mother were also questioned. 

The Libertarian Party of Russia said that while Trepova’s husband Dmitry Rylov was a member of the organization, Trepova had no association with it.

“Daria Trepova was never a member of our political party. Furthermore, we have no information suggesting that she has ever supported the Libertarian Party,” the party said in a statement on Telegram.  

According to the party, Rylov has been residing abroad and claims no involvement in the incident. “He was also unaware of her alleged involvement,” the statement read. 

Trepova was born in February 1997 and lives in St. Petersburg. 

Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for the Economy and Climate Protection, arrives at the railroad station in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 3.

Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday.

Habeck is being accompanied by a business delegation. 

This is the vice chancellor’s first visit to Kyiv since the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Some context: Modern Germany has been reluctant to become involved in international conflicts against the backdrop of post-WWII demilitarization, but the country has adopted an evolving approach to security and military policy in the wake of Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

After months of hesitation, the German government announced in January that it would answer Kyiv’s calls for the high-tech Leopard 2 tanks.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit Poland on April 5, according to a Polish presidential adviser.

Marcin Przydacz, the Polish President’s foreign affairs adviser, made the announcement during an interview with Polish radio RMF FM on Monday.

Poland has been one of the most vocal European nations against Russia – even before the invasion of Ukraine. Warsaw has also taken a lead among NATO allies in supplying Kyiv with heavy weapons.

A man lays flowers near the site of an explosion in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 2.

The number of those injured in an explosion at a St. Petersburg café on Sunday has risen to 32, according to Russian state media Ria Novosti, citing the Russian Ministry of Health.

Previously, officials had reported the number of injured was 30.

Among those wounded, ten are in a serious condition, state media reports.

Some context: The explosion killed Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, according to Russian state news agency TASS and local authorities. Tatarsky died when the blast tore through the cafe where he was appearing as a guest of a pro-war group called Cyber Front Z, which was hosting a regular event. Authorities said they were treating the case as suspected murder.

Members of the Ministry of the Russian Federation stand at the side of an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia on April 2.

A well-known Russian military blogger was killed in an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday, officials said, in what appeared to be an audacious attack on a high-profile pro-Kremlin figure.

Here’s what you need to know.

Prominent Russian military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, is see in this undated picture.

The head of Russia’s Wagner private military group said they raised a Russian flag over the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Sunday in memory of Vladlen Tatarsky, a prominent Russian military blogger who died Sunday following an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg.

The video was purportedly from Bakhmut, but CNN could not immediately confirm the location where Prigozhin recorded the message, holding a flag that was indistinct in the darkness.

In the short video Prigozhin also claimed, “In legal terms, Bakhmut has been taken.”

“The enemy is concentrated in the western districts,” he added.

The Ukrainian military pushed back on those claims in its Sunday operational note, saying that “the enemy continues to storm Bakhmut. However, our defenders are bravely holding the city and repelling numerous enemy attacks.”

There is no independent evidence to suggest that Wagner now holds Bakhmut, but its fighters are inside the city limits, as they have been for several weeks.

An explosion at a St. Petersburg cafe on Sunday wounded at least 30 people and resulted in the death of prominent Russian military blogger Vladlen Tartarsky, Russian state media reported. Little is yet known about the blast, but officials in both Moscow and Kyiv have their own theories about the motivation behind the attack.

If you’re just now catching up, here’s what else you should know:

Russian forces take security measures at the explosion site in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, on April 02.

The number of people wounded in Sunday’s explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, has increased to 30.

Russian police investigators inspect the site of an explosion in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on April 2.

No official evidence has yet been presented about who carried out the deadly attack at a St. Petersburg cafe Sunday, but officials in both Russia and Ukraine have already suggested they know who was behind the attack.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said it was an example of growing threats against Russian journalists on the part of the Ukrainian government. She claimed Russians face “threats of reprisal from the Kyiv regime.”

Zakharova decried Western countries and international organizations, who she said had not expressed “elementary human sympathy” since Tatarsky’s death. And she said the blogger had provided invaluable information about what was happening in Ukraine, making him “dangerous” and “hated” in Kyiv.

(Zakharova’s claims come days after American journalist Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia on espionage charges, which the US and his employer — the Wall Street Journal — have dismissed as false.)

A Ukrainian presidential official, meanwhile, suggested the killing was due to in-fighting in Russia.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, wrote on Twitter: “Spiders are eating each other in a jar. Question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time.”

A well-known Russian military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday, authorities said.

There are several prominent bloggers like Tatarsky who cover Russia’s war in Ukraine for followers on online platforms like Telegram. Some have amassed followings of hundreds of thousands of people.

While Tatarsky was ardently pro-war, he also issued criticism of setbacks in Moscow’s campaign — a fairly rare phenomenon in the Russian public sphere.

Background and combat experience: Tatarsky’s real name was Maxim Fomin.

In 2014, Tatarsky took part in fighting alongside Russian forces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, according to Russian state news agency Vesti, citing public sources, when Putin’s fighters first invaded the country.

Tatarsky created his Telegram channel in 2019, naming it in honor of the protagonist of Victor Pelevin’s novel “Generation ‘P,’” according to Vesti. He went on to write several books.

Tatarsky supported the war in Ukraine. He gained popularity online by providing analysis and commentary during Russia’s invasion.

Rare criticism: Tatarsky had more than half a million followers on Telegram, and while he was aggressively pro-war, he was sometimes critical of Russian setbacks in Ukraine.

Public criticism of Moscow’s war is uncommon in Russia.

In May last year, he told CNN that he was not criticizing the overall operation, rather “individual episodes,” and that he still believed Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, he called for broad change in response to the halting progress of Moscow’s invasion.

“All the areas need to be improved,” he said. “Each war reveals some drawbacks, shortcomings, or false experiences, experiences that need to be adjusted to the modern realities. So absolutely all spheres need reform.”

Tatarsky gained prominence after attending a Kremlin ceremony that marked the annexation of four Ukrainian regions (a move dismissed as illegal under international law by Ukraine and Western allies).

Sunday marked the first anniversary for Ukraine’s Kyiv region of expelling Russian forces from its various cities and towns, officials there said in a Telegram post.

The Kyiv region, surrounding Ukraine’s capital city, was one of the first areas to take the brunt of Russia’s invasion in 2022.

“The enemy was coming to the Ukrainian capital from the north, bringing death and destruction,” the Kyiv region’s military administration said. 

Fighting lasted more than a month, and fifteen communities across several districts in the region were occupied by Russian forces.

“The liberation of Kyiv Region became a symbol that Ukraine will be able to win this war,” the regional administration said.

“We liberated the north of the country - let’s liberate all of Ukraine,” it added. 

More background: Kyiv region has seen some of the worst atrocities committed by Russian forces since the start of the war. The town of Bucha, which was under Russian occupation for 33 days, has become a symbol of the most horrific crimes committed against the civilian population.

More than 1,400 deaths, including 37 children, have been documented in Bucha, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday, when the town marked its own liberation from Russian occupation last year.

“We will never forgive. We will punish every perpetrator,” he said.

Six people have died and at least eight have been injured as a result of Russian shelling in the town of Kostiantynivka Sunday morning, according to Andrii Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office. 

“The enemy made two strikes with S-300 and fired four salvo with Uragan multiple launch rocket system,” Yermak said.

Sixteen apartment buildings, eight private houses, a kindergarten, the local state tax inspection building, gas pipes and three cars were damaged, he said. 

“Multi-storey buildings and private residential houses were heavily damaged,” Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk region military administration, said.

At least five other people have been injured in the Donetsk region Sunday morning: three people in Toretsk and two in Bakhmut, Kyrylenko also said.

Some context: The worst of the fighting on the ground is focused in eastern Ukraine after Russia failed to make major gains elsewhere.

Authorities in the eastern town of Avdiivka said this week that it is being “wiped off the face of the earth” as it comes under “almost non-stop” fire.

Avdiivka is located about 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of the city of Donetsk.

Fighting has also centered around the eastern city of Bakhmut, where Russian forces are said to be depleted and a Ukrainian counteroffensive could soon be launched.