Shelling hits eastern Ukraine as Kremlin denies role in US journalist’s arrest

Russian shelling killed and injured civilians in eastern Ukraine as Moscow denied that the Kremlin had approved the arrest of US journalist Evan Gershkovich on spying charges but made clear that he had little hope of being released soon.

Heavy fighting rumbled on for the ruined city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s partly occupied Donetsk region, and relations between Moscow and the West continued to crumble as Norway expelled 15 Russian diplomats on suspicion of conducting espionage.

Ukrainian officials said on Thursday morning that a total of four civilians had been killed and five injured in Russian shelling of the Kherson, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions over the previous 24 hours. Later in the day, Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin said another two civilians had been killed in fresh Russian bombing of the province.

Russian shells and rockets continue to hit Ukrainian towns and cities near the front line every day, but the intensity of air and artillery strikes has diminished somewhat in recent weeks as the opposing armies prepare for spring offensives.

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Both sides report relentless fighting for Bakhmut, a road and rail junction that has been devastated by months of battle, but Ukraine again denied Russia’s claims that its troops and mercenaries had all but encircled the city and controlled its central districts.

[ Ukraine war: Inside the bloody battle for Bakhmut ]

Two weeks after Russia’s FSB security service detained Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich on spying charges in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, Moscow officials played down US hopes that he could be freed in a prisoner swap.

“The question of exchanging someone can be considered only after the court delivers its verdict on a specific charge,” said Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov. Espionage cases can drag on for well over a year in Russia.

“As for an exchange, we have a special channel for this, the security services deal with it, and they will continue to deal with this matter,” he added.

US president Joe Biden spoke to the parents of Mr Gershkovich (31) this week and described his arrest as “totally illegal”. Washington says Moscow is breaking international law by denying the journalist access to US consular officials since his detention.

Russia has not made public any evidence for the spying charge and the Wall Street Journal has described it as a sham.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claims Mr Gershkovich was caught “red-handed”, however, and denied reports in some western media that his arrest had been personally approved by President Vladimir Putin. “This is not the prerogative of the president, it is the special services that handle this, they are doing their work,” Mr Peskov said.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched last February, has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and destroyed most of what remained of Moscow’s diplomatic and economic relations with the West.

Norway’s foreign minister Anniken Huitfeldt announced on Thursday that it was expelling 15 Russian intelligence officers who “have been engaging in activities that are not compatible with their diplomatic status”.

“Russia currently poses the greatest intelligence threat to Norway. We take this very seriously, and are now implementing measures to counter Russian intelligence activities in our country. We will not allow Russian intelligence officers to operate under diplomatic cover in Norway,” she added.

As Kyiv presses allies to accelerate deliveries of heavy and high-tech weapons, Germany approved a request from Poland to give five of its Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to the Ukrainian air force. The planes – which were originally operated by communist East Germany - were transferred to the Polish military some years after German reunification.