Intel: Russian spy tried to get into court probing war crimes
A Russian military spy posed as a Brazilian national in an attempt to get an internship at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, which is investigating war crimes allegations in Ukraine, the Dutch intelligence service said Thursday.
The General Intelligence and Security Service named the Russian intelligence officer as Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov and said that in April he used an elaborately constructed identity to try to infiltrate the court.
Writing under the alias Viktor Muller Ferreira, he spun a complex cover tale about growing up in poverty in Brazil and how members of his family suffered from heart problems.
Cherkasov was detained at a Dutch airport and deported to Brazil, where he could face court proceedings.
“If the intelligence officer had succeeded in gaining access as an intern to the ICC, he would have been able to gather intelligence there and to look for (or recruit) sources, and arrange to have access to the ICC’s digital systems,” the service said in a statement.
There was no immediate reaction from Moscow.
Ukraine defense minister: Russia expected Kyiv to fall in half day
The Russian military expected Kyiv to surrender within 12 hours of the Feb. 24 invasion and the government to flee the capital within days, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Thursday.
A document found on a Russian military officer killed in the invasion stated the Russian military objectives, Reznikov told CNN. The Kremlin expected the government would remain in the city less than three days, Reznikov said.
“Our partners in the different capitals of the world also were naive,” he said. “They told us that invasion was imminent, and you will fall. You only have 72 hours. That’s why they didn’t give us heavy weaponry.”
When the invasion stalled, the Kremlin turned its attention to eastern Ukraine.
Alabama vet feared captured in Ukraine has ‘such a big heart’
Family members of two U.S. military veterans from Alabama who are missing and feared to have been captured say the men haven’t been heard from in days. Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, of Trinity, Alabama, and Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, went to Ukraine to help beat back the invasion, family members said.
Going there was “not a decision he made lightly,” Huynh’s fiancee, Joy Black, told USA TODAY. “He’s got such a big heart and a lot of compassion for people in need.”
Huynh told her on June 8 that he would be unavailable for a few days. Black, 21, told USA TODAY she began to worry when she didn’t heard from him. She received a call on Monday from another soldier in his unit, saying the pair hadn’t met up at a rendezvous point during an operation. The caller told them other soldiers waited a day and conducted a drone search.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked about the men Thursday, said “we are working very hard to learn more.”
European leaders in Ukraine offer support
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Premier Mario Draghi arrived in Ukraine on Thursday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. They were joined by President Klaus Iohannis of Romania. The four European leaders pledged to continue supporting Ukraine with more weapons as it tries to repel the Russian invasion, and also vowed to get behind Kyiv’s candidacy to eventually join the EU.
“My colleagues and I have come here to Kyiv today with a clear message: Ukraine belongs to the European family,” Scholz said.