WORLD

The United States has provided intelligence that has helped Ukrainian forces kill many of the Russian generals who have died in the Ukraine war, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing senior U.S. officials.

Washington has provided to Ukraine details on Russia's expected troop movements and the location and other details about Russia's mobile military headquarters, and Ukraine has combined that help with its own intelligence to conduct artillery strikes and other attacks that have killed Russian officers, the newspaper said.

The targeting help is part of a classified effort by the Biden administration to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine, the newspaper said.

The European Union's top official on Wednesday called on the 27-nation bloc to ban oil imports from Russia and target the country's biggest bank and major broadcasters in a sixth package of sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, proposed having EU member nations phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year.

“We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion, in a way that allows us and our partners to secure alternative supply routes and minimizes the impact on global markets,” von der Leyen said.

The European Union is gearing up to propose a full Russian oil embargo, but Hungary has threatened to block it.

"Since decisions require unanimity, it makes no sense for the commission to propose sanctions affecting natural gas and crude oil that would restrict Hungarian procurements," Cabinet Minister Gergely Gulyas told media.

The EU could propose on Tuesday a Russian oil embargo that would be phased in over the coming months, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg reported that the EU's ban on Russian oil could come by the end of the year, and begin gradual restrictions until that point.

USA’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has appointed Nand Mulchandani as its first-ever Chief Technology Officer (CTO). With more than 25 years’ experience working in Silicon Valley as well as the Department of Defense (DoD), Mr Mulchandani brings substantial private sector, startup, and government expertise to CIA, the agency said in its press release.

Nand Mulchandani has been educated at some of the most prestigious institutes in the world – he holds a degree in Computer Science and Math from Cornell, a Master of Science degree in Management from Stanford, and a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard. Before he moved to the US for higher education, Mulchandani completed his schooling from Delhi’s Bluebells School International.

Russian troops appear to be learning from their mistakes and are making more progress in eastern Ukraine, but still face several logistical problems, the US Department of Defense said in a news brief Thursday, citing a senior Pentagon official.

The official, who was not named, said 92 Russian battalion tactical groups are currently operating in the eastern Donbas region.

Russian forces recently launched a new offensive in the area after being unable to capture Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

Since their arrival in Donbas earlier this month, the troops have made "slow and uneven" progress, the Pentagon official said, adding that they are nowhere near seizing an overall advantage over Ukraine.