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The Kremlin rejected U.S. claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misled by his advisers about Russia's failures on the battlefield.
In a daily news briefing on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "neither the State Department nor the Pentagon have real information about what is happening in the Kremlin."
"They just don’t understand what’s going on in the Kremlin," he said, warning that "such a complete misunderstanding leads to erroneous and rash decisions that cause very bad consequences."
It comes after declassified U.S. intelligence claimed that Putin's senior advisers have been "too afraid to tell him the truth" about the situation on the ground.
The Biden administration announced a plan to release around 1 million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for as long as six months.
In Ukraine, an evacuation convoy of 17 buses was able to leave the besieged port city of Mariupol Thursday morning, according to its city council, with further evacuations anticipated for Friday. Meanwhile, the Pentagon said it had seen Russian forces near Kyiv move north or into Belarus, with both the U.S. and U.K. saying it appeared troops were looking to resupply and reorganize.
Zelenskyy strips 2 generals of rank for violating 'oath of allegiance'
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has stripped two generals of their military rank.
Zelenskyy said “something prevented them from determining where their homeland was” and they “violated their military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people.”
According to Zelenskyy, one of the generals had headed internal security at the SBU, the main intelligence agency.
He said the other general had been the SBU head in the Kherson region, the first major city to fall to the Russians.
Zelenskyy didn’t say anything about the fates of the two generals other than them being stripped of their rank.
UK: Russia redeploying troops from Georgia to reinforce Ukraine
The British defense ministry says that Russia is redeploying elements of its forces from Georgia in order to reinforce its attack and invasion of Ukraine. In an intelligence update Thursday, the U.K. put the number between 1,200 and 2,000.
"It is highly unlikely that Russia planned to generate reinforcements in this manner, and it is indicative of the unexpected losses it has sustained during the invasion," the British defense ministry said in the update.
Georgia, once a Soviet republic, is an independent nation but two regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, are breakaway territories that are not recognized as independent states by most of the world.
The British defense ministry did not specify a region in Georgia in its update about redeployment.
IAEA seeking more information about claims of Russian radiation exposure
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it is seeking more information about claims that Russian forces were exposed to radiation while occupying the Chernobyl nuclear site.
Ukraine's national operator of nuclear power plants said Thursday that Russian forces were withdrawing from Chernobyl and the satellite city of Slavutych, which they captured early in the invasion.
Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian troops who dug trenches in the forest were exposed to radiation, The Associated Press reported.
"The IAEA has not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces receiving high doses of radiation while being in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone," the international agency said. "The IAEA is seeking further information in order to provide an independent assessment of the situation."
Chernobyl, north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and near the border with Belarus, is the site of the deadly 1986 nuclear disaster. The damaged reactor is surrounded by a large exclusion zone.
Red Cross moving to facilitate evacuation from besieged Mariupol
The International Committee of the Red Cross was traveling to help facilitate the evacuation of residents out of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the aid organization said Thursday.
Russia's defense ministry said Thursday that it would open a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia for the evacuation of residents and foreigners.
The situation in Mariupol has been described as dire, with around 150,000 residents remaining in shelters from bombardment with little food or water. Russian forces have blockaded the city for weeks.
An evacuation convoy of 17 buses was able to leave Mariupol on Thursday, the City Council said. Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of shelling and attacking humanitarian corridors to Mariupol in the past.
Control of the city is contested, with Ukrainian forces fighting inside the city, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
The Red Cross said it is also bringing badly needed supplies, including medicine. "It's desperately important that this operation takes place. The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it," it said.
Russian forces stole 14 tons of food and medicine intended for Ukrainian civilians Thursday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
U.S. official: Russia has fired more than 1,400 missiles at Ukraine
More than 1,400 missiles have been fired against Ukraine since Russia attacked last month, and the number of Russian airstrikes has increased despite talk of de-escalation, a U.S. defense official said Thursday.
"Despite the rhetoric of de-escalations, we're still observing artillery fire and airstrikes in and around Kyiv," the senior Defense Department official said at a briefing.
Some Russian forces have been seen moving from Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, but there has not been a "wholesale movement, at least not at this point," the U.S. official said. The official estimated that the number 20 percent of the Russian forces arrayed just against Kyiv.
Russia's deputy defense minister said this week that a decision was made to reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv areas. U.S. officials have expressed skepticism about the claim.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby has said those troops have not been sent home and that the assessment is they will be resupplied and used elsewhere in Ukraine.
Russia seizes 14 tons of food and medicine, Ukrainian deputy prime minister says
Russian forces continue to stymie humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
In a message posted Thursday on Telegram, Vereshchuk said Russian troops took 14 tons of food and medicine intended for Ukrainian civilians.
The Russian military also blocked 45 buses Ukrainian officials sent into Berdyansk. About 600 people must wait until Friday morning to leave for Zaporizhzhia, Vereshchuk said. More than 30 buses remain at the entrance to Berdyansk until then.
Nearly 1,460 people were able to reach Zaporizhzhia on Thursday using three humanitarian corridors, she added. The majority are from Mariupol and cities in the Zaporizhzhia region.
