News round-up, April, 11, 2023
Quote of the day…
…”An unexpected and ill-timed —Black Swan— puts the Pentagon in a major bind.
Germán & CoMost read…
U.S. in crisis mode with allies after Ukraine intel leak
Officials in London, Brussels, Berlin, Dubai and Kyiv questioned Washington about how the information ended up online.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said in a statement that the administration has assembled an interagency team “focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents could have on U.S. national security and on our allies and partners.”
REUTERS By ERIN BANCO and ALEXANDER WARD, 04/10/2023 Egypt secretly planned to supply rockets to Russia, leaked U.S. document says
President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi in February planned to produce 40,000 rockets for Russia and instructed officials to keep production and shipment secret ‘to avoid problems with the West’
The Washington Post by Evan Hill, Missy Ryan, Siobhán O'Grady and Samuel Oakford, April 10, 2023Exxon Deal Hunt Signals Possible Shale M&A Wave
Drillers are flush with cash, and their concerns about inventories and high costs are seen leading to deals
WSJ by Benoît MorenneFollow and Collin EatonFollow, April 11, 2023Exclusive: Russia starts fuel supplies to Iran by rail -sources
Russia and Iran are subject to Western sanctions; as a result, they are developing closer connections to support their economies and thwart the sanctions, which both Moscow and Tehran view as unjustifiable.
Reuters, editing by Germán & CoMexican Government to Buy Power Plants From Spain’s Iberdrola
Acquisition will increase the state-owned utility’s share of the country’s electricity generation to 55%
Iberdrola said it would continue to develop renewable energy in Mexico with the backing of the Mexican government.
TWP by Anthony Harrup, April 4, 2023 Ukraine cities pounded, US scrambles to find source of leaked documents
“This could be the result of the leak of classified material from the US…
REUTERS By Pavel Polityuk, NOW
“We’re living in a volatile world…
it’s easy to get distracted by things like changeable commodity prices or a shortage of solar panels. But this wouldn’t be true to our purpose – we can’t allow ourselves to lose sight of our end goal; said Andres Gluski, CEO of energy and utility AES Corp
Today's events
〰️
Today's events 〰️
U.S. in crisis mode with allies after Ukraine intel leak
Officials in London, Brussels, Berlin, Dubai and Kyiv questioned Washington about how the information ended up online.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said in a statement that the administration has assembled an interagency team “focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents could have on U.S. national security and on our allies and partners.”
REUTERS By ERIN BANCO and ALEXANDER WARD, 04/10/2023 Editing by Germán & CoSenior U.S. officials are racing to placate frustrated and confused allies from Europe to the Middle East to Kyiv following the leak of highly classified information about the war in Ukraine and other global issues.
After the news of the leak broke last week, senior intelligence, State Department and Pentagon officials reached out to their counterparts to quell worries about the publishing of the intel, according to four officials — an American, two European and one Five Eyes member — familiar with those conversations.
One said that members of the Five Eyes — the intelligence consortium of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand — have asked for briefings from Washington but have yet to receive a substantive response. Inquiries have been sent separately to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Meanwhile, officials in London, Brussels, Berlin, Dubai and Kyiv questioned Washington about how the information ended up online, who was responsible for the leak and what the U.S. was doing to ensure the information was removed from social media. They also questioned whether the Biden administration was taking steps to limit the distribution of future intelligence. As of Monday morning, U.S. officials had told allies the administration was investigating and that they were still trying to understand the full scope of the leak, the European officials said.
Kirby: ‘We don’t know’ if Ukraine document leak is contained
Ukraine has long worried about information it shares with the U.S. spilling out into the open. “This case showed that the Ukrainians have been absolutely right about that,” said one of the European officials, who like others was granted anonymity to speak about the sensitive leak. “Americans now owe the Ukrainians. They have to apologize and compensate.”
The saga has left the U.S. relationship with its allies in a state of crisis, raising questions about how Washington will correct what officials worldwide view as one of the largest public breaches of U.S. intelligence since WikiLeaks dumped millions of sensitive documents online from 2006 to 2021.
The distress over the leak is particularly problematic because the majority of the documents focus on the war in Ukraine — an effort the U.S. has repeatedly said hinges on collaboration among allies in NATO, Europe and elsewhere.
“The manner of the leak and the contents are very unusual,” said a former U.S. intelligence analyst who focused on Russia. “I can’t remember a time when there was this volume of a leak and this broad of a subject matter of authentic information that was just put on social media rather than say, the Snowden files, that went through a group of journalists first.”
The Pentagon, CIA, ODNI, and FBI declined to comment.
More than 100 U.S. intelligence documents were posted on Discord, a secure messaging app, as early as March 2 and contained sensitive, classified information about the war in Ukraine, Russian military activity, China and the Middle East. The photographed papers, which appeared to have been folded over and then smoothed out, contained top secret information, including from the Central Intelligence Agency.
POLITICO’s review of the documents shows some that appear to have been assembled into a briefing packet by the Joint Staff’s intelligence arm, known as J2, with summaries of global matters pulled from various U.S. intelligence systems. Some of the documents contain markings in the corners that correspond with specific wires with information that appear to be compiled in summary form — a practice often used by individuals inside the government to prepare briefing packets, the former U.S. intelligence analyst said.
It’s still unclear the extent to which the documents have been altered — and by whom. The documents posted in March do not appear to show any glaring alterations, but when some of those were reposted on Discord in April, at least one paper appears to have been altered to show significantly inflated Ukrainian death tolls.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said in a statement Sunday that the administration has assembled an interagency team “focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents could have on U.S. national security and on our allies and partners.” She confirmed that U.S. officials had engaged with “allies and partners” across the globe, adding that the department was still assessing the “validity” of the documents posted to social media.
It’s unclear who from the Biden administration is involved in that interagency effort. The senior U.S. official said only the highest levels of government were in discussions about how to manage the leak. Even those senior officials who work on Ukraine and Russia policy and on portfolios that pertain to countries mentioned in the documents did not know as of Sunday how the administration would respond.
“I have no idea what the plan is,” another senior U.S. official said. “I’d like to know myself how we’re going to handle.”
Meanwhile, in Kyiv where military leaders are busy preparing for a spring counteroffensive, senior officials blamed Russia for the leak and characterized it as a disinformation campaign.
“It is very important to remember that in recent decades, the most successful operations of the Russian special services have been carried out in Photoshop,” Andriy Yusov, the representative of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Main Directorate, said on Friday — adding that a preliminary analysis of the documents showed “distorted figures” on losses suffered by both Russia and Ukraine.
A senior Ukrainian lawmaker said the leak was “not seen as a big issue here.”
But elsewhere in Ukraine in the senior national security ranks, officials were angered by the leak, according to one of the European officials. While the documents are dated and likely have no immediate impact on the country’s battlefield operations, the publishing of the information was viewed internally as an embarrassment and potential long-term security problem for Ukraine’s military commanders.
It’s unclear the extent to which the U.S. will alter its intelligence sharing on the Ukraine war in the days and weeks ahead.
The U.S. has made it a habit of sharing intelligence with Ukraine and European allies since 2022. In the months leading up to the war, the U.S. intelligence community shared information with allies to build a coalition of support for Kyiv and to prepare targeted sanctions on Russian government entities and businesses. Senior U.S. officials have heralded that strategy as a major success — one that allowed the U.S., its allies in Europe and in Kyiv to better prepare for the eventual Russian assault.
Veronika Melkozerova contributed to this report.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi enter a hall during their meeting in Sochi, Russia, on Oct. 17, 2018. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)Egypt secretly planned to supply rockets to Russia, leaked U.S. document says
President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi in February planned to produce 40,000 rockets for Russia and instructed officials to keep production and shipment secret ‘to avoid problems with the West’
The Washington Post by Evan Hill, Missy Ryan, Siobhán O'Grady and Samuel Oakford, April 10, 2023President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi of Egypt, one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East and a major recipient of U.S. aid, recently ordered subordinates to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be covertly shipped to Russia, according to a leaked U.S. intelligence document.
A portion of a top secret document, dated Feb. 17, summarizes purported conversations between Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials and also references plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder. In the document, Sisi instructs the officials to keep the production and shipment of the rockets secret “to avoid problems with the West.”
The Washington Post obtained the document from a trove of images of classified files posted in February and March on Discord, a chat app popular with gamers. The document has not been previously reported.
What to know about the Pentagon leak
Dozens of highly classified U.S. military and intelligence documents have been leaked online, revealing a detailed picture of the war in Ukraine, as well as analysis and sensitive information on Russia and other countries — from classified sources. The leak has far-reaching implications for the United States and its allies. Here’s what we know.
Where did they come from?
The top-secret documents appear to be — at least partly — from the Pentagon. Many seem to have been prepared for Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior military officials, though hundreds of others may have had access. The files include reports from across the U.S. intelligence community, including from the CIA, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, FISA court warrants and more.
What do the leaked documents reveal about Ukraine?
The documents contain assessments of the progress of war in Ukraine, including precise battlefield tactical information. They reveal profound concerns about Ukraine’s readiness to withstand a Russian offensive, but also show the extent to which the United States has infiltrated the Russian military, allowing the administration to warn Ukraine about upcoming attacks.
What else do they show?
The files include summaries of human intelligence on high-level conversations between world leaders, as well as information about advanced satellite technology the United States uses to spy. They also include intelligence on both allies and adversaries, including Iran and North Korea, as well as Britain, Canada, South Korea and Israel.
Who leaked the documents?
We don’t know who leaked the documents or why, but the Justice Department has said it is investigating the leak. The documents initially appeared in early March on a now-shuttered Discord server; then several of the images were posted on Twitter. Some versions appear later to have been digitally manipulated to inflate Russian military strength.
What happens now?
In addition to the Justice Department investigation, officials in several countries said they were assessing the damage from the leaks.
The disclosure comes as Russia is fighting a war with Ukraine, in which both sides are seeking resupply of depleted arsenals.
In response to questions regarding the document and the veracity of the conversations it describes, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, said that “Egypt’s position from the beginning is based on noninvolvement in this crisis and committing to maintain equal distance with both sides, while affirming Egypt’s support to the U.N. charter and international law in the U.N. General Assembly resolutions.”
“We continue to urge both parties to cease hostilities and reach a political solution through negotiations,” he said.
A U.S. government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address sensitive information, said: “We are not aware of any execution of that plan,” referring to the rocket export initiative. “We have not seen that happen,” the official added.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh noted that the Justice Department has opened a probe into the leak of classified documents.
U.S. agencies investigate Pentagon leak
U.S. national security agencies are investigating after dozens of highly classified U.S. military and intelligence documents were leaked online a month ago. (Video: Reuters)
Providing arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine would represent a potentially explosive gambit for Egypt, a nation that, despite deepening ties with Moscow, remains deeply invested in its partnership with the United States, which for decades has provided the country more than $1 billion a year in security aid. The document does not explicitly say why Russia is interested in acquiring the rockets, but its military has been expending huge amounts of ammunition in the war, and the U.S. government has claimed that North Korea is clandestinely supplying Russia with artillery rounds and that China is considering doing the same.
Egypt and other American partners in the Middle East have attempted to stay on the sidelines of Western nations’ standoff with Russia over Ukraine, seeking a potential hedge against America’s declining role in the region and new means to ensure their economic and military security. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised commodity prices globally and put serious pressure on Egypt, the world’s top importer of wheat, which has received more than 80 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine in recent years.
“Egypt is one of our oldest allies in the Middle East,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees. “If it’s true that Sisi is covertly building rockets for Russia that could be used in Ukraine, we need to have a serious reckoning about the state of our relationship.”
Sarah Margon, director of U.S. foreign policy at the Open Society Foundations and the Biden administration’s onetime nominee for the State Department’s top human rights post, said that “an intentional sale and delivery of rockets to the Russian government, which has committed such explicit war and other atrocity crimes, is just beyond the pale, especially for an ostensibly close U.S. ally.”
The revelations in the document, if true, raise the question of whether the United States “should continue to defend and support” Egypt if Sisi’s government is seeking a sale that would “serve Cairo’s immediate needs but is likely to have serious negative global impact,” she said.
Michael Hanna, director of U.S. programs at the International Crisis Group, noted that the Biden administration has been leading Western efforts to deny Russia and its mercenaries technology and arms needed for its war in Ukraine and punishing American adversaries such as Iran and North Korea who have done so.
“The idea that it would be Egypt in this role — that’s an embarrassment to the U.S.,” he said.
The document describes Sisi issuing instructions on Feb. 1 for keeping the supply of rockets secret in order “to avoid problems with ‘the West,’” telling a person referenced only as Salah al-Din that factory workers should be told the projectiles are intended for the Egyptian army. Salah al-Din is probably Mohamed Salah al-Din, the minister of state for military production. The gunpowder offered to Russia would come from Factory 18, the document said, which is the name of a decades-old chemical manufacturing plant.
Exxon Mobil’s search for deals in the Permian Basin points to a coming boom in acquisitions. PHOTO: KATHLEEN FLYNN/REUTERSExxon Deal Hunt Signals Possible Shale M&A Wave
Drillers are flush with cash, and their concerns about inventories and high costs are seen leading to deals
WSJ by Benoît MorenneFollow and Collin EatonFollow, April 11, 2023Exxon Mobil Corp.’s XOM -0.44% hunt for a blockbuster deal in U.S. shale could kick off a bonanza of deal-making in the oil patch as drillers look to put large war chests of cash to work.
The oil giant has held preliminary talks with Pioneer Natural Resources Co. PXD 5.79% , a Texas fracker with a roughly $52 billion market capitalization, about a potential acquisition, The Wall Street Journal reported last week. Exxon, which has been on the prowl in the Permian Basin for months, has also discussed a potential deal with at least one other company, the Journal reported.
Such a transaction would send the strongest signal yet that drillers in the Permian, the hottest U.S. oil field, are set to bulk up through acquisitions. Oil companies boast healthy balance sheets that give them the stomach and means to shop for targets.
The Journal reported there is no formal process between Exxon and Pioneer, and any deal, if it happens, likely wouldn’t come together until later this year or next year. On Monday, the first day of trading since the Journal’s story, Exxon’s stock dropped less than 1% while Pioneer’s stock jumped about 6%.
The shale industry has shifted from the rapid growth it pursued for more than a decade to a mature business underpinned by fiscal restraint and hefty investor payouts. But shale companies are contending with dwindling drilling locations. Drilling for new oil discoveries has fallen out of favor with investors, leaving many companies with few options other than to acquire rivals to extend their runway.
“We think generally, there’s more consolidation that’s needed in our business,” ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Ryan Lance told analysts in February.
Wall Street plowed money into several American frackers on Monday, including APA Corp. , Coterra Energy Inc. and Diamondback Energy Inc., adding $7 billion to the collective market value of the 20 largest independent U.S. oil-and-gas companies. Shale stocks climbed even though oil prices declined about 1% Monday because investors were largely betting on an increase in oil mergers and acquisitions, said Neal Dingmann, an analyst at Truist Securities.
Thirst for growth led to a mergers-and-acquisitions boom in U.S. shale in the past decade. Between 2014 and 2019, the sector saw an average of 407 deals—not restricted to M&A—each year, with a total annual value averaging about $90 billion, according to investment bank Mizuho Securities.
But the pace of M&A slowed down after the pandemic gutted oil demand and stung companies’ balance sheets. Drillers also tightened their belts to meet investors’ demands for cash returns. There were, on average, 180 deals a year between 2020 and 2022 for $59 billion a year, according to Mizuho.
Now, producers have deep coffers at their disposal to pursue deals. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year sent global prices soaring to more than $127 a barrel, translating into windfall profits for oil and gas.
The 10 largest U.S. publicly traded shale companies as of the end of last year earned more than $70 billion in profits in 2022, according to FactSet. Exxon netted $55.7 billion in profits, while Chevron Corp. raked in $35.5 billion.
The next wave of oil deal-making is likely to be set in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, say energy analysts and executives. Oil giants such as Exxon and Chevron favor the region for shale wells that produce rapidly and don’t bind the companies to decadeslong megaprojects that have fallen out of favor with some investors who fear a future decline in oil demand.
If an oil major such as Exxon or Chevron snapped up a big Permian company, “that could obviously ignite a speculative boom,” said Adam Rozencwajg, a managing partner at investment firm Goehring & Rozencwajg.
Exxon has invested heavily in the Permian over the past decade, and continues to call it a key source of growth, alongside its massive oil discoveries in Guyana. The company produced about 550,000 barrels a day on average last year in the Permian, and said it plans to increase its output there to 1 million barrels a day by 2027.
But as the region matures, firms have been wrestling with disappointing wells. The average Permian well produced 5% less oil per lateral foot in 2022 compared with the previous year, according to research firm Enverus. In one part of the Permian, Exxon’s 2022-vintage wells were 8.4% less productive than the prior year, according to Enverus data analyzed by JPMorgan Chase.
In addition to less-productive wells, operators are contending with shrinking inventories of drilling locations. Public companies and private operators in the Permian have less than eight years of their best locations remaining, investment bank Raymond James Financial estimated last year.
The double whammy creates incentives for companies to merge to gain new drilling opportunities and create economies of scale, executives and investors said.
Also whetting producers’ appetite for deals is inflation, which has blunted companies’ deployment of capital. The price of labor, steel and equipment has shot up, prompting companies to increase their spending by about 20% this year from 2022 without reaping additional barrels.
Nabbing a competitor allows drillers to augment production while keeping costs in check, said Muhammad Laghari, a senior managing director at investment bank Guggenheim Securities.
“M&A is probably right now, in this inflationary environment, the most cost-efficient way to increase your cash flow per share,” he said.
While oil-price volatility in recent months complicated deals, the U.S. oil benchmark has dropped roughly $43 from its peak last June and is now in the $70 to $80 range, which supports negotiations between sellers and buyers, analysts said. Exxon CEO Darren Woods said on an earnings call in January that the company is looking for opportunities in the Permian but it is difficult to buy at the peak of a commodity cycle.
Some analysts say consolidation in the Permian could contribute to a slowdown in activity there because public companies—the most likely acquirers—have been more conservative with their drilling programs than private operators.
Seaboard: pioneers in power generation in the country
…Armando Rodríguez, vice-president and executive director of the company, talks to us about their projects in the DR, where they have been operating for 32 years.
More than 32 years ago, back in January 1990, Seaboard began operations as the first independent power producer (IPP) in the Dominican Republic. They became pioneers in the electricity market by way of the commercial operations of Estrella del Norte, a 40MW floating power generation plant and the first of three built for Seaboard by Wärtsilä.
A view shows a local oil refinery in Omsk, Russia June 6, 2022. Picture taken June 6, 2022. REUTERS/Alexey MalgavkoExclusive: Russia starts fuel supplies to Iran by rail -sources
Russia and Iran are subject to Western sanctions; as a result, they are developing closer connections to support their economies and thwart the sanctions, which both Moscow and Tehran view as unjustifiable.
Reuters, editing by Germán & CoMOSCOW, April 11 (Reuters) - Russia started fuel exports to Iran by rail this year for the first time after traditional buyers shunned trade with Moscow, according to three industry sources and exports data.
Russia and Iran, both under Western sanctions, are forging closer ties in order to support their economies and to undermine Western sanctions which both Moscow and Tehran cast as unjustified.
Western sanctions on Russian oil products over what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine have reshaped global fuel markets with tankers taking longer routes and suppliers choosing exotic destinations and ways of transportation.
Iran has been under Western sanctions for years with limited access to global markets.
The oil ministries of Russia and Iran did not reply to requests for comment.
Last autumn Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced the start of swap supplies of oil products with Iran, but actual shipments only started this year, Reuters sources said.
In February and March Russia supplied up to 30,000 tonnes of gasoline and diesel to Iran, two sources familiar with the export data told Reuters.
A third source confirmed the trade but was not able to confirm the volumes.
All the volumes were supplied by rail from Russia via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. One of the sources said that some gasoline cargoes were sent on from Iran to neighbouring states, including Iraq, by truck.
Iran is an oil producer and has its own refineries, but recently its consumption had exceeded domestic fuel production, especially in its northern provinces, a trader in Central Asian oil products market said.
Russia had supplied small volumes of fuel to Iran by tanker via the Caspian Sea, as was the case in 2018, two traders familiar with the matter said.
Russian oil companies are currently interested in exporting diesel and gasoline to Iran by rail as exports by sea face high freight rates and a price cap imposed by the G7 countries.
However the rail exports face bottlenecks along the route, the sources said.
"We expect fuel supplies to Iran to rise this year, but we already see several issues with logistics due to rail congestion. That may keep exports from booming," one of the sources familiar with supplies to Iran said
Iberdrola said it would continue to develop renewable energy in Mexico with the backing of the Mexican government. PHOTO: VINCENT WEST/REUTERSMexican Government to Buy Power Plants From Spain’s Iberdrola
Acquisition will increase the state-owned utility’s share of the country’s electricity generation to 55%
Iberdrola said it would continue to develop renewable energy in Mexico with the backing of the Mexican government.
TWP by Anthony Harrup, April 4, 2023 MEXICO CITY—The Mexican government reached an agreement to buy 13 power-generation plants from Spanish electricity company Iberdrola SA for around $6 billion, the latest bid by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to recover state share of the industry, the government and the company said.
Mr. López Obrador, whose government has been in disputes with Iberdrola in recent years, met in Mexico City on Tuesday with Iberdrola executives.
“We’ve had our differences, but everything can be resolved through dialogue,” Mr. López Obrador said.
Iberdrola Chairman Ignacio Galán said that given the Mexican government’s energy policies, the company looked for a solution that was good for Mexico and for the interests of Iberdrola shareholders.
“Our wish is to continue collaborating with Mexico—we’ve been doing this for 22 years—in the way that the Mexican government wishes,” he said.
Iberdrola, the largest private electricity generation company in Mexico, said the agreement is for 8,539 megawatts of capacity, including 8,436 megawatts of gas-fueled generation and 103 megawatts of wind power. Iberdrola said it would continue to develop renewable energy in Mexico with the backing of the Mexican government.
“The company continues to be the main private generator of renewable energy in Mexico, aligning with its decarbonization commitments,” Iberdrola said.
The Finance Ministry said the acquisition will be made through an investment vehicle that is majority owned by the country’s national infrastructure fund and managed by Mexico Infrastructure Partners, an investment fund manager. The plants will be operated by state electricity utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad, which will increase its share of overall electricity generation in Mexico from 39% to 55%.
“It strengthens the state’s participation in electricity generation to meet its responsibility of guaranteeing energy supply and price stability for Mexicans,” the ministry said.
Since taking office in 2018, Mr. López Obrador has sought to undo many of the changes made under his predecessor that opened Mexico’s oil and electricity sectors to greater private and foreign investment. Mr. López Obrador suspended new oil block auctions on taking office. In 2021, state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos bought Royal Dutch Shell’s 50% stake in the joint-venture Deer Park refinery in Texas.
Changes made in electricity laws and other government actions in favor of the CFE and Pemex led the U.S. Trade Representative’s office last year to seek consultations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, questioning their consistency with Mexico’s commitments under the pact. Canada has also challenged Mexico’s energy policies.
Failure to reach an agreement could lead the U.S. to request a dispute resolution panel under the USMCA, which could eventually lead to the U.S. imposing import tariffs on a range of Mexican products.
—Sabela Ojea contributed to this article.Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.comCorrections & Amplifications
Iberdrola will sell gas-fueled power plants with capacity of 8,436 megawatts. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the capacity was 8,463 megawatts. (Corrected on April 5.)
Image: NUCLEAR RUSO, editing by Germán & CoUkraine cities pounded, US scrambles to find source of leaked documents
“This could be the result of the leak of classified material from the US…
REUTERS By Pavel Polityuk, NOWKYIV, April 11 (Reuters) - Russian forces pounded frontline cities in eastern Ukraine with air strikes and artillery attacks, while U.S. officials stepped up efforts to locate the source of a leak of classified U.S. documents, including those on Ukrainian counter-offensive plans.
The Russians pressed on with their offensive in the eastern Donetsk region where several cities and towns came under heavy bombardment, Ukraine's general staff said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian forces repelled several attacks, it said, as the Russian military kept up its effort to take control of Bakhmut.
A top Ukrainian commander accused Moscow of using "scorched earth" tactics.
"The enemy switched to so-called scorched earth tactics from Syria. It is destroying buildings and positions with air strikes and artillery fire," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, said of Bakhmut.
The battle for the small and now largely ruined city on the edge of a chunk of Russian-controlled territory in Donetsk has been the bloodiest of the 13-month war as Moscow tries to inject momentum into its campaign after recent setbacks.
Both sides have suffered heavy casualties in the Bakhmut fighting, but Syrskyi said: "The situation is difficult but controllable."
The head of the Moscow-controlled part of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said Russian forces now held 75% of the city, though he cautioned it was too early to talk about Bakhmut's fall.
Moscow's military was also targeting the city of Avdiivka.
"The Russians have turned Avdiivka into a total ruin," said Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsk's regional governor, describing an air strike on Monday that destroyed a multi-storey building.
"In total, around 1,800 people remain in Avdiivka, all of whom risk their lives every day."
In Chasiv Yar, the first major town to Bakhmut's west, few buildings remain intact and those queuing for food and other aid do not even flinch at the sound of artillery.
"It used to be scarier, but now we have got used to it," said 50-year-old humanitarian volunteer Maksym. "You don't even pay attention," he added, his words nearly drowned out by the sound of explosions.
As the battles ground on, U.S. broadcaster CNN said Ukraine was forced to amend some military plans ahead of its long-anticipated counter-offensive because of the leak of dozens of secret documents.
U.S. officials are trying to trace the source of the leak, reviewing how they share secrets internally and dealing with the diplomatic fallout.
The documents detail topics such as information on the Ukraine conflict, in which Washington has supplied Kyiv with huge amounts of weapons and led international condemnation of Moscow's invasion.
Asked about the report, Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Kyiv's strategic plans remained unchanged but that specific tactics were always subject to change.
Some national security experts and U.S. officials have said they suspect the leaker could be American, but have not ruled out pro-Russian actors.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the leak, but said: "There is in fact a tendency to always blame everything on Russia. It is, in general, a disease."
HOT ON THE EASTERN FRONT
A Ukrainian counter-offensive has long been expected after months of attritional warfare in the east.
A Russian winter offensive failed to make much progress, and its troops have made only small advances at huge cost.
The Ukrainian defenders have also taken heavy casualties.
Syrskyi said Moscow was sending in special forces and airborne units to help their attack on Bakhmut as members of Russia's private mercenary Wagner group, who have spearheaded the Bakhmut assault, were exhausted.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield accounts.
Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces had made unsuccessful advances on areas west of Bakhmut while shelling many towns and villages, including Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar.
Ukrainian forces repelled 52 enemy attacks, it said.
Donetsk is one of four provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia declared annexed last year and is seeking to fully occupy in what appears to be a shift in its war aims after failing to overrun the country after its February 2022 invasion.
Control of Bakhmut could allow Russia to directly target Ukrainian defensive lines in Chasiv Yar and open the way for its forces to advance on two bigger cities in the Donetsk region - Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said troops could be withdrawn if they ran the risk of being encircled. Kyiv and the West say the now smashed city of Bakhmut has only symbolic importance.
Additional reporting by Ron Popeski, Nick Starko and Tom Balmforth; Writing by Angus MacSwan, Andrew Cawthorne, Arshad Mohammed and Shri Navaratnam; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Clarence Fernandez
Image: Germán & Co