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It's April 21st, 2023, and this is your DSR Daily Brief. I'm Chris Cottonwar. Our top stories from international outlets this morning.

As part of its ongoing investigation into the intelligence documents leaks, the Washington Post reports that in an assessment marked top secret, the U.S. caution that steady Russian advances had jeopardized Ukraine's ability to hold the city of Buckmoot.

And Ukrainian forces would probably be at risk of encirclement unless they withdraw. U.S. assessments were bleak as early as January, according to previously unreported classified U.S. intelligence documents leaked allegedly by Jack Tashera, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, and obtained by the Washington Post.

Washington warned of the potential encirclement of Ukraine's forces in Buckmoot and suggested Kiev should cut its losses and let the city go.

The Ukrainian commander overseeing the fight for Buckmoot, Colonel Pavlo Polisa, said he was never formally briefed on the U.S. intelligence or the recommendations on how to leverage the fight in Buckmoot for additional advantage.

Buckmoot is the main target of Russian operations in eastern Ukraine. Moscow has said that capturing the town will lay the groundwork for taking control of Ukraine's entire Dinesk region of which Russian forces currently occupy slightly more than half.

According to Reuters, British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Rob, resigned from the government on Friday following an independent investigation into complaints that he bullied colleagues, the latest scandal to force out one of Prime Minister Rishisunak's top ministers, the loss of the third senior minister over their personal conduct in the last six months, will damage Sunak's efforts to revive the governing conservative party's fortunes,

and is a major embarrassment as he had entered Downing Street in October, promising a government of integrity.

Rob resigned in a letter to the Prime Minister before the report was made public, his departure is set back to Sunak just two weeks ahead of English local council elections, where his conservatives are predicted to fare badly.

Sunak's office declined immediate comment.

New efforts to halt fighting in Sudan appeared to have failed on Friday morning, despite pledges by Sudan's paramilitary rapid support forces to respect a 72-hour truce on humanitarian grounds.

The Guardian says that bombing and shelling was reported in several areas of Khartoum after the 6 am ceasefire was due to commence.

Both the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, had separately called for a ceasefire of at least three days to mark I'd al-Fitter the end of the Ramadan fast in the mostly Muslim country.

Other diplomats, including representatives of the African Union and several Middle East states, were in touch with both sides in the conflict on Thursday in a fresh attempt to broker a truce.

The World Health Organization said on Friday that it had recorded a toll of 413 people killed in 3551 injured since the fighting erupted on Saturday, but the true figures are thought to be much higher.

Elsewhere, according to Al Jazeera, a Russian supersonic warplane accidentally fired a weapon into the city of Belgarad near Ukraine, laid on Thursday, causing an explosion and injuring three people.

Video footage from the site showed piles of concrete on the street, several damaged cars and a building with broken windows.

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