Ukrainian strikes on Russian land that target supply and disrupt logistics have been regarded as “absolutely acceptable” by UK armed forces minister James Heappey. “The fact that Ukraine was a sovereign country living peacefully inside its own boundaries, and then another country decided to breach those borders,” he explained. In a battle, Ukraine must strike deep inside its adversary’s defences to assault its logistical lines, gasoline supplies, and ammunition depots, and this is part of it.”
Kadri Simson, the European Union’s energy commissioner, told a press conference in Warsaw that a sixth package of European Union sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine is due “very soon.”
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, has travelled to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin in an attempt to place the UN at the centre of Ukrainian mediation efforts. Ukraine has chastised Guterres for failing to visit Kyiv first and for failing to intervene firmly before Russia invaded on February 24. Before travelling to Ukraine, he will also meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
On Tuesday, officials from more than 40 nations will assemble at Germany’s Ramstein airfield for US-hosted discussions on how to arm Kiev against a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine. Following his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will lead the gathering.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, four Ukrainian military sites, including two munitions dumps in Kharkiv, were targeted by high-precision air-based missiles overnight. Russia also claims to have killed “approximately 500 hostile soldiers” and to have destroyed several air defence installations.
According to the latest intelligence assessment from the UK Ministry of Defence, Russian forces are likely seeking to surround well reinforced Ukrainian positions in eastern Ukraine. According to the report, the city of Kreminna in the Luhansk area has fallen, and severe combat has been reported south of Izium in the Kharkiv province, as Russian soldiers seek to push from the north and east towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Sergey Gaidai, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk Oblast, has pleaded once more for civilians in the area to escape as soon as possible.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s warning that the world is on the verge of a third global war only implies that Moscow “senses defeat in Ukraine,” according to his Ukrainian colleague Dmytro Kuleba.
This morning, the Security Council of Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region reported a “terrorist attack” on a military unit in Tiraspol, as well as the destruction of two Soviet-era radio antennas. Roadblocks will be placed at the city exits in Transnistria.
The bombardment of a government facility in Transnistria, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, was a “planned provocation” by Russia. Transnistria borders Ukraine, and a Russian military officer has stated that Russia seizing control of Ukraine’s south would provide a passage to Transnistria, where a Russian garrison has been stationed since the 1990s.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu will attend the country’s top security council this afternoon to discuss occurrences in the separatist Transnistria region.
Following security problems outside the territory, Denis Pushilin, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, stated on a Russian talkshow aired online that the next phase of Russia’s military engagement was critical. He referenced the Transnistria bombings as well as Russian charges of Ukrainian soldiers bombarding its border territories.
Russia and Belarus will perform joint manoeuvres of their air forces and air defence units in Belarus, according to a statement from Minsk’s defence ministry.
Ukraine’s postal office wants to issue a new stamp honouring the Antonov-225 Mriya (Mriya means “dream” in Ukrainian), which was the world’s largest freight jet until being destroyed in a strike on Hostomel airfield near Kyiv shortly after Russia started its invasion.
According to Nordic media, Sweden and Finland have agreed to submit simultaneous membership applications to the US-led Nato alliance as early as the middle of next month.
The United States has developed a new web site that will allow a sponsor in the United States to apply for Ukrainian refugees and their immediate family members to stay in the country for up to two years.
That’s all I’ve got for now, Martin Belam. I’ll return later. Léonie Chao-Fong will be with you for the foreseeable future.
