Russia’s war on Ukraine latest: Putin talks of boosting nuclear force
Putin #Putin
(Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said Russia will maintain increased attention on boosting its nuclear forces in an address to mark Thursday’s Defender of the Fatherland public holiday and a day before the first anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine.
DIPLOMACY* Speaking in Warsaw on Wednesday, Biden promised the United States “will defend literally every inch of NATO”, the military alliance that includes some Eastern European countries bordering Russia.
* Putin in Moscow said Chinese leader Xi Jinping would visit Russia, saying relations had reached “new frontiers.” Washington is concerned Beijing could provide material support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War Two.
* Russia will stick to agreed limits on nuclear missiles and keep informing the United States about changes in its deployments, a senior defence official said, despite the suspension of its last remaining arms control treaty with Washington.
* Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of planning to invade Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region in a false flag operation, the RIA news agency reported.
* Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said he urged Biden to seek NATO deployment of additional military equipment, such as HIMARS artillery or attack helicopters, in the Baltic states.
* U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced Russia’s invasion as a violation of the founding U.N. Charter and international law and called out Moscow’s threats about possible use of nuclear weapons, saying: “It is high time to step back from the brink.”
SANCTIONS
* European Union countries did not reach agreement on Wednesday about new sanctions against Russia, and planned more talks to have the package ready for the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday, diplomats said.
FIGHTING
* Two civilians were killed in Russian shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, and two were wounded in a missile strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, regional officials said.
* Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin took a bitter public feud with the top army brass to a new level, publishing a grisly image of dozens of his fighters he said had been killed after being deprived of ammunition.
* Russian prosecutors said they were proceeding with a case against exiled science fiction writer Dmitry Glukhovsky, accused of publishing “false information” about Russian atrocities in the war.
ANNIVERSARY
* Ukraine’s Zelenskiy has defied Putin against the odds, a year into war.
* Putin, secure in power, has set the stage for a long and draining war.
* A year on from Russia’s invasion, Ukraine and its government have not just survived. They’ve fought back.
* Toughened by war’s scars, Kyiv presses on while Russia attacks
* Hairdresser by day, drone hunter by night helps defend skies over Ukraine
* Russian defence chief keeps job despite Ukraine routsthanks to Putin
OPINION
* BREAKINGVIEWS-Even a weak Russia is a problem for Europe
* BREAKINGVIEWS-Ukraine yet to make defence a safe investor haven
(Compiled by Reuters editors)