Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Tuesday he had “good news” on artillery and air defence supplies after talks with his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis, in Bucharest, but gave no details. Speaking to reporters in the Romanian capital, he said “My main accent today was air defence. And I’m glad that Ukraine was heard by the Romanian side.”
Zelenskiy also said everything possible should be done to prevent Russia turning part of the Black Sea or the Danube region into what he described as a maritime “dead zone”.
Ukraine said on Tuesday that it was holding two senior defence ministry officials on suspicion of embezzling $7m (£5.7m) earmarked for buying bulletproof vests. The state bureau of investigation said the two officials, which it did not name, ordered “low-quality body armour” from abroad.
Investigators believe a subsea gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia may have been deliberately damaged, Finnish daily Iltalehti reported on Tuesday, citing Finnish security sources. Finland’s government was due to hold a press conference about the incident. Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has said it is sharing information over the damage, and stands ready to support the allies concerned.
The National Police of Ukraine has documented nearly 100,000 war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, according to the head of the body. Speaking to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Ivan Vyhovsky said the evidence being gathered would form the basis of future attempts to prosecute the perpetrators.
Russia is unlikely to launch an additional mobilisation drive before the presidential election next year, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said. In its daily intelligence update, the MoD said Vladimir Putin would “almost certainly” run for re-election in the vote, scheduled to take place on 17 March.
Russia will move to revoke the ratification of a global nuclear test ban to put itself on par with the US, but will resume nuclear tests only if Washington does it first, a senior Russian diplomat has said. The deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told reporters that Moscow would rescind the ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty to “mirror” the action by the US.
A Russian court has dismissed a complaint by the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against the extension of his pre-trial detention, more than six months after his arrest on spying charges. Judge Yuri Pasyunin at Moscow city court ruled to “keep the detention without changes” until 30 November. Gershkovich, 31, is the first American journalist to be held in Russia on spying charges since the end of the cold war. He was detained in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg while on a reporting trip at the end of March.
A pro-Russia Japanese politician left his opposition party on Tuesday after facing criticism for making a surprise visit to Moscow and declaring his support for Russia to win the war in Ukraine. Muneo Suzuki, a former parliamentary vice-minister of foreign affairs, submitted a letter of resignation to the centre-right opposition Japan Innovation party, the its secretary-general, Fumitake Fujita, said.
Uefa has abandoned plans to reinstate Russian U17 teams into next year’s youth football European Championships.Zelenskiy said it was in Russia’s interests to stoke war in the Middle East “to create a new source of pain and suffering that would weaken global unity, create divisions and help Russia in undermining freedom in Europe,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, adding that Russian propagandists were “gloating” at developments.
Top UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan met with Russian officials in Moscow on Monday for talks aimed at enabling the “unimpeded access” to global markets for grain and fertiliser from Russia and Ukraine, a UN spokesperson said.
