The Kremlin said yesterday that Finland and Sweden’s decision to join NATO will not improve security in Europe.
“We are not convinced that the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO will in any way strengthen or improve the security structures on our continent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Russia: Sweden and Finland’s bid for NATO membership is a ‘serious mistake’
For his part, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called a “fatal mistake” the application of Sweden and Finland to join NATO in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He pointed out that Russia’s response “will depend on the practical results of the accession” of the two Scandinavian countries to NATO. Finland and Russia have a common border of 1300 km.
On the ground, Ukrainian authorities announced yesterday that their forces had repulsed Russian forces and regained control of part of the border with Russia in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast. In a statement posted on Facebook and accompanied by a video showing soldiers standing in front of yellow and blue border markers in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, the Defense Ministry said: “The 227th Battalion of the 127th Regional Defense Brigade of the Kharkiv Armed Forces. expelled the Russians and put them on the border.”
For its part, Russia said yesterday that its forces shot down 3 Ukrainian warplanes; One of them is located near Snek Island in the Black Sea, and the other two are in the Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions, while its missiles continue to fire at targets in the east of the country.
For his part, Oleksiy Aristovich, adviser to the President of Ukraine, confirmed on Sunday evening that the Russians were moving troops from the Kharkiv region to the Lugansk region in the Donbass in order to control the city of Severodonetsk.
Ukraine is preparing to face increased Russian attacks in the Donbas region in the east of the country, which Moscow has made a priority, but there are no field successes there, while the Ukrainian army continues its counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region. region.
On the other hand, Moscow said it had carried out strikes with “precision” missiles at two Ukrainian command posts and four artillery ammunition depots near Zaporozhye, Paraskovka, Konstantinovka and Novomikaylovka in Donetsk.
The Russian Air Force also destroyed two S-300 launchers and a radar system in the Sumy region, the ministry said, adding that Russian air defense systems destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
At the end of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin, German Foreign Minister Annalena Beerbock confirmed that the countries of the alliance would continue their efforts, “especially in the field of military assistance” to Ukraine.
