Putin’s war plans ‘plain wrong’, says Biden
- Joe Biden has made an unannounced wartime visit to Ukraine, in a show of support ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
- The US president promised $500m of additional military aid to Kyiv and further sanctions against Russia, saying President Vladimir Putin’s war plans are “plain wrong”.
Poland announces further curbs on Belarus border traffic
Poland has announced more curbs to road traffic with Belarus, hours after saying Minsk was expelling three of its diplomats.
Freight traffic for Belarusian vehicles at the Kukuryki-Kozlowicze border crossing will be suspended as of 7pm local time (18:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the Polish interior ministry said.
The decision was linked to Minsk curbing traffic for Polish road freight on Belarus’ borders with Latvia and Lithuania, it added.
The move came after Poland announced on February 9 that it was closing a border crossing into Belarus at Bobrowniki, citing “state security” concerns, driving already hostile relations between the two countries to a new low.
Navalny says Russia has sunk to ‘rock bottom’ due to war
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has accused President Vladimir Putin of destroying Russia’s future for the sake of his own personal ambition.
In a post on social media ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, Navalny said Russia had hit “rock bottom” and could only recover once the “Putin dictatorship” had been dismantled.
Navanly also called for Moscow to “reimburse” Kyiv for the damage inflicted during the war.
“The real reasons for this war are the political and economic problems within Russia, Putin’s desire to hold on to power at any cost, and his obsession with his own historical legacy. He wants to go down in history as ‘the conqueror tsar’…,” Navalny said in a series of posts on Twitter.
He added Russia’s defeat on the battlefield was “inevitable”, and that Moscow had to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and recognise its borders as they were set in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Swedish military intelligence says threat from Russia has increased
Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST) says Russia poses a clear military threat in the country’s immediate area.
“The European Security Order as we know it has ceased to exist…and with that the risks for Swedish security have also increased,” Lena Hallin, head of MUST told a news conference.
Sweden has applied to join the NATO transatlantic military alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but its membership bid is currentlly being held up by Hungary and Turkey.
Hallin said she expected Russia to strengthen its military capability in Sweden’s immediate area when it was possible, in response to Sweden applying for NATO membership.
Where does your country stand on the Russia-Ukraine war?
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began nearly a year ago, the world has been broadly categorised into three camps – those allied with Kyiv, those impartial to the conflict, and those that have backed Russia.
