South Korea’s foreign ministry has expressed concerns to the Russian embassy in Seoul over a large banner hung over its building that reads “victory will be ours” in Russian, the Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday, citing officials. The ministry noted the unnecessary tensions the banner could create with South Korean citizens and other countries as it was widely seen as a reference to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the report said. The Russian embassy had yet to remove the banner of the message, which the Soviet Union used during the second world war.
Hungary will block the EU’s next package of sanctions against Russia, the country’s foreign minister has said, in the latest step aimed at pushing Ukraine to resume the flow of Russian oil through a pipeline supplying Hungarian refineries. The EU is currently preparing a package against Russia over the war in Ukraine and while negotiations are ongoing, many member countries would like to agree the package in time for the fourth anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday. “At tomorrow’s Foreign Affairs Council, the EU aims to adopt the 20th sanctions package. Hungary will block it,” Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister, said on X on Sunday. “Until Ukraine resumes oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline, we will not allow decisions important to Kyiv to move forward.” Ukraine condemned what it described as “ultimatums and blackmail” by Hungary and Slovakia at the weekend after both governments threatened to stop electricity supplies to Ukraine unless Kyiv restarted the Russian oil flows.
Vladimir Putin has said developing Russia’s nuclear forces is now an absolute priority after the expiry of its last remaining nuclear treaty with the US. “The development of the nuclear triad, which guarantees Russia’s security and ensures effective strategic deterrence and a balance of forces in the world, remains an absolute priority,” the Russian president said in a video message on Sunday on Russia’s “Defender of the Fatherland Day” holiday. Putin vowed to keep “strengthening the army and navy” and draw on military experience from the war in Ukraine. Moscow and Washington – the world’s two main nuclear powers – are no longer bound by any arms control pact since the New Start agreement expired earlier this month.
A police officer was killed and 24 people wounded after several explosive devices detonated at midnight in Lviv in western Ukraine, the national police said on Sunday, in an attack President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed on Russia. Lviv’s mayor described the incident as a terrorist act and said a 23-year-old female police officer had died. Twelve people remained in hospital, two in serious condition, Andriy Sadovyi said on Telegram. A woman had been detained in connection with the investigation, said the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko.
Russia has fired scores of missiles and drones at targets across Ukraine, flattening a residential house in Kyiv on Sunday, reports Luke Harding. Zelenskyy said the Kremlin had launched 297 drones and nearly 50 missiles on Sunday, in the latest in a wave of overnight strikes. He said “a significant proportion” had been shot down as he called on allies to strengthen the country’s air defences against enemy attacks. “Moscow continues to invest in strikes more than in diplomacy,” the Ukrainian president said. “This time, Russian targets included not only energy facilities, but also logistics, in particular railway and municipal water supply infrastructure.”
A huge Ukrainian missile attack inflicted serious damage on energy infrastructure and disrupted supplies of power, heat and water in Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, the region’s governor said early on Monday. Vyacheslav Gladkov described the attack as “massive”, affecting both the city of Belgorod, 40km (25 miles) from the border, and the surrounding area. Meanwhile, the Russia-installed governor of the part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region controlled by Moscow, Yevgeny Balitsky, said emergency crews had restored power to most areas hit by cuts after a major Ukrainian attack on energy infrastructure. In Russian-controlled Luhansk in Ukraine’s north-east, a fuel reservoir caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot, said the Moscow-installed leader, Leonid Pasechnik.
Four Moscow airports resumed flights on Sunday after they were earlier suspended for security reasons, aviation regulator Rosaviatsia said. Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports paused operations for just over an hour amid a drone attack on the Russian capital. Air defences downed 71 Ukrainian drones, including 11 flying en route to Moscow, since 2pm (1100 GMT), the Interfax news agency reported, citing the Russian defence ministry.
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