Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday that Ukraine had poisoned the Moscow-installed governors of Ukraine’s Kherson and Luhansk regions, though both had survived.
In an online briefing, Moscow said Ukraine poisoned Moscow-appointed Kherson head Vladimir Saldo in August 2022, and Luhansk governor Leonid Pasechnik in December 2023.
The Kherson and Luhansk regions were among four Ukrainian provinces that Russia declared it had annexed in September 2022, even though it did not fully control any of them.
Both Russian and Ukrainian media reported Saldo’s 2022 poisoning at the time. Russian-installed authorities in Kherson said in August 2022 that Saldo had fallen sick, but did not say that he had been poisoned. Saldo has since returned to public prominence in the Russian-controlled part of Kherson region.
According to unconfirmed reports, Saldo may have been poisoned by his chef.
Pasechnik’s alleged poisoning had not been previously reported, however. The defense ministry said he was “severely poisoned with phenolic compounds’.
On 11 December, less than a week after his alleged poisoning, Pasechnik was shown at a press conference in Moscow and appeared healthy.
There have been numerous Ukrainian attacks targeting Moscow-installed puppet officials since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ukraine troops under attack in Zaporizhzhia
Ukrainian troops are facing “heavy fire” from Russian forces in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a Ukrainian army spokesperson was quoted by AFP as saying. It comes after Russia said it had taken full control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, its biggest gain since capturing Bakhmut last May, after a retreat by Ukrainian troops.
Russia says it may take ‘retaliatory measures’ as Sweden joins NATO
Russia on Wednesday said it regrets that Sweden is set to join NATO and pledged to take some retaliatory measures to protect itself.
“Russia will take retaliatory measures of a political and military-technical nature in order to stop threats to its national security. Their specific content will depend on the conditions and scale of Sweden’s integration into NATO, including the possible deployment of NATO troops, strike systems and weapons on the territory of this country,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a post via Telegram.
Russia said that while security matters are a sovereign question for Sweden, the move would have a negative impact on northern Europe’s stability and the Baltic Sea region, which is shared by Sweden, Russia and various other countries.
Sweden bid to join NATO, where an attack on one member country is seen as an attack on all members, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After long-standing opposition, Hungary on Monday voted to approve the bid, clearing the way for Sweden to join the alliance.
Leaders should consider using frozen Russian assets to bolster Ukraine’s military, EU’s von der Leyen says
European leaders should discuss using the profits from frozen Russian assets to boost Ukraine’s military, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.
“It is time to start a conversation about using the windfall profits of frozen Russian assets to jointly purchase military equipment for Ukraine,” she said in a speech before the European Parliament.
“There could be no stronger symbol and no greater use for that money than to make Ukraine and all of Europe a safer place to live,” von der Leyen noted.
Von der Leyen’s comments come after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said it is important to find a way to unlock the value of frozen assets to bolster Ukraine, stressing there is a “strong international law, economic and moral case” to do so, and that it was crucial for allies to work together on the matter.
Other key developments:
Ukraine’s military said it shot down two more Russian warplanes used to drop highly destructive guided aerial bombs on Kyiv’s troops, army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said. The destroyed planes were an Su-34 fighter-bomber and an Su-35 fighter, Syrskyi wrote on Telegram. Over the weekend, Ukraine said it shot down three Russian Su-34s and one Su-35.
Speaking on his way into the summit of foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, called Vladimir Putin a “murderer” and said Ukraine urgently needs more ammunition.
The Kremlin said that the West’s reaction to Alexei Navalny’s death was “absolutely unacceptable”. “We consider it absolutely unacceptable to make such, well, frankly obnoxious statements,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters.
Belgium’s foreign minister, Hadja Lahbib, has called on the EU to develop an army amid increasing nervousness about Russia’s capacity to defeat Ukraine.
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
