Russia Ukraine war live: Putin’s drones enter Nato airspace in Latvia and Romania as Russian troops close in on Pokrovsk

Ukraine’s foreign ministry summoned a senior Iranian diplomat to warn of “devastating and irreparable consequences” for bilateral relations if reports that Tehran had supplied Russia with ballistic missiles were correct.

The rebuke comes after the US told its allies it believes Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Telegram it had summoned Iran‘s charge d’affaires, Shahriar Amouzegar, and warned him in “harsh form” about the consequences for relations if delivery of the missiles was confirmed.

A senior Iranian official denied the reports earlier yesterday, describing them as “psychological warfare”. A European Union spokesperson described the information as “credible”.

Large amounts of battlefield gear and vehicles are inside Sweden’s 17th aid package to Ukraine, officials said. The latest tranche of aid will take Stockholm’s total military support to 4.6bn Swedish crowns (£339m), defence minister Pal Jonson said.

The new package will include ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles already donated by Sweden, as well as purchases that would facilitate a transfer of Gripen fighter jets in the future, though no such transfer has been decided on yet. It also contains additional combat boats, missiles and camouflage gear as well as funding to support defence procurements for Ukraine.

The measures were decided in close collaboration with Kyiv.

“We want to have the ability to donate Gripens to Ukraine at a possible later stage,” Mr Jonson told a press conference.

About half of the value of the package consisted of parts needed in Sweden’s production of the latest model Gripen E fighters for its own air force. This would mean Sweden would not, as previously planned, need to cannibalise its existing C/D models as part of the upgrade, allowing the older jets to transferred to Ukraine at a possible future date.

“At present, it is not on the cards to transfer JAS Gripens to Ukraine as this would disturb the introduction of F-16s,” the government said in a statement.

Russian officials claim one child was killed and another civilian was injured in an early morning drone attack today by Ukraine that targeted Moscow.

Regional governor of Moscow oblast Andrei Vorobyov confirmed the casualties shortly after a fire was reported in a multi-storey residential building in Moscow’s Ramenskoye district.

Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed that the 11th and 12th floors of the building were set ablaze. “Emergency services are on site,” Sobyanin said.

Russian airstrikes on Ukraine’s hospitals and power stations are pushing the country’s doctors to extraordinary limits, forcing operating theatres underground and leaving surgeons with little choice but to conduct complex procedures in the dark and with limited anaesthetic for patients.

Doctors in cities across the war-torn country spoke to The Independentabout the toll of working 22-hour shifts in such punishing conditions, not knowing if their hospital could be the next target in Vladimir Putin’s renewed onslaught of drone and missile attacks.

Due to severe power shortages last week, surgeons were left with only four to six hours of electricity per day, crippling their ability to run operating rooms effectively, says Yuriy Boychenko, the founder of Hope for Ukraine, a charity supporting the country’s doctors and hospitals.

Read the full article by The Independent’s Asia reporter Arpan Rai:

Russian president Vladimir Putin has two secret sons who live an isolated life of luxury in a heavily-guarded mansion, according to a Russian investigative journalism website.

The Dossier Centre reported that Ivan, nine, and Vladimir Jr, five, spend most of the year at their father’s vast mansion near Lake Valdai, northwest of Moscow.

Their mother is Alina Kabaeva, the former Olympic rhythmic gymnast whose relationship with Putin has been an open secret in Russia for more than a decade, the Dossier Centre claim.

Polish security services have neutralised a cyber sabotage operation by Russia and Belarus, Poland’s deputy prime minister has said.

Warsaw has repeatedly accused Moscow of attempting to destabilise Poland due to its role in supplying military aid to neighbour Ukraine – allegations Russia has dismissed.

Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland’s deputy prime minister and also minister for digital affairs, said today that saboteurs, operating from Belarus in co-operation with Russia, had attempted to gain information from government institutions

A Russian military drone which crashed in Latvia on Saturday carried explosives that were likely to have been intended for Ukraine when it strayed into its air space, Latvian officials said on Monday.

Romania and Latvia, both Nato members and supporters of Ukraine in its 2 1/2-year-old war with Russia, said on Sunday they were investigating instances of Russian drones that crashed after breaching their airspace.

The drone that landed in Latvia was of the Iranian-designed Shahed type, National Armed Forces Commander Lieutenant General Leonids Kalnins told a press conference, according to Latvia’s Delfi news website.

The drone’s explosives, which were likely meant for Ukraine, were deactivated following its discovery in Latvia, Kalnins told reporters.

Sweden will send its 17th aid package to Ukraine with further military support totalling £340milllion, defence minister Pal Jonson said.

The new package will include ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles already donated by Sweden, as well as purchases that would facilitate a transfer of Gripen fighter jets in the future, though no such transfer has been decided on yet.

“We want to have the ability to donate Gripens to Ukraine at a possible later stage,” Mr Jonson told a press conference.

Mr Jonson said support included additional combat boats, missiles and camouflage gear as well as funding to support defence procurements for Ukraine

Fragments from a Russian drone were found a Romanian village near the Danube River that borders Ukraine on Sunday after an overnight attack on Ukrainian river ports, the defence ministry of Nato-member Romania said on Monday.

The ministry said it was conducting searches in a second area where drone parts might have fallen. Romania has found drone fragments after attacks several times since last year.