Ukraine war: Macron says Kyiv should be able to ‘neutralise’ targets in Russia

Sweden will send military aid worth 13.3 billion Swedish crowns (£986m) to Ukraine, its biggest package so far, to aid the war against the Russian invasion, the Nordic country’s government has announced.

The package would among other things help strengthen the Ukrainian air defence and included Saab’s Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASC) 890 aircraft, Defence Minister Paal Jonson told a press conference.

The Swedish government said last week it had agreed on additional military support to Ukraine totalling 75 billion Swedish crowns over three years.

Polish security services have arrested a man suspected of trying to get photos of military vehicles crossing the border into Ukraine.

It is the latest in a string of spy cases.

The 26-year-old Ukrainian man was suspected of encouraging a Polish citizen to share the photos and “take part in the activities of foreign intelligence against the Republic of Poland,” the spokesperson said.

Poland says its role as a hub for supplies to Ukraine has made it a key target for Russian spies who are trying to gather information on support for Kyiv’s war effort and engage in acts of sabotage.

The Ukrainian man, named as Oleksandr D., sent messages to a Polish citizen encouraging him to help foreign intelligence, Jacek Dobrzynski, the spokesperson of the minister coordinating special services said in a statement.

“This activity was to consist in sharing photos of military vehicles that were intended to help Ukraine and crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border,” Dobrzynski said.

“In exchange for the information provided, the Polish citizen was to receive a remuneration of 15,000 euros.”

A court agreed to a request from the prosecutor to hold the suspect in pre-trial detention for three months. If found guilty he could face up to eight years in prison.

The Kremlin has announced that President Vladimir Putin has appointed Alexei Dyumin, an aide and former bodyguard, as secretary of the State Council, an advisory body to the Russian head of state.

After being re-elected for another six-year term earlier this year, Putin made Dyumin an aide specialising in the defence industry.

Below we have some more photos of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Portugal on Tuesday.

Ukrainian military shot down 13 drones out of 14 launched by Russia in an overnight attack on three regions, the country’s air force has said.

Drone debris fell on energy infrastructure in Ukraine‘s northwestern region of Rivne, governor Oleksandr Koval said on Telegram. The attack triggered a defence mechanism that cut power to some localities, although it has since been restored.

Drone debris also damaged power lines in central Kirovohrad region with repair work ongoing, its governor said.

The air force shot down 11 drones over the Mykolaiv region, with no details on damage reported by the local governor.

US president Joe Biden should attend a planned peace summit in Switzerland on the Ukraine conflict next month to make the meeting a success, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told a news conference in Brussels on Tuesday.

Biden’s absence would benefit Russian president Vladimir Putin, who gave the order to invade Ukraine in 2022, Zelensky said.

Russian guided bombs killed two civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Toretsk on Tuesday and damaged two apartment buildings, Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said.

Mr Filashkin, writing on Telegram, said Russian forces fired three bombs at the city, which lies north of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk.

Photos posted by Mr Filashkin and by Donetsk region prosecutors showed sections of the apartment buildings wrecked and rubble strewn in the street.

The prosecutors also said a Russian guided bomb injured six people in Oleksievo-Druzhkivka, a town northwest of Toretsk.

The governor of southern Kherson region said Russian shelling killed a villager north of the region’s administrative centre, also called Kherson.

The prosecutors said Russian shelling struck port facilities in the Black Sea city of Odesa. Russia denies targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.