Closing summary
The primary task of Sweden’s foreign policy in the coming years will be the support to Ukraine, Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, told a defence conference.
The UK said it plans to spend £300m on a new programme to produce advanced nuclear fuel suitable for the next generation of power-generating reactors, with the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Claire Coutinho, warning that Vladimir Putin won’t hold the UK “to ransom on nuclear fuel”.
In Russia, more than 100 residents of the Russian border city of Belgorod have evacuated to an area farther from Ukraine, local officials said. Belgorod is just over half an hour’s drive from the border with Ukraine, making it a vital stop in Russian supply lines. The city has come under extensive shelling and drone attacks for months.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, spoke to a conference in Sweden via video link. He said: “Even Russia can be brought back within the framework of international law. Its aggression can be defeated.”
Charles Michel has announced he will step down early as European Council president after running in the European parliament elections set for June. The surprise move means EU leaders will have to swiftly agree on a successor to take up his vacated council post, and could pave the way for Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to exert more influence over EU policymaking.
Five children were among the 11 people killed by a Russian missile strike that hit in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Saturday, the governor of the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk region said. According to Reuters, Vadym Filashkin told Ukrainian television that Russian forces engaged in “mass shelling” of Pokrovsk at around 3pm.
Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that its air defence systems shot down 21 out of 28 attack drones launched by Russia overnight. Posting on Telegram, the air force said Russia targeted mainly the south and east of Ukraine, with three cruise missiles also reportedly being launched at Ukraine overnight.
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Sweden says its main foreign policy task in coming years is support to Ukraine
The primary task of Sweden’s foreign policy in the coming years will be the support to Ukraine, Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, has told a defence conference.
Separately, Turkey looks set to ratify Sweden’s membership in Nato in the coming weeks, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Saturday.
Sweden made the bid in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, raised objections over what he said was Stockholm’s protection of people who Ankara deems to be terrorists.
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