Closing summary
This blog is now closing. Here is a roundup of the today’s stories:
Hungary’s parliament has approved a bill to allow Sweden to join Nato, clearing the way for the Nordic country to join the alliance after years of delay. The vote, which took place in Budapest on Monday, followed Friday’s meeting between the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, and his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán, in which they agreed to put aside their differences – saying they were “prepared to die for each other”.
Several Nato and EU members are considering sending soldiers to Ukraine on a bilateral basis, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico said on Monday. Fico, who has long opposed military supplies to Ukraine and has taken a position seen by some critics as pro-Russian, offered no details and other European leaders did not immediately comment on his remarks.
Denmark said it had dropped its investigation into the explosions in 2022 on the Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian gas to Germany, becoming the second nation to do so after Sweden also closed a separate probe. The multi-billion dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of blasts in the Swedish and Danish economic zones in September 2022, releasing vast amounts of methane into the air.
Russian troops have captured the Ukrainian village of Lastochkyne, about five kilometres northwest of Avdiivka, the Russian Defence Ministry said. Earlier on Monday, Ukraine’s military said it had retreated from the village of Lastochkyne in eastern Ukraine, saying the move would help it better contain Russian troops’ westwards advance.
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was close to being freed in a prisoner swap at the time of his death, Maria Pevchikh, a Navalny ally, said. Speaking on YouTube, Pevchikh said talks about exchanging Navalny and two unnamed US nationals for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian FSB Security Service hitman in jail in Germany, were in their final stages at the time of his death.
Russia launched 14 attack drones and a barrage of missiles at Ukraine over Sunday night and Monday morning, with air defence systems destroying nine drones as well as three guided missiles over the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Ukraine’s air air force said. Russia also launched two S-300 missiles from anti-aircraft missile systems and one air-to-surface Kh-31P missile, the air force said.
European leaders are due to gather in Paris on Monday to send Vladimir Putin a message of European resolve on Ukraine and, France has said, to counter the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is bound to win. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has invited his European counterparts to the Élysée Palace for a working meeting at short notice because of what his advisers say is an escalation in Russian aggression. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, and the Dutch PM, Mark Rutte, as well as leaders from Scandinavian and Baltic countries are among those scheduled to attend.
An attack on Sunday destroyed the train station, shops and homes in the town of Kostiantynivka near the frontline of Ukraine’s two-year-old war against Russia. Police said a guided aerial bomb hit the station and four S-300 missiles followed in the pre-dawn hours. Kostiantynivka lies 30km (18 miles) west of Bakhmut, which fell to Russian forces in May 2023, and north of Avdiivka, captured by the Russians last week.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has for the first time put a number on Ukrainian soldier deaths, saying 31,000 troops have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Ukrainian president told a news conference in Kyiv that he could not disclose the number of wounded because it would help Russian military planning.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, said his country was “losing territory” in its grinding war with Russia because “50%” of weapons promised by western partners failed to arrive on time.
Russian forces would attempt another offensive in late May or summer, Zelenskiy said. “We will prepare for their assault. Their assault that began on 8 October has not brought any results, I think.” Ukraine had a “clear” plan for a new counteroffensive, Zelenskiy said, but he could not disclose details. Troop rotations were critically important for the war effort and Ukraine needed to better prepare its reserve forces, he said.
Joe Biden plans to meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday for discussions including a stalled national security bill that provides assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, according to the US president’s aides.
Rishi Sunak, Britain’s prime minister, has urged the west to be “bolder” in seizing Russian assets and to give Ukraine any interest already accrued on frozen Russian funds.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken a more advantageous position near Avdiivka in Ukraine and repelled counterattacks.
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said Russia could be invited to a peace summit if the Kremlin “want[s] to genuinely end this war”.
Updated
Miranda Bryant, our Nordic correspondent, has this write up of Hungary’s vote to approve Sweden’s Nato membership.
Hungary’s parliament has approved Sweden’s Nato membership nearly two years after the historically neutral country applied to join the western military alliance, bringing to an end months of limbo and diplomatic wrangling.
The vote, which took place in Budapest on Monday, followed Friday’s meeting between the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, and his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán, in which they agreed to put aside their differences – saying they were “prepared to die for each other”.
The two countries signed a new military agreement during a warm yet tightly stage-managed joint press conference in the Hungarian capital, in which Sweden promised to sell four new Gripen planes to add to the 14 Hungary has previously bought.
Turkey gave its approval to the Nordic country’s Nato ratification last month, leaving Hungary the last remaining country to do so – despite assurances from Orbán that it would not be the final Nato member to sign.
The turnaround came after the ruling Fidesz parliamentary group leader suggested last week that the issue be raised in Hungary’s parliament on Monday when it reopened after its winter break.
