We are now closing this blog but you can read all our Ukraine coverage here.
Summary of the day
In an interview with the Guardian, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, said American president Joe Biden’s delay in sanctioning the use of western weapons against targets in Russia has left the Kremlin’s forces laughing at Ukraine and able to “hunt” its people.
Zelenskiy said that the White House’s equivocation had cost lives and he urged the US president to overcome his perennial worries about possible nuclear “escalation” with Moscow.
The Kremlin has said Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons against targets in Russia demonstrates Washington’s deep involvement in the conflict, as some of Vladimir Putin’s allies increased their nuclear threats against the west.
The German government announced that it will give Ukraine permission to use weapons supplied by Germany against military targets in Russia.
Russian ballistic missiles slammed into an apartment building in Kharkiv city overnight, Ukrainian officials said, killing at least five people.
Today, Zelenskiy met with Nordic leaders in Sweden and said that “the key to positive changes for us on the front and in the war overall is air defence.”
Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, noted that “all five Nordic countries have now entered into bilateral agreements on security cooperation with Ukraine. This sends an important signal to the Ukrainian people that our engagement is firm and lasting.”
Speaking after a meeting of Nato ministers in Prague, the Nato secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said “self-defence is not escalation.”
Stoltenberg also said that “as this war has evolved, Nato support has evolved. And I welcome that allies are easing restrictions on the use of weapons.”
The Polish press agency has probably been the target of a Russian cyberattack, Jacek Dobrzynski, spokesperson of the minister coordinating special services, said.
