Russia Ukraine war latest: Putin hosts Slovakian PM Robert Fico and vows ‘destruction’ after Kazan drone attack

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday hosted Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fitz in a rare visit by an EU leader to the Kremlin since Moscow’s February 2022 all-out invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Fico arrived in Russia on a “working visit” and met Putin one-on-one yesterday evening, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s RIA news agency.

According to Mr. Peskov, the talks were expected to focus on the “international situation” and Russian natural gas supplies.

Russian natural gas continues to flow to some European countries, including Slovakia, via Ukraine under a five-year agreement signed before the war that expires at the end of this year.

At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told EU leaders that Kiev had no intention of renewing the agreement, which Mr Fico will insist would harm his country’s interests.

Ukraine does not have the military capability to retake all the territories they have occupied Russia since 2014, president Volodymyr Zelensky he admitted, as he called on the West to take stronger action to confront Moscow.

“Legally, we cannot give up our territories. This is prohibited by the constitution,” said the Ukrainian president. “But let’s not use such big words. Russia actually controls part of our territory today.”

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Not so long ago, Vladimir Putin, the potential reincarnation of Joseph Stalin, had reason to be happy. True, his the ill-fated “special military operation” in Ukraine failed spectacularly in its original stated goal of subordinating the country to Great Russia, the resistance reportedly disintegrating within days, with Volodymyr Zelensky sneaks into exile.

However, the Kremlin’s “meat grinder” strategy managed to capture about a third of what was left of Ukrainian territory after the 2014 invasion, Russian troops advanced, albeit at a glacial pace obscene cost of human lives.

Attacks on civilians, homes and energy infrastructure have helped to demoralize and exhaust Ukrainians, however brave they may be. About 40,000 new soldiers were promised North Korea – Kim Jong Un’s elite teams, according to reports. Mr. Kim and other Russian allies in the Middle East helped lift the sanctions; and the Iranians and Syrians (and, to a lesser extent, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas) shared the Russian agenda.

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Ukraine brought the war into the heart of Russia on Saturday morning with drone strikes that local authorities said damaged residential buildings in the city of Kazan in the Tatarstan region, more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the front line.

The press service of Tatarstan Governor Rustam Minnikhanov announced that eight drones attacked the city. Six hit residential buildings, one an industrial building, and one fell over the river, according to the announcement.

It comes as Moscow’s troops continue to make slow advances in eastern Ukraine, with their defense ministry saying they have taken control of the village of Kostiantynopolske in Donetsk province.

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Unsettled by Russiaexpansionism and encouraged by joining NATO, Finland gathers to strengthen its national self-defense.

The popularity of weapons training in the Nordic country has increased in recent months. Few places tell the story of Finland’s growing affinity for self-defense more than shooting ranges growing in interest.

Russian President Vladimir PutinOrder for a full Russian invasion Ukraine — another big Russian neighbor — in February 2022 continues to resonate in many Finnish minds, and partially explains the ballistic binge.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed retaliation on Sunday after Ukrainian drones hit residential buildings a day earlier in the city of Kazan, in the Tatarstan region, more than 1,000 kilometers from the front line.

Speaking to Tatarstan regional governor Rustam Minnikhanov, Putin said that anyone who attacks Russia must expect that Moscow will inflict “many times more damage” in return, but did not elaborate.

His statements were reported by Russian state news agencies.

Minnikhanov’s press service announced on Saturday that eight drones attacked Kazan. Local authorities said there were no casualties.

Russia will begin humanitarian electricity deliveries to Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia backed by Moscow, from Monday, Russian news agencies quoted local officials as saying.

Power shortages, common in Abkhazia during the winter months, began in early December when low water levels at the Enguri hydroelectric power station led to an emergency shutdown.

The region appealed to Russia for help, saying it was facing a “humanitarian disaster” due to critical power shortages.

“In response to Abkhazia’s appeal, the Russian leadership has once again extended a helping hand to us and is starting to implement the humanitarian transfer of electricity to the republic,” the Interfax news agency quoted Badra Gunba, the self-proclaimed president of Abkhazia, as saying. on Sunday.

Abkhazia broke away from Georgian control in the war following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, during which hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians fled the region.

Moscow has long supported it and another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, and recognized them as independent after winning a five-day war against Georgia in 2008.