LIVE: maximum tension in Ukraine after Russia’s nuclear threats

The White House is about to announce support package for Ukraine worth up to $275 millionsaid the US Secretary of Defense. Lloyd Austin to journalists in Laos.

“Later today, the White House will announce additional security assistance for Ukraine worth up to $275 million to meet critical battlefield needs, and that will include ammunition for rocket and artillery systems and anti-tank weaponsAustin said Wednesday.

Austin also referred to the Biden administration’s decision to send for the first time anti-personnel mines in Ukrainesaying she is motivated by Russia’s change in tactics on the front.

“Because the Russians have had so little success in their fighting, they have changed their tactics a little,” he explained. “They no longer lead with their mechanized forces. “They lead with dismounted forces that are able to come in and do things to pave the way for the mechanized forces.”

Austin said the Ukrainian military needs “things that can help slow that effort.” He stressed that Ukraine must be responsible in “recording where they are placing these mines.”

Suspensefulthe Ukrainian state broadcaster, reports that Italia, Spain y Greece they have also closed its embassies in kyiv todayafter the United States announced this measure due to the possibility of a massive attack by Russia.

The US embassy previously said it had received “specific information” of a possible significant airstrike and would be closed.

Suspenseful reports that intelligence indicates a combined drone and missile attack on the capital, and is not believed to be related to yesterday’s change in Russian nuclear doctrine.

The president Joe Biden has authorized the provision of antipersonnel mines to Ukraineaccording to two US officials, in a step that will strengthen the defenses of Kiev against the advance of the troops russianbut which has drawn criticism from gun control groups.

Russian authorities have detained a German citizen in the northwestern region of Kaliningrad accused of sabotage of energy facilities, the FSB security service reported to news agencies on Wednesday.

The man, called Nikolai Gaiduk and born in 1967, ““Is involved in the March 2024 explosion at a gas distribution station” in Kaliningrad, the Russian region located between Poland y Lithuaniathe FSB said in a statement according to news agencies.

A resident of Hamburg, Gaiduk was detained at a border crossing in Kaliningrad, where he had allegedly returned “to organize acts of sabotage on local energy infrastructure,” according to the statement. According to the FSB, in his car half a liter of an explosive substance was seized when she was trying to cross into Russia, and local media reported that she was hidden in a shampoo bottle.

The German Government said it was aware of the arrest and was in contact with the Russian authorities on this matter, while again advising Germans not to travel to that country to avoid arbitrary arrests.

The Russian State Duma approved this Wednesday a bill that prevents exiled cultural figures critical of the Kremlin access copyright income generated in Russia. The measure affects dozens of musicians, writers, actors and artists who left the country after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and whom the Moscow regime has labeled as “foreign agents”.

The chairman of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodindefended the initiative arguing that will prevent “traitors” from enriching themselves at the expense of the country. Under the new regulations, these artists’ funds will be held in special accounts and will remain blocked until they are removed from the list of “foreign agents,” a designation reminiscent of the Soviet era that currently carries considerable political stigma.

Russia has designated 493 people as “foreign agents”among which are recognized figures such as the writer Boris Akuninthe singers Zemfira y Monetochkaand the journalist Yury Dud. The law, originally passed in 2012, has been progressively tightened, prohibiting advertising with these agents and now specifically targeting their cultural income, in what is interpreted as a strategy to silence critics of the regime.

Russia This Wednesday he rejected the accusations about the cutting of two submarine telecommunications cables in the Baltic Seacalling the suspicions “ridiculous.” The presidential spokesperson Dmitri Peskov responded to the European accusations by pointing out the lack of grounds for involving Moscow in the sabotage of communication infrastructures.

Damaged cables include one between Finland y Germanyand another between Sweden y Lithuaniawhich has generated intense speculation about its origin. German authorities, including Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, have claimed the outages are the result of deliberate sabotage, while Sweden and Finland have launched official investigations into the incident.

The Finnish and Swedish media suggest that a chinese shiphe Yi Peng 3could be involved in the damage. The current geopolitical context, marked by the war in Ukraine, has intensified suspicions about possible hybrid warfare operationswith European foreign ministers warning of the threat Russia poses to continental security.

The Russian president Vladimir Putin gave this Wednesday to the zoo Pyongyang a number of exotic animals, including an African lion, two brown bears, two domestic yaks, five white cockatoos, 25 pheasants of various species and 40 mandarin ducks, according to the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources.

The donation occurs in the context of growing rapprochement between Russia and North Koreatwo countries heavily sanctioned by the West that signed a mutual defense pact earlier this year. The sending of animals adds to other gestures of friendship between Putin and Kim Jong-unwho had previously gifted Putin a pair of local dogs, while Putin had already gifted Kim 24 purebred horses.

Relations between both countries have particularly narrowed during the Russian offensive in Ukraine, with Western reports suggesting that North Korea has deployed more than 10,000 troops to support Russia in the conflict. This animal exchange and military cooperation reflect an increasingly strong diplomatic alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Pope Francis on Wednesday commemorated the 1,000th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it a “shameful disaster for humanity”, at a hearing attended by the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska.

“Yesterday marked 1,000 days since the invasion of Ukraine. A tragic anniversary for the victims and the destruction it has caused“said the Argentine Pope at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican.

“But, at the same time, (it is) a shameful disaster for all humanity”he added before the thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, where Zelenska sat next to the first ladies of Armenia, Lithuania and Serbia.

He expressed his closeness to “martyred Ukrainian people” and asked for efforts “so that weapons give way to dialogue.”

Next, Francis read a letter addressed to him by a Ukrainian student in which he describes the war and the suffering of the population.

Russia launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022, and since then the Pope has frequently called for an end to the conflict.

Washington’s approval for Ukraine use American long range missiles against military targets inside Russia is a “big mistake” that could bringing the world to the brink of a “great war”declared the Turk Recep Tayyip Erdogan in statements published Wednesday.

“This step by (US President Joe) Biden will not only aggravate the conflict, but will provoke a greater reaction from Russia… (and) may bring the region and the world to the brink of a new great war,” he told reporters on the flight back from the summit. G20 in Rio.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) of South Korea confirmed this Wednesday that North Korea has sent to Russia multiple rocket launchers, mobile artillery and troops who would have already participated in combat operations in Ukraine.