Russia- Ukraine war live: Ukraine ‘strikes warship that Russia captured in 2014’

Landing ship ‘not combat-capable’ say Ukraine’s navy as investigations continue into the Moscow terror attack

Russia has been discussing the location of a future Russian military base in the Central African Republic (CAR), Russian state-run news agency Tass has cited the Russian ambassador to the CAR as saying.

“Talks are currently ongoing between defence ministries of the two states. As far as is known, the place to locate the base is being selected,” Alexander Bikantov said.

Investigations are continuing into Friday evening’s devastating terror attack at the Crocus city hall in Moscow in which at least 139 people were killed. Four suspects have already appeared in court showing signs of torture. Overnight the news wires services reported that Russian investigators were questioning the men’s families in Tajikistan. The central Asian country has suffered from a long-running extremist Islamist insurgency. Despite Islamic State claiming responsibility for the attack, Vladimir Putin continues to suggest that there is a Ukrainian link, on Monday night he said: “This atrocity may be just one part in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime.” No evidence has been provided for Ukraine’s involvement.

Finland and Sweden think there is need for a new round of EU sanctions against Russia, Finland’s foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, has said.

Ukraine shot down all 12 attack drones launched overnight by Russia over the southern Mykolaiv and eastern Kharkiv regions of the country, Kyiv’s air force said.

Any global peace summit on Ukraine that excludes Russia is simply “absurd” and will fail, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview published on Tuesday. “Can the Ukrainian problem be resolved without Russia’s participation? The reply is clear – it cannot,” he told the news outlet Argumenty I Fakty.
“Because Ukraine has been turned into an instrument in the hands of the collective west with whose help it intends, so it seems to them, to put more pressure on Russia, restrain Russia and abandon it to the fringes of development. And, should they succeed, to finish it off,” he added. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called for an international peace summit, and earlier this year Switzerland said it would host the meeting.

Iceland has announced it is joining the Czech initiative, which is aiming to deliver at least 800,000 shells sourced from around the world, in addition to the EU commitments.