Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin increases nuclear weapon threat as UK expected to sign off missile strikes

Volodymyr Zelensky visited the embattled towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk on Monday, as their Ukrainian defenders attempt to hold back the Russian onslaught.

In Pokrovsk, Mr Zelensky visited the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade and awarded medals to soldiers. He then oversaw the construction of trenches and “defensive structures” at an unspecified location in Donetsk.

My Zelensky then headed to the city of Kupiansk, which last week repelled a major Russian attack when two tank convoys attempted to gain a foothold in the city.

Filming himself outside a large Kupiansk sign, Mr Zelensky paid tribute to Ukrainian soldiers, saying “the strength of our entire Ukrainian army is the people who serve”.

The world’s chemical weapons watchdog said on Monday that it discovered indications of tear gas in samples collected last month on the frontline with Russia in Ukraine’s central-east Dnipropetrovsk area.

The employment of riot control agents like tear gas as a form of warfare is outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention, a non-proliferation treaty monitored by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Ukraine had requested assistance from the agency, which sent a team. The committee was not tasked with assigning culpability, but Ukraine and the United States have said Russia illegally used tear gas to clear trenches.

Tear gas is not fatal, although it does cause temporary discomfort to the eyes and respiratory system.

OPCW’s team reviewed digital files, received first-hand witness accounts, and tested three samples from a trench along the frontline with Russian troops, it said in an executive summary.

Analysis of samples conducted by two independent laboratories indicates that “both the grenade collected from the trench and the soil sample collected from the dark splatter next to it contained the riot control agent 2-chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile, known as CS”, it said.

The findings are expected to be discussed at a meeting of the OPCW’s 193 member states in The Hague next week

Germany is sticking with its decision not to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said on Monday.

A spokesperson told a regular news conference in Berlin: “The chancellor’s decision is unchanged.”

Former defence secretary Ben Wallace has added to the criticism of Olaf Scholz’s call with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Mr Wallace said Mr Scholz made the West look weak and “emboldened” Russia. He said “Putin is laughing” at the German leader, who he said had been “manipulated” by the Russian president to “exactly where he wants him”.

He continued: “No Taurus but huge amounts of humiliation. I think Scholz is probably best suited to chairing a sub committee of a local council rather than running a government.”

Lithuania’s Gabrielius Landsbergis, who is one of the EU’s most outspoken foreign ministers, said it was difficult for him to understand why the call had happened.

He said: “I’m not in principle against any calling or reach-out, but it has to come from a position of strength, not from the position of weakness, because if it does, then Russians will abuse it. And they clearly are doing exactly that, with massive new rocket barrages against Ukraine’s civil infrastructure, against energy. So what does it help? Why are we doing this?”

During their one-hour conversation on Friday, the German chancellor urged Putin to remove his soldiers from Ukraine. Russia then launched its worst attack on Ukraine in months over the weekend, killing at least seven people and causing the country to implement statewide electricity rationing.

A former US special representative for Ukraine negotiations has said North Korean troops sent to support Russia in the war is “fairly minor.”

Kurt Volker was asked about the recent deployment on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and said this is a “fairly minor thing” given all the support North Korea has provided Russia.

He noted that most of Russia’s artillery munitions have come from North Korea.

He said: “Russia burns through anywhere from 1200-1500 troops a day, so 12,000 North Korean troops will replace 12,000 Russian soldiers in a couple of weeks.”

Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland, said Monday that a US decision to permit Ukraine to deploy American-made weaponry to launch an attack deep into Russia might be a turning point in the conflict.

“This decision was very necessary ... Russia sees that Ukraine enjoys strong support and that the West’s position is unyielding and determined. It’s a very important, potentially decisive moment in this war,” Duda told journalists.

He also expressed disdain for German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s phone conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin last Friday and attacked Germany for stating that it would not align its strategy with the United States.

“Germany may be looking for opportunities, as the German press indicates, to reach some agreement with Russia in order to return to energy contracts and to be able to buy energy resources from Russia again,” Duda said.

“Russia is brutally attacking Ukraine, and one of the leaders of the free world, one of the leaders of the West, a large European country, the strongest economy in Europe, is in talks with the aggressor. I absolutely believe that it was a mistake on the international political front.”

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, intends to put up a new “peace deal” for the war in Ukraine that would postpone Kyiv’s accession to Nato for ten years and freeze the fighting along the present lines.

Bloomberg quoted Turkish officials at the G20 conference in Rio de Janeiro as saying that Mr Erdogan wants to establish a demilitarised zone in the Donbas region that is patrolled by “international troops.”

Officials from Ukraine have consistently stated that they will not accept a peace agreement that cedes Ukrainian land.

Since Rusaia invaded Ukraine, Mr Erdogan has been among the few heads of a Nato member state to keep in touch with the Kremlin.

In April 2022, unsuccessful peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow were held in Turkey.

The Kremlin said on Monday that if the United States allowed Ukraine to use US-made weapons to strike far into Russia then it would lead to a rise in tension and deepen the involvement of the US in the conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the outgoing administration of Joe Biden was throwing “oil on the fire” and he reiterated earlier warnings from Russian president Vladimir Putin saying that any strikes on Russian soil using US weapons would be interpreted as direct Nato involvement.

In response to a question from Tass at his regular press briefing, Mr Peskov said Russia was only aware of the apparent decision by the Biden administration from reporting in western media.

He said if western weapons are fired deep into Russia, it would not be Ukraine doing the targeting “but those countries which gave permission.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday said he hoped that EU members could agree to allow Ukraine to use arms to strike inside Russia.

He said before a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels: “I’ve been saying once and again that Ukraine should be able to use the arms we provided to them, in order to not only stop the arrows but also to be able to hit the archers.

“I continue believing this is what has to be done. I’m sure we will discuss once again. I hope member states will agree on that.”