Russia Ukraine war latest news: Putin ‘plans radiation leak terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s visit to Washington in June was expected to reduce India‘s dependence on Moscow for arms, economic ties and technology as New Delhi and Washington try to strengthen the Quad partnership, which also includes Japan and Australia, to contain growing aggression from China.

India considers Russia a time-tested ally from the Cold War era with key cooperation in defense, oil, nuclear energy and space exploration. But that partnership has become fraught since Moscow started developing closer ties with India’s main rival, China, because of the war against Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand with India-Russia ties.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Thursday called on the United States not to make “mistakes with dangerous consequences” and send NATO troops to Ukraine, the RIA news agency reported.

Russia fired cruise and ballistic missiles and strike drones at targets in Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday, causing damage in the cities of Odesa and Kryvy Rih, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukrainian air defences downed three of the four drones fired in the overnight attack involving three Kinzhal hypersonic and three cruise missiles, the Air Force said in a statement.

“…The enemy rockets did not reach their targets in the Dnipropetrovsk region… the occupiers are continuing their terror against the Ukrainian people, attacking Ukraine‘s critical infrastructure facilities,” the air force said.

The drones were shot down over the Black Sea region of Odesa in southwestern Ukraine, but one of them struck a warehouse, regional administration spokesman Serhiy Bratchuk said.

In the Kryvy Rih area, a Russian missile strike damaged at least 10 homes, the regional administration said.

Russia has regularly carried out long-distance missile and drone attacks since October, and increased strikes in May as Ukraine prepared for a counteroffensive.

Watch live as the prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, addresses the second day of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.

This year’s summit will focus on mobilising international support for Ukraine’s economic and social stabilisation and recovery from the effects of war.

Other sessions on Thursday 22 June include speeches on “restoring livelihoods”, “tech for transformation” and “role of the regions in Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction”.

Opening the conference yesterday, Rishi Sunak pledged to stand with Kyiv “as long as it takes” as he announced three billion US dollars (£2.35 billion) in bank loan guarantees to bolster rebuild.

Repairing the Chonhar road bridge after a missile strike Russia has blamed on Ukraine could take up to several weeks, a Russian-installed transport ministry official in Crimea was cited as saying on Thursday.

Russian-appointed officials said earlier on Thursday that Ukrainian missiles had struck the bridge connecting Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, with Russian-held parts of the southern Kherson region.

US reporter Evan Gershkovich had a new appeal rejected by a Moscow court on Thursday against his pre-trial detention on charges of espionage, a Reuters reporter at the court said.

The Wall Street Journal reporter denies the spying charge, which could lead to a prison sentence of up to 20 years if he is convicted.

His parents Mikhail Gershkovich and Ella Milman, who left the Soviet Union for the United States in 1979, were in court to support their son. U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy was not allowed inside the room.

Gershkovich, wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt, stood in a glass box and smiled at journalists who were briefly allowed to film him before the start of the proceedings.

The 31-year-old was arrested in March and accused by Russia‘s FSB security service of collecting military secrets in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

His newspaper vehemently denies the accusation against Gershkovich, who was accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry. The United States says he was wrongfully detained and is demanding his release.

Gershkovich was appealing against his continued detention in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison ahead of his trial, for which no date has been set.

Emma Tucker, the Wall Street Journal’s editor in chief, told the BBC before the hearing that she had low expectations from the appeal but it was important to go through the legal process.

In April, a court denied a request from Gershkovich’s lawyers that he be transferred to house arrest, agree to restrictions on his movements, or be granted bail.

Gershkovich is being held at a time when relations between Washington and Moscow are at the lowest point since the Cold War after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last year in what it called “a special military operation.”

Volodymr Zelensky has claimed Russia is planning a “terrorist attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant”.

In a tweet, the president said: “Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering a scenario of a terrorist attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. A terrorist attack with radiation leakage. They have prepared everything for this.”

A view shows the damaged Chonhar bridge connecting Russian-held parts of Ukraine’s Kherson region to the Crimean peninsula, following what Russian-appointed officials say was a Ukrainian missile attack.

Britain will back fast-tracking Ukraine’s Nato membership as momentum builds among Western allies to significantly change their stance over Kyiv’s attempts to join the alliance.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s government may have a quick route to accession, as has been granted recently to Sweden and Finland, rather than continuing with the slower Membership Action Plan (MAP) that has preconditions for entry.

Russia is adamantly opposed to Ukraine joining Nato, and even after Vladimir Putin’s invasion there has been reticence among member states over the speed of Kyiv’s accession.

But as the war enters its 16th month, the position of Western allies appears to be changing.

Sweden’s prosecutor’s office reserves the right to classify material from its investigation into last year’s sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Russia‘s RIA news agency cited it as saying on Thursday.

If the investigation is dropped and no conclusions are made, materials will not be made public, RIA reported.

Russia has unsuccessfully demanded access to investigations by Sweden and other countries into the blasts that severely damaged the pipelines connecting Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea.