1. German affords Patriot missile defence system to Poland

Germany has provided Warsaw the Patriot missile defence system to assist it to safe its airspace, after a stray missile crashed in Poland final week, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht advised a newspaper on Sunday.

The German authorities had already mentioned it will supply its neighbour additional assist in air policing with German Eurofighters after the incident, which initially raised fears that the warfare in Ukraine might spill throughout the border.

“We have offered Poland support in securing airspace — with our Eurofighters and with Patriot air defence systems,” Lambrecht advised the Rheinische Post and General Anzeiger.

The missile that hit Poland final week, killing two individuals, appeared to have been fired by Ukraine’s air defences relatively than a Russian strike, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has mentioned.

Ground-based air defence programs resembling Raytheon’s Patriot are constructed to intercept incoming missiles.

NATO has moved to strengthen air defences in japanese Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. More than a dozen NATO allies led by Germany in October kicked off an initiative to collectively procure air defence programs for a number of layers of threats, together with Patriot.

Germany had 36 Patriot models when it was NATO’s frontline state throughout the Cold War. German forces presently have 12 Patriot models, two of which are deployed to Slovakia.

2. Ukraine to examine allegations its troops killed surrendering Russian forces

Ukraine says it is going to examine video footage circulated on Russian social media which Moscow alleged reveals that Ukrainian forces killed Russian troops who could have been making an attempt to give up, after considered one of the males seemingly refused to lay down his weapon and opened hearth.

“Of course Ukrainian authorities will examine this video,” Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister overseeing the country’s push to join the European Union, said on the sidelines of a security forum in Halifax, Canada. 

Stefanishyna said “it is very unlikely” that the short, edited snippets show what Moscow claims.

Russian authorities announced the opening Friday of a criminal investigation based on the snippets posted on Russian Telegram channels and relayed on other social media. They present a muddled and incomplete picture.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the footage shows an “execution” and mentioned Russia desires a global investigation.

Stefanishyna, nonetheless, mentioned Ukrainian forces are “completely not desirous about the execution of anyone” and are under direct orders to take “as many prisoners of war as we can” so they can be swapped in prisoner exchanges with Russia.

“Every potential executed Russian soldier is some Ukrainian that is not able to be exchanged, so the spirit and logic is not there,” she said.

The UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine called for further investigation.

3. Renewed shelling threatens Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Powerful explosions shook Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region that is the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant Sunday morning, the global nuclear watchdog said in a statement, calling for “urgent measures to help prevent a nuclear accident” in the Russian-occupied facility.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said two explosions — one on Saturday evening and another on Sunday morning — near the Zaporizhzhia plant abruptly ended a period of relative calm around the nuclear facility that has been the site of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces since the start of the war on 24 February. 

Fears of a nuclear catastrophe have been at the forefront since Russian troops occupied the plant during the early days of the invasion of Ukraine. Continued fighting in the area has raised the specter of a disaster.

In what appeared to be renewed shelling both close to and at the site, IAEA experts at the Zaporizhzhia facility reported hearing more than a dozen blasts within a short period of time on Sunday morning, the statement said, adding that the IAEA team could see some explosions from their office windows.

Several buildings, systems and equipment at the power plant — none of them critical for the nuclear safety and security of the plant — were damaged in the shelling, the IAEA statement said, citing information provided by the plant’s management. There were no reports of casualties.

Read more at our story here.

4. Russia seeks world ‘where might makes right’, says US Defence Secretary

American Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin warned this weekend that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine offers a look  at a world where nuclear-armed countries could threaten other nations and said Beijing, like Moscow, seeks a world where might makes right.

Austin made the remarks at the annual Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, which attracts defense and security officials from Western democracies.

“Russia’s invasion offers a preview of a possible world of tyranny and turmoil that none of us would want to live in. And it’s an invitation to an increasingly insecure world haunted by the shadow of nuclear proliferation,” Austin said in a speech.

“Because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s fellow autocrats are watching. And they could well conclude that getting nuclear weapons would give them a hunting license of their own. And that could drive a dangerous spiral of nuclear proliferation.”

Austin dismissed Putin’s claims that “modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia,” calling it “a world in which autocrats decide which countries are real and which countries can be snuffed out.”

He added that the war “shows the whole world the dangers of disorder. That’s the security challenge that we face. It’s urgent, and it’s historic.”

5. Eurovision winner joins Ukraine rally in Athens

Hundreds of Ukrainians and supporters marched in central Athens on Saturday night, to protest towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing warfare. 

The demonstrators had been joined by Ukrainian singer Ruslana, who received the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest. 

The protesters ended up at Athens’ central Syntagma Square, the place they sang Ukrainian folks songs, led by Ruslana.

They had been additionally joined by a small group of Iranian protesters marching for ladies’s rights in Iran.

Sunday’s major information in the Ukraine warfare involved the blockage of grain exports in the Black Sea following Russia’s withdrawal from a UN-brokered deal. Read more on that story here.

In different developments:

1. Tens of 1000’s of Czechs present their help for Ukraine

Tens of 1000’s of Czechs gathered in the capital on Sunday to reveal their solidarity with Ukraine and their help for democratic values.

The rally happened in response to 3 latest anti-government demonstrations the place different protesters demanded the resignation of the pro-Western coalition authorities of conservative Prime Minister Petr Fiala for its help for Ukraine. 

Those earlier rallies additionally protested hovering vitality costs and opposed the nation’s membership in the European Union and NATO. Their organisers are identified for spreading Russian propaganda and opposing COVID-19 vaccinations.

The individuals who turned out Sunday in Prague waved the Czech, Ukrainian and EU flags whereas displaying slogans that learn “Czech Republic against fear” and “We will manage it.”

Sunday’s rally at central Wenceslas Square was organized by a bunch referred to as Million Moments for Democracy, which was behind a number of rallies in help of Ukraine following the Feb 24 Russian invasion. The group additionally beforehand held huge rallies in opposition to the previous prime minister, populist billionaire Andrej Babis, calling him a menace for democracy.

The group stated the anti-government protests, which united the far proper with the far left. exploited the folks’s worry of inflation and the warfare in Ukraine and have been making an attempt to undermine democracy.

Ukraine’s first woman, Olena Zelenska, thanked these on the rallyin a video message. She stated her nation has been going through “the darkest moment in its history” however added hope that Russia’s aggression received’t succeed.

2. More Ukrainian civilians killed as Russian missile assaults proceed

On the battlefront, Russian missile assaults stored pounding key front-line scorching spots in Ukraine. The Russians shelled seven Ukrainian areas over the previous 24 hours, killing at the very least 5 civilians and wounding 9 more, Ukraine’s presidential workplace stated.

In the jap Donetsk area, the place the combating is ongoing close to the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, eight cities and villages have been shelled.

Earlier this month, Moscow intensified its missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s energy stations, waterworks and different key infrastructure, damaging 40% of Ukraine’s electrical system and forcing the federal government to implement rolling blackouts. Kyiv’s mayor stated the Ukrainian capital’s energy system was working in “emergency mode.”

In addition, in areas that Ukraine has recaptured, residents are nonetheless recovering our bodies of killed civilians, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko stated.

“Over the past 24 hours alone, in three de-occupied towns and villages, we found abandoned bodies of Ukrainian civilians,” Kyrylenko stated.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy stated Sunday that Russian forces have been mining territories they depart behind twice as densely as through the first months of the warfare.

Power outages have been reported Sunday in the occupied Ukrainian metropolis of Enerhodar, house to the closed Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest. Ukrainian and Russian officers traded blame for the shelling that precipitated the blackout.

3. Russian troopers launched in prisoner swap

Russian state TV shared footage on Sunday of what it stated have been Russian troopers who had been launched as a part of a prisoner swap the day earlier than.

The video confirmed younger males disembarking from a aircraft and boarding buses, together with one man being met by his father.

Some have been filmed apparently speaking to family members on their telephones, telling them they have been house.

The AP couldn’t independently confirm the date, location or circumstances below which the footage was shot.

The Russian defence ministry stated in a press release on Saturday that Kyiv launched 50 Russian military personnel as a part of a prisoner swap that very same day.

Fifty Ukrainian troopers and two civilians have been launched as a part of the swap with Russia, each side reported.

4. Russia’s Lavrov needles Biden over Cuban Missile Crisis and Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin’s international minister on Sunday needled Joe Biden over Ukraine, saying that he hoped the US President had the knowledge to cope with a worldwide confrontation just like the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

In an interview for a Russian state tv documentary on the missile disaster, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated there have been “similarities” to 1962, largely as a result of Russia was now threatened by Western weapons in Ukraine.

“I hope that in today’s situation, President Joe Biden will have more opportunities to understand who gives orders and how,” Lavrov stated with a faint smile. “This situation is very disturbing.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered the largest confrontation between Moscow and the West because the Cuban disaster when the Soviet Union and United States are to thought-about to have come closest to nuclear warfare.

5. UK politicians demand probe into Liz Truss cellphone hack declare

The British authorities insisted Sunday it has strong cybersecurity for presidency officers, after a newspaper reported that former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ cellphone was hacked whereas she was U.Ok. international minister.

The Mail on Sunday stated that the hack was found when Truss was operating to turn out to be Conservative Party chief and prime minister in the summer time. It stated the safety breach was stored secret by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the pinnacle of the civil service.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, stated Russian spies have been suspected of the hack. It stated the hackers gained entry to delicate info, together with discussions concerning the Ukraine warfare with international officers, in addition to non-public conversations between Truss and a political ally, former Treasury chief Kwasi Kwarteng.

The U.Ok. authorities spokesperson declined to touch upon safety preparations, however stated it had “robust systems in place to protect against cyber threats,” together with common safety briefings for ministers.

Opposition events demanded an unbiased investigation into the hack, and into the leak of the knowledge to a newspaper.