The war in Russia and Ukraine is live: Putin's bomber violates the airspace of NATO member Finland

Germany is holding a two-day conference today to garner support for Ukraine's recovery, in a show of solidarity with kyiv.

The two-day conference on Ukraine's recovery in Berlin comes ahead of a Group of Seven summit bringing together Ukraine's main Western allies in Italy and a global peace summit in Switzerland next weekend.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who last week attended events marking the 80th anniversary of the landings in France, is expected at the gathering which, according to German hosts, will bring together 2,000 people from politics, business and other areas.

At least five people were seriously injured after Russian forces dropped a 500-kilogram guided bomb on a residential area in the town of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast yesterday, Ukrainian officials said.

The guided bomb hit the area around 11:20 p.m. last night, officials said.

The bomb hit a residential area where five residents were physically injured due to broken glass and a powerful shock wave, Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported. Among the injured civilians are a 65-year-old man and two women aged 63 and 88.

They were diagnosed with head injuries and multiple lacerations, the report added. The bombings also hollowed out 13 multi-story buildings and shattered their windows and glass.

Russia does not recognize its missile and bombing attacks against Ukraine, particularly in civilian areas, even though it claims to target military hotspots. However, during its 27-month war, Russia attacked schools, maternity wards, hospitals, shelters, villages, residential neighborhoods, museums, churches, among other places.

Volodymyr Zelensky said he had arrived in Germany for a conference on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction and would also speak with Chancellor Olaf Sholz.

Ukraine's wartime leader said he would prioritize measures on Ukraine's energy sector, shattered by Russian air attacks, at the conference, an annual event.

His talks with Sholz would focus on continued military support, including air defense and joint munitions manufacturing, as well as coordinating positions ahead of the “peace summit” to be hosted by Switzerland later this week. .

A Russian SU-34 bomber crashed in the Caucasus Mountains during a routine training flight, possibly due to a technical malfunction, killing the crew on board, Russian news agencies reported today citing the Ministry of Defense.

An unknown number of crew members were killed, officials said. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board.

“The preliminary cause of the plane crash is a technical malfunction,” the official TASS news agency quoted the ministry representative as saying. The accident took place in the Ossetia region, the ministry said.

The United States does not expect major foreign policy changes from the European Union, including on Ukraine, after the European Parliament elections that saw far-right parties win seats, a U.S. official said Monday.

The official said Washington expects Ursula von der Leyen to be able to remain EU president.

The Kremlin is continuing its mission to undermine Finland's territorial and sovereign integrity by sending military aircraft into its airspace, a US-based think tank said, after Russia violated the airspace of the NATO nation.

Shortly after violating Finnish airspace yesterday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had carried out flights using Tu-95MS missile carriers and Tu-22M3 bombers over neutral Baltic waters , the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea.

Noting that the Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to the Finnish reports, the Institute for the Study of War said: “This reported incursion likely advances the Kremlin's ongoing efforts to undermine sovereignty and Finnish territorial integrity. »

He noted that the Russian Defense Ministry proposed last month that the Russian government “reassess Russia's maritime borders in the Gulf of Finland, which some Western officials say could be part of an effort to review maritime areas in the Baltic Sea.

“The Kremlin also carried out a number of information operations aimed at presenting Finland as an enemy of Russia and Russians, ultimately creating the information conditions to justify possible future aggression against Finland,” he said. declared the ISW.

Nearly 90 countries and organizations, half of them from Europe, have confirmed their participation in the Ukraine peace summit hosted this weekend by Switzerland, despite Russia's refusal to participate in the conference, the Swiss president said .

Viola Amherd told reporters in the Swiss capital that the summit, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, would aim to chart a path toward possible peace, almost 28 months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine and the war continues. .

Some, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, are expected to attend the summit at the Buergenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne.

Brazil and China have said they will only participate if both sides – including Russia – are at the table, according to Swiss officials. Beijing has been one of Vladimir Putin's main supporters since the start of the war.

“It’s not propaganda,” Amherd said. “This is the basis of the humanitarian aid provided by Switzerland… and the opening of a dialogue.”

The Swiss president added that most of the participants – around half of whom will be represented at the level of heads of state or government – ​​are country leaders, but “a handful” come from organizations like the United Nations.

Vladimir Putin said Russia could retaliate in the same way against those who allow Ukraine to target Russia with its long-range missiles – by supplying such weapons to countries within range of Western nations.

In broad remarks at his annual economic forum in St. Petersburg, the Russian president sought to insist that Moscow “does not care” about the upcoming U.S. election, asserted that candidate Donald Trump's belief in hush money was “political” and dismissed fears that Russia wants to attack NATO as “nonsense”.

But he warned that the United States and Germany's recent authorization for Ukraine to use their weapons to strike specific Russian targets near Kharkiv could lead to “very serious problems,” calling Berlin's decision “very dangerous measure”.

A Russian military plane violated Finnish airspace yesterday, Helsinki officials said. This is the first such violation by Russian forces since Finland joined NATO last year.

The fighter jet entered Finnish airspace for about two minutes on Monday morning, Finnish Defense Ministry officials said, confirming the violation of its air territory in the eastern Gulf of Finland.

The plane traveled at least 2.5 km over Finnish territory.

Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said his country took this “alleged territorial violation seriously and the investigation was opened immediately.”

This is not the first time that Russia has violated Finnish airspace. In August 2022, it sent two fighter jets into the European country's airspace, drawing international condemnation for its reckless flight operations.