Attack in St Petersburg: Russian officer killed as tensions rise between Russia, Ukraine and the EU

Media reports about Russia’s alleged intention to attack NATO ‘have nothing to do with reality’ and are merely ‘scare tactics’, says Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, as quoted by RIA Novosti. “A lot of these alarmist stories are being published at the moment,” said Peskov. “Of course, they have nothing to do with reality and nothing to do with the intentions of the Russian Federation.”

“At the same time,” continued President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, “the Russian Federation is facing a very aggressive policy towards it on the part of European countries. And this aggression is coming precisely from European countries.” “If we’re talking about military escalation,” added Peskov in an interview with Bloomberg, “we simply don’t need it, because we’re making progress anyway (in Ukraine).”

“I can state quite clearly that we, like the European intelligence services in general, do not see any immediate risk of an attack by Russia against European countries and NATO members.”

A senior European official has made this statement in response to the various rumours that have circulated following the CIA director’s visit to Moscow, adding that there are no indications of this on the ground.

“What we have witnessed are hybrid attacks – and, in some cases, not strictly hybrid ones – which continue to occur and which, according to our forecasts, will continue to occur,” he explains.

Meanwhile, a number of EU countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland, are urging Brussels to step up efforts to use frozen Russian sovereign assets to fund Ukraine, amid fears that Kyiv is once again facing a funding crisis. This is reported by the Financial Times.

Plans to finance Ukraine by using over 200 billion euros of the Russian central bank’s assets held in the EU and subject to sanctions – he recalls – fell through last winter, after the Belgium, where most of these assets are held, had blocked the initiative.

A letter from a coalition of states to the European Commission will ask the EU executive to resume work on this proposal, according to four people familiar with the document, and to clarify whether progress has been made on alternative legal and technical frameworks that could make it possible to circumvent Belgium’s veto.

The profits generated by the assets held in custody at Euroclear, the Brussels-based central securities depository which holds the majority of the assets, are already being used to finance a loan of up to 50 billion euros, agreed in 2024.

With Kyiv struggling to protect its cities from night-time Russian missile strikes, EU capitals now fear that the country may need additional funding on top of the €90 billion loan guaranteed by the EU budget, which was hastily put together last December as an alternative to the proposal to use frozen assets, as reported, amongst other sources, by the FT.

CIA Director John Ratcliff is reported to have used his brief trip to Moscow to put pressure on Russia to reduce its military and economic support for Iran.

Another rumour from Politico: the surprise trip by the CIA chief to Moscow was to warn Russia not to attack NATO countries. The Wall Street Journal has also reported this, citing sources familiar with John Ratcliffe’s first known visit to Moscow.

The warning follows new assessments by US intelligence, according to which Vladimir Putin could test NATO’s resolve with a limited attack on a member state of the alliance in the coming years.

The news comes just a few hours after reports that Putin himself is preparing for an escalation of attacks against Ukraine after concluding that negotiations for a peace deal have reached an impasse. This is reported by Bloomberg, citing three sources close to the Kremlin, according to whom Moscow is considering stepping up attacks with powerful conventional ballistic missiles against Kyiv and infrastructure targets in other Ukrainian cities. The escalating spiral of attacks is leading an increasing number of Russian officials to conclude that Putin could, as a last resort, decide to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Germany is discussing how it might contribute to strengthening the UK’s nuclear deterrent and, more generally, Europe’s nuclear capability.

This is according to the Telegraph reports, stating that the talks have been accelerated by fears that the Trump administration might scale back the United States’ military commitment to the continent. According to the London-based newspaper, Berlin is seeking greater integration with the two European nuclear powers, the United Kingdom and France, and is said to have a “very strong interest” in an expansion of their capabilities.

One of the options under consideration is the supply of Patriot air defence systems to London to protect the British nuclear fleet. The United Kingdom already makes its Trident deterrent – based on submarine-launched ballistic missiles – available to NATO.

European concerns have been further fuelled by CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s unannounced visit to Moscow for talks with representatives of Russian military intelligence.

Meanwhile, Russian forces carried out a massive attack overnight on facilities belonging to the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, including metallurgical and oil refineries, as well as logistics centres, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence.

‘Overnight, the Russian armed forces carried out a massive attack using high-precision ground, air and naval weapons, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, targeting facilities belonging to Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, the metallurgical and oil refining industries, and logistics centres in the cities of Kyiv, Boryspil, Zaporizhzhia, Kremenchuk, Kryvyi Rih (Zalensky’s hometown, ed.) and Illichivka”, the statement reads.