Four Russian fighters have breached over a short period of time Swedish airspace, in the east of the island of Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. According to the Swedish government in a statement, the fighter planes were “two Sukhoi Su-27s and two Sukhoi Su-24s.” The country was able to detect them thanks to the Jas 39 Gripen interceptors, which photographed the planes.
“The Russian violation of Swedish airspace is, of course, completely unacceptableSwedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist has pointed out. “This will lead to a strong diplomatic response by Sweden. Swedish sovereignty and territory must always be respected,” she declared.
The island, which has a strategic position in the Baltic Sea and is just over 300 kilometers from the Russian enclave of Kaliningradhad received Swedish reinforcements in January, during the first tensions around Ukraine.
The Swedish Armed Forces have assured that the situation was under control and that the incident showed that the preparation was good. “In light of the current situation, we take this event very seriously“, the authorities have indicated on their website. According to the AFP agency, the violations of the airspace of the two countries by Russian planes they occur sporadically.
Strong explosion that can leave Kiev without heating
Amid Russia’s tensions with other countries, the Kremlin’s offensive advances in Ukraine, whose authorities have warned this Wednesday of a series of new missile launches towards the capitalKiev, by the Russian Army.
The State Administration of the City of Kiev has denounced a Russian air attack against the South Railway Station of the capital, “where thousands of Ukrainian women and children are being evacuated”. However, the authorities have confirmed that the infrastructure of the station has resisted and only “minor damage” reported. “Information about the victims is being clarified. The movement of trains continues,” they have transferred on their Telegram channel.
But, according to sources from the Ukrainian government to Reuters, the missile would have hit in an “important heating pipe”which could leave part of the city without heating during the night from Wednesday, March 2 to Thursday, March 3, when temperatures between 0 and 3 degrees are expected, as well as rain and even snow, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
The missile has hit at 21:00 local time (20:00 in Madrid), when the curfew began. “Bastards want to freeze Kiev (…) Part of Kiev may be left without heating,” The adviser to the Ministry of the Interior, Anton Gerashchenko, has alerted through his Telegram channel, where he has also shared a video of the moment in which the missile hits the area.