Sweden accuses Russia of airspace violation

Sweden says four Russian fighter jets violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday.

The four aircraft — two SU-27 and two SU-24 fighters — flew briefly over Swedish airspace east of the island of Gotland, according to a statement from the Swedish Armed Forces.

"In light of the current situation we are very concerned about the incident," Swedish Air Force chief Carl-Johan Edstrom said. "This is unprofessional and irresponsible behaviour from the Russian side." Swedish fighter jets were scrambled and took photos of the Russian jets, the statement said.

"This shows that our readiness is good. We were in place to secure the territorial integrity and Swedish borders," Edstrom said. "We have total control of the situation." ___ Washington: The Pentagon announced that it is postponing a nuclear missile test launch scheduled for this week to avoid any possible misunderstanding in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent decision to put his nuclear forces on higher alert. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the decision to delay the test of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was made by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. He said the US would like to see Moscow reciprocate by "taking the temperature down" in the crisis over Ukraine. Kirby said the US did not put its nuclear forces on higher alert in response to Putin's move, which the spokesman described as dangerous and unnecessary. Austin is "comfortable that the strategic deterrence posture that we have in place is up to the task of defending the homeland and our allies." The United States usually performs about four test launches of Minuteman III missiles per year.

___ Kyiv: Ukrainian officials have reported a powerful explosion in central Kyiv, between the Southern Railway station and the Ibis hotel, an area near Ukraine's Defense Ministry.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office told The Associated Press on Wednesday night that it was a missile strike. Officials said it wasn't immediately clear how damaging the strike was, whether there were any casualties or where exactly the missile hit.

The Southern Railway station is one of two stations that make up the main passenger rail complex that thousands have used to flee the war over the past week. The two stations are connected by an overhead corridor that crosses over about a dozen tracks.

"Russian terrorists launched an air strike on the South Railway Station in Kyiv, where thousands of Ukrainian women and children are being evacuated," the national railway company said.

The stations are about 3 kilometres (2 miles) from Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the square that was the site of huge protests in 2014 and 2004.

___ Washington: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week will visit six European countries, including the Baltic states and Moldova, which are on particular edge as Russia intensifies its war in Ukraine.

The State Department says Blinken will travel Thursday to Belgium for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers before heading to the Polish border with Ukraine to meet refugees, and then Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Poland and the three Baltics are members of NATO and fall under its Article 5 defense provisions, which means the allies are bound to defend them if they are attacked. Given their location immediately adjacent to Russia, they are believed to be at special risk should the Ukraine conflict spread.

Western-leaning Moldova is not a NATO member but has relations with the alliance and has long objected to the presence of Russian troops in the disputed territory of Transnistria.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine has picked up steam, most NATO members, including the Baltics, have steadily increased military and financial assistance to Kyiv even as Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of reprisals for any nation that interferes in what he calls a "special military operation." Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decried Russia's escalation of attacks on crowded cities as a blatant terror campaign.

___ Warsaw: An international organization made up only of democracies held an emergency meeting on Wednesday following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Warsaw-based Community of Democracies said in a statement that its members at the gathering "condemned Russia's aggression and backed Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic aspirations of its people." Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, whose country holds the community's rotating presidency, called for continued support for Ukraine's right to choose its own foreign policy and for more attention to be given to other places facing Russian pressure, including Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkan region.

"This seems to be the beginning of the most difficult period in generations. And this is the fight of our generation and a real test on our democracies," Aurescu said.

Thomas Garrett, the organisation's secretary general, "underlined that democracies worldwide must unequivocally show they stand with Ukraine." A Ukrainian lawmaker in Kyiv addressed the political representatives. She called on Russia to "stop bombing our towns and cities" and appealed to the UN, EU, and other international organisations to help Ukraine obtain a ceasefire for humanitarian relief. The lawmaker was not identified for security reasons.

___ Washington: A senior US defense official says the Russian convoy still appears to be stalled outside the city centre of Kyiv, and has made no real progress in the last couple days. The official on Wednesday said the convoy is still plagued with fuel and food shortages and logistical problems, as well as facing continued fierce resistance from Ukrainians.

He said there has been an increase in the number of missiles and artillery targeting the city, suggesting the Russians are trying to make a more aggressive move to try and take the city. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military assessments, said Russians have not been able to achieve air superiority and Ukrainian air defenses remain operable and their aircraft continue to fly.

The official said that about 82% of the Russian troops that had been arrayed around Ukraine are now inside the country — just a slight uptick over the last 24 hours, and that Russia has launched more than 450 missiles at various targets in the country.

In other areas of the country, the US official said that the US is seeing preliminary indications that Russian forces are going to try to move south towards Mariupol from Donetsk, in what appears to be an effort to encircle the city. ___ Brussels: European Union finance ministers on Wednesday convened for the second time in less than a week to weigh the likely impact on Europe of the full-scale Russian military assault on Ukraine, a country that borders the bloc's eastern flank.

Policymakers are scrambling to recalculate economic projections made less than a month ago, when the European Commission — the EU's executive arm — predicted the bloc's economic growth would slow from 5.3% last year to 4% this year and 2.8% in 2023.

Top European commissioners said on Wednesday those figures are too optimistic because the conflict in Ukraine will probably stoke rises in energy prices, financial-market turbulence, supply-chain bottlenecks and a weakening of consumer confidence.

"We don't expect the recovery to be derailed completely but to be weakened," said European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni.

The gloomier outlook has also raised the prospect of a prolonged period of unrestrained spending by member countries to support their economies.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)