Russia-Ukraine war: strike on Kramatorsk kills at least one; Kremlin says it does not recognise ICC in The Hague – live | Ukraine

The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said on Tuesday that the likelihood that Finland would join the Nato military alliance before Sweden had increased, though Swedish membership was only a matter of time.

Sweden and Finland applied to join Nato last year but have faced objections from Turkey which says the two countries harbour members of what it considers terrorist groups. The countries resumed talks on the process in Brussels last week.

Ankara has been clear it has greater objections concerning Sweden’s accession than Finland’s, and Kristersson said Turkey’s position in that regard still remained, meaning the two countries might not join together as they prefer.

“What we have encountered in recent weeks is that the probability of this happening at different times has increased,” Reuters reports Kristersson told a news conference in Stockholm before leaving on a visit to Germany.

“At the end of the day, it is not a matter of whether Sweden becomes a member of Nato, but when.”

Russia and Ukraine are at odds over the length of the extension of the Black Sea grain deal, with Moscow seeking to extend for 60 days, and Ukraine insisting that 120 days is the minimum permitted extension.

Russia’s Tass news agency earlier cited Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko as saying the deal, which helps Ukraine export agricultural products following Russia’s invasion, had been extended on the previous conditions for 60 days.

But Reuters reports a senior Ukrainian government official told it that Ukraine will stick to the terms of an agreement, which mandates a 120-day extension. “We will follow the agreement strictly,” the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

A Russian source said separately earlier on Tuesday that the 60-day extension meant that after 60 days one of the parties may raise the issue of the deal’s termination.

Ukraine argues that the July agreement clearly states that extensions are possible for a minimum of 120 days, and the original agreement should be amended if parties want a shorten terms.

“The Russians realised that 60 days is not legally possible, so they are trying to find a way out,” the senior Ukrainian government official said.

Kyiv had previously said that it wanted to extend the deal by at least one year, and that Ukraine wanted the city of Mykolaiv’s ports included.

Turkey’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that talks over the extension of the deal are still continuing. Turkey and the UN helped broker the original arrangement last July.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to his Telegram channel to confirm that one person has been killed and three people injured in the shelling of Kramatorsk in Donetsk region this morning. Ukraine’s president writes:

Kramatorsk. A Russian missile hit the city center. Six high-rise buildings were damaged. At least three people were injured. One person died. My condolences to the family! Rescue operations are still ongoing.

The evil state continues to fight against the civilian population. Destroying life and leaving nothing human. Every strike that takes an innocent life must result in a lawful and just sentence that punishes murder. It will definitely be that way.

Authorities in the Indonesian island Bali have asked the government to cancel a visa on arrival policy for Ukrainians and Russians, citing concerns that citizens of the two countries were violating local laws and regulations.

Russians make up one of the biggest groups of foreign visitors to Indonesia, and many stayed in Bali during the pandemic and following the invasion of Ukraine.

But local people’s patience with tourists has worn thin, due to frequent reports of unlawful or disrespectful behaviour, and of foreigners working illegally while staying on tourist visas.

Bali Governor Wayan Koster said he had written to the Law and Human Rights Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister to request that they revoke the visas on arrival policy for Russian and Ukrainian citizens visiting Bali, saying there was a significant problem with citizens from the two countries breaching rules.

“Because the two countries are at war, they don’t feel comfortable in their own country. So they come to Bali,” Koster said, according to a report by Tempo.

Local people in Bali have taken to social media over recent years to complain about tourist behaviour – this includes instances where social media influencers violated Covid rules for online pranks during the pandemic, a model who posed naked at a sacred tree and a man who allegedly hit a pedestrian while driving under the influence of alcohol.

More than 77,500 Russians arrived in Indonesia between September 2022 and January 2023 following the relaxation of Covid restrictions, according to Reuters. About 8,800 Ukrainian visitors arrived between September 2022 and January 2023.

Koster said it is possible that other countries may also have visa on arrival entitlement revoked. The Law and Human Rights Ministry is yet to respond.

Patrick Wintour

Britain’s refresh of its defence and foreign policy may mark the moment when the UK sobers up about its place in a world that it now describes as “defined by danger, disorder and division”, and increasingly tilting to authoritarianism.

Gone is the optimistic Global Britain bombast of the Boris Johnson era, set out in the original integrated review only two years ago. That version championed the UK as “a beacon of democratic sovereignty” and one of the most influential countries in the world, and hailed its ability to draw on its post-Brexit status to “do things differently, economically and politically”.

By contrast, the reworked review is a vision of a colder, darker and more hostile world where the interests of the west do not necessarily triumph. There is no shortage of patriotism, but warnings and forebodings fill every page:

What has changed is that our collective security now is intrinsically linked to the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine.

But the scale of these intensifying threats has only led to a modest increase in defence spending of £5bn over two years, mainly related to the Aukus nuclear submarine deal. There has been, however, a re-evaluation of the importance of alliances and partnerships to the UK. The emphasis now is less on the benefits of Britain going it alone, and more on the necessity for democracies to “out cooperate” the autocracies.

For more on how the UK is reconsidering its position in the world, read Guardian diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour’s, full analysis: