Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine
Moscow has warned Nato that if Sweden and Finland join the military alliance Russia will consider bolstering its defences in the Baltic Sea with nuclear weapons.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said if the nations joined the US-led military group it would be forced to strengthen its military presence with hypersonic missiles and nuclear weapons.
The warning comes hours after Russia suffered a blow in its offensive against Ukraine when its flagship missile cruiser in the Black Sea suffered serious damage in what Ukraine claims was a missile attack.
Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia, and Sweden have announced they are considering joining Nato, and will make a decision in the coming weeks.
It has led Mr Medvedev to give a warning that there can be no more talk of a “nuclear free” Baltic.
“There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic — the balance must be restored,” he said.
“Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to.
“If our hand is forced, well, take note it wasn't us who proposed this.”
Mr Medvedev said he hoped Finland and Sweden would see sense. If not, he said, they would have to live with nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles close to home.
Russia has the world's biggest arsenal of nuclear warheads and along with China and the US is one of the global leaders in hypersonic missile technology.
Deputy chairman of Russia’s Duma parliament Pyotr Tolstoy backed up Mr Medvedev threats.
“[If Finland joins Nato] Russia will guarantee its security in such a way so that even a mosquito wouldn’t want to fly to our border,” he told ITV News.
However, on Thursday Lithuania's Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas described their comments as empty threats. He said Russia already had nuclear weapons in its exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the possibility nuclear weapons might be deployed in the Baltic region but said that President Vladimir Putin has already ordered the military to prepare plans for boosting defences along Russia’s western frontiers.
“Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad. The international community, the countries in the region, are perfectly aware of this,” Mr Anusauskas told news group BNS.
The possible accession of Finland and Sweden into Nato — founded in 1949 to provide collective western security against the Soviet Union — would be one of the biggest European strategic consequences of the war in Ukraine.
Finland gained independence from Russia in 1917 and fought two wars against it during the Second World War during which it lost some territory to Moscow.
On Thursday, Finland announced a military exercise in western Finland with the participation of forces from the UK, US, Latvia and Estonia.
Sweden has not fought a war for 200 years and post-war foreign policy has focused on supporting democracy internationally, multilateral dialogue and nuclear disarmament.
-
Ukrainian Nicolai, 41, says goodbye to his daughter Elina, 4, and his wife Lolita, on a train bound for Poland fleeing from the war at the train station in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP Photo -
A damaged Russian artillery tank is seen, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Trostianets, Sumy region, Ukraine. Reuters -
Oksana Kolesnikova cries during the funeral of her son Anatoliy Kolesnikov, 30, a territorial defense soldier who was killed by Russian soldiers in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
US actor and director Liev Schreiber prepares meals in the kitchen of the 'World Central Kitchen', for war refugees from Ukraine staying in Przemysl, Poland. EPA -
A Ukrainian boy musician plays his sax to entertain citizens in a square, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Dinipro, Ukraine. Reuters -
The turret of a destroyed tank near the village of Zalissya, north-east of Kyiv. AFP -
An unexploded shell in a field in Teterivka, near Kyiv. Reuters -
A building damaged during fighting in Mariupol, which is holding out against the Russian invasion. AP Photo -
A soldier from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic during fighting in Mariupol. AP Photo -
A tank destroyed in the village of Termakhivka, Kyiv region. Reuters -
The main station in Dnipro, central Ukraine, where a city official said the remains of more than 1,500 Russian soldiers were being kept in its morgues. AFP -
A torn Ukrainian flag hangs in front a damaged apartment building in Mariupol. Reuters -
A Ukrainian child seeking asylum in the US is driven on a bus to the border from Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters -
Brothers in arms of serviceman Taras Bobanych, who was killed during the fighting with Russia, carry his portrait and coffin at his funeral in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP -
From left to right; Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Latvian President Egils Levits and Estonian President Alar Karis pose for a picture before a meeting in Kyiv. Reuters -
Local residents shelter in the basement of a residential building amid shelling in Lysychansk, in the Luhansk region. AFP -
Local residents view a destroyed car next to a multi-storey building in Lysychansk. AFP -
Ukrainian artillery shells Russian troops' position on the front line near Lysychansk. AFP -
Natalya Verbova, 49, and her son attend the funeral of her husband Andriy Verbovyi, 55, who was killed by Russian soldiers while defending Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
The father and a friend of Anatoliy Kolesnikov, 30, who was killed by Russian soldiers in his car trying to leave Irpin, mourn his death outside the morgue in Bucha. AP -
Pedestrians walk past artwork by the LBWS street art collective on a street in Odesa. AFP -
Engineers inspect damage to the bridge that connects Kyiv with Irpin. AP -
The mark of a shell is seen on a street in Irpin. AP -
A boy shows the shell of a bullet in Bucha. AP -
Cemetery worker Artem, exhausted, looks at the sky while working on the grave of Andriy Verbovyi, who was killed by Russian soldiers while serving in Bucha territorial defense. AP -
Nadiya Trubchaninova, 70, with her son Oleg Trubchaninov, 46, inside the room of her son Vadym, 48, who was killed by Russian soldiers on March 30 in Bucha. AP -
A relative cries after the body of a civilian was exhumed from a shallow grave near his home in the village of Andriivka, in Kyiv region. AFP
Russia's invasion of Ukraine suffered a setback on Thursday when its flagship missile cruiser in the Black Sea, Moskva, was seriously damaged and its crew evacuated following an explosion that a Ukrainian official said was the result of a missile strike.
Russia's Defence Ministry said a fire on the vessel had caused ammunition to blow up, Interfax news agency reported.
It did not say what caused the fire but said the warship had not sunk and “remains afloat".
Maksym Marchenko, the Ukrainian governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, said the Moskva had been hit by two Ukraine-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles.
The Moskva is the second major ship known to have sustained serious damage since the start of the war. Last month, Ukraine said it had destroyed a landing support ship, the Orsk, on the smaller Sea of Azov.
