Ukraine-Russia war live: Kremlin says war with Nato ‘inevitable’ if West sends troops into fight against Putin

Alexei Navalny‘s spokeswoman has said that his allies have been unable to find a venue in Russia where people could pay their respects to the opposition leader who died in prison this month.

In a post on X, Kira Yarmysh said: “Since yesterday we have been looking for a site where we can say farewell to Alexei. We called round most private and public funeral agencies, commercial sites and funeral halls.”

“Some places say the space is busy, some places refuse upon mention of the name ‘Navalny‘. In one place we were directly told that funeral agencies were prohibited from working with us.”

Poland is not considering sending army troops to Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday after meeting with his counterparts from the Czech Republic.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday opened the door to European nations sending troops to Ukraine, although he cautioned that there was no consensus at this stage.

The head of Nato has said the military alliance has no plans to send combat troops into Ukraine, amid reports that some Western countries may be considering putting boots on the ground in the war-ravaged country.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the Associated Press: “Nato allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine. We have done that since 2014 and stepped up after the full-scale invasion. But there are no plans for Nato combat troops on the ground in Ukraine.”

The editor of a Moscow-based weekly magazine said the Kremlin’s crackdown on its front page coverage of Alexei Navalny’s death has made his publication more popular than ever.

The Kremlin has said war with Nato is inevitable if Western nations send some of their own troops to Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was responding to comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron, during a meeting of 25 European leaders in Paris on Monday, in which he said he “could not rule out” sending soldiers to Ukraine.

Asked how Russia would respond if foreign troops did enter the war, Peskov said war with Nato “wouldn’t be likely but inevitable”.

“The very fact of discussing the possibility of sending certain contingents to Ukraine from NATO countries is a very important new element,” he said.

Discussion by Western democracies of direct military intervention in Ukraine‘s war against Russia is good and shows awareness of the risk to Europe from Russian aggression, a senior Ukrainian presidential official told Reuters on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility on Monday of European nations sending troops to Ukraine, although he cautioned that there was no consensus, as allies agreed to try harder to get more munitions to Kyiv.

“This shows, firstly, an absolute awareness of the risks posed to Europe by a militaristic, aggressive Russia,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a written comment on Macron’s statement.

The Czech Republic is not considering sending any troops to Ukraine, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday when asked about comments by French President Emmanuel Macron not ruling out the option for European nations.

Vladimir Kara-Murza could only laugh when officials in Penal Colony No. 6 inexplicably put a small cabinet in his already-cramped concrete cell, next to a fold-up cot, stool, sink and latrine.

That moment of dark humor came because the only things he had to store in it were a toothbrush and a mug, said his wife, Yevgenia, since the opposition activist wasn’t allowed any personal belongings in solitary confinement.

Another time, she said, Kara-Murza was told to collect his bedding from across the corridor — except that prisoners must keep their hands behind their backs whenever outside their cells.

North Korea has shipped about 6,700 containers carrying millions of munitions to Russia since July to support its war against Ukraine, in a sign of ongoing arms transfers, South Korean media has reported, citing the defence minister.

At a briefing on Monday for local media, Minister Shin Won-sik said the containers might carry more than 3 million 152 mm artillery shells, or 500,000 122 mm rounds.

“It could possibly be a mix of the two, and you can say that at least several million shells have been sent,” Shin said, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Hundreds of North Korean munitions factories are running at around 30% of their capacity due to a lack of raw materials and electricity, but those producing artillery shells for Russia were operating “at full swing,” he added, without elaborating on the source of the information.

Seoul and Washington have accused Pyongyang and Moscow of trading arms and condemned the North for supplying weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine. Both countries have denied it even as they pledged to strengthen military cooperation.

The U.S. State Department, in a fact sheet released on Friday, said that North Korea has delivered more than 10,000 containers of munitions or related materials to Russia since September.

In exchange, North Korea has received some 9,000 containers mostly containing food supplies, which Shin said has helped stabilise prices there.

Pyongyang has also asked for assistance with aircraft and ground mobility equipment technology.

“It is unclear how much Russia will give, but the more dependent Russia gets on North Korean artillery shells, the greater the degree of Russian technology transfers will be,” he said, according to Yonhap.

Her husband Siarhei remains in Belarusian custody after his arrest in May 2020 when he announced his intention to run against Mr Lukashenko, a close ally of Vladimir Putin.