Putin seeks to use ‘winter as a weapon of war’

BUCHAREST/BERLIN: Russian President Vladimir Putin wants “to use winter as a weapon of war” in his campaign in Ukraine, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday in Bucharest. “We have to be prepared for more refugees crossing into the rest of Europe”, as a result of Russia’s “deliberate attack on critical services, heating, light, water, gas” in Ukraine, Stoltenberg said.

“Russia is using brutal missile and drone attacks to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter,” Stoltenberg said as the alliance’s foreign ministers wrapped up the first of two days of talks in Bucharest.

Nato allies said they would help Ukraine repair energy infrastructure damaged by Moscow’s shelling. The US announced it would provide $53mn to buy power grid equipment.

UK foreign secretary James Cleverly accused Putin of targeting energy infrastructure “to try and freeze the Ukrainians into submission”.

War crimes probe

The Group of Seven democracies (G7) agreed on Tuesday to set up a network to coordinate investigations into war crimes, as part of a push to prosecute suspected atrocities in Ukraine.

“Judicial examination of the atrocities committed in Ukraine will take years, perhaps even decades. But we will be well prepared - and we will persist for as long as it takes,” German justice minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement.

It came after a meeting of G7 justice ministers in Berlin.

Russia warns US

Russia is trying to make the US understand that Washington’s increasing involvement in the Ukraine conflict carries growing risks, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday, according to Russian news agencies.

“We are sending signals to the Americans that their line of escalation and ever deeper involvement in this conflict is fraught with dire consequences. The risks are growing,” the Interfax news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying.