Defence ministers of Ukraine and Sweden talk Gripen fighter jet deal; verbal exchanges escalate over Victory Day parade. What we know on day 1,535
Ukraine’s military has struck a Russian Karakurt-class small missile carrier on the Caspian Sea off Russia’s distant Dagestan region, the Ukrainian general staff said on Thursday. The port of Kaspiysk where the ship was reportedly located is more than 1,500km from Kyiv – and closer to Tehran, the Iranian capital. The extent of the damage was being assessed, the Ukrainian general staff posted online. Among its armaments, the Karakurt class can fire Kalibr cruise missiles which Moscow has used to hit civilian targets in Ukraine.
Voldoymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, expressed satisfaction at the long-range attack and the second assault in eight days on a Lukoil-owned refinery in Perm, near the Ural Mountains. “In a mirror response to Russian strikes, we will continue our long-range sanctions. And in response to Russia’s willingness to move toward diplomacy, we will proceed along the path of diplomacy,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s purchase of Saab-made Gripen fighter jets could be signed within months, Kyiv’s defence minister said on Thursday as he visited his Swedish counterpart in Stockholm. The countries last year signed a letter of intent that could see Sweden supply up to 150 Gripens. The first deliveries are estimated at three years away from any deal being finalised. “We have our plan how to finance it,” said Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian defence minister. The Swedish minister, Pal Jonson, said a deal to loan, sell or gift existing Gripens of an older model, to be delivered much faster, was progressing well.
