• Russia says it destroyed "large batch" of Western weapons using ship-launched missiles
• Blinken meets Zelensky in Kiev pledging billions more dollars for proxy war against Russia, Moscow demands the US stop escalating the situation
• Western supply lines in Ukraine destroyed - Russia

The US and UK have given Sweden "concrete promises" of military protection between its application to join NATO and its formal acceptance into the alliance, Aftonbladet reported on Monday. Although neutral since the 19th century, Sweden is reportedly preparing to abandon its policy of non-alignment and join the US-led military bloc this year.

Politicians in Stockholm have long flirted with the idea, but Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said earlier this month that Europe's "security landscape has completely changed" following Russia's military offensive on Ukraine, and that Sweden would reevaluate its neutrality in response.

Should Sweden apply for membership, the UK and US have promised to provide military protection between application and membership, after which the alliance's mutual defense clause would come into effect.

One source said that while NATO members are forbidden from expressing any formal guarantees of protection to non-members, they would still be able to take informal measures like stationing troops in Sweden, hosting military exercises, and offering "political support."

"In practice, Sweden will be treated as a full-fledged NATO member shortly after a declaration of interest."

The UK has specifically offered to increase its naval presence in Swedish waters during the application process.

Russia has warned that the inclusion of Sweden and Finland in NATO would have "military and political consequences," and would threaten stability in Europe. Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current deputy chair of the Russian National Security Council, said earlier this month that Russia would have to strengthen its forces in the region in response, and suggested that the Baltic area would not remain "nuclear-free" if the Nordic nations joined NATO.

NATO members Latvia, Estonia, and the Netherlands will hold joint naval exercises with Finland in the Baltic Sea, Helsinki has confirmed, noting the drills will focus on "mine countermeasures."

The wargames will be held between Thursday and Friday following a visit to Turku, Finland by NATO's Mine Action Division. The drills will include a Latvian mine-laying vessel and mine-sweepers from Estonia and the Netherlands. Coastal Fleet's chief of staff, Commander Mikko Villikari, said

"The main goal of the exercise is to search for and identify underwater objects. In these exercises, we learn to work as part of a group that we do not regularly interact with. It helps to maintain international expertise."

Two Katanpaa-class mine-hunters from Finland's fleet will also take part in the training.

The Finnish military said the wargames will be carried out somewhere in the Archipelago Sea within the Baltic, located 330 miles (540km) from the Russian city of St. Petersburg. Moscow, which shares an 830-mile (1,340km) border with Finland, has warned such a move could force it to "restore military balance" in the Baltic region.

Poland has supplied Ukraine with a number of tanks, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Monday, without offering details as to their number or type. This would make Poland the third NATO country to have armed Ukraine with tanks, after the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Earlier this month, the UK offered some of its tanks to Poland as replacements. Morawiecki said in an interview with Polsat News:

"Poland delivered the tanks to Ukraine, but for the sake of our safety and that of the Ukrainians, we are not disclosing the amount of equipment donated at the moment."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered a clue as to the type of tanks last week, when he said London had offered Warsaw some of its own tanks "to help them as they send some of their T-72 tanks to Ukraine."

There have been unconfirmed reports that Czechia, Slovakia, and Slovenia have all sent tanks to Ukraine - whether some version of the Soviet-designed T-72 or the very similar Yugoslav M-84, both of which the Ukrainian troops would know how to operate more easily than any Western models.

Poland had over 400 of the Soviet-designed T-72 tanks, some of which had undergone modernization in recent years, while others were used as the basis for PT-91 Twardy ("Tough"), a domestic main battle tank produced since the mid-1990s.

Moscow has warned NATO that any equipment deliveries will be considered a legitimate military target.

The German government has given the green light for the delivery of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine, the country's Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Tuesday.

Speaking at US-hosted defense talks at the American airbase Ramstein in Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate state, Lambrecht said that the leadership in Berlin made the decision on Monday. She emphasized that Germany was "determined to help the Ukrainian people with unified resolve in this existential emergency." The minister explained that "Ukraine will order" hardware from German manufacturers and "Germany will pay." Berlin would earmark some 2 billion euros to that end, Lambrecht added.

The armored vehicles in question are Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, which were decommissioned by the German military back in 2010. Designed to take out cruise missiles and aircraft, Gepards can also be used against targets on the ground. As many as 50 heavy vehicles could reportedly be delivered to Ukraine.

Lambrecht also announced that Berlin

"has initiated a swap scheme with our partners in eastern Europe" that is ensuring that "Ukraine is quickly obtaining heavy weaponry that doesn't require lengthy training."

Berlin will be cooperating with the US and the Netherlands when it comes to providing training to Ukrainian troops on German soil in the use of various artillery systems.

Russia's Foreign Minister said on Monday:

"NATO is essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy. War means war."

Should the West's large scale supply of armaments to Ukraine with weaponry continue, negotiations between Moscow and Kiev are destined to fail, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Tuesday. The top diplomat made the remarks during a press conference following talks with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Moscow.

"If [the pumping of Ukraine with weapons] continues, of course, the negotiations will hardly have any result, but I repeat once again, we are committed to a negotiated solution, we are also committed to ceasefires, which we are staging daily, declaring humanitarian corridors."

Subsequent behavior of its officials suggests they are

"not that interested in talks. But how the Ukrainian delegation behaved at the talks, how President [Volodymyr] Zelensky himself behaved, refusing to confirm that they received our new proposals a week ago, I spoke about this more than once, this, of course, is disappointing."

The US will move "heaven and earth" to supply Ukraine with what it says it needs to fight Russia, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. The announcement came on Tuesday at a 40-country meeting aimed at getting Washington's allies on board the mission to prop up Kiev's defenses.

Convened by the US at its German airbase Ramstein, the meeting's official purpose was

"to help Ukraine win the fight against Russia's unjust invasion and to build up Ukraine's defenses for tomorrow's challenges. Ukraine clearly believes that it can win and so does everyone here."

Austin made it clear other countries would be expected to pony up.

France will provide Caesar cannons, which have a range of up to 40km, while the UK has supplied Starstreak missiles and tanks. The US has stepped up its own heavy weapons deliveries, showering Kiev with howitzers and armored vehicles.

Austin nevertheless insisted the countries present do more to help.

"This is not blackmail. Russia has been and remains a reliable supplier, committed to its obligations. The conditions that were outlined in the presidential decree, the need for them was caused by unprecedented hostile steps against us," Peskov stated, adding that the decision was communicated to natural gas buyers long before it took effect. "We've been robbed of a significant amount of our reserves. And this required a transition to a new system."