Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.

Domestic theatre: For Putin, confronting the West plays well at home. As Dmitry Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, recently claimed, “Europe fears its own war”. For the Kremlin, that fear reinforces the narrative that Russia is the assertive power, and that the West is indecisive.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Tuesday it had opened a criminal case against exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, accusing him of creating a "terrorist organisation" and of plotting to violently seize power.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine's new long-range missiles and drones are causing significant gas shortages in Russia.

First lady Melania Trump said she has been communicating with Vladimir Putin's government about reuniting Ukrainian children with their families.

Almost 900 miles from Ukraine’s borders, a fire erupted at a Russian oil refinery on Saturday. The blaze – a result of a strike by Ukrainian long-range drones, according to sources in the country’s security services – was the third at the facility in the last month alone.

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said that in just two weeks, fighter jets breached Estonia’s airspace, while drones overflew military bases and critical infrastructure sites in Belgium,

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Tuesday it had opened a criminal case against exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, accusing him of creating a "terrorist organisation" and of plotting to violently seize power.