Russia will re-assess its relations with the UN Secretariat and the secretary-general if they participate in a probe, launched in connection with claims of Iranian drone supplies to Russia, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky told reporters, as quoted by the Russian news agency TASS. Ukraine and its Western allies are accusing Iran of supplying Russia with drones to use against Ukraine, thus violating the UN Security Council Resolution 2231. They are demanding that a UN mission be sent to Ukraine to investigate the origin of the drones used.

“The only way to facilitate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is helping Kyiv to defend itself militarily,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told parliament on Wednesday, Reuters reports. “Peace can be achieved by supporting Ukraine ... it is the only chance we have for the two sides to negotiate,” Meloni told the Senate ahead of a confidence vote on her newly appointed rightist government.

The position of Bulgaria and Hungary, the EU countries which refuse to send Ukraine military aid, is incomprehensible and is tantamount to betrayal, said Latvia’s Defence Minister Artis Pabriks in an interview with Radio Free Europe’s Russian-language TV Current Time. He stated that Ukraine “is fighting for Europe, for democracy, for human rights, and if someone in Europe does not understand that, not only do they go against the interests of Ukraine, but they also go against the interests of Latvia. And if they are members of the EU and NATO, and go against the interests of my country, what else is it but a betrayal,” he said.

Russia has amassed considerable forces in Kherson region which would be difficult to defeat, Oleksiy Arestovych, advisor to Ukrainian President Zelensky said. Six more battalions have arrived in the region, and they are now around 30. According to the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, the Russian forces are getting ready for urban warfare in Kherson but the Russian retreat will be speeded up when the Nova Kakhovka dam passes under Ukrainian control.