KHARKIV: Russia said on Wednesday it had destroyed a large quantity of Western-supplied weapons in Ukraine, while halting gas supplies to EU and Nato members Poland and Bulgaria in a move Brussels branded attempted blackmail.
With the conflict that has claimed thousands of lives entering its third month, Ukraine conceded Russian forces had pushed deeper into the country's east and captured several villages, as Moscow intensifies a renewed offensive to take control of Donbas.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had destroyed the "large batch" of weapons and ammunition supplied by the United States and European countries using long-range missile strikes on southeastern Ukraine.
They targeted hangers at an aluminium plant near the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with "high-precision long-range sea-based Kalibr missiles", the ministry said, without specifying the weapons destroyed.
It comes a day after a summit in Germany of 40 Western allies to discuss arms supplies to Ukraine where Washington pledged to move "heaven and earth" to enable Kyiv to emerge victorious.
Tensions are also rising in a breakaway region of Moldova bordering southwestern Ukraine, where the interior ministry said that shots had been fired at a village housing a Russian arms depot after drones flew over from Ukraine.
The unrecognised region has reported a series of explosions in recent days that it called "terrorist attacks", leading Kyiv to accuse Moscow of seeking to expand the war further into Europe.
Russia's energy giant Gazprom said it had stopped all gas supplies to Poland and highly dependent Bulgaria, after not receiving payment in rubles from the two EU and Nato members.
President Vladimir Putin last month warned Moscow will only accept payment for deliveries in its national currency, with buyers required to set up ruble accounts or have their taps turned off.
The Kremlin is grappling with the fallout from numerous rounds of European and US sanctions that have targeted various sectors and left it unable to utilise foreign currency, including its own reserves.
But the war has exposed the extent of the European Union's dependence on Russian gas, which accounts for 45 per cent of its gas imports.
The 27-member bloc said it was "prepared" for the stoppage and was planning a "coordinated" response, labelling it "another attempt by Russia to blackmail us with gas".
"Europeans can trust that we stand united and in solidarity with the member states impacted," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter. Bulgaria and Poland have both said they will be able to make up the shortfall from other sources.
The targeting of Western-supplied arms came as the US and Europe appear to be heeding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's call for heavier firepower to push back the Russian advance now focused on Donbas.
Western allies remain wary of being drawn into an outright war with Russia, but have stepped up their support as Ukraine has maintained its fierce resistance. - AFP
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