Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russia could be ready to attack NATO in three years, Norway warns

In our last post, we brought you news that Microsoft had made allegations in the New York Times that Russia was targetting the upcoming Olympics with a disinformation campaign.

Moscow has now branded those accusations "absolute slander" with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying there is no substance to them

Russia is widely accused of having waged disinformation campaigns over the years, often targeting elections in the United States, Europe and Britain.

Moscow has always denied it uses disinformation to influence public opinion. 

The Paris Olympics are being targeted by a Russian-linked disinformation campaign, according to the New York Times.

Since last summer, efforts have been under way by a hacker group named Storm-1679, the paper reports.

The campaign "began in earnest" when a documentary was released with a doctored International Olympic Committee (IOC) logo, along with an AI-powered impersonation of Tom Cruise's voice.

The hackers "are trying to cultivate an anticipation of violence", said Clint Watts, the head of Microsoft's Digital Threat Analysis Centre.

"They want people to be fearful of going to the Olympics."

Storm-1679 makes around three to eight disinformation videos a week, Mr Watts told the newspaper, many of which appear as if they come from media outlets such as the BBC or Al Jazeera.

Both Russia and Belarus have been banned from competing in the Olympics over the war in Ukraine, but some athletes from those countries will be allowed to compete as "neutral athletes", the IOC announced in March.

The Paris games will take place between 26 July and 11 August.

The Kremlin has said the peace talks set to take place in Switzerland this month are "absurd" as Russia isn't invited.

Moscow claimed it was understandable that some countries were declining to take part in the summit on Ukraine this month because the gathering lacked clear goals.

Ukraine says more than 100 countries and organisations have agreed to take part in the summit on 15-16 June.

The summit, which will take place at an Alpine resort near Lucerne, is intended to create a framework for lasting peace and a roadmap for Russia's eventual participation in the process.

Kyiv decided against inviting Russia because it does not trust Moscow.

China, which has grown closer to Russia after Western sanctions brought in since the invasion of Ukraine, has also said it won't be attending.

Poland has claimed Belarus and its ally Russia are behind a recent surge in migrants from the former Soviet state into the European Union.

The number of attempted illegal border crossings from Belarus into Poland has shot up in recent months from only a handful to almost 400 a day, Polish officials say.

Poland's border guards have also described increasingly aggressive behaviour by some migrants on the Belarusian side of the border, posting online videos of some throwing rocks, logs and even burning wood at Polish troops.

There have been cases of soldiers and guards ending up in hospital, and some have needed stitches after being stabbed or cut by knife-wielding assailants. 

Last Tuesday, near the village of Dubicze Cerkiewne, officials said a migrant reached between the bars of the 16-foot-high barrier and stabbed a soldier in the ribs. 

The government in Warsaw sees the new push at the border as an orchestrated attempt by Russia and Belarus to fuel anti-migrant sentiment, which could in turn boost far-right parties in the EU parliamentary vote. 

"We are not dealing with [just] any asylum seekers here, we are dealing with a coordinated, very efficient - on many levels - operation to break the Polish border and attempts to destabilise the country,"  Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said last week while visiting troops at the border.

Ukraine's use of Western-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia will not "contribute to escalation", German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said.

Germany has long opposed lifting the ban on Ukraine's use of Western weapons to target Russia, but changed course last month.

A German government spokesperson told Deutsche Welle on 31 May that Ukraine could use German-supplied weapons to hit legitimate targets in Russia. 

Berlin's defence minister Boris Pistorius later clarified that the decision applied to the area around Kharkiv, which has recently become the target of a heavy Russian offensive.

"We are certain that it will not contribute to an escalation because, as Joe Biden has also described, it is only a matter of being able to defend a large city like Kharkiv," Mr Scholz said.

In the past, Chancellor Scholz has cited a fear of escalation as among the principal reasons for limiting Germany's support for Ukraine.

"I think it is clear to everyone that this must be possible. Under international law, this has always been possible anyway," he added.

NATO only has two to three years to prepare before Russia regains its ability to launch a conventional attack on the alliance, Norway's top general has said.

General Eirik Kristoffersen's comments are the latest in a series of warnings from Western leaders and defence officials about the threat from Moscow and the alliance's current lack of preparedness.

"At one point someone said it'll take 10 years, but I think we're back to less than 10 years because of the industrial base that is now running in Russia," General Kristoffersen said.

"It will take some time, which gives us a window now for the next two to three years to rebuild our forces, to rebuild our stocks at the same time as we are supporting Ukraine."

Norway has been a member of NATO since its foundation in 1949.

The Scandinavian nation has increased its defence spending since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and aims to meet the 2% of GDP threshold in 2024, with a further increase of 2.7% of GDP targeted by 2030.

Last week, the US partially lifted restrictions on Ukraine's use of some Western-supplied weapons. 

It now means Ukraine can strike inside Russia with US-supplied weapons - but only if the targets are aimed at slowing Moscow's advance in the Kharkiv region. 

Ukrainian foreign minister said the move was "not 100% clearance" and came with "some rules that need to be followed". 

Speaking at a news conference with his Estonian counterpart, he said Ukraine was hoping to gain more freedom on the use of Western weapons inside Russia. 

Ukraine "will continue to work with our allies" on "expanding the scope" of weapon use. 

Some of Kyiv's allies have been reluctant to allow Ukraine to strike over the border as they fear this could drag them into a more direct conflict with Russia. 

Authorities in Kyiv have denied permission for this year's Kyiv Pride march to be held in the Ukrainian capital's metro system. 

It was hoped up to 500 people would attend the event on 16 June. 

"In order not to endanger the participants and passengers, and to avoid possible provocations, the city authorities cannot allow the Equality March to take place in the metro," Kyiv's City Hall said. 

The metro system doubles as an air raid shelter during Russian attacks. 

Authorities said the metro is a "dual-use facility and part of the city's critical infrastructure" and is "always a high-risk area due to limited space, train schedule and high passenger traffic". 

Kyiv has not hosted a Pride event since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. 

Last year's event was held in Liverpool instead. 

Russian officials have claimed they intercepted 20 Ukrainian drones in the southern Kursk region, which borders Ukraine. 

Regional governor Alexei Smirnov said Ukrainian forces reportedly targeted four villages in the region using attack drones and helicopters. 

No injuries were reported. 

The governor of the neighbouring Belgorod region said air defence units had downed "several airborne targets", resulting in some damage to the roofs of several buildings. 

Ukrainian authorities have not commented. 

Russia's border regions have repeatedly come under attack since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. 

Belgorod borders Ukraine's Kharkiv region, where Russia has launched a spring offensive. 

Seven people have been injured in a Russian missile attack on the city of Dnipro. 

A one-month-old baby and a 17-year-old boy were among the wounded, governor Serhii Lysak said. 

He added that air defence systems had successfully intercepted and downed two drones over the city. 

However the debris from the missiles caused damage to civilian infrastructure, with more than a dozen vehicles affected and windows shattered in several houses. 

Emergency crews are at the scene. 

The city of Nikopol was also attacked with kamikaze drones, Mr Lysak said.

No casualties were reported there.

Air raid alerts were activated in a number of regions overnight, including Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk.