Scholz rebukes Putin as "cynical" over Russian president"s comments on civilian casualties German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has sharply rebuked Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over his “cynical” comments about civilian casualties. In the German parliament on Thursday, Scholz said: “It makes me more than furious to hear the Russian president repeatedly warning that there could be civilian casualties from an armed conflict,” referring to Putin’s comments about the Israel-Hamas war that erupted after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October. “It doesn’t get more cynical than that,” Scholz said, highlighting that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has caused a significant number of civilian casualties. Although Russia has repeatedly claimed that what it calls its “special military operation” does not target civilians, the UN has recorded 22,468 casualties, including 7,649 people killed in territory controlled by the Kyiv government since the invasion began. Scholz also said in parliament earlier that Europe must still provide aid and financial stability for Ukraine, but that it was not a long-term solution. Summary of the day … Here is a summary of today’s developments in the Russia-Ukraine war … The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has sharply rebuked Vladimir Putin over his “cynical” comments about civilian casualties. In parliament on Thursday Scholz said: “It makes me more than furious to hear the Russian president repeatedly warning that there could be civilian casualties from an armed conflict,” referring to Putin’s comments about the Israel-Hamas war. “It doesn’t get more cynical than that,” Scholz said, highlighting that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has caused a significant number of civilian casualties. Scholz also said the EU must collectively continue to financially support Ukraine in future, but the use of additional funds was not a solution long term. Ukraine’s parliament gave initial approval for the 2024 budget, which will increase funding for the army and national defence. Finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said the government’s priorities next year included accumulating funds for defence and security, and securing social payments for the population “to bring Ukraine’s victory closer”. Ukraine claimed to make a small incremental gain of 400 metres to the south-west of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun said the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences. Ukraine said its forces remained under fire near Kupiansk and Avdiivka on the eastern front. Stupun said Russian forces “do not stop their attempts to encircle” Avdiivka and “they continue to exert pressure there”. Nato is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea after recent damage to undersea infrastructure. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights. A fleet of four Nato minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” Nato said in a statement. The Balticconnector pipeline linking Finland and Estonia ruptured earlier this month in a possible deliberate act of sabotage, authorities have said. Both Finland and Estonia are Nato members that border Russia. Finland’s ministry of defence said on Thursday it had blocked three planned property transactions involving Russian buyers on grounds that allowing the acquisitions to take place could hamper the defence of Finnish territory. Russia scrambled fighter planes to prevent British military planes from entering Russian airspace over the Black Sea, the Russian defence ministry said. Russia said the British planes had turned back after being approached. It is not unusual for Russian and Nato forces to test each other’s airspace and defences. In June 2023 the UK’s Ministry of Defence claimed Nato had scrambled RAF jets six times in the previous three weeks, intercepting 21 Russian aircraft. An encounter between Russian and British planes in September 2022 near the Black Sea led to what was described as a “near-shoot down”. A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday by masked Russian law enforcement agents. RFE-RL confirmed her detention on Thursday and said Kurmasheva had been charged with failure to register as a foreign agent and faced up to five years in prison. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his visit to Pyongyang, the Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday. Kazakhstan has banned the export of 106 specific products to Russia which could be used for military purposes. Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, said: “These are goods that Kazakhstan doesn’t produce. Russia attempted to acquire western components through re-export.” Interfax in Russia has more detail of the incident where Russian planes claim to have warned off British planes from encroaching into Russian airspace near the Black Sea earlier today. It reports the Russian ministry of defence claimed its air control “detected three air targets approaching the state border of the Russian Federation. Russian fighter crews identified the air targets as an RC-135 electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft and two RAF Typhoon multi-role fighters.” Interfax reports: “The Russian planes returned safely to their home airfield. There was no violation of the state border of the Russian Federation. The flight of Russian fighters was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace over neutral waters, without crossing air routes or dangerously approaching aircraft of a foreign state.” Sasha Skochilenko appeared in court today in St Petersburg, Russia. The 33-year-old artist and musician was arrested in April 2022 and faces charges of spreading false information about the army. She is accused of replacing supermarket price tags with slogans protesting against Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Prosecutors in April 2022 described her motive as “political hatred for Russia”, meaning she faces sentence ranging from a fine of 3m roubles (£25,000/$31,000) to between five and 10 years in jail. Nato to step up Baltic Sea patrols after undersea cable damage Nato is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea after recent damage to undersea infrastructure in the region, the transatlantic military alliance said on Thursday. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights, including with maritime patrol aircraft, Nato Awacs planes and drones. A fleet of four Nato minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” Reuters reports Nato said in a statement. The Balticconnector pipeline linking Finland and Estonia ruptured earlier this month in a possible deliberate act of sabotage, authorities have said. Both countries are Nato members that border Russia. Ukraine has claimed to have made a small incremental gain of 400 metres to the south-west of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun made the claim on Ukrainian television, saying the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences. Reuters reports Verbove is a village a few kilometres east of Robotyne, a village recaptured by Ukraine last month as it tries to push south towards the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainian military said its forces were under fire near the towns of Kupiansk and Avdiivka. Stupun said that Russian forces “do not stop their attempts to encircle” Avdiivka and “they continue to exert pressure there”. Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires. Russia scrambled fighter planes on Thursday to prevent British military planes from entering Russian airspace over the Black Sea, the Russian defence ministry said. Reuters reports the ministry saying the British planes had turned back after being approached. It is not unusual for Russian and Nato forces to test each other’s airspace and defences. In June 2023 the UK’s Ministry of Defence claimed Nato had scrambled RAF jets six times in the previous three weeks, intercepting 21 Russian aircraft in 21 days. An encounter between Russian and British planes in September 2022 near the Black Sea led to what was described as a “near-shoot down”. Suspilne is reporting that explosions have been heard in Kryvyi Rih and that air defence is in action. The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth has this updated report on the detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva: A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday by masked Russian law enforcement agents. RFE-RL confirmed her detention in a statement on Thursday and said Kurmasheva had been charged with failure to register as a foreign agent and faced up to five years in prison. Kurmasheva is the second American journalist to be detained in Russia since the war began. Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was arrested in March and charged with espionage. The Russian government has not made public the details of the criminal case against Kurmasheva. RFE-RL suspended its operations in Russia following Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and reporters for the outlet have since come under intense pressure as independent journalists with ties to a news agency funded by the US Congress. Finnish police said on Thursday they had completed their crime scene investigation into the damage to a subsea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. The Balticconnector pipeline linking Finland and Estonia ruptured earlier this month in what authorities said may have been a deliberate act of sabotage, cutting off the flow of gas between the two countries until April at least. Reuters reports police said in a statement that samples collected at the site in cooperation with Finland’s armed forces and coast guard would now be analysed. Finland had said it cannot exclude the possibility that a “state actor” was behind the damage. The pipeline connects two Nato countries, with Finland joining the alliance in April 2023 as a result of applying after Russian launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Scholz rebukes Putin as "cynical" over Russian president"s comments on civilian casualties German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has sharply rebuked Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over his “cynical” comments about civilian casualties. In the German parliament on Thursday, Scholz said: “It makes me more than furious to hear the Russian president repeatedly warning that there could be civilian casualties from an armed conflict,” referring to Putin’s comments about the Israel-Hamas war that erupted after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October. “It doesn’t get more cynical than that,” Scholz said, highlighting that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has caused a significant number of civilian casualties. Although Russia has repeatedly claimed that what it calls its “special military operation” does not target civilians, the UN has recorded 22,468 casualties, including 7,649 people killed in territory controlled by the Kyiv government since the invasion began. Scholz also said in parliament earlier that Europe must still provide aid and financial stability for Ukraine, but that it was not a long-term solution. Ukraine parliament gives initial approval to 2024 budget with increased defence spending Ukraine’s parliament gave initial approval on Thursday for the 2024 budget, which will increase funding for the army and national defence because of the war with Russia. The finance minister, Serhiy Marchenko, said the government’s priorities next year included accumulating funds for defence and security, and securing social payments for the population “to bring Ukraine’s victory closer”. The budget law, which was approved in its first reading, sets budget revenues at 1.7tn hryvnias ($46bn / £38bn / €43.5), and spending is targeted at 3.3tn hryvnias. Reuters reports that officials have said that about half the state budget is planned to go to the defence sector next year. Last year, Ukraine’s economy shrank by about one-third as millions of people fled the war, towns and cities were bombed, logistics routes and supply chains were disrupted, and the power sector and critical infrastructure were damaged by air strikes. The government has forecast economic growth of about 5%. The budget is still to be approved in the second reading by parliament. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has used his social media channels to promote that he is visiting construction sites in the Kyiv region where new homes are being built for those who have been displaced. In a post on Telegram he said “We will restore everything that the occupier destroyed. Ukraine will never be a country of ruins.” Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has noted that Kazakhstan has made a decision to halt the export of 106 specific products to Russia. In a post on social media, Yermak wrote: Kazakhstan has imposed a ban on the export to Russia of 106 types of goods, including technological items that could be used for military purposes. These are goods that Kazakhstan doesn’t produce. Russia attempted to acquire western components through re-export. Reuters reports that Finland’s ministry of defence said on Thursday it had blocked three planned property transactions involving Russian buyers on grounds that allowing the acquisitions to take place could hamper the defence of Finnish territory. “The real estate acquisitions in question can be considered to hinder the organisation of national defence or the surveillance and safeguarding of territorial integrity,” the ministry said in a statement. Volodymyr Litvinov, head of the Beryslav district administration in Kherson, has warned residents to stay in shelters because of a possible aerial bombardment, Suspilne reports. Russian state-owned news service Tass reported earlier that air defence shot down an object over the airspace of Rostov. Citing the governor of the region, Vasily Golubev, it said there was no damage or casualties. This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said that the Olympic Games can be used as a tool of political pressure and ethnic discrimination. Reuters reports that Putin said: The Games can be used as an instrument of political pressure against people who have nothing to do with politics. And as gross and in fact ethnic discrimination. Last week the Russian Olympic Committee was banned by the International Olympic Committee for recognising regional organisations from four territories that Russia said it had annexed from Ukraine. Although the IOC said the Olympic committees of Russia and Belarus would not receive an official invitation to the Paris games like other countries later this month, a decision on their participation would be made at a later date. Here are some of the latest images from the news wires.