U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Russia cannot wage war with impunity

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday, after meeting with his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia, that Russia cannot be allowed to wage war with impunity.

The members of the so-called Quad group met on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in New Delhi.

The Quad group issued a statement saying that Russia’s threat of using nuclear weapons is “unacceptable.”

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a nuclear arms treaty and threatened Ukraine with nuclear weapons.

Russian defense companies are showcasing their products at major international arms fairs, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday in its daily update about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The companies are promoting the Arena-E active protection system or APS which the ministry said is designed to improve the survivability of armored vehicles.

The APS promotional material at a recent show stated that APS “defeats the threats that are most dangerous for armored vehicles.”

There is no evidence, however, that the system has been installed on Russian vehicles in Ukraine, where it has lost over 5,000 armored vehicles, according to the ministry. That incongruity is likely due to Russian companies’ inability “to manufacture high-tech systems at scale,” the defense ministry said, “a problem which is exacerbated by the effect of international sanctions.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his address Thursday that a ‘brutal Russian missile attack “on Zaporizhzia will face our military and legal response.” He said, “The occupier will inevitably feel our strength.”

Ukrainian authorities said a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least three people.

Zelenskyy posted on Telegram that the missile destroyed three floors of the building. (KB/VOA)