The Russian invasion

Guterres and Lavrov next to each other during the Security Council meeting. John Minchillo / AP  

Guterres raged against Moscow when Lavrov chaired the UN meeting  

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine during the UN Security Council meeting that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov led on Monday, writes TT. Guterres said the invasion is a violation of international law and has caused massive suffering. 

Lavrov is chairing the meeting because Russia this month holds the presidency of the Security Council, in accordance with the rules that the presidency rotates between the permanent members. 

That Russia can lead the council despite the war of aggression against Ukraine has met with harsh criticism from several quarters. 

- Of course it rubs and doesn't look good, but from the legal point of view it is, quite simply, says Inger Österdahl, professor of international law at Uppsala University, to TT.  

Ukrainian soldier. Archive image. LIBKOS / AP  

Military rearmament breaks records – Europe increases the most  

The countries of the world spent record sums on the military last year and above all spending increased in Europe. This is shown by a new report from Stockholm's international peace research institute Sipri, reports Ekot.  

The overall increase was 3.7 percent, while military spending in Europe increased by 13 percent – the largest increase since the end of the Cold War. Russia's war in Ukraine and concerns that China will attack Taiwan contribute to the development, says Nan Tian, one of the researchers behind the report. And nothing indicates that the trend will be broken, according to him. 

- It is possible that this record will be broken again next year, he says.

Last year, Ukraine attacked the bridge between Russia and Crimea. AP  

The US allegedly stopped Ukraine from a major attack on the anniversary  

Ukraine planned to launch large-scale strikes against targets inside Russia on the anniversary of the invasion earlier this year, the Washington Post reports. Just a few days before the anniversary, the United States must have made the country back out of the plans.  

The information comes from documents in the great Pentagon leak, the newspaper writes.  

According to the information, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, told his commanders to "get ready for a massive attack on February 24, with all forces.

" Lieutenant Colonel Joakim Paasikivi tells DN that he expected some kind of attack on Russian targets on the anniversary. 

- Ukrainian attacks into Russia would possibly be answered with fiery rhetoric. And maybe the threat of nuclear weapons. But otherwise there is not much more to put behind those words, he says