Russia could strike Nato members with nuclear weapons, a senior security official has said. Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former prime minister and current deputy of its security council, said Nato’s newest members, which includes Sweden and Finland, could be struck with revenge strikes using nuclear weapons in the event of a conflict.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has for the first time acknowledged that North Korean soldiers took part in the fighting to recover Russian territory after Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region last year.