hopes ukrainian forces can not only repel russias assault in the east but also weaken its military so that it can no longer menace neighboursrussia regards natos actions as tantamount to waging a proxy war against it and has made a number of threats this week of unspecified retaliationit cut gas supplies to poland and bulgaria on wednesday after they refused to pay in roubles marking moscows toughest response yet to western economic sanctionsrussia has reported what it says have been a series of ukrainian strikes on russian regions that border ukraine and has warned that such attacks risk significant escalationukraine has not directly accepted responsibility for strikes inside russia but says the incidents are payback russia has taken umbrage at statements by nato member britain that it is legitimate for ukraine to target russian logisticsin the west they are openly calling on kyiv to attack russia including with the use of weapons received from nato countries russian foreign ministry spokeswoman maria zakharova told reporters in moscowi dont advise you to test our patience furtherthe us mission to the osce security body said the kremlin might attempt sham referenda in southern and eastern areas it had captured since the feb 24 invasion using a wellworn playbook that steals from historys darkest chaptersthese falsified illegitimate referenda will undoubtedly be accompanied by a wave of abuses against those who seek to oppose or undermine moscows plans the us mission said there was no immediate russian comment