News Desk: Russian energy giant Gazprom suspends gas supplies to Latvia following tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and sanctions.

The company says the flows have been stopped ‘due to violations of the conditions’ of purchase by Latvia.

Gazprom drastically cut gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline on Wednesday to about 20 percent of its capacity.

EU states have accused Russia of squeezing supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv says one person died and six were injured in overnight Russian rocket attacks on residential districts.

Oleksandr Sienkevych adds that two more people died in hospital following a strike on a bus stop on Friday, bringing the toll from that attack to seven.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken tells his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that the world will not recognise any further annexations of Ukrainian territory, in their first conversation since the war began.

‘Additional significant costs’ will be imposed on Moscow if it follows through, Blinken warns, saying Russia was planning ‘sham referendums’ in territory it controls.

The Russian embassy in Britain tweets that fighters from Ukraine’s controversial Azov regiment ‘deserve a humiliating death’ by hanging rather than firing squad.

Russia announced Saturday it was banning 32 New Zealand officials and journalists from entering its territory, in response to similar measures taken by Wellington against Moscow over its offensive in Ukraine.

Among those sanctioned are Wellington mayor Andrew Foster, the mayor of Auckland Philip Goff, the commander of New Zealand’s navy Commodore Garin Golding and journalists Kate Green and Josie Pagani, Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The decision was taken ‘in response to the government of New Zealand’s sanctions, which increasingly affect Russian citizens’, the statement said.

Russia’s intervention in Ukraine in February provoked unprecedented Western sanctions, and Moscow has responded with similar measures.

In April, Russia banned New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern and a host of politicians from entering its territory.

SK