Russia-Ukraine war LIVE: Kyiv ‘remains at high risk’ from Putin airstrikes despite Russia promising to withdraw troops

Graphic: Russia’s jumping landmines

RUSSIAN forces have even deployed Nazi-style landmines that can “jump” to head height and destroy everything within 50ft, a report has found.

The catastrophic POM-3 landmines were discovered in the besieged city of Kharkiv on Monday by bomb disposal technicians.

The banned destructive devices, known as “Medallion” are designed to be fired by rocket launchers and then land by parachute on the ground.

The anti-personnel mines are also equipped with a seismic sensor to detect when someone is approaching before launching a bomb.

Russia confirms ex-U.S. Marine Trevor Reed is on hunger strike

Russia’s state prison service confirmed on Thursday that jailed ex-U.S. Marine Trevor Reed had declared a hunger strike on March 28 to protest over disciplinary action against him, but said that he had repeatedly tested negative for tuberculosis.

In a statement sent to Reuters, the Federal Penitentiary Service described Reed’s health as satisfactory.

The also confirmed he had not come into contact with anyone suffering from tuberculosis and that his condition was being closely monitored.

NATO says Russian forces are NOT withdrawing but regrouping

Russian forces in Ukraine are not withdrawing but regrouping, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, commenting on Moscow’s announcements about a scaling down of military operations around Kyiv.

Stoltenberg also said the alliance has yet to be convinced that Russia was negotiating in good faith in peace talks in Istanbul because Moscow’s military objective since launching its invasion of Ukraine has not changed.

“According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

Moscow says it is now focusing on “liberating” the Donbas region – two southeastern provinces partly controlled by separatists Russia has backed since 2014.

“At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities. So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering.”

Army donates 84k ballistic helmets to soldiers & emergency workers in Ukraine

Soldiers from The Royal Anglian Regiment sort and pack some of the surplus 84,000 ballistic helmets being shipped to soldiers and emergency service workers in Ukraine on March 31, 2022 in Donnington, England.

The British soldiers are stripping up to 12,000 helmets a day of the UK insignia and webbing and packing batches of 100 helmets into cardboard boxes ready for onward transport from the MOD Donnington stores in Shropshire to the Ukrainian border.

Home Office: ‘Too early’ to say how many have arrived under Homes for Ukraine scheme

Home Office minister Kevin Foster said it is “too early” to say how many people have arrived under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, adding: “We are now publishing visa grants – by 9am this morning, 3,705 visas had been granted and the trajectory for grants of visas is increasing every day.”

He added: “I’d just remind MPs at one point last week we issued nearly 6,000 family scheme visas in two days, again showing the type of capacity that’s available once we get decisions ready to be made.

“We’d expect to see a similar increase in trajectory on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.”

Mr Foster, addressing the “accusation that applications are being deleted”, said duplicate applications are being removed while people are being transferred to the most relevant scheme to them.

He added the Government has “cut back what people are asked to supply” for their application.

Spain registers 30,000 Ukrainian refugees

Almost 30,000 Ukrainian refugees have been officially registered in Spain since the Russian invasion started, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday.

He added that the number was likely to rise to 70,000 in the coming days.

Zelensky urges Netherlands to boycott Russian energy supplies

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged the Netherlands to boycott Russian energy exports, in his latest address to a national parliament.

He told the Dutch Binnenhof: “Be willing to stop energy (exports) from Russia… so you don’t contribute billions to the war.”

Zelensky asks Dutch parliament to halt trade with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked the Dutch parliament for weapons, reconstruction aid and to halt all business with Russia in response to the invasion of his country.

Speaking to politicians today via video link, he said: “Stronger sanctions are needed so that Russia doesn’t have a chance to pursue this war further in Europe,”

“Stop all trade with Russia.”

Red Cross preparing to lead Mariupol evacuations tomorrow

The Red Cross said it was preparing to facilitate the safe passage of civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Friday, provided all the parties agree to the terms.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement: “It’s desperately important that this operation takes place.

“The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it,”

H&M sees boosted sales but Russian closures start to weigh

Swedish clothing giant H&M has said today its revenue increased in the first quarter but its closure of Russian stores has started to impact growth.

Hundreds of Western companies have halted their operations in Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with a slew of retailers, including H&M rival Zara, shutting down stores.

H&M has closed 185 stores and stopped online sales in Russia.

H&M said its global sales between March 1 and 28 rose by six percent in local currencies compared to the same period last year.

Shares in H&M were down over nine percent in the early hours of trading on the Stockholm stock exchange.

Prior to the war in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic had weighed on the company’s performance.

“In addition to the general consequences of the pandemic, such as disruptions and delays in the supply chain, some of our major markets were impacted by a new wave of the pandemic in the first quarter,” CEO Helena Helmersson said.

“Despite this, we saw a recovery of sales in physical stores compared with last year, while online sales continued to perform well,” she added.

Russian hackers attempted to penetrate NATO networks

A report by Google’s Threat Analysis Group said Russian hackers recently attempted to penetrate the networks of NATO.

Alongside this they also attempted attacks on the militaries of some eastern European countries.

Google said the attempted cyber attacks were launched by a Russian-based group called Coldriver, or Callisto.

The Google report said: “We see malicious cyber activity on a daily basis.

“NATO Centres of Excellence work alongside the Alliance but they are not part of NATO as such. We are in touch with them on this issue.”

Moscow would not refuse Russia-Ukraine meeting

Moscow would not refuse a meeting between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

However, any talks between them would need to be substantive, RIA news agency cited the Russian foreign ministry as saying today.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier today that Turkey was working to bring together the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers for further talks after hosting peace negotiations in Istanbul this week.

Cavusoglu said the meeting could happen within two weeks.

Calls PM to leave following partygate scandal as it will ‘not affect response to Ukraine’

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said Labour’s renewed calls for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to go in the wake of the partygate scandal. She said this will not affect the government’s response to the situation in Ukraine.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she went on to say “the whole of parliament” stood “united” in its response to the war.

Ms Reeves added: “If Boris Johnson was replaced by a different member of the Cabinet, a different member of parliament, the position on Ukraine would not change.

“The House of Commons is united in our resolute response to Russia’s aggression and to the needs of the Ukrainian people.

“The position of the UK Government would not change if the prime minister changed.

“But at the moment we have a prime minister who has a total disrespect for the rules, has treated the British people as if they are fools, and I don’t think that he is fit to govern.”

Convoy of Ukrainian buses trying to reach Mariupol

A convoy of buses have been sent out to trapped civilians in the port city of Mariupol today, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. 

A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, will be opened from 10am (7am GMT) today, the ministry said.

This morning, Ms Vereshchuk said the International Committee of the Red Cross had confirmed that Russia had agreed to open a humanitarian corridor to the city.

“There are 45 buses en route to Mariupol,” Ms Vereshchuk said in a statement. 

Zelensky: Russian troops not withdrawing voluntarily from Kyiv and Chernihiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he does not believe Russian troops are voluntarily withdrawing from Kyiv and Chernihiv.

He thinks they are rather being “pushed back” by Ukrainian resistance.

In an address, the Ukrainian also spoke about the ongoing negotiations between the two nations, saying: “Yes, there is a negotiations process which is ongoing but these are still words so far. No specifics. 

“There are also other words about the alleged withdrawal of the Russian troops from Kyiv and Chernihiv. About the alleged reduction of the activity in these areas.

“We know that this is not a withdraw but the results of being pushed back. The results of the work of our defenders. 

“We can see that, at the same time, there is an accumulation of the Russian troops for news strikes in the Donbas.”

Zelensky addresses Australian parliament

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Australian parliament via videolink today.

He told the Parliament: “We haven’t seen this in the world, for a country to start a war against a neighbouring country, openly declaring their enslavement or destruction. Not to leave even the name of that nation. Not to have even any opportunity for this nation to live freely.”

He also issues of the war itself, saying countries should work together to stop Russia.

Zelensky said: “But the most terrible thing, if we don’t stop Russia now, if we don’t hold Russia accountable, than some of the countries of the world that were looking forward to a similar war against their neighbours will decide that such things are possible for them as well. The fate of global security is decided now.”

MoD: Russian shelling and missile strikes continue

The UK’s Ministry of Defence says that despite promises to reduce the scale of it’s military operations, Russian forces are continuing shell Chernihiv.

Their latest analysis also says that Kremlin troops “continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv” despite the withdrawal of some of its units.

The MoD also said “heavy fighting will likely take place” in the suburbs of Kyiv in coming days as heavy fighting continues in Mariupol.

Zelensky dismisses Russian claims of scaleback

In his nightly video address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he doesn’t trust Russian claims to scale back military activity.

“We don’t believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase,” he added.

Ukraine and Russia latest

• Terrified Roman Abramovich asked if he was going to die after being poisoned by a deadly WWI chemical agent.
• Russia has said it is to “drastically reduce” forces near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as its invasion continues to falter.
• Putin “must think we were born yesterday” if he thinks Britain believes his troops are pulling out of Kyiv.
• A suspected arms depot was allegedly hit by a Ukrainian missile, sparking firework-like explosions.
• Russia has reportedly lost a seventh colonel since the start of fighting in another major blow to Putin’s army.
• Putin has re-opened Bond-villain style military bases deep inside the Arctic Circle.
• Chechnya’s fighters arrived in Ukraine with a fearsome reputation, but have faced bloody slaughter on the battlefield, reports claim.
• Paranoid Putin and his inner circle are reportedly living in top-secret nuclear bunkers as the bloody war unfolds in Ukraine. 

Russia says it will boost export quotas for nitrogen

Russia plans to increase its export quotas for nitrogen and complex fertilisers, its economy ministry said in a statement today.

The quotas will be raised by 231,000 tonnes for nitrogen fertilisers and by 466,000 tonnes for complex fertilisers, the ministry said in a statement.

The measure will help to increase exports of these products and at the same time secure sufficient amount of the crop nutrients for domestic farmers, it added.

Russia announces ceasefire in Mariupol

Russia’s defence ministry has announced a ceasefire in Mariupol  to allow residents to evacuate the besieged city, AFP reports.

A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, will be opened from 10am (7am GMT) today, the ministry said.

The ministry also said the UN refugee agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross would assist with the operation.

“For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” a ministry statement said.

‘Putin’s campaign is beset by problems’

UK spy chief, Sir Jeremy, will reveal today to an audience in Canberra, Australia: “We know Putin’s campaign is beset by problems — low morale, logistical failures and high Russian casualty numbers. We’ve seen Putin lie to his own people in an attempt to hide military incompetence.

“We’ve seen Russian soldiers — short of weapons and morale — refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.”

Speaking at the Australian National University, he will add: “Even though we believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what’s going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.

“It all adds up to the strategic miscalculation that Western leaders warned Putin it would be. It’s become his personal war, with the cost being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and increasingly, by ordinary Russians too.”

Hero Ukrainian mechanics are blitzing Russian troops with their OWN tanks

HERO Ukrainian mechanics are repairing Russian tanks to be used by their own forces against the invaders.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have lost thousands of vehicles in the war in Ukraine, including around 600 tanks and over 1700 other armoured vehicles.

Many of their burnt out shells now litter the landscape after being blasted by Kyiv’s forces.

But ingenious Ukrainian mechanics have also been at working on repairing ones that can be salvaged.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has become one of the main suppliers of arms to their enemy.

“We take trophies and use them to protect Ukraine,” he said.

Russian forces in chaos as soldiers refuse orders

MUTINOUS Russian forces are sabotaging their weapons and refusing to carry out orders amid surging Red Army deaths, a UK spy chief will reveal today.

Vladimir Putin “massively misjudged” how hard conquering Ukraine would be but is bent on his “personal war” — even as his poorly fed and armed soldiers are giving up.

It came as telling footage showed despairing conscripts complaining of being “thrown into the st” with 1940s rifles that do not work.

Planes have been downed by friendly fire and Russia’s “command and control is in chaos,” GCHQ boss Sir Jeremy Fleming will say.

Met with fierce resistance, Russian troops have been bogged down and pushed back. The strategically important town of Trostyanets in the north-east has been retaken, the occupying soldiers fleeing, leaving their uniforms behind.

But Putin’s fearful generals are hiding the scale of the battlefield losses from him as what was meant to be a lightning war grinds on.  

Ukrainian forces braces attacks in Donbas

Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, says fierce resistance has pressured Russian forces in Kyiv – but Ukraine is preparing for strikes in other regions.

Zelensky has claimed that Russia is building up its forces in eastern Ukraine in readiness for a new wave of attacks in the breakaway Donbas region, despite planned peace talks on Friday.

In an early morning video address today, the Ukrainian leader said he was seeing “a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas and we are preparing for that”.

Graphic: Russia’s jumping landmines

RUSSIAN forces have even deployed Nazi-style landmines that can “jump” to head height and destroy everything within 50ft, a report has found.

The catastrophic POM-3 landmines were discovered in the besieged city of Kharkiv on Monday by bomb disposal technicians.

The banned destructive devices, known as “Medallion” are designed to be fired by rocket launchers and then land by parachute on the ground.

The anti-personnel mines are also equipped with a seismic sensor to detect when someone is approaching before launching a bomb.

Russia confirms ex-U.S. Marine Trevor Reed is on hunger strike

Russia’s state prison service confirmed on Thursday that jailed ex-U.S. Marine Trevor Reed had declared a hunger strike on March 28 to protest over disciplinary action against him, but said that he had repeatedly tested negative for tuberculosis.

In a statement sent to Reuters, the Federal Penitentiary Service described Reed’s health as satisfactory.

The also confirmed he had not come into contact with anyone suffering from tuberculosis and that his condition was being closely monitored.

NATO says Russian forces are NOT withdrawing but regrouping

Russian forces in Ukraine are not withdrawing but regrouping, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, commenting on Moscow’s announcements about a scaling down of military operations around Kyiv.

Stoltenberg also said the alliance has yet to be convinced that Russia was negotiating in good faith in peace talks in Istanbul because Moscow’s military objective since launching its invasion of Ukraine has not changed.

“According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

Moscow says it is now focusing on “liberating” the Donbas region – two southeastern provinces partly controlled by separatists Russia has backed since 2014.

“At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities. So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering.”

Army donates 84k ballistic helmets to soldiers & emergency workers in Ukraine

Soldiers from The Royal Anglian Regiment sort and pack some of the surplus 84,000 ballistic helmets being shipped to soldiers and emergency service workers in Ukraine on March 31, 2022 in Donnington, England.

The British soldiers are stripping up to 12,000 helmets a day of the UK insignia and webbing and packing batches of 100 helmets into cardboard boxes ready for onward transport from the MOD Donnington stores in Shropshire to the Ukrainian border.

Home Office: ‘Too early’ to say how many have arrived under Homes for Ukraine scheme

Home Office minister Kevin Foster said it is “too early” to say how many people have arrived under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, adding: “We are now publishing visa grants – by 9am this morning, 3,705 visas had been granted and the trajectory for grants of visas is increasing every day.”

He added: “I’d just remind MPs at one point last week we issued nearly 6,000 family scheme visas in two days, again showing the type of capacity that’s available once we get decisions ready to be made.

“We’d expect to see a similar increase in trajectory on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.”

Mr Foster, addressing the “accusation that applications are being deleted”, said duplicate applications are being removed while people are being transferred to the most relevant scheme to them.

He added the Government has “cut back what people are asked to supply” for their application.

Spain registers 30,000 Ukrainian refugees

Almost 30,000 Ukrainian refugees have been officially registered in Spain since the Russian invasion started, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday.

He added that the number was likely to rise to 70,000 in the coming days.

Zelensky urges Netherlands to boycott Russian energy supplies

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged the Netherlands to boycott Russian energy exports, in his latest address to a national parliament.

He told the Dutch Binnenhof: “Be willing to stop energy (exports) from Russia… so you don’t contribute billions to the war.”

Zelensky asks Dutch parliament to halt trade with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked the Dutch parliament for weapons, reconstruction aid and to halt all business with Russia in response to the invasion of his country.

Speaking to politicians today via video link, he said: “Stronger sanctions are needed so that Russia doesn’t have a chance to pursue this war further in Europe,”

“Stop all trade with Russia.”

Red Cross preparing to lead Mariupol evacuations tomorrow

The Red Cross said it was preparing to facilitate the safe passage of civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Friday, provided all the parties agree to the terms.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement: “It’s desperately important that this operation takes place.

“The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it,”

H&M sees boosted sales but Russian closures start to weigh

Swedish clothing giant H&M has said today its revenue increased in the first quarter but its closure of Russian stores has started to impact growth.

Hundreds of Western companies have halted their operations in Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with a slew of retailers, including H&M rival Zara, shutting down stores.

H&M has closed 185 stores and stopped online sales in Russia.

H&M said its global sales between March 1 and 28 rose by six percent in local currencies compared to the same period last year.

Shares in H&M were down over nine percent in the early hours of trading on the Stockholm stock exchange.

Prior to the war in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic had weighed on the company’s performance.

“In addition to the general consequences of the pandemic, such as disruptions and delays in the supply chain, some of our major markets were impacted by a new wave of the pandemic in the first quarter,” CEO Helena Helmersson said.

“Despite this, we saw a recovery of sales in physical stores compared with last year, while online sales continued to perform well,” she added.

Russian hackers attempted to penetrate NATO networks

A report by Google’s Threat Analysis Group said Russian hackers recently attempted to penetrate the networks of NATO.

Alongside this they also attempted attacks on the militaries of some eastern European countries.

Google said the attempted cyber attacks were launched by a Russian-based group called Coldriver, or Callisto.

The Google report said: “We see malicious cyber activity on a daily basis.

“NATO Centres of Excellence work alongside the Alliance but they are not part of NATO as such. We are in touch with them on this issue.”

Moscow would not refuse Russia-Ukraine meeting

Moscow would not refuse a meeting between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

However, any talks between them would need to be substantive, RIA news agency cited the Russian foreign ministry as saying today.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier today that Turkey was working to bring together the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers for further talks after hosting peace negotiations in Istanbul this week.

Cavusoglu said the meeting could happen within two weeks.

Calls PM to leave following partygate scandal as it will ‘not affect response to Ukraine’

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said Labour’s renewed calls for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to go in the wake of the partygate scandal. She said this will not affect the government’s response to the situation in Ukraine.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she went on to say “the whole of parliament” stood “united” in its response to the war.

Ms Reeves added: “If Boris Johnson was replaced by a different member of the Cabinet, a different member of parliament, the position on Ukraine would not change.

“The House of Commons is united in our resolute response to Russia’s aggression and to the needs of the Ukrainian people.

“The position of the UK Government would not change if the prime minister changed.

“But at the moment we have a prime minister who has a total disrespect for the rules, has treated the British people as if they are fools, and I don’t think that he is fit to govern.”

Convoy of Ukrainian buses trying to reach Mariupol

A convoy of buses have been sent out to trapped civilians in the port city of Mariupol today, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. 

A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, will be opened from 10am (7am GMT) today, the ministry said.

This morning, Ms Vereshchuk said the International Committee of the Red Cross had confirmed that Russia had agreed to open a humanitarian corridor to the city.

“There are 45 buses en route to Mariupol,” Ms Vereshchuk said in a statement. 

Zelensky: Russian troops not withdrawing voluntarily from Kyiv and Chernihiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he does not believe Russian troops are voluntarily withdrawing from Kyiv and Chernihiv.

He thinks they are rather being “pushed back” by Ukrainian resistance.

In an address, the Ukrainian also spoke about the ongoing negotiations between the two nations, saying: “Yes, there is a negotiations process which is ongoing but these are still words so far. No specifics. 

“There are also other words about the alleged withdrawal of the Russian troops from Kyiv and Chernihiv. About the alleged reduction of the activity in these areas.

“We know that this is not a withdraw but the results of being pushed back. The results of the work of our defenders. 

“We can see that, at the same time, there is an accumulation of the Russian troops for news strikes in the Donbas.”

Zelensky addresses Australian parliament

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Australian parliament via videolink today.

He told the Parliament: “We haven’t seen this in the world, for a country to start a war against a neighbouring country, openly declaring their enslavement or destruction. Not to leave even the name of that nation. Not to have even any opportunity for this nation to live freely.”

He also issues of the war itself, saying countries should work together to stop Russia.

Zelensky said: “But the most terrible thing, if we don’t stop Russia now, if we don’t hold Russia accountable, than some of the countries of the world that were looking forward to a similar war against their neighbours will decide that such things are possible for them as well. The fate of global security is decided now.”

MoD: Russian shelling and missile strikes continue

The UK’s Ministry of Defence says that despite promises to reduce the scale of it’s military operations, Russian forces are continuing shell Chernihiv.

Their latest analysis also says that Kremlin troops “continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv” despite the withdrawal of some of its units.

The MoD also said “heavy fighting will likely take place” in the suburbs of Kyiv in coming days as heavy fighting continues in Mariupol.

Zelensky dismisses Russian claims of scaleback

In his nightly video address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he doesn’t trust Russian claims to scale back military activity.

“We don’t believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase,” he added.

Ukraine and Russia latest

• Terrified Roman Abramovich asked if he was going to die after being poisoned by a deadly WWI chemical agent.
• Russia has said it is to “drastically reduce” forces near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as its invasion continues to falter.
• Putin “must think we were born yesterday” if he thinks Britain believes his troops are pulling out of Kyiv.
• A suspected arms depot was allegedly hit by a Ukrainian missile, sparking firework-like explosions.
• Russia has reportedly lost a seventh colonel since the start of fighting in another major blow to Putin’s army.
• Putin has re-opened Bond-villain style military bases deep inside the Arctic Circle.
• Chechnya’s fighters arrived in Ukraine with a fearsome reputation, but have faced bloody slaughter on the battlefield, reports claim.
• Paranoid Putin and his inner circle are reportedly living in top-secret nuclear bunkers as the bloody war unfolds in Ukraine. 

Russia says it will boost export quotas for nitrogen

Russia plans to increase its export quotas for nitrogen and complex fertilisers, its economy ministry said in a statement today.

The quotas will be raised by 231,000 tonnes for nitrogen fertilisers and by 466,000 tonnes for complex fertilisers, the ministry said in a statement.

The measure will help to increase exports of these products and at the same time secure sufficient amount of the crop nutrients for domestic farmers, it added.

Russia announces ceasefire in Mariupol

Russia’s defence ministry has announced a ceasefire in Mariupol  to allow residents to evacuate the besieged city, AFP reports.

A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, will be opened from 10am (7am GMT) today, the ministry said.

The ministry also said the UN refugee agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross would assist with the operation.

“For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” a ministry statement said.

‘Putin’s campaign is beset by problems’

UK spy chief, Sir Jeremy, will reveal today to an audience in Canberra, Australia: “We know Putin’s campaign is beset by problems — low morale, logistical failures and high Russian casualty numbers. We’ve seen Putin lie to his own people in an attempt to hide military incompetence.

“We’ve seen Russian soldiers — short of weapons and morale — refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.”

Speaking at the Australian National University, he will add: “Even though we believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what’s going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.

“It all adds up to the strategic miscalculation that Western leaders warned Putin it would be. It’s become his personal war, with the cost being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and increasingly, by ordinary Russians too.”

Hero Ukrainian mechanics are blitzing Russian troops with their OWN tanks

HERO Ukrainian mechanics are repairing Russian tanks to be used by their own forces against the invaders.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have lost thousands of vehicles in the war in Ukraine, including around 600 tanks and over 1700 other armoured vehicles.

Many of their burnt out shells now litter the landscape after being blasted by Kyiv’s forces.

But ingenious Ukrainian mechanics have also been at working on repairing ones that can be salvaged.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has become one of the main suppliers of arms to their enemy.

“We take trophies and use them to protect Ukraine,” he said.

Russian forces in chaos as soldiers refuse orders

MUTINOUS Russian forces are sabotaging their weapons and refusing to carry out orders amid surging Red Army deaths, a UK spy chief will reveal today.

Vladimir Putin “massively misjudged” how hard conquering Ukraine would be but is bent on his “personal war” — even as his poorly fed and armed soldiers are giving up.

It came as telling footage showed despairing conscripts complaining of being “thrown into the st” with 1940s rifles that do not work.

Planes have been downed by friendly fire and Russia’s “command and control is in chaos,” GCHQ boss Sir Jeremy Fleming will say.

Met with fierce resistance, Russian troops have been bogged down and pushed back. The strategically important town of Trostyanets in the north-east has been retaken, the occupying soldiers fleeing, leaving their uniforms behind.

But Putin’s fearful generals are hiding the scale of the battlefield losses from him as what was meant to be a lightning war grinds on.  

Ukrainian forces braces attacks in Donbas

Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, says fierce resistance has pressured Russian forces in Kyiv – but Ukraine is preparing for strikes in other regions.

Zelensky has claimed that Russia is building up its forces in eastern Ukraine in readiness for a new wave of attacks in the breakaway Donbas region, despite planned peace talks on Friday.

In an early morning video address today, the Ukrainian leader said he was seeing “a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas and we are preparing for that”.