Ukrainian military search teams have recovered hundreds of dead Russian soldiers on battlefields across the country since the beginning of the war, an official has said.
Teams tasked with locating bodies of missing Ukrainian soldiers in almost 600 locations since the war began have recovered approximately 500 Russian military personnel, as well as just under 500 Ukrainian soldiers, Colonel Volodymyr Liamzin said on Saturday.
The Ukrainian military is organising the “the return of the occupiers’ bodies to representatives of the Russian Federation,” the head of the Central Department of Civil-Military Cooperation of the General Staff of the Armed Forces said.
It is not unusual for the search teams to have encountered dead Russian soldiers, as the front lines in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine have moved several times in the past few months.
11:42 AM
Ukraine defence minister thanks Germany and Spain for ‘Leopard-hearts’ after tanks reportedly dispatched
Following Spanish defence minister Margarita Robles’s confirmation that six Leopard 2 tanks had departed from Santander destined for Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov thanked her and German defence minister Boris Pistorius.
“Margarita Robles, Boris Pistorius Thank you for your Leopard-hearts. And for their steel armor,” he wrote on Twitter on Saturday evening.
11:16 AM
Son of Kremlin spokesman confirms he served in Wagner Group
The son of President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has confirmed in an interview with a Russian newspaper that he served as an artilleryman in the Wagner group under an assumed name.
Nikolai Peskov, son of Dmitry Peskov who has served as Mr Putin’s spokesman since 2008, said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda that he considered it his “duty” to go to fight.
“I considered it my duty. I just had to participate, I had to help everyone who was there. I couldn’t sit on the sidelines and watch friends and other people go there.”
He said of his family’s reaction: “To be honest, they were of course worried. But they absolutely supported my decision”.
He told the newspaper that he had changed his surname so that nobody knew his real identity, and had served for just under half a year. Mr Peskov received a medal for bravery during his service in Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary force, said Dmitry Peskov had approached him and asked him to take his son on as an artilleryman.
“Of all my acquaintances, just one person, Dmitry Sergeyvich Peskov, who at one time was reputed to be an absolute liberal, sent his son. He came to me and said: ‘Take him on as a simple artilleryman’,” Mr Prigozhin said in a video posted on Telegram.
Mr Peskov is a rare public example of the son of a senior Russian official fighting in the war.
10:41 AM
‘Consternation’ in France after China’s ambassador questioned sovereignty of post-Soviet nations
China’s ambassador to France has sparked anger in eastern Europe and “consternation” in Paris after he appeared on a French news channel and suggested that countries which emerged after the fall of the Soviet Union “don’t have effective status under international law because there is not an international agreement confirming their status as sovereign nations.”
Lu Shaye’s comments on the LCI news channel have implications not just for Ukraine, but all former Soviet republics which emerged as independent countries after 1991, including many EU member states.
The French foreign ministry issued a statement on Saturday evening saying it had “learned with consternation about the statements from the ambassador”.
“It remains up to China to say whether these statements reflect its position which we hope not to be the case,” the statement added.
The comments from the ambassador come after the news earlier this week that French President Emmanuel Macron is said to be drawing up secret plans with China to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table “by this summer”.
10:24 AM
In pictures: Ukrainian soldiers training near Zaporizhzhia
10:07 AM
G7 calls for ‘extension, full implementation and expansion’ of Black Sea grain deal
The G7 have called for the “extension, full implementation and expansion” of a crucial deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.
The Black Sea grain deal was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July, and allowed Ukraine to export more than 27 million tons of grain from several of its ports on the Black Sea. However, Russia has strongly signalled that it will not allow the deal to continue after May 18, as a list of demands it has made to the West to facilitate its own grain and fertiliser exports has not been met.
The group’s agriculture ministers released a communique on Sunday following a two-day meeting in Japan, in which they said they “recognised the importance of the deal”.
“We strongly support the extension, full implementation and expansion of (the Black Sea Grain Initiative) BSGI.”
“We condemn Russia’s attempts to use food as a means of destabilisation and as tool of geopolitical coercion and reiterate our commitment to acting in solidarity and supporting those most affected by Russia’s weaponisation of food,” they added.
09:57 AM
Latest MoD update
The latest intelligence update from the UK ministry of defence has been published, which addresses the latest recruitment campaign by the Russian defence ministry which appeals for “real men” to join up.
Russia is calling on young men working in menial jobs such as driving taxis to sign up for war and prove they are “real men” in a slick new recruitment advert released by the ministry of defence, Nataliya Vasilyeva reports.
The clip aired on Wednesday night and marked the first time the Kremlin has turned to television to boost the size of its battered army.
Read more from The Telegraph’s Russia correspondent here.
09:54 AM
Spain ships six Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine
Six Leopard 2A4 tanks headed to Ukraine left Spain by ship on Friday, according to a naval monitoring website.
Witnesses for Reuters said that the tanks and armoured personnel carriers were driven onto a cargo vessel. The boat will travel to Poland, where the vehicles will be transferred to Ukraine ahead of an expected spring counteroffensive.
Earlier this month, Spain’s defence minister Margarita Robles said that Spain would send 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine. The Spanish military is repairing the remaining four.
It was unclear when the equipment would arrive.
09:51 AM
Good morning
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