Ukraine has offered to release Russian prisoners in exchange for the safe evacuation of badly injured fighters trapped inside a steel mill in Mariupol Image: PA Images Ukraine has offered to release Russian prisoners in exchange for the safe evacuation of badly injured fighters trapped inside a steel mill in Mariupol Image: PA Images Updated 23 minutes ago
The prosecutor general’s office said Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian service member, is accused of killing an unarmed 62-year-old civilian as he fled with four other soldiers in a stolen car. The Russian invasion has sparked an exodus of nearly six million civilians, many of whom bear accounts of torture, sexual violence and indiscriminate destruction.Moscow has focused on eastern and southern Ukraine since it failed to take Kyiv in the first weeks of its campaign.Ukraine’s forces were boosted by what Kyiv described as the recapture of four villages around the northeastern city of Kharkiv, close to the border with Russia.
Authorities in Russian regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of launching attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has framed his nation’s resistance to the Russian invasion as a “war against tyranny”, but the fierce fightback has carried a heavy cost. Ukraine’s effort to hold the Russian-speaking Donbas region in the east has also become increasingly desperate.
Russia has been hit with a wave of punishing economic sanctions that have started to take a toll on its foreign exchange reserves. The annual summit comes with much of the international community rallying to pressure Moscow over Ukraine.