Ukraine-Russia war live: Press Putin to end war, Germany urges China’s Xi Jinping

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had detained a man it claimed had tried to kill an ex-employee of Ukraine’s main security service in Moscow last week with a car bomb on Kyiv’s orders.

A powerful explosion ripped through a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado belonging to Vasily Prozorov, a former Lieutenant-Colonel in Ukraine’s SBU security service, on 12 April, leaving Prozorov with wounds to his legs and arms.

Prozorov, who now lives in Russia, had told Russian state news agency RIA how he used his SBU position in Ukraine to pass sensitive information to Russian intelligence agencies from 2014 onwards for ideological reasons.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Tuesday.

The US ambassador to Japan urged Tokyo on Tuesday to take a greater role in developing, producing and supplying weapons “to enhance our collective security” amid conflict in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere.

Ambassador Rahm Emanuel visited a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ F-35 fighter jet factory and stressed the importance of stronger defense industry cooperation between the allies. The United States alone can no longer supply all democracies, he said.

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Some 37,000 Ukrainians have been registered missing since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the chief ombudsman has said.

The figure includes civilians, children, and military personnel. About 1,700 people have been illegally detained by Russia, Dmytro Lubinets said, speaking at an event in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Mr Lubinets added that his office was doing everything it could to return the missing and abducted civilians, the Kyiv independent reported.

"Based on an initiative of our office, Ukraine has established an international platform for the release of civilians illegally detained by Russia," he said.

Askold Krushelnycky travels from Kramatorsk to Chasiv Yar in Ukraine’s eastern frontline and hears from soldiers who say they cannot hold on much longer as they run out of ammunition. Even if their own drone attacks are so far keeping the waves of assaults at bay for now.

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Poland will cooperate with the European Sky Shield Initiative air defence umbrella and it makes sense for the country to be part of several air defence systems, prime minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.

The European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) is a common air defence scheme set up by Germany in 2022 to boost European air defence.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Andrzej Duda said Poland hadn’t given any thought to joining what he described as a "German business project".

Russia is employing foreign nationals to fight against Ukraine, according to the latest British intelligence update by the Ministry of Defence.

The Russian Armed Forces have advertised roles in neighbouring countries, such as Armenia and Kazakhstan, as well as migrants from India and Nepal.

Recruits are reportedly being paid around £2,000 a month.

Ukrainian weapons has fuelled both military and economic progress in the country, a senior minister has said.

Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine’s Minister of Strategic Industries said the country’s military-industrial complex grew Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.5% in 2023.

This a significant proportion of the total 5 per cent GDP growth last year.

Mr Kamyshin said he was confident that figure would double to 3% of GDP growth this year. But he warned Ukraine’s government could not afford to buy up all its domestic weapons’ production.

Ukraine was in discussions with international allies about the purchase of weapons for Ukraine from domestic manufacturers to cover the financial shortfall, he said.

“I am convinced that we will start purchases from Ukrainian manufacturers with foreign funds in the new future,” the minister said.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with China’s defense minister on Tuesday, the first engagement the two have had in over a year as the two countries seek to restore military ties.

The phone call comes as US president Joe Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping have sought to manage tensions and after the two leaders last year resumed direct military talks.

In a readout after the call, the Pentagon said Austin "underscored the importance of respect for high seas freedom of navigation guaranteed under international law, especially in the South China Sea."

An escalating diplomatic dispute and recent maritime run-ins between China and the Philippines, a US treaty ally, have made the highly strategic South China Sea a potential flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.

The Pentagon said the two also discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine, North Korea, and Washington’s commitment to the one China policy.

Ukrainian refugees fleeing the horrors of war to find sanctuary in British homes were sent to live with suspected gangsters under the government’s flagship Homes for Ukraine scheme, The Independent can reveal.

People with suspected links to serious or organised crime were among those approved as hosts under the scheme, which was set up in 2022 to encourage warm-hearted homeowners to lend a spare room to those fleeing Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

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Moscow is set to redeploy Wagner troops working in Africa to bolster its offensive in Ukraine, according to a Russian insider source.

The source claimed Russian authorities are preparing to redeploy unspecified detachments of the Africa Corps from Africa to Belgorod, Ukraine, according to US think tank Institute for the Study of War.