Ukraine-Russia war live – Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces REFUSE to rule out ‘dangerous’ nuclear weapon use

Who is Alexander Bortnikov?

Alexander Bortnikov is the current director of Russia’s FSB – making him one of the most powerful people in Russia and an influential member of Putin’s inner circle.

Like Putin, he is a former officer of the KGB and first met Putin while the pair were stationed together in Leningrad – now Saint Petersburg – in the 1970s.

Since stepping into the might role in 2008, the terrifying spymaster is said to have turned the FSB into the “punishing sword” of Putin’s regime.

The organisation is both the brain and the heart of Putin’s government and behaves like a “state within the state”, according to the Dossier Center.

Not long after Putin was appointed acting president, Bortnikov was first made head of Russia’s Economic Security Service, wielding huge power and leverage.

He is also one of a small handful of people in Russia to earn the rank of Army General.

The West has acted in a ‘disgusting way’ towards Russia

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian leader and current deputy head of the country’s security council, has lashed out at The West this morning.

He said it has acted in a “disgusting, criminal and amoral way” towards Russia.

Medvedev added the US is becoming the “last refuge of those who are falling into senility”, and claims it has tried to “humiliate, limit, divide and destroy Russia.”

Ceasefire agreed in Luhansk region

A ceasefire has been agreed in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, the local governor has said.

It’s in an effort to help civilians flee.

Luhansk, close to Ukraine’s eastern border, is under Russian control. However, it has been recognised as independent by Vladimir Putin in the days leading up to the invasion.

MoD’s latest intelligence report

The British defence ministry’s latest intelligence update claims that the Russian forces are likely realigning their positions in Ukraine.

“The battlefield across northern Ukraine remains largely static with Russian forces likely conducting a period of reorganisation before resuming large-scale offensive operations,” the UK ministry said.

The defence ministry also added that: “Russian forces are still attempting to circumvent Mykolaiv as they look to drive west towards Odesa”.

More than 120 children killed

The prosecutor’s office in Ukraine has said that around 121 children have been killed in the fighting so far.

Claims have not yet been verified however, and the total toll could be higher.

Who could replace Putin if Russian leader is taken out?

FROM allegedly having a hand in the poisoning of his own spies to

The Ukrainian intelligence service claims to have uncovered a plot from a small band of Putin’s closest aides to dethrone the president.

The powerful insiders are said to be dismayed at the ramifications of the war and the sanctions imposed on the Russian economy.

And the plotters are reportedly considering all options to wipe out Putin – including poisoning him or faking an accident.

If Putin is successfully toppled, his 70-year-old former sidekick and spymaster Alexander Bortnikov, who has been sanctioned by the US, is reportedly in pole position to replace him.

Ex-Ukrainian president asks PM not to compare war to Brexit

Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s former president, has asked Boris Johnson not to draw comparisons between the Russia-led war on Kyiv and Brexit.

He asked the British PM “please” not to suggest similarities between the war and the vote.

“How many Britons died because of Brexit?” Mr Poroshenko asked.

“Zero.”

“Only today we have 150 Ukrainian children who were killed by Russian soldiers and Russian artillery,” he said.

More sanctions for Russia

The President of the United States, Joe Biden and his team are planning to impose more sanctions on the members of the Russian parliament, the Duma, officials familiar with the situation said.

The sanctions could come in as soon as Thursday.

This comes a day before Mr Biden is set to depart for Brussels today, for talks with European leaders over Russia’s invasion.

Photojournalist reported missing near Kyiv

A Ukrainian photojournalist Maksym Levin, has last been heard from days ago while taking pictures at a combat zone in Kyiv.

Markiyan Lyseiko, a friend of Levin’s, told the Institute of Mass Information that he had last heard from the photojournalist on March 13, and feared the photojournalist could have been “wounded or taken prisoner by the Russian military”.

Russia refuses to rule out nuclear weapons

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson has repeatedly refused to rule out any potential use of nuclear weapons.

Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, yesterday evening repeatedly refused to rule out any potential use of nuclear weapons, maintaining they could be considered as a response to an alleged “existential threat.”

When asked about what conditions would warrant such a response, Peskov said “if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be.” He did not elaborate further on this during an interview with CNN International’s Christiane Amanpour.

“We have a concept of domestic security, and it’s public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used,” Peskov added yesterday.

“So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept.”

The US Pentagon has condemned Peskov’s refusal to rule out the use of nuclear weapons during the Ukraine conflict.

Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby said Moscow’s nuclear remarks were “dangerous”.

“It’s not the way a responsible nuclear power should act,” he told reporters.

Strictly star Nikita Kuzmin retells grandmothers escape from invasion

Strictly Come Dancing star Nikita Kuzmin has detailed his grandmother’s journey out of Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.

The professional dancer, 24, who was partnered with Tilly Ramsay on the last series of the BBC One show, was born and raised in Ukraine before moving to Italy aged nine.

Speaking about his grandmother on The One Show, he said: “She managed to escape from Kyiv.

“We didn’t know if she would manage on the way from Kyiv to Poland, the streets in which the bus passes you don’t know if the Russian troops are going to shoot the bus and we were all the time anxious, there were two strike points.

“On the border she had to walk five-miles, she hadn’t walked until last year she had an operation, this is when your instincts kick in and she managed to do all of it and she surprised us.

“She’s just so brave and I just love her so much.”

Nine Ukrainian hospitals have been destroyed in just one month

Ukraine nine hospitals have been destroyed since the start of Russia’s invasion.

The State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP) said Russia has attacked 135 hospitals across the country as well as 43 ambulances. 

‘Russia engaged in genocide against Ukraine’

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister accused Russia of committing acts of “genocide”.

Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge programme on the weekend, Olha Stefanishyna said she “absolutely believes” that acts of genocide have been committed.

She also aid that she believed that President Vladimir Putin and leaders in the Kremlin “are war criminals”.

Stefanishyna said that the number of “civilian victims” killed and injured during the Russian invasion has been “far greater than the armed forces of Ukraine,” and alleged that “women have been raped for hours and then murdered” by Russian soldiers.

Pictured: Hero survivor of FOUR Hitler concentration camps, 95, killed by shell 

Boris Romanchenko, 95, survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp, died in shelling during Russia’s military campaign to “rid Ukraine of Nazis”.

War veteran Boris Romanchenko, 95, died in Kharkiv on Friday but his loss was only announced today.

He had also been incarcerated in concentration camps during WWII, including the Bergen-Belsen, Peenemünde, and Mittelbau-Dora camps.

A Russian strike hit his home in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city.

Ukraine’s global wheat exports to dramatically drop

Ukraine, a major global wheat exporter, is likely to export just 200,000 tonnes of wheat from March to June due to its Black Sea ports being blocked by the Russian invasion, analyst APK-Inform said on Monday.

The consultancy said in a report that 2021/22 July-June wheat exports would not exceed 18.3 million tonnes, while ending stocks will reach 5.9 million tonnes.

Ukraine exported 18.1 million tonnes of wheat from July 2021 to March 2022.

Arnold Schwarzenegger tells Russians ‘the truth’ about Ukraine

Arnold Schwarzenegger last week released a heartfelt video pleading with Russian soldiers to stop the war in Ukraine.

He described how his father Gustav Schwarzenegger, a member of the Nazi party who served in the Second World War, told him to take down a poster of a Russian weightlifting hero that was in his room.

He also drew comparison between his father’s actions and those of Russiab soldiers, asking them: “Can you live with the guilt?”

The megastar tweeted: “I love the Russian people. That is why I have to tell you the truth. Please watch and share.”

Home Office: More than 10,000 visas have now been issued to Ukrainian refugees

The Home Office has announced 10,200 visas have now been issued to Ukrainian refugees under the government’s Ukraine family scheme.

Under the scheme, those fleeing the conflict can join relatives already living in Britain.

Meanwhile the homes for Ukraine scheme, which more than 130,000 Britons have registered their interest in, allows people and organisations to sponsor Ukrainians and match them with a family.

The above figures are reflect total numbers as of 5pm on Sunday evening.

Graph: Russian military losses in Ukraine

This infographic details the amount of Russian personel and military losses during the month long conflict so far.

The estimates, from the Ukrainian ministry of defence, show over 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed.

A further 1,535 armoured vehicles have also been destroyed, as well as 121 helicopters and 498 tanks.

Ukraine has Russia on the run’ says defence source

Defence experts claimed Putin could only have ten days to win the war in Ukraine before his forces buckle.

Both a senior UK defence source and the former commander of US forces said the game could soon be up for Russia.

“Ukraine has Russia on the run,” the source told the Daily Mail.

“It is running out of manpower and running out of energy. As long as we keep pressing they’ve got ten to 14 days before reaching their culminating point.

“That’s when the strength of Ukraine’s resistance should become greater than Russia’s attacking force.”

Putin expected a quick victory when invasion began last month

Putin expected a quick victory when he ordered the invasion on February 23 – but his forces have faced fierce resistance.

The invasion has seen Russian pilots blasted out of the sky, tanks ambushed and videos of sobbing soldiers after surrendering to the Ukrainians.

Ukraine claims to have killed around 15,000 Russian troops and to have destroyed a large amount of equipment.

And Russia has admitted it has lost nearly 10,000 troops in the invasion.

Oleksiy Arestovych, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, said the “active hostilities” between the two sides could end in just two to three weeks.

Russian soldier complains troops are getting frostbite

A RUSSIAN soldier has complained about his troops getting frostbite and meeting fierce Ukrainian resistance in an intercepted phone call.

The dour trooper said conditions had become so bad that “50 percent” of his squadron were suffering from frostbite.

Speaking to a commander in a three-minute telephone call intercepted and released by Ukrainian intelligence, the soldier said troops were being forced to “ride around” with the dead because they couldn’t be transported out.

He also said troops had been bogged down by Ukrainian resistance and lacked proper amenities and medical supplies.

“We expected to arrive with four M-30 tents – and we’ve ended up with only one… And even that one tent ended up being ‘not for us’,” he said.

“They didn’t even give us and heat stoves.”

Liz Truss: UK will ‘increase economic pressure’ against Russia

Liz Truss and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba held a joint phone conversation this evening. 

Ms Truss said the UK and its allies will “increase economic pressure” on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime. 

It comes amid reports that Western allies are considering whether Russia should remain in the G20 group of major economies. 

Lomachenko refuses to leave Ukrainian front line

Heroic boxing star Vasyl Lomachenko has decided to keep fighting on the Ukrainian front line after turning down a world title bout to face George Kambosos Jr.

The three-weight world champion, 34, is one of a number of Ukrainian sporting icons that have joined the fight to defend their nation following Russia’s invasion.

And the two-time Olympic gold medallist is refusing to leave the country as he has elected to keep fighting on the battlefield instead of in the boxing ring.

It was reported last week how Lomachenko’s team were looking to pull him out of Ukraine so he can prepare for a showdown against unbeaten Australian ace Kambosos Jr in June.

But the lightweight contest will have to wait with Kambosos Jr tweeting Lomachenko to ‘stay safe’ as he paid his respect to his rival.