Russia Ukraine latest news: Zelensky vows to ‘find killers’ after soldier ‘shot by Russians’

Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to “find the killers” of an unarmed Ukrainian POW apparently shot dead by Russian forces. The man’s death was captured in graphic images shared across social media.

Ukraine’s chief prosecutor announced a criminal investigation into the killing, and human rights chief Dmytro Lubinets said it was a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

The 12-second video, originally posted to Telegram before being shared to Twitter, shows the uniformed man with a Ukrainian badge on his arm, standing and smoking a cigarette in a wooded area. The man says “Slava Ukrainian!” – Glory to Ukraine – before multiple shots are fired. Then the man falls to the ground.

Read Kate Plummer’s full story here:

The Wagner Group is a private military company under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin that cut its teeth in deployments to the Crimea and Donbas region of eastern Ukraine in 2014 and has since sent troops to various conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.

Wagner has proved indispensable in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but an apparent power struggle between the Kremlin and the outspoken Prigozhin has left Moscow cutting off its wings.

Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk refused to shake hands with her Russian opponent, Varvara Gracheva, after winning her first WTA title in Texas.

After taking the victory in Austin, Kostyuk shook hands with the referee, but not her defeated opponent, and twice walked past a defeated Gracheva for a handshake as the Russian went straight to her seat.

The eighth seed dedicated her win to “all the people who fight and die” in the conflict.

Sir Keir Starmer and exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya have spoken of the need for Western allies to confront the Kremlin-backed Belarusian regime.

The Labor leader “expressed admiration for her courage in the face of violence and repression” and stressed his party’s “strong commitment to a free and democratic Belarus,” according to a reading from the London rally.

Tsikhanouskaya ran against authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko – an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin – in Belarus’ disputed 2020 elections before being pressured to leave the country.

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to “find the killers” after a video circulated on social media showing an apparently unarmed man being shot by unseen gunmen.

The 12 second video seen by The independent shows the man in uniform with the insignia of the Ukrainian flag on his arm, standing and smoking a cigarette in a wooded area.

The man, named by the Ukrainian army as Tymofiy Shadura, who has been missing since Feb. 3, says “Slava Ukraini!” – or Glory to Ukraine – before multiple shots are fired. The man sinks to the floor as he appears to have been shot. A voice is heard saying “Die, b***h” in Russian.

Rebuilding Britain’s dwindling stockpile of ammunition after the war in Ukraine could take at least a decade and endanger the UK’s national security, MPs warn.

The Commons Defense Committee said the UK and other NATO allies have allowed their munitions reserves to fall to “dangerously low levels” as they try to keep Kiev supplied in their fight against the Russian invader.

It said the way Western governments obtain weapons “is not fit for purpose” and urged the defense ministry to prepare an action plan to reduce the time it takes to restore stockpiles.

From the beginning, Russia’s military action has often been seen as an old-fashioned war launched by an old-fashioned autocrat. As such, it was as surprising as it was shocking to anyone who thought such wars were over, at least in Europe. The scenes that have since dominated our television screens are tragically reminiscent of black-and-white newsreels depicting battles over the same cities during World War II.

But the supposedly old-fashioned autocrat who ordered this war is a more complicated figure than many think.

He sold the invasion as a collective decision with his military leaders, but it is only the president who will answer to history, writes Maria Deyevsky:

Ukrainian has said its troops are holding out in the brutal battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut – as the head of the mercenary Wagner group complained that Russian front lines around the area could collapse without more ammunition from Moscow.

Russia is trying to encircle Bakhmut to secure what would be its first major gain in its invasion in more than six months, at the height of some of the war’s bloodiest fighting during the winter months. Moscow sees the capture of the Donetsk city as a stepping stone to control the wider Donbas – Ukraine’s industrial heartland encompassing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The months of intense fighting, especially over Bakhmut but also in other areas, have depleted the artillery reserves of both sides, with thousands of shells fired daily. Volodymyr Nazarenko, a Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut, said no order to withdraw from the city had been issued and that “defences are holding up”, albeit in appalling conditions.

As the mother’s cries of anguish pierced the cold morning air, mourners who had fought back their tears could no longer hold them back.

“Oh Yana, oh my daughter,” Olena Rikhlitska cried. “My baby, my little one.”

Her only child, 29-year-old Yana Rikhlitska, lay in a coffin in front of her, the younger woman’s blond hair still in the tight braids she’d adopted when she volunteered as a medic in the Ukrainian army late last year.

Just over a week ago, Associated Press journalists filmed Yana Rikhlitska helping to treat wounded soldiers at a field hospital outside Bakhmut, which Russian troops pulverized during a three-sided attack to capture the town in eastern Ukraine.

A few days later she was dead. Rikhlitska and another medic were killed by shelling as they shuttled between the field hospital and the front line.

The Independent has the full story:

Hundreds of refugees from Ukraine celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim in Berlin on Tuesday, dressed in colorful costumes and dancing to loud Israeli music.

They danced, drank and ate with hundreds of other members of the Chabad community in the German capital who organized the party in a hotel. Many of the Ukrainian refugees at Purim were students and young children, including dozens of orphans who fled Odessa a year ago.

“A year ago, these children were in the bunkers, while rockets fell on them,” said Yehuda Teichtal, a Berlin rabbi and head of the local Chabad community who had helped them escape the war in Ukraine.

“Now they have found a new home, they are studying German, learning new skills and also learning how to help themselves,” he added.

Wearing huge orange sunglasses and a glittering silver cap, Teichtal danced in circles with some of the refugee children as Israeli singer Ishay Lapidot performed popular Purim songs on stage.