Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has refused to rule out the possibility of Russia resorting to using nuclear weapons.
Mr Peskov said there were circumstances in which Russia could deploy its nuclear arsenal. “If it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be,” he told CNN.
In his regular video address, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said almost 100,000 people remain trapped in the southern port city Mariupol, where they face “inhuman” conditions.
“There are about 100,000 people in the city – in inhuman conditions, in a complete blockade, no food, no water, no medicine, under constant shelling,” he said.
The leader also renewed calls for Russia to allow safe humanitarian corridors after one convoy carrying desperate supplies to Mariupol along an agreed route west of the city was “captured by the occupiers”. Russian forces have also captured some rescue workers and a bus driver.
Meanwhile, new intelligence reports from the Pentagon claim Russia has lost more than 10 per cent of its combat force and Ukraine is “able and willing” to begin counter offensives to take back its conflict-marred territory.
