Unverified figures from Ukraine prosecutor general also says 440 children have been killed as a result of Russia’s invasion.
Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in a visit to reaffirm historic ties between the two countries.
Tokayev’s visit to the Kremlin today marks his first foreign trip since he secured a second term in a snap election last week
Speaking next to Putin before the talks, Tokayev said:
This is my first foreign visit after this event and that in itself has political significance and, of course, a certain symbolism.
Russia “is and has always been a strategic partner” to Kazakhstan, he added.
Putin said relations between Moscow and Astana had a “special character” and called on a strengthening of economic ties
Seven foreign ministers visit Kyiv in show of support
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Foreign ministers of Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden are in Kyiv today to show support for Ukraine.
Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Lithuanian foreign minister, tweeted about the visit and vowed that Ukraine would win despite Russia’s “barbaric brutality”Finland’s Pekka Haavisto tweeted about the “inconsolability of war” and expressed admiration for the “courage and determination” of Ukrainians as they “defend their Anniken Huitfeldt, Norway’s foreign minister, also shared photos of her visit to the capital and said her country stood in solidarity with Ukraine. independence”
A senior American diplomat has said the US put forward a “significant” proposal for a deal to free the basketball star Brittney Griner and former marine Paul Whelan, but that Russia had not provided a “serious response” to any of its proposals.
Talks between the US and Russia over the two jailed Americans were continuing through the “designated channel”, Elizabeth Rood, the chargée d’affaires of the US mission to Russia, told Russia’s state-owned RIA news agency.
She said:
The United States, as we have said, has put a significant proposal on the table. We have followed up on that proposal and we have proposed alternatives. Unfortunately, so far the Russian Federation has not provided a serious response to those proposals.
Griner was sentenced in August to nine years in a penal colony after being convicted on drug charges
Her lawyers have confirmed that she was taken earlier this month to a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia, the same region where Whelan is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted of espionage charges that he denies.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has said Moscow hoped to complete a prisoner swap with the US to return the convicted Russian arms trafficker, Viktor Bout, in an exchange that would probably include Griner