Ukraine 'eliminate' seventh top Putin colonel as Russians start Kyiv withdrawal

Piers Morgan has taken to social media, moments after Ukrainian President Zelenskyy appeared via videolink at The 64th Annual Grammy Awards.It comes after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 after Vladimir Putin had claimed Ukraine was historically part of Russia.Since the invasion, Zelenskyy has pleaded with international leaders to offer military assistance in the country as Ukraine continues to defend its land and capital city, Kyiv as the death toll continues to rise.During an emotional address at the star-studded event, Zelenskyy said: "The war, what's more opposite to music, the silence of ruined cities and killed people."Our loved ones don't know if we will be together again, the war doesn't let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence."He went on to add: "Our musicians wear body armour instead of tuxedos, they sing to the wounded, in hospitals, even to those who can't hear them but the music will break through anyway."We defend our freedom to live, to love, to sound, on our land we are fighting Russia, which brings horrible silence with its bombs, the dead silence. Fill the silence with your music, fill it today, to tell our story."Taking to Twitter, Piers said: "Powerful moment as President Zelenskyy speaks to the #Grammys.

Vladimir Putin has set up a hotline for Russians to report “traitors” who criticise the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin has reportedly set up a telephone hotline and website that allow “good citizens” to report “traitors” over any potential anti-war sentiments. Russian authorities have allegedly sent Russian citizens texts with instructions how to report one another, with outspoken voices being tossed in jail, the Daily Mirror reports.

Russian fighter has been seen burning in a field after it was shot out of the sky above Ukraine. The SU-35 was brought down near the city of Izium in the eastern part of the country, by Ukrainian forces, local news outlet Nexta reports.

ordered a military operation on its neighbouring country in February.“The Russian people are not responsible for the crazy, unacceptable excesses of their leaders like Vladimir Putin,” Depardieu, who has previously praised the Russian leader, said in a statement to French news agency AFP (per France 24).“Russia and Ukraine have always been brother countries,” he continued. “Stop the weapons and negotiate.”On Friday (April 1), Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for Putin, responded to Depardieu’s comments, telling reporters that the actor probably did not completely understand the situation in Ukraine and offered to explain it.“Since the president is mentioned there, I will assume that Depardieu most likely does not fully understand what is happening,” Peskov said on Friday (via News Interfax).He continued: “Due to the fact that he is not completely immersed in the political agenda, he does not understand what happened in Ukraine in 1914, he does not understand what the Minsk agreements are, he does not understand what Donetsk and Lugansk are, he hardly understands what is the bombing of civilians, he is unlikely to know about nationalist elements.”“If necessary, we will be ready to tell him all this and explain it so that he understands better. If he wants,” Peskov concluded.Depardieu left France and took up Russian nationality in 2013 to protest a proposed tax hike on the rich in his homeland.

Vladimir Putin bathes in antler blood because he believes it has health benefits including boosting male potency, reports claim.The Russian president has been a fan of the procedure since the mid-2000s and isn’t the only Kremlin official to enjoy the bizarre ritual.Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin is also said to soak in the rare liquid, which is extracted by painfully hacking off a deer's horns.Defence minister Sergei Shoigu introduced the alternative treatment to Putin who washed in a “bathtub containing an odorant extract from blood-filled deer antlers”.Although there is no evidence for the health benefits, the blood’s alleged impacts also include age reversal, bone and muscle strengthening, and even improvements to eyesight and hearing. It has been a tradition for hundreds of years in Russia and there is also evidence of it taking place in China and Korea.

Ukraine means that there have been as yet no publicly acknowledged deaths of troops from Moscow. Instead, the worst-hit regions for the heavy losses - held by critics to be “cannon fodder” - are remote from Vladimir Putin’s capital city.

To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.While savage, Putin's invasion of Ukraine has been one of bungled efforts, confusion, deserting Russian soldiers and comes at a great cost to the Russian forces. The Daily Star previously reported that Vladimir Putin's "best fighters", the 331st Guards Parachute Regiment, have lost 29 soldiers since the war began, and France24 reports the Russian despot has lost seven of his top military generals according to Ukraine officials.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is ­using a body double over fears he will be ­assassinated, it has been claimed. Sources believe the leader is afraid that military chiefs could stage a coup after he fired eight senior generals for their failure to ­capture Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was suffering with thyroid cancer and Parkinson's Disease when he ordered the Ukrainian invasion.These clues follow Putin's recent public appearances where the despot's "strong man" image was marred by looking "bloated" and "weakened". And in November last year a Russian political analyst revealed the despot had been struck by both cancer and Parkinson's Disease, while a separate source claimed he had undergone surgery for abdominal cancer, reports The Mirror.

Tonight on SNL, Weekend Update‘s anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che made every Will Smith joke they’d been holding onto over the course of the past week, following the Oscar winner’s slap of Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards.

Russian Army gaffe after the "pathetic" force were recorded leaving troops behind in a snowy wilderness in Ukraine. In the 40-second bird's eye view clip, the soldiers are seen filing into the Z-marked truck before it takes off and suddenly two troops are pictured running after the vehicle.

Wrestlemania weekend, here's another one for you - in the raspy style of Mr McMahon: It's gonna be 'Big Bad' Vlad versus 'The Pain from Ukraine' Zelenskyy inside HELL IN A CELL!!All jokes aside though, this fight is actually happening. Or at least, it will be to the untrained eye.

Vladimir Putin is ­using a body double to avoid ­being ­assassinated. The Russian president fears military chiefs could stage a coup after he fired eight senior generals for their failure to ­capture Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin once wanted to spend £24million on an acrobatic rock’n’roll centre for his daughter.The Russian President's youngest had a senior role in the development of the sport, Reuters revealed in 2016, and so the leader wanted to splash the cash to build a centre for the activity. The Zhavoronki Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll Center was proposed to be built on the western outskirts of Moscow, making it the only specialised facility in the world for the sport.Katerina Tikhonova, Putin's daughter, competed several times in acrobatic rock'n'roll, a form of dance that’s performed as a couple or as a group.

Vladimir Putin has lost another colonel during fierce fighting in Ukraine, which serves as further proof that the Russian leader's war isn't going according to plan. Lt Col Vitaly Slabtsov, 43, was an elite paratrooper buried with full military honours, say reports.The body of the commander was placed in a closed coffin with a Russian flag draped over it, indicating he had suffered devastating wounds in the war.

Vladimir Putin's best' fighters have suffered heavy losses during fierce fighting in Ukraine, it has been reported.The 331st Guards Parachute Regiment is considered among the most fearsome and well-trained in the Russian army, having fought for the city of Ilovaisk in the Donbas in 2014.But their involvement in Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exposed how the invasion hasn't gone as planned due to the number of fatalities they've suffered, Mirror reports.The regiment's commanding officer, Col Sergei Sukharev and deputy Major Sergei Krylov were killed in Ukraine on March 13 - a major blow for any military unit. According to the BBC, in the month since the invasion began, at least 37 other members of the 331st have lost their lives in Ukraine.

Pope Francis has said was considering visiting Kyiv as he condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for launching a “savage” war. Speaking after his arrival in Malta, he delivered his most pointed and personalised denunciation yet of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

widespread speculation about the health of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, reports are emerging that he takes regular baths in a controversial liquid extracted from deer antlers that is alleged to “increase male potency”.Reports also claim the despot is being accompanied by a cancer specialist almost everywhere he goes. According to a report from Russian news site Proekt, Putin has become increasingly concerned about his health as he approaches 70.He’s known to make frequent visits to Sochi, a popular Black Sea resort, where he is attended by a team of doctors from Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital.One of them is cancer specialist Evgeny Selivanov, who has reportedly spent over 166 days with the leader over the four years to 2020.But alongside respected medical experts, Putin is exploring less scientific methods to preserve his health.According to Russian news site Meduza, he’s been taking baths in an extract made from the antlers of young red deer – a remedy supposed to boost the cardiovascular system and “improve male potency”.One Russian farm - which exports antlers for use in Chinese traditional medicine, claims: "Extract from red deer antlers acts as a strong tonic, especially for men's potency."It strengthens the body's bones, muscles, teeth, eyesight and hearing, cures pleurisy, pneumonia, asthma, joint pain, osteoporosis, and problems with the spine."The antler bath craze has become increasingly popular among the Russian elite after it was popularised by now-disgraced Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu However animal rights activists say that using deers’ antlers in this way is cruel.

Ukrainian soldiers have been recorded clearing away dangerous anti-tank mines from a road with their feet.The footage, which has been shared across social media, shows the soldiers moving Russian mines to the side to allow vehicles to pass.According to reports, this road is a route out of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and mines have been left by Vladimir Putin’s troops as they fall back.The anti-tank mines require a large amount of pressure to denote but they are still a dangerous explosive.However, these Ukrainian soldiers appear relatively calm as they kick the mines to the sides of the road to clear a path through.The bravery of these soldiers comes after footage of a civilian in Kyiv Oblast was captured driving carefully through dozens of mines left by Russian forces.The mines were placed carefully in rows of four but the dangers of these mines did not stop Ukrainian civilians from precariously chancing their luck.Footage shows several drivers going through the mines with the slightest mistake in their vehicle potentially leading to their death.Of the cars captured in the footage, all drivers managed to successfully navigate through the mines.In a report by Human Rights Watch, Russian troops have been placing POM-3 landmines, which are believed to be banned under international treaties.The US-based group said the mines were discovered in the besieged city of Kharkiv on Monday. Speaking to the Independent, Steve Goose, arms director of Human Rights Watch, said: “Countries around the world should forcefully condemn Russia’s use of banned antipersonnel landmines in Ukraine.

Russian troops are reported to have executed 13 Ukrainian civilians as they attempted to flee the capital of Kyiv.The bodies of the deceased were found along the E-40 motorway, which has been dubbed the “Highway of Death”.Vladimir Putin’s troops were focused on trying to take the capital of Kyiv but have failed in their attempts as a large number of citizens fled the city.According to the BBC, the bodies were found on the same stretch of road where Russian troops were recorded executing a couple last month.Two of the deceased have been identified but the identities of the others are yet to be confirmed.The stretch of road, which is located between the villages of Mria and Myla, is a scene of destruction with dozens of burned out cars, petrol stations and numerous buildings in ruins.According to the BBC, the couple killed last month were Maksim Iowenko and his wife Ksjena.They are said to have been killed when the 10 vehicle civilian convoy was attacked by a Russian tank.Maksim got out of the car and raised his hands but he was shot dead along with his wife.His six-year-old son and an elderly friend both survived after being captured and later released by Russian forces.The reports come as a Russian fuel depot, one of their main logistics hubs, was attacked with Moscow officials claiming it was an attack by Ukrainian helicopters.Ukraine said it would neither confirm nor deny responsibility for the huge fire at the fuel depot in the Russian city of Belgorod.

Vladimir Putin could be suffering from a "Napoleon complex" that has pushed the world to the brink of war, an expert has claimed.The Russian President is just 5ft 7ins tall, which is three inches smaller than the average Russian and may explain Putin's maniacal behaviour.The image-conscious president could join a list of rulers including Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin as failed leaders whose height got the better of them, leading to the provocation of bloody wars in Europe.Professor Abraham Buunk and Professor Mark van Vugt argue that Putin is suffering from a bad Napoleon Complex, with some reports suggesting the Russian President could be as short as 5ft 2ins.The psychological claim allegedly afflicted French emperor Napoleon, who was often depicted as short.Theories stemming from the Napoleon complex mentality claim that some insecure smaller men tend to be more aggressive and domineering, seeking to assert themselves and their power over others through ruthless means.Experts have since claimed that Putin is showing all the signs of a classic Napoleon complex case, The Sun reported.Snaps of the Russian President show Putin wearing some oddly clunky shoes, with some theorising that the chunky high heeled shoes are there to boost his height, with lifts buried inside the shoes.Professor van Vugt has said the tyrant is adopting ruthless tactics like poisoning and warfare to "compensate for his lack of physical strength" and said world leaders must be "very careful that... [pushing him] doesn't start a third world war".Speaking to The Sun, the professor said: "He wants to come across as a strong leader.