VLADIMIR Putin has been left humiliated after admitting to facing a "difficult" situation in annexed regions of Ukraine.
Speaking at a televised meeting with officials on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin claimed the situation in the areas of Ukraine that Russia has annexed is "difficult in places".
The Russian leader added that he had all the resources to improve life in the four Ukrainian regions.
It comes as the tyrant demoted his top commander – the fifth since the invasion began last February – over his failure to end the war in Ukraine.
Mad Vlad and Defence Minister Sergeri Shoigu replaced Sergei 'General Armageddon' Shurovikin with Valery Gerasimov as Russian troops were humiliated on the battlefield.
Read our Ukraine war blog below for the latest news…
A highly trained surgeon in Ukraine has removed a live grenade from inside a soldier’s chest, Sky News reports.
According to Ukraine’s armed forces, the operation was successful.
Surgeon Andriy Verba operated on the soldier, who was later sent to rehabilitation to recover.
The Ukrainian armed forces did not specify when the surgery took place or how the grenade entered the soldier’s body.
As Russia ordered its top general to lead the invasion of Ukraine during the biggest shake-up of its military, now Wagner claims that it claimed Soledar.
Head of Russia’s private military firm Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the Ukrainian mining town of Soledar has been captured with 500 Ukrainian soldiers killed in the process.
Prigozhin said: “I want to confirm the complete liberation and cleansing of the territory of Soledar from units of the Ukrainian army … Ukrainian units that did not want to surrender were destroyed.
“The whole city is littered with the corpses of Ukrainian soldiers.”
The Kremlin has claimed that Vladimir Putin is open to talks with Ukraine.
The Kremlin has stated that achieving its goals by political and diplomatic means is "preferable" however Ukraine's relationship with NATO was preventing the possibility of talks.
Russian forces have lost a further 490 troops according to Ukraine's Armed Forces.
The total of Russian losses sits just under 113,000 as Putin faces more humiliation.
Ukraine has also claimed that a further 10 tanks were destroyed within the past 24 hours.
According to Ukraine's Armed Forces around 1,500 employees at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have been denied passes to access the site.
The general staff of Ukraine's armed forces has claimed this is because they refused to receive Russian passports.
A translation of the army's statement on Facebook reads: "Russian occupying forces exert moral and physical pressure on the population of temporarily occupied and occupied territories.
"Thus, almost 1,500 employees of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, who refused to receive Russian passports and sign a contract with Rosatom, are deprived of passes and access to the enterprise."
Dramatic footage from the besieged city of Bakhmut shows the fierce Ukrainian soldiers blasting Putin's troops with grenades before opening fire on the unit.
The four commandos executed the operation with the help of a night drone and the commander of Ukraine's special tactical group "Adam".
The Ukrainian forces reportedly wiped out 15 Russian soldiers and another six were captured.
It was recently announced that around 100 Ukrainian troops would be taken to the US for training in operating Patriot missile systems.
Russia's ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov has criticised the decision.
In a statement posted by his embassy, he said: "The decision of the US defence department to organise a training course at Fort Sill in Oklahoma is yet another confirmation of Washington's de facto participation in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of Kyiv's Nazi criminals."
According to one of Vladimir Putin's key allies, ''Russia is not at war with Ukraine'' instead they are fighting the UK and US.
Nikolai Patrushev, the Russian security council secretary and former Soviet spy said: “The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv.
''This is a military confrontation between Russia and NATO, and above all the United States and Britain.”
Speaking to the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper, Patrushev once again insisted that Russia is “not at war with Ukraine” because Russians “cannot have hatred for ordinary Ukrainians”.
His comments came after Putin's defence minister vowed that Russia would continue to develop its nuclear triad of ballistic missiles, submarines and strategic bombers because such weapons were "the main guarantee of its sovereignty".
Monitoring organisation Action on Armed Violence (AOVA) revealed that civilian casualties from explosive weapons spiked by 83% as a cause of the Ukraine war.
A number of 20,776 civilians were killed and injured, recording the highest number in four years since 2018.
Ukraine recorded 10,381 casualties alone, however, The Guardian claims that this number is underestimated as media reports only cover serious incidents.
The UN figures showed 6,919 killed in Ukraine and another 11,075 injured, adding the number of casualties up to 17,994.
One of the two Brits who volunteered to aid in Ukraine has been found dead by Russian forces.
However, they cannot identify whether the body belongs to 28-year-old Chris Parry or Andre Bagshaw, 48.
Both aid workers were reported missing in eastern Ukraine which has been faced with heavy fighting.
Russia's Wagner Group claimed: "Today the body of one of them was found. Documents for both Britons were discovered with him."
Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said on Wednesday that the UK government is looking to further support Ukraine with tanks.
The spokesperson said: "We are accelerating our support to Ukraine with the kind of next-generation military technology that will help them win this war.
"It is clear that tanks could provide a game-changing capability to the Ukrainians and the prime minister told President Zelensky last week that we’ll provide whatever support we can.
"The prime minister has asked the Defence Secretary to work with partners in the coming weeks to discuss how we can go further and faster on our support to Ukraine including the provision of tanks."
The spokesperson added that no decision has been made on providing Challenger 2 tanks so far.
Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba had a call with that of Estonia's Urmas Reinsalu.
The two officials discussed Ukraine's military requirement which Estonia can help provide.
Kuleba also displayed his gratitude for the help Ukraine has been receiving from Estonia.
In our call, @UrmasReinsalu and I discussed Ukraine’s military needs which can be covered by Estonia. Looking forward to good news. I also thanked Estonia for its initiative on a compensation mechanism and stressed it is an important element of our Peace Formula. Russia must pay.
As Russia ordered its top general to lead the invasion of Ukraine during the biggest shake-up of its military, now Wagner claims that it claimed Soledar.
Head of Russia's private military firm Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the Ukrainian mining town of Soledar has been captured with 500 Ukrainian soldiers killed in the process.
Prigozhin said: "I want to confirm the complete liberation and cleansing of the territory of Soledar from units of the Ukrainian army … Ukrainian units that did not want to surrender were destroyed.
"The whole city is littered with the corpses of Ukrainian soldiers."
Ukraine is fearing an attack from Russian troops as they fear that they might build camp on their ally's territory in Belarus.
The fears of Russia striking in the northwest are deja vu from when the first attacks took place towards Kyiv last February.
Hence why, Ukraine's military troops are carrying out several exercises such as urban warfare, firing assault rifles, driving armoured vehicles and freeing hostages to prepare for any attacks which might happen.
Ukraine fears Russia could build up forces on the territory of its ally Belarus before striking in the northwest or even try to drive towards Kyiv as it did when it invaded last February.
Ukraine have dismissed claims that Russia have encircled and captured the eastern town of Soledar.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, the spokesperson for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: “Russians say that it is under their control, it is not true.”
He added: "The town is not under the control of the Russian Federation. There are fierce battles going on now.
"There is a complicated situation there."
The Kremlin has claimed that Vladimir Putin is open to talks with Ukraine.
The Kremlin has stated that achieving its goals by political and diplomatic means is "preferable" however Ukraine's relationship with NATO was preventing the possibility of talks.
Vladimir Putin is furious at deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov as he slammed him during a government videoconference for the failing war efforts and the collapsing economy in Russia.
Putin said: "There are no contracts. What are you going to tell me? I know there are no contracts at the companies, the directors told me. Why are you really fooling around?”
The Russian President gave Manturov a month to fix the crisis Russia finds itself in with a shortage of military aircraft.
He added: "This all must be done within a month, I am asking you, within a month… Don't we understand in what conditions we're living?”
For the first time, a Russian warship armed with hypersonic missiles entered the North Sea.
Admiral Gorshkov is officially on "combat duty," the Kremlin claimed.
The Gorshkov has deadly Zircon missiles that fly at five times the speed of sound.
The Royal Navy mobilised the HMS Portland to keep its eyes on the Gorshkov along with a tanker.
A spokesman for Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela defended the island's efforts to help the EU sanction Russian assets.
The spokesman said that Malta even helped other countries to seize assets such as yachts.
These yachts have been registered in Malta, however, were located elsewhere.
The spokesman said: "A lot of work has been invested by Malta in support of the common European efforts."
The spokesman also added how Malta stopped trading with Russia and halted the sale of passports to Russian and Belarusian applicants.
This comes after an EU official found it "surprising" that Malta only froze €222,000 in Russian assets.
An EU document seen by Reuters claimed that the nation froze an even lesser amount of €147,000 and not the one reported by Malta.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu appointed Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov as commander of the combined forces group in Ukraine.
This group is currently on a "special military mission" and sees Gerasimov hold the most senior position in Russia's military generals.
Both Gerasimov and Shoigu have been at the centre of criticism by Russia's pro-war military bloggers for the setbacks taking place during times of battle.
They were also criticised for Moscow's failure to win this battle in a short time, as the Kremlin had planned.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak spoke with AFP today on how Ukraine can win the war in 2023 with the help of more Western weapons.
Long-range missiles and heavy tanks will enable Ukraine to strengthen its forces in a war that's been taking place since mid-February 2022.
He also mentioned the "bloodiest" fighting currently happening in eastern Ukraine as the country fights to keep Bakhmut and Soledar.
Podolyak said: "Only missiles with a range of more than 100 kilometres will allow us to significantly accelerate the de-occupation of our territories.
Poland will send a company – an amount of 14 – tanks to Ukraine to help it fight the war against Russia.
This was confirmed by Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Mr Duda added that this will be possible with an international coalition of tank aid to Kyiv and added that he has been in talks with other countries.
The other nations have not been revealed.
President Duda told a news conference in Lviv: "Within this potential international coalition, we have taken the decision to contribute a first package of tanks, a company of Leopard tanks, which, I hope, together with other companies of Leopard and other tanks that will be offered by other countries, will be able to strengthen Ukraine's defense."
Ukraine's neighbouring country Moldova will host the next European Summit on June 1, 2023.
The ex-Soviet Union country was chosen as a symbolic host as it aims to get rid of Moscow influence and join the European Union.
The summit will see all 27 EU countries attend, and non-members such as Britain, Turkey and Ukraine.
A Greek official said that €212,000 exhausted all assets identified in Athens and listed on the EU sanctions while adding: "Greece's investment environment does not favour the inflow of Russian capital and off-shore companies."
Meanwhile, a Maltese government spokesman said: "Assets have been frozen or sold off under court orders and the proceeds frozen due to Malta's cooperation with other European jurisdictions."
The spokesman added that Malta is even giving more information out to help assets become frozen away from the island.
However, he declined to comment on whether Malta will decrease more assets under the existing sanctions.
The 27 EU countries reported freezing around €20.3billion of sanctioned Russian assets with Italy, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria recording more than a billion euros.
A document seen by Reuters showed that EU members Greece and Malta were barely close to those amounts.
Greece froze £212,000 worth of Russian assets while Malta recorded €147,000.
An anonymous EU official spoke to Reuters, saying: "That is a bit surprising.
"Either they don't have much, or they are not doing their job. Or they have done something but not communicated to us even though they had chances."
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