(Reuters) – The bodies of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine were brought to a rail yard outside Kyiv and stacked with hundreds of others in a refrigerated train, waiting for the time when they can sent back to their families.
FIGHTING
* Zelenskiy said talks with Russia on getting wounded defenders out of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol were very complex, adding Kyiv was using influential intermediaries.
* U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called for an immediate ceasefire in his first call with Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu since the invasion, the Pentagon said.
DIPLOMACY, ECONOMY
* Senior Russian lawmaker Anna Kuznetsova visited the Russian-occupied region of Kherson in Ukraine, the state RIA news agency reported.
* G7 foreign backed giving more aid and weapons to Ukraine in what Germany called a “powerful sign of unity” to deepen Russia’s global isolation.
* The world will not be left short of oil even with lower output from sanctions-hit Russia, the International Energy Agency said. It cut its predictions for supply losses by one-third from a prediction last month, to 1 million barrels per day.
* The EU is hopeful of a deal on a phased embargo on Russian oil this month despite concerns about supply in eastern Europe, diplomats said.
* Turkey does not support Sweden and Finland joining NATO, President Erdogan said. Turkey has in the past criticised Sweden and other Western European countries for their handling of organisations deemed terrorist by Ankara, including Kurdish militant groups.
QUOTE
“We had a peaceful life. They didn’t need to do this,” said Roman Meleshenko of a Russian missile strike on the town of Dergachi’s Palace of Culture where he staged children’s shows. The centre doubled as a humanitarian aid distribution base.
Moscow denies targeting civilians.
(Compiled by Grant McCool and William Mallard)
