European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese president Xi Jinping discuss ‘strategic mutual trust’ in Beijing
Russia-Ukraine war at a glance
Overnight news broke that the Russian girl sent to an orphanage after drawing an anti-war sketch at school has been taken from the facility by her mother.
Reuters is carrying quotes from Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova about the situation. It quotes her saying:
Masha did not want to go to her mother at first, and her opinion is legally required to be taken into account. Now her position has changed – she told me this herself on the phone.
Olga has already taken Masha from the social rehabilitation centre. Let’s hope that everything will work out for mum and daughter. I am glad about the beginning of the reunion of daughter and mother.
As claimed on Russian social media, the Russian MoD has highly likely dismissed Colonel-General Rustam Muradov as commander of the Eastern Group of Forces (EGF) in Ukraine.
The EGF under Muradov has suffered exceptionally heavy casualties in recent months as its poorly conceived assaults repeatedly failed to capture the Donetsk Oblast town of Vuhledar.