Muristek
Moscpw, April 18
Two British fighters captured in Ukraine by Russian forces appeared on Russian state TV on Monday and asked to be exchanged for a Ukrainian ally of President Vladimir Putin who is being held by the Ukrainian authorities.
It was unclear how freely the two men — Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin — were able to talk. Both spoke separately after being prompted by an unidentified man. The footage was broadcast on Rossiya 24 state TV channel.
The two men asked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to exchange them for pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
Medvedchuk was shown asking to be swapped too in a video released around the same time on Monday by Ukraine's SBU intelligence service via social media. Medvedchuk, in his appeal to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, asked to be exchanged for the "defenders of Mariupol." — Reuters
Russian strikes kill seven in Lviv
Lviv: Russian missiles hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Monday, killing at least seven persons, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow's troops stepped up strikes on infrastructure in preparation for an all-out assault on the east. AP