Vladlen Tatarsky, who had over 560,000 followers on Telegram, dies in explosion that injures 19 people

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

A prominent pro-war Russian military blogger has been killed in a blast in a cafe in central St Petersburg, Russia’s interior ministry said in a statement.

Vladlen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, had more than 560,000 followers on Telegram and was one of the country’s most influential military bloggers.

The last time Moscow held the post was in February 2022, when its troops launched invasion of Ukraine

A top Ukrainian official has criticised the “symbolic blow” of Russia assuming the rotating presidency of the United Nations security council.

Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, wrote on Twitter on Saturday: “It’s not just a shame. It is another symbolic blow to the rules-based system of international relations.”

The town infamous for a massacre at hands of Russia has become a symbol of Ukraine’s reconstruction effort, but experts say the influx of money from the west will bring challenges in such a corrupt country

Standing on the crumbling roof of a house, dozens of workers hammer in unison. Around them, cranes, bulldozers and trucks work frantically to repair roads and buildings destroyed by Russian artillery. It is hard to believe that this noisy construction site is in Yablonska Street, in the town of Bucha, in the north of Kyiv, at the precise crossroads where a year ago the bodies of dozens of civilians, brutally killed by Russian soldiers, were strewn over almost a mile, some with their hands bound behind their backs.

Ukraine has already repaired, and in many cases fully rebuilt, many of the sites destroyed by Moscow, including bridges, roads and government buildings. It is only the beginning of what Kyiv has described as the largest rebuilding effort since the second world war and perhaps the most expensive in history, with an estimated cost of half a trillion dollars. But managing this unprecedented influx of money in a country with a long history of corruption will bring challenges, experts say.

Russia arrests US journalist; Turkey approves bill to allow Finland to join Nato

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Dymtro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, has tweeted to criticise the fact that Russia will take over chairing the UN security council on 1 April. He writes:

Russian UN security council presidency on 1 April is a bad joke. Russia has usurped its seat; it is waging a colonial war; its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children. The world can’t be a safe place with Russia at UNSC.

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Global commodities trader Cargill has told Russia’s agriculture ministry that it will stop exporting Russian grain from the start of the next exporting season, which begins on 1 July, the ministry said on Wednesday.

“The cessation of its export activities on the Russian market will not affect the volume of domestic grain shipments abroad. The company’s grain export assets will continue to operate regardless of who manages them,” the agriculture ministry said in a comment to Reuters.