Russian state media has claimed that the sinking of the Black Sea warship Moskva left one sailor dead and 27 missing.
The RIA news agency cited the Russian defence ministry, which also said that 396 members of the crew have been rescued.
Moscow claims the Black Sea flagship sank last week after a fire lead to an ammunition explosion but Ukraine said it took down the ship using missiles. The US has rejected Russia’s account, citing military intelligence.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin had a 90-minute phone call with European Council president Charles Michel in which he reportedly said he was prepared to hold direct peace talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky if they can produce concrete results. Mr Zelensky yesterday ruled out travelling to Moscow for peace talks.
Meanwhile, a Russian military official was quoted by Russian state media as saying Moscow intends to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine in order to form a land corridor with routes to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014, and a breakaway region of Moldova.
