LIVE UPDATES: Russian Investigative Committee Orders Probe Into War Prisoner's Murder in Ukraine

The two leaders have already held several telephone conversations recently.

Starting from March 2, the Russian Federation has already delivered 5,708.3 tonnes of humanitarian cargoes to Ukraine, carried out 676 humanitarian actions, including 21 in the past 24 hours in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Kiev, Kharkov and Kherson regions, during which 300.3 tonnes of food, clothing, hygiene products and medicines were handed over to the civilian population," Col. Gen. Mizintsev said at a briefing.

He also said that on March 28, a total of 25 humanitarian events were being held in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Kiev, Chernigov, Kharkov and Kherson regions, during which 488 tonnes of essential supplies and food packages were handed over to the population, including baby food and vital medicines.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The six US Navy EA-18G Growler aircraft scheduled to arrive at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany this week will not be used to fight Russian forces in Ukraine but will be utilized to bolster NATO's defense posture on its eastern flank, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said.

"They are not being deployed to be used against Russian forces in Ukraine," Kirby said in a press release on Monday. "They are being deployed completely in keeping with our efforts to bolster NATO's deterrence and defense capabilities along that eastern flank."

The Growler is a specialized version of the US F-18 Super Hornet fighter jet that is equipped to fly electronic warfare missions using a suite of jamming sensors to confuse enemy radars, which aids in the ability to conduct suppression of enemy air defense operations, Kirby said.

Some 240 Navy personnel will deploy to Germany consisting of pilots and maintenance crew, Kirby added.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The UK’s parliamentary under-secretary of state for the armed forces, James Heappey, argued on Monday that NATO allies were supplying Ukraine with weapons on their own.

"NATO is not the provider of lethal aid into the conflict in Ukraine… Those who are donating lethal aid and nonlethal aid to Ukraine are doing so bilaterally," Heappey said in parliament.

A lot of this is being coordinated through the UK, which has been maintaining "agile" delivery mechanisms, the minister added. He said London felt "ambitious" about having more countries join the donor group.

The ban will reportedly affect Bloomberg’s financial products such as the terminal, data license, data feed and electronic trading platforms.

Bloomberg has also disabled trading functions for a range of Russian securities and is in the process of removing the country’s bonds from fixed-income indexes.

Russia is taking a comprehensive set of measures to ensure the safety of civil navigation in the waters of the Black, Azov and Mediterranean seas, Mizintsev added.