Ukraine Prez warned EU leaders, 'This might be the last time you see me alive'

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky had an ominous warning for his European counterparts in a video conference call on Thursday night, Sky News reported.

According to a journalist at Israel's Walla News, he told other leaders: "This might be the last time you see me alive."

The Ukrainian presidential advisor earlier warned that Russia wants to kill Zelensky if it takes Ukraine's capital.

It's believed Russia is planning to install a puppet government in Ukraine should it successfully capture Kiev, the report said.

A squad of Chechen special forces 'hunters' has been unleashed in Ukraine to detain or kill a set of specific Ukrainian officials, Daily Mail reported.

Each soldier was reportedly given a special 'deck of cards' with Ukrainian officials' photos and descriptions on them, a Moscow Telegram channel with links to the security establishment reported, Daily Mail reported.

The list is of officials and security officers suspected of 'crimes' by the Russian Investigative Committee, the report added.

It came as Ukraine's President admitted that he is 'target number one' for Russian assassins in his capital, while his family is 'the number two goal' for Putin's hitmen.

The Chechen squad is thought to be in a Ukrainian forest and was allegedly given an 'order to kill' if those on the wanted list could not be detained, the report said.

Ukraine claims Russia targeted orphanages and nurseries
Ukraine has made claims that Russian forces have attacked orphanages and nurseries in the country, Sky News reported.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter (which has been translated into English): "Today's Russian attacks on kindergartens and orphanages are war crimes and violations of the Rome Statute.

"Together with the Office of the Attorney General, we are collecting these and other materials, which we will immediately transfer to The Hague. Responsibility is inevitable," Sky News reported.

A reporter on the ground has also claimed to have images from the alleged attack on a kindergarten - which was being used at the time as a shelter.

The European Union will freeze bank accounts of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in the bloc but will not issue a travel ban, Austria's foreign minister has announced, Sky News reported.

Alexander Schallenberg said: "There will be no travel ban against them, though, because we want to retain the possibility of negotiations in order to end the violence in Ukraine."

He made the comments as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, confirming an earlier report in the FT.