President Volodoymyr Zelensky said between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian troops have died since the conflict began while 10,000 have been wounded. Follow DW for the latest.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says up to 3,000 soldiers have died; 10,000 wounded
• Ukraine's PM will visit Washington next week alongside two finance officials
• Flixbus to resume trips to Kyiv starting on Monday

This article was last updated at 10:55 AM IST

Germany pledges to prosecute Russian war criminals

Germany's Justice Minister Marco Buschmann called on Ukrainian refugees in Germany to contact police "if they have been victims or witnesses of war crimes."

His comments came in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. He also told the paper that Germany would prosecute Russians believed to be involved in such crimes.

"If we get hold of Russian citizens and can charge them based on evidence, then we will prosecute them in line with the universal jurisdiction principle — just as we did with the Syrian torturers," he said.

Buschmann also supported giving immediate protection and residency to "Russian civil rights activists, Putin-critical journalists and artists critical of the regime."

Zelensky says up to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with US broadcaster CNN that Ukrainian officials believed that around 2,500 to 3,000 of their troops have died since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.

Zelensky added that around 10,000 Ukrainian troops have been injured. He said that Russia claimed that there had been between 19,000 and 20,000 Ukrainian fatalities.

NATO estimated late in March between 7,000 and 13,000 Russian troops had died. Recently, Moscow claimed that only around 1,350 Russian soldiers had perished during the conflict.

Ukrainian prime minister to visit Washington

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal will visit Washington next week alongside Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko.

The three officials will be in Washington during the spring meetings of the International Monetary fund and World Bank which are slated to meet bilaterally with finance officials from the G-7 countries.

The World Bank will host a round table on Ukraine on Thursday.

Ukraine releases postage stamp depicting Russian warship

In Ukraine a postage stamp depicting a Ukrainian soldier giving the finger to a Russian warship has become a collector's item.

Hundreds of Ukrainians have queued for hours at the main post office in Kyiv to get copies of the stamp.

In February, a Ukrainian border guard on Snake Island in the country's south shouted "go f*** yourself" to a Russian warship that had urged guards on the island to surrender.

The Russian warship that contacted the Snake Island border guards, the Black Fleet flagship "Moskva," was confirmed to have sunk on April 14. Russian forces said that the vessel sank while it was being towed to shore.

Kyiv claimed the Moskva sunk after being hit by Ukrainian missiles.

Flixbus offers trips to Kyiv

German long-distance bus brand Flixbus is again offering trips to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

"We've been waiting for the right time to resume some of our routes, particularly to the Ukrainian capital," regional manager Michal Lehmann said. Connections from Warsaw to Kyiv and Prague to Kyiv will resume on Monday.

A new Budapest-Kyiv route is set to go into operation on April 28.

Flixbus had cut connections to Kyiv at the beginning of the Russian invasion. Connections to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv continued to operate.

Summary of Friday's events in Ukraine-Russia crisis

Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk's wife said that photos released by Kyiv this week showed that the lawmaker had been maltreated while in detention.

Finland is "highly likely" to apply for NATO membership, one of the country's cabinet ministers said.

Thousands of Serbs marched through Belgrade to the Russian embassy to protest the government's bid to distance itself from Moscow after its invasion.

Germany released nearly €3 billion ($3.2 billion) to acquire floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals, the finance ministry said.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner confirmed that Berlin would boost military assistance spending in 2022 to €2 billion ($2.16 billion). Most of the funds were earmarked for Ukraine.

A Russian news editor was detained for alleging that 11 riot police members had refused to join Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked US President Joe Biden to designate Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism" during a recent call.