MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian forces have taken control of the strategic coal-mining city of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Russian singer-songwriter Vadim Stroykin died on Feb. 6 while security officials were raiding his apartment, the Russian human rights NGO OVD-Info reported. Stroykin reportedly fell out of a window while officers were visiting his home as part of a criminal investigation into the singer's alleged donation to Ukraine's Armed Forces.

A well-known Russian musician has become the latest critic of Vladimir Putin to commit suicide by falling from a window after he was accused of donating money to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Vadim Stroykin,