By staying behind to work in his neon-lit workshop, Sergiy Kurchigin can also do his bit to help the war effort.

US President Joe Biden says Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal and has led the West in arming Ukraine and imposing crippling sanctions on Russia.

Donetsk and Luhansk comprise the Donbas, the eastern part of Ukraine that has witnessed the biggest battle in Europe for generations and which Russia wants to wrest control of for separatists it backs.

He accuses the US of wanting to put Moscow in front of international tribunals, while itself never facing punishment for its own wars which, according to him, caused 20 million deaths worldwide. 

Sweden and Finland both announced their intention to drop decades of military non-alignment and become part of Nato in the wake of Russia invading Ukraine in February.