We’ll be back soon with more updates on the war in Ukraine.

Before we go, here is a rundown of some of the main stories from today:

• Both Moscow and Kyiv launched drone attacks overnight, with a fire reported at an oil depot in Russia;
• Donald Trump said “we are having very good talks” on Ukraine – while Moscow praised his previous remarks suggesting he sympathised with the Russian position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO;
• Russia and Ukraine swapped 150 prisoners of war each in a deal mediated by the United Arab Emirates;
• Ukraine blamed Russia’s spy agency for a series of attacks on draft and conscription offices in recent days, including a fatal shooting and two explosions;
• A report has suggested there are divisions between members of Donald Trump’s administration as to how to approach dealing with Vladimir Putin, with some members favouring pressure on the Russian president and others preferring to cut off support to Ukraine.

A former British MP has revealed he has joined Ukraine’s foreign legion with a view to helping Ukrainian troops in their war against Russia.

Jack Lopresti, previously deputy chair of the Conservative Party, was the MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke in Gloucestershire before being defeated in the general election last year.

Lopresti, who also served in the UK Army Reserve as a corporal, told The Independent: “I did apply to join the legion in November. It took a while to find the best unit to utilise my experience and skills.”

He is not in a frontline infantry unit but is carrying out support work, including foreign relations and diplomacy, weapons procurement, and help for veterans and charities operating in Ukraine.

“It is a huge honour and an immense privilege for me to serve in the Ukrainian military and be able to help the gallant and amazing Ukrainian people in any way I can.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister Andriy Sybigar has asked the UK to scale up investments in Ukrainian arms production.

As we have reported, British foreign minister David Lammy has been in Ukraine today to announce a further £55m in financial support.

And according to Ukraine’s foreign ministry, Sybiga discussed with Lammy the possibility of expanding the Ukrainian military training program and expanding Ukraine’s long-range capabilities.

Ukraine’s military will create robotic vehicle units to deploy at the frontline, the country’s defence minister has said.

The ministry released an image of a robotic vehicle with a gun mounted on it as it made the announcement.

Moscow and Kyiv have been vying to achieve the technological upper hand since Russia’s 2022 invasion, and unmanned vehicles – in particular aerial ones – have become an important type of weapon.

With both sides deploying tens of thousands of drones each month in the air, a race is now on to replace as many soldiers on the ground as possible with Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), officials say, with Ukrainian manpower reserves running short.

“The ministry of defence is launching a project that will scale up the use of unmanned ground systems in the military,” a statement from defence minister Rustem Umerov said.

Units on both sides of the war have already been using UGVs, usually controlled remotely by a pilot through a camera feed.

A report has suggested there are divisions between members of Donald Trump’s administration as to how to approach dealing with Vladimir Putin.

According to our partner network NBC News, Trump’s advisers and cabinet members are split over how much pressure to bring to bear.

Former US and Ukrainian officials along with a source close to the Kyiv government say national security adviser Mike Waltz and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg want to use American leverage to force Putin to back down.

Others, however, are said to prefer reducing the billions of dollars in assistance the US gave to Ukraine in the Biden administration as a way of forcing a swift end to the conflict. Critics of that approach say it would disarm Ukraine and effectively prompt a capitulation to Russia.

Before becoming vice president, JD Vance vehemently opposed the funding given to Ukraine by the Biden administration.

“Why are spending $130bn on Ukraine when we can’t even pay our own bills at home?” Vance said in one speech.

As reported in our 13.00 post, there was an explosion near a military conscription office in Ukraine’s western Khmelnytskyi region, killing one person and injuring four others.

The blast was the latest in a spate of violent incidents aimed at draft and conscription offices in recent days, including a fatal shooting and two explosions.

Ukraine’s national police chief Ivan Vyhivskyi has now said Russia’s spy agencies were responsible for the series of explosions.

“We clearly understand, together with the security service of Ukraine, that this is a specific attack by the special services of the Russian Federation to… destabilise the situation,” he was quoted as saying by Interfax-Ukraine.

Polish authorities do not intend to send troops to Ukraine, the country’s defence minister has said.

Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told Politico: “Poland has clearly said from the beginning that it is not considering a scenario of sending troops to Ukraine.”

He said support for Ukraine would be a focus at the upcoming NATO summit to be held in The Hague in June. However, he expressed doubts as to whether Kyiv would be invited to join the alliance, something Ukraine has repeatedly requested.

His comments come after French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine.

In December, he and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed the possibility of stationing peacekeepers there in the event of a ceasefire.