In addition to the friendlies at the Ice Palace in Tula, a tournament is planned to take place in Saint Petersburg with the senior and junior teams of Russia as well as the Belarusian senior side.

Furthermore, the Russian junior or under-20 team is due to play at the Black Sea Cup in Sochi from May 24 to 31 with the country's under-18 team and Belarus' junior team.

Russia and Belarus were banned from competing in international tournaments by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) recommendation.

The IOC advised Russia be barred from international sport over the invasion of Ukraine, with Belarus - which is supporting the military operation - facing the same punishment.

The pair have there been expelled from the Ice Hockey World Championship in Finland, set to run from May 13 to 29, with France and Austria coming in as replacements.

Russia has also been stripped of hosting the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship.

The International Federation said it had taken the decision to move next year's World Junior Championship from Russia "to enable the IIHF to ensure the safety of IIHF Championships and all participating players, officials, and fans".

The venue of the friendlies, Tula's Ice Palace, was opened in 2020 and is the home ground for the B.P. Mikhailov Hockey Academy.

At least 1,179 civilians have been killed, according to the United Nations, since Russia's invasion began.

More than 4.1 million Ukrainians have fled the country.