Ukraine claims to have shot down 32 of 35 “Shahad” drones launched in an overnight attack mostly directed at Kyiv. Suspilne reports that in Kyiv non-residential structures and several private houses were damaged by debris, and agricultural property and equipment were damaged in Zaporizhzhia after Russia launched seven S-300 missiles at the Ukraine-controlled portion of the region.
An unspecified critical infrastructure facility was hit in Lviv, which is about 70 km (43 miles) from the border with Nato member Poland. As a consequence some tram routes were altered during the morning rush hour, officials said. “They hit a critically important facility. There were three hits,” said regional governor Maksym Kozytskiy.
Ukraine’s ministry of the interior has stated that four settlements and 818 houses remain flooded on the right bank of the Dnipro in Kherson. Authorities in Mykolaiv reported some flooding remains in their region too. One person has been killed and seven injured while they were fired upon by Russia while clearing mud in the flooded area of Kherson, Ukrainian officials have reported.
Russian state-owned media reports that Ukraine struck the occupied settlement of Nova Kakhovka with “kamikaze” drones, injuring three people.
Russia’s security forces, the FSB, have claimed to have detained a Ukrainian national in the Kabardino-Balkaria region on suspicion of espionage.
Heavy casualties are being endured by both Ukrainian and Russian forces, British military intelligence has said, two weeks into the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The level of losses among Russian troops was said by British officials to be at its highest level since the peak of March’s battle for Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, with Ukraine claiming to have killed or injured 4,600 soldiers.
Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said Monday Ukraine must prepare itself for a “tough duel” but that “the biggest blow is yet to come”. Separately she said that Russia had concentrated a significant number of units in the east, including air assault troops, but that Ukrainian forces were preventing their advance. She described the situation in the east of the country as “difficult”.
Ukraine confirmed Monday it has recaptured the village of Piatykhatky, a settlement on a heavily fortified part of the frontline near the most direct route to the country’s Azov Sea coast. It brings the tally of settlements liberated in the past two weeks up to eight, with 113 sq km of territory said to have been seized from the occupying forces.
The European Union is proposing to create a €50bn (£42bn/$54.5bn) financial reserve for the next four years. It took the unusual step of ringfencing potential funds after a review of the bloc’s 2021-27 budget. Since the outbreak of war it has diverted €30bn cash from other funding streams to respond to the crisis. The European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, said it would be made up of loans and grants and would give Ukraine “predictability” and “incentivise other donors to step up too”.
Western powers will only protect Ukraine’s multibillion-dollar postwar recovery if they agree a unified strategy to make aid conditional on clear progress on combating judicial corruption, reinstating the obligation on Ukrainian public officials to declare assets and ensuring all recovery finds can be digitally traced, according to an authoritative report from the German Marshall Fund.
A European Union report will this week say that Ukraine has met two out of seven conditions to start membership negotiations, two EU sources have told Reuters, with the bloc’s executive set to highlight progress made despite the war triggered by Russia’s invasion.
Russia’s mercenary Wagner group is calling for people aged 21 to 35 with a “gaming background” to join it as drone specialists as it seeks to expand its recruitment pool following heavy losses, the Institute for the Study of War notes in its latest update on the conflict.
US president Joe Biden says the threat of Russian president Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is “real”, days after denouncing Russia’s deployment of such weapons in Belarus.
The US is not promoting a particular candidate to lead Nato, the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday when asked about the leadership of the transatlantic military alliance.
Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Monday urged his supporters to begin a broad campaign against Moscow’s actions in Ukraine as he went on trial on new charges of extremism that could keep him behind bars for decades. In a statement posted on social media by his allies, Navalny declared that the decision to close his trial was a sign of fear on the part of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
The British government announced plans Monday to tighten its sanctions policy against Russia, including introducing legislation to keep assets frozen until Moscow has agreed to pay compensation to Ukraine. The new measures will require any individual who has been designated under the sanctions to disclose assets held in Britain.
Kyiv has accused Hungary of barring access to 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war whom Russia handed over to the EU country, which has maintained ties with the Kremlin during the invasion of Ukraine. “All attempts by Ukrainian diplomats over the past few days to establish direct contact with Ukrainian citizens have not been successful,” foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement on Facebook on Monday. “Essentially they are being kept in isolation.”
