Russia’s defence ministry has said it carried out overnight missile attacks on Ukrainian military sites, including weapons depots and ammunition factories.
The Ukrainian air force has shot down 15 out of 18 missiles fired across Kyiv and Dnipro in the early hours of Monday, the military said.
Missile attacks on the eastern city of Pavlohrad have killed two people and injured 40, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The president said a 14-year-old boy was also killed close to his school when it was hit by a bomb in the Chernihiv region, close to the Russian border.
The US ambassador to Kyiv, Bridget Brink, has condemned Russia’s missile attacks as “barbaric”.
The head of the Wagner Group has appealed to Russia’s defence ministry to increase ammunition shipments to his troops fighting in Bakhmut, Ukraine. In a video posted on his Telegram channel, Yevgeny Prigozhin said he needed at least 300 tonnes of artillery shells a day in his bid to take the city.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, has said the situation in Bakhmut remained “difficult”, but soldiers had launched a counterattack in some parts of the ruined city.
Diplomacy
Pope Francis has disclosed the Vatican is involved in a secret peace mission to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has spoken to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and discussed defence cooperation and increased sanctions.
Zelenskyy has thanked New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins for participating in training the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine’s grain exports totalled 3.62 million tonnes last month compared with 923,000 tonnes in April 2022, when all the country’s Black Sea ports were blocked because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.
Ukrainian players have said they would not participate in this month’s World Judo Championships in Qatar following the International Judo Federation’s decision to readmit Russians and Belarusians as neutrals.
