Hundreds of military targets attacked in Ukraine: Russia
Authorities in the western city of Lviv said a missile attack killed six people
LVIV/KYIV: Russia said on Monday it had hit hundreds of military targets in Ukraine overnight, destroying command posts with air-launched missiles, while authorities in the western city of Lviv, which has escaped heavy bombardment, said a missile attack killed six.
The Russian defence ministry said in a statement it had destroyed 16 Ukrainian military facilities in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions and in the port of Mykolayiv, in the south and east of the country.
It added that the Russian air force had launched strikes against 108 areas where Ukrainian forces were concentrated and Russian artillery struck 315 Ukrainian military targets overnight.
Driven back by Ukrainian resistance in the north, the Russian military has refocused its ground offensive in the two eastern provinces known as the Donbas, while launching long-distance strikes at other targets, including the capital, Kyiv.
It is now trying to take full control of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which has been besieged for weeks and which would be a huge strategic prize, linking territory held by pro-Russian separatists in the east with the Crimea region Moscow annexed in 2014.
Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal said troops in the pulverised port of Mariupol were still fighting on Sunday, despite a Russian
demand to surrender.
“The city still has not fallen,” he told ABC’s This Week programme, adding that Ukrainian soldiers continued to control some parts of the southeastern city.
Russia said on Saturday it had control of urban areas, though some Ukrainian fighters remained in the Azovstal steelworks, one of Europe’s biggest metallurgical plants, which cover more than 11 sq km and overlook the Sea of Azov.
On the eve of the war, Mariupol was the biggest city still held by Ukraine in the Donbas, which Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede to pro-Russian separatists. Taking Mariupol would unite Russian forces on two of the main axes of the invasion, and free them up to join an expected new offensive against the main Ukrainian force in the east.
Kremlin blames Kyiv for changing stance in talks
The Kremlin on Monday accused Ukraine of constantly changing its stance when it comes to issues that have already been agreed at peace talks. “Contacts continue at an expert level within the framework of the negotiation process”, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
“Unfortunately the Ukrainian side is not consistent in terms of the points that have been agreed,” he said. “It is often changing its position and the trend of the negotiating process leaves much to be desired.”
Two captured Britons appear on Russian TV
Two British fighters captured in Ukraine by Russian forces appeared on Russian state TV on Monday and asked to be exchanged for a pro-Russian politician who is being held by the Ukrainian authorities.
It was unclear how freely the two men - Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin - were able to talk. Both spoke after being prompted by an unidentified man.
Both asked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help bring them home in exchange for Ukraine releasing pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
Ukraine on Monday also aired a video showing Medvedchuk seeking to be exchanged in return for an evacuation of civilians and troops from the besieged port city of Mariupol.
“I want to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to exchange me for Ukrainian defenders and residents of Mariupol,” he said.
Meanwhile, four civilians were shot dead while trying to flee by car from the town of Kreminna in eastern Luhansk region during a Russian attack.