Ukrainian troops continue to control some parts of the city of Mariupol
Smoke rises following an air strike in Lviv on Monday. Pics/AFP
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.
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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.
A man takes a selfie in front of a destroyed Russian tank in the village of Andriivka on Sunday
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 authorities said missiles struck military facilities and a car tire service point in Lviv, which is just 60 km (40 miles) from the Polish border. Lviv mayor Andriy Sadoviy said seven people were killed and 11 were wounded. The blast shattered windows of a hotel housing Ukrainians evacuated from elsewhere in the country, he added. Russia denies targeting civilians and rejects what Ukraine says is evidence of atrocities, saying Ukraine has staged them to undermine peace talks.
Ukrainian Prime Minister 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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian troops in southern Ukraine have been carrying out torture and kidnappings, and he called on the world Sunday to respond.
“Torture chambers are built there,” Zelensky said in an evening address to the nation. “They abduct representatives of local governments and anyone deemed visible to local communities.” Zelensky said humanitarian aid has been stolen, creating famine.
315
No. of military sites Russia claims to have hit overnight
Captured Britons ask to be swapped
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.
Putin ally suggests prisoner swap
Pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk appealed in a video released by Ukraine’s security service on Monday to be handed over to Moscow in a prisoner swap for Ukrainian forces and civilians trapped in Mariupol.
Medvedchuk made the appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video published by the SBU security service on Facebook.
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