Ukrainian investigators exhumed seven bodies from makeshift graves in a forest near Bucha on Monday as Kyiv said its forces had been pushed back from the centre of Severodonetsk, the epicentre of a wider battle for control of the eastern Donbas region. All times Paris time (GMT+2).
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9:20pm: Around 25% of Ukraine's arable land lost to war, Kyiv says
Ukraine has lost a quarter of its arable land since Russia's invasion, notably in the south and east, the deputy agriculture minister said Monday while insisting that food security is not threatened.
"Despite the loss of 25 percent of arable land, crop planting this year is more than sufficient" to ensure food for the population, Taras Vysotskiy told a news conference.
He said national consumption levels had fallen "due to mass displacement and external migration" as millions fled to escape the fighting.
More than 7 million people are estimated to have been displaced within Ukraine by Russia's war, figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) show.
Another 7.3 million have fled abroad, more than half of them to Poland.
6:55pm: Grisly scenes in Bucha as more bodies exhumed
FRANCE 24's senior reporter Catherine Norris Trent was at the scene in Bucha when seven more bodies were exhumed earlier today. Here's her report.
6:45pm: Separatists say 3 killed in attack on Donetsk market
At least three people including a child were killed and four injured on Monday by Ukrainian artillery at a market in the Russian-backed separatist Ukrainian region of Donetsk, the province's news agency has said.
The Donetsk News Agency showed pictures of burning stalls at the central Maisky market and at least one body on the ground. The news agency said 155-mm caliber NATO-standard artillery munitions hit parts of the region on Monday.
Reuters said the reports could not be verified.
4:56pm: Seven bodies discovered in grave near Bucha: police
Another seven bodies, several with their hands and legs tied, were found in a grave near Bucha, a town near Kyiv synonymous with war crimes allegations, the regional police said Monday.
"Seven civilians were tortured by the Russians then executed in a cowardly manner with a bullet to the head," Kyiv regional police chief Andriy Nebytov said on Facebook, saying "several victims had their hands tied and knees bound".
"This grave was discovered today in an area where Russian troops were stationed near the village of Myrotske" which lies some 10 kilometres northwest of Bucha, he said. He said police were "working to identify the victims".
4:41pm: Russia strikes hit north Ukraine forcing villages to evacuate
Russian strikes hit a town in northern Ukraine on Monday, with several villages evacuated due to the fire risk following the attacks, local authorities said.
"The enemy hit Pryluky with rocket strieks," Vyacheslav Chaus, governor of the northern Chernigiv region, said on Telegram.
"Information on the destruction is being clarified," he said. He did not say what infrastructure was targeted nor whether there were any casualties.
Pryluky lies about 150 kilometres east of Kyiv and has a military airfield. Following the strikes authorities ordered the evacuation of four nearby villages, Sergiy Boldyrev told local news outlet Suspilne.
1:33pm: Wikipedia fights Russian order to remove Ukraine war information
The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, has filed an appeal against a Moscow court decision demanding that it remove information related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing that people have a right to know the facts of the war.
Russia fined Wikimedia Foundation 5 million roubles ($88,000) for refusing to remove what it termed disinformation from Russian-language Wikipedia articles on the war including “The Russian Invasion of Ukraine”, “War Crimes during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine” and “Massacre in Bucha”.
Wikipedia, which says it offers “the second draft of history”, is one of the few remaining major fact-checked Russian-language sources of information for Russians after a crackdown on media in Moscow.
10:48am: Russia says it has destroyed US, European weapons
Russia’s Defence Ministry on Monday said it had destroyed a large quantity of weapons and military equipment in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, including some that had been sent by the United States and European nations.
The ministry said high-precision air-based missiles had struck near the Udachne railway station, hitting equipment that had been delivered to Ukrainian forces.
9:45am: Industrial zone sheltering civilians under fire
An industrial zone in Severodonetsk where about 500 civilians are sheltering is under heavy artillery fire from Russian forces, the regional governor said on Monday.
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine that includes Severodonetsk, said on Facebook that Russian forces controlled about 70 percent of the city and fighting there was fierce.
8:55am: Ukrainian forces pushed back from centre of Severodonetsk
Ukraine said on Monday that its forces have been pushed back from the centre of the eastern city of Severodonetsk.
“The enemy, with support of artillery, carried out assault operations in the city of Severodonetsk, had partial success, pushed our units away from the city centre,” the Ukrainian military said on Facebook.
Severodonetsk has become the epicentre of the wider battle for control over Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Russian forces have taken most of Severodonetsk, having pulverized parts of the city in one of the bloodiest assaults since the Kremlin unleashed its invasion on February 24.
7:29am: Former Russian PM says ‘Putin is out of it’
Mikhail Kasyanov, Russian prime minister between 2000 and 2004 and now a member of the opposition, said in an interview with AFP that Putin’s war on Ukraine has convinced him that: “Putin is already out of it. Not in a medical sense but in political terms.”
“I knew a different Putin,” he said.
Kasyanov also predicted the war could last for up to two years and that it is imperative that Ukraine wins. “If Ukraine falls, the Baltic states will be next”.
5:57am: Russia destroys bridge in Severodonetsk, leaving civilians only one way out
Russia on Sunday destroyed a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River linking Severodonetsk with its twin city of Lysychansk. Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk province, said that means that only one of the city’s three bridges are still standing.
“If after new shelling the bridge collapses, the city will truly be cut off. There will be no way of leaving Severodonetsk in a vehicle,” he said, noting the lack of a cease-fire agreement and no agreed evacuation corridors.
“About 500 civilians remain on the territory of the Azot plant in Severodonetsk, 40 of them are children. Sometimes the military manages to evacuate someone,” Gaidai said.
3:15am: Amnesty accuses Russia of war crimes in Kharkiv
Amnesty International on Monday accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, saying attacks on Kharkiv, many using banned cluster bombs, had killed 606 civilians so far, and wounded 1,248 others..
“People have been killed in their homes and in the streets, in playgrounds and in cemeteries, while queueing for humanitarian aid, or shopping for food and medicine,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Adviser. “The Russian forces responsible for these horrific attacks must be held accountable.”
The report details how Russian forces began targeting civilian areas of Kharkiv on the first day of the invasion on February 24.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)
