Only Ukraine has the right to decide its future, Polish President Andrzej Duda told lawmakers in Kyiv on Sunday, becoming the first foreign leader to give an in-person speech to the Ukrainian parliament since the Russian invasion. President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Saturday that the situation in Donbas had become "extremely difficult" as Russia intensified its assault on the region. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded.
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9:13pm: Polish President Andrzej Duda pledges full support for Ukraine’s EU membership bid
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Sunday pledged full support for Ukraine's EU membership bid, saying those who "shed their blood" for Europe must be respected, "even if the situation is complicated, even if there are doubts".
"I have no doubt that the European Union will make such a gesture," he added, saying the European Council's decision on Ukraine's candidate status on June 24 would be "extremely important, above all psychologically and politically".
Addressing the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv, Duda said he would continue his efforts as long as Ukraine remained outside the bloc and that a successful membership bid would be thanks to Warsaw.
6:10pm: Senegalese President Macky Sall says he will visit Moscow and Kyiv in coming weeks
Senegalese President Macky Sall said he would visit Moscow and Kyiv in the coming weeks in his capacity as chairman of the African Union, which he said wanted to see de-escalation in Ukraine and peace reached through dialogue between the two sides.
Speaking at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Sall said: "We do not want to be aligned on this conflict, very clearly, we want peace. Even though we condemn the invasion, we're working for a de-escalation, we're working for a ceasefire, for dialogue ... that is the African position."
5:30pm: French President Emmanuel Macron calls on WHO members to condemn Russian aggression
French President Emmanuel Macron asked the member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) to support a resolution condemning Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, and "reaffirmed the full solidarity of France and the European Union with Ukraine".
This text is expected to be adopted on Tuesday. Although it strongly condemns Russia, it does not "in any way provide for (its) expulsion", said a Western diplomat, recalling that the WHO can only impose "very weak" sanctions on a member country.
4:30pm: Zelensky promises reciprocal rights for Poles in Ukraine
Polish citizens in Ukraine will be granted the same rights that Ukrainian refugees in Poland are currently receiving, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on Sunday during his visit to Kyiv.
Poland has granted over 3 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine the right to live and work, and claim social security payments.
Earlier on Sunday, a Ukrainian ruling party lawmaker said that Zelensky had announced the imminent tabling of a parliamentary bill that would give Polish citizens "special legal status" in Ukraine.
3:26pm: France's Europe minister says Ukraine's bid to join the EU would take '15 or 20 years'
Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union would not be finalised for "15 or 20 years," France's Europe minister said Sunday, dashing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's hopes for a quick entry in the wake of Russia's invasion of his country.
"We have to be honest. If you say Ukraine is going to join the EU in six months, or a year or two, you're lying," Clement Beaune told Radio J. "It's probably in 15 or 20 years, it takes a long time."
3:01pm: Ukraine extends martial law through August 23
Ukraine on Sunday extended martial law for three months through to August 23 as the war with Russia continues.
President Volodymyr Zelensky first signed the decree along with a general military mobilisation call on February 24 when Russian forces invaded.
Ukraine's parliament on Sunday voted by an absolute majority for the decree to be extended a third time as Russia pursues its offensive targeting the eastern Donbas region.
FRANCE 24's Cyril Payen reports.
1:26pm: Ukraine must decide its own future, says Poland's president
Only Ukraine has the right to decide its future, Polish President Andrzej Duda told lawmakers in Kyiv on Sunday as he became the first foreign leader to give a speech in person to the Ukrainian parliament since Russia's February 24 invasion.
Kyiv has ruled out any peace deal that would involve it ceding territory and has dismissed calls for a ceasefire that would involve Russian forces remaining in territory they have occupied, saying this would simply give Moscow time to rebuild its forces.
"Worrying voices have appeared, saying that Ukraine should give in to Putin's demands," Duda said. "Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future... nothing about you without you," he added, to a standing ovation in the chamber.
Duda said that the international community must demand that Russia completely withdraw from Ukrainian territory.
"If Ukraine is sacrificed for... economic reasons or political ambitions — even a centimetre of its territory — it will be a huge blow not only for the Ukrainian nation, but for the entire Western world," Duda said.
FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports.
8:56am: 'Nothing left': Mariupol picks up pieces after ferocious fighting
The carcasses of charred buildings stand amid the lush greenery in what remains of the once bustling Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
After weeks of siege and strikes much of the city on the coast of the Sea of Azov has been reduced to a wasteland.
As the last Ukrainian troops in the town surrendered to the Russians at the bombed-out Azovstal steel plant, passers-by mourned their fate.
Angela Kopytsa, a 52-year-old with bleached hair, said she saw no future for herself in Mariupol.
"There is no work, no food, no water," she said, adding that both her home and life had been "destroyed".
The city has lived without electricity since early March.
Kopytsa breaks into tears as she recounts how during the hostilities she had to share morsels of food with her children and grandson and how "children at maternity wards were dying of hunger".
"What future?" she said in Russian. "I have no hope for anything."
Three months of fighting in Mariupol have sent hundreds of thousands of people running for their lives and caused untold suffering and death.
Below, Russian soldiers recently “executed” a statue of the 19th-century Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in Borodyanka.
7:17am: Russia intensifies its offensive in the eastern Donbas region
After ending weeks of resistance by the last Ukrainian fighters in the strategic southeastern city of Mariupol, Russia is waging what appears to be a major offensive in Luhansk, one of two provinces in Donbas.
Russian-backed separatists already controlled swathes of territory in Luhansk and the neighbouring Donetsk province before the February 24 invasion, but Moscow wants to seize the last remaining Ukrainian-held territory in Donbas.
3:45am: Ukraine war, pandemic push to colour WHO international meeting
The Ukraine war looms large as the World Health Organization opens its main annual assembly Sunday, threatening to overshadow efforts on other health crises and a reform push aimed at preventing future pandemics.
The UN health agency will kick off its 75th World Health Assembly Sunday afternoon, convening its 194 member states for their first largely in-person gathering since Covid-19 surfaced in late 2019.
The agenda will remain focused on the continuing coronavirus crisis and efforts to avert future pandemics.
But the war raging in Ukraine and rebukes of Russia for its invasion are expected to take centre stage.
Kyiv and its allies will present a resolution during the assembly harshly condemning Russia's invasion, and especially its more than 200 attacks on healthcare, including hospitals and ambulances, in Ukraine.
It is also to voice alarm at the "health emergency in Ukraine", and highlight the dire impacts beyond its borders, including how disrupted grain exports are deepening a global food security crisis.
10:07pm: Ukraine rules out ceasefire or concessions to Russia
Ukraine on Saturday ruled out agreeing to a ceasefire with Russia and said Kyiv would not accept any deal with Moscow that involved ceding territory.
Acknowledging that Kyiv's stance on the war was becoming more uncompromising, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said making concessions would backfire on Ukraine because Russia would hit back harder after any break in fighting.
9:45pm: Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Italian PM to impose more sanctions on Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he talked to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Saturday and stressed the importance of imposing more sanctions on Russia and unblocking Ukrainian ports.
Zelensky tweeted that he had also thanked Draghi for his "unconditional support" of Ukraine's bid to become a member of the European Union.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
