Russia said 28 people, including one child, have died in Saturday’s shelling of a bakery in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk, which is under Russian occupation. A further 10 people were rescued from under the rubble by emergency services, according to officials.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was considering replacing several senior officials – and not just in the military. It comes amid speculation that the president is about to dismiss the commander of Ukraine’s military, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. “It is a question of the people who are to lead Ukraine,” Zelenskiy told Italian TV when asked about Zaluzhnyi. “A reset is necessary, I am talking about a replacement of a number of state leaders”, he said.
His comments came after Zelensky made a trip to Ukrainian troops on the south-eastern frontline to hand out medals.
Zelensky used the visit to announce a new mayor of the frontline Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Federov. Federov was once abducted by Russia and was previously mayor of the now temporarily occupied Melitopol since December 2020.
More than two dozen people, mostly journalists, were detained on Saturday at a protest in central Moscow where wives and other relatives of Russian servicemen mobilised to fight in Ukraine called for their return, according to a Reuters witness and independent Russian news reports.
Belgium is asking G7 countries to consider using €260bn in seized Russian assets held by the west as collateral for loans to Ukraine, according to a report in the Financial Times. This would avoid questions around the legality of seizing the assets outright, as has also been considered by Ukraine’s allies, according to the paper.
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko set a world record for the total amount of time spent in space on Sunday. As of 8:30GMT, Kononenko overtook his compatriot Gennady Padalka who logged more than 878 days in orbit, according to Russia’s space corporation, Roscosmos.
US senators are racing to release a highly anticipated bill that pairs border enforcement policy with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies. The proposal is the best chance for president Joe Biden to resupply Ukraine with wartime aid. The Senate was expected this week to hold a key test vote on the legislation, but it has already run into a wall of opposition from conservatives.
