Summary
As the time has just gone 6pm in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, here is a roundup of today’s developments in the war in the country.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told the UN security council on Monday that the world may have reached a more dangerous situation than it had even during the cold war. Lavrov led a meeting on multilateralism and the founding UN Charter as part of Russia having the rotating chair of the body. He said: “As was case in cold war, we have reached the dangerous, possibly even more dangerous, threshold.”
Russia has switched to defensive positions in all its areas of combat apart from Bakhmut, according to the Ukrainian head of intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov. In an interview with RBC Ukraine, he said: “They have completely switched to positional defence everywhere. The only places on the frontline where they are making attempts are in the city of Bakhmut, an attempt to cover the city of Avdiivka from the north, and localised fighting in the city of Marinka. Both in Avdiivka and Marinka the tactics are identical to those in Bakhmut – just an attempt to wipe the settlement off the face of the Earth.
A woman charged with killing a pro-war Russian military blogger using explosives has been denied bail by a Russian court. Darya Trepova, 26, is accused of killing Vladen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, on 2 April. He was presented with a statuette containing a bomb while giving a talk at a cafe in St Petersberg.
Russian state-owned news agency Tass is reporting that Denis Pushilin, the acting head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, has said the situation in Bakhmut continues to be tense, but that Wagner group forces have made some advances.
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet repelled a drone attack on the Crimean port of Sevastopol in the early hours of Monday, the Moscow-installed governor of the city has said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine’s military has set up positions on the eastern side of the Dnipro River near Kherson city, the Institute for the Study of War cites Russian military bloggers as saying. Infiltrating the area could be a first step towards trying to dislodge Russians from positions they are using to fire upon Kherson.
The prime minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, is visiting Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Ukraine. Kallas said that Ukraine should be admitted to the EU and Nato, and signed a joint declaration on her visit. She said that she supported Ukraine getting more ammunition, arms and training, which was why she proposed the EU move to provide 1m shells to Ukraine.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said China respected the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries and upheld the purposes and principles of the UN charter. The statement comes after the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, made comments on Friday which cast doubt on the sovereignty of former Soviet states including Ukraine. France’s foreign ministry says it will discuss the issue with the ambassador on Monday.
The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expressed confidence on Monday that the bloc would complete a plan within days to buy ammunition for Ukraine after Kyiv expressed frustration at wrangling among EU member states. “Yes, still there is some disagreement. But I am sure everybody will understand that we are in a situation of extreme urgency,” Borrell told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
That’s all for today. Thanks for following along. We leave you with our correspondent Peter Beaumont’s story about civilians in Kherson being “forcibly evacuated”.
Updated
Lavrov: global situation is more dangerous than cold war
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told the UN security council on Monday that the world had reached a more dangerous situation than it had during the cold war.
Lavrov led a meeting on multilateralism and the founding UN charter because Russia holds the monthly rotating presidency of the 15-member body for April.
He said: “As was [the] case in cold war, we have reached the dangerous, possibly even more dangerous, threshold.”
Updated
