Closing summary
The White House could be prepared to send Ukraine long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (Atacms) if Congress approves a new funding package, NBC News reported.
The Red Cross said it was trying to find out what happened to 23,000 people who have disappeared over the course of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was seeking to determine whether they had been captured, killed or had lost contact after fleeing their homes,
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that Ukraine previously poisoned the Moscow-installed governors of Ukraine’s Kherson and Luhansk regions, though both were still alive. In an online briefing, Moscow said Ukraine poisoned Moscow-appointed Kherson head Vladimir Saldo in August 2022 and Luhansk governor Leonid Pasechnik in December 2023.
European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has won the backing of her German centre-right party for a second term, putting her in a strong position to clinch another five years running the European Union’s executive body.
Ukrainian troops are facing “heavy fire” from Russian forces in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a Ukrainian army spokesperson was quoted by AFP as saying. It comes after Russia said it had taken full control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, its biggest gain since capturing Bakhmut last May, after a retreat by Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down two more Russian warplanes used to drop highly destructive guided aerial bombs on Kyiv’s troops, army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said. The destroyed planes were an Su-34 fighter-bomber and an Su-35 fighter, Syrskyi wrote on Telegram. Over the weekend, Ukraine said it shot down three Russian Su-34s and one Su-35.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, said she would continue the work of the Russian opposition leader as she accused Vladimir Putin of killing him. “I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia,” Navalnaya said. “Vladimir Putin killed my husband,” she continued, adding that she would work with the Russian people to battle with the Kremlin to create a new Russia. “By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me - half of my heart and half of my soul,” Navalnaya said. Navalny’s mother and his lawyers were not allowed into the morgue in the Russian town of Salekhard, near the prison colony where authorities said he died, Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said earlier.
Speaking on his way into the summit of foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, called Vladimir Putin a “murderer” and said Ukraine urgently needs more ammunition.
The Kremlin said that the west’s reaction to Alexei Navalny’s death was “absolutely unacceptable”. “We consider it absolutely unacceptable to make such, well, frankly obnoxious statements,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters.
Austria’s defence minister, Klaudia Tanner, announced the procurement of 225 Pandur armoured personnel carriers for around €1.8bn (£1.5bn). The procurement is “an investment in the future, the security and the Austrian economy,” Tanner said during a press conference.
Belgium’s foreign minister, Hadja Lahbib, has called on the EU to develop an army amid increasing nervousness about Russia’s capacity to defeat Ukraine.
Journalists at Mediazona, a Russian independent media outlet, together with BBC Russia, confirmed the names of over 44,000 Russian soldiers who have been killed since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
Tests on Alexei Navalny’s body will take 14 days to complete, Ivan Zhdanov, an ally of the late Russian opposition leader, said on Monday, citing an investigator.
Earlier on Monday, Navalny’s aides said his mother and his lawyers had not been allowed into the morgue in the Russian town of Salekhard near the prison colony where authorities said he had died.
