During the night of Sunday to Monday, the capital, kyiv, was again bombarded by Russian forces. Ukraine has rejected Russia’s ultimatum demanding the surrender of Mariupol. Follow the latest information live.
10:43 p.m.
The Ukrainian government has accused the Russian military of “abducting” three Israelis on Monday from Melitopol, a city in southeastern Ukraine that they occupy.
“Today in Melitopol, Russian occupiers abducted three Israeli citizens: Tatiana Kumok and her parents, Vera and Mikhail Kumok,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk was quoted as saying on Facebook by the Center for Strategic Communications and information security.
Mikhail Kumok is presented as being an “editor”, owner of a company called “MV Holding”.
No other details have yet been provided by the Ukrainian authorities.
10:38 p.m.
Volodymyr Zelensky insisted on the need for a “meeting”, “in whatever form”, with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to “stop the war” in Ukraine.
“I believe that without this meeting it is impossible to fully understand what they (the Russians) are ready for to stop the war,” Zelensky said in an interview with Suspilne, a Ukrainian regional state media.
8:17 p.m.
Any “compromise” in negotiations with Russia to end the conflict will be subject to a referendum in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday in an interview with Ukrainian regional state media.
“I explained it to all the negotiating groups: when you talk about all these changes (which will appear in a possible agreement, editor’s note), and they can be historic, (…) we will come to a referendum”, he told Suspilne, a news website.
6:14 p.m.
A donor conference will be held on April 5 in Berlin to help Moldova, a country bordering Ukraine, cope with the influx of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced on Monday. , following a meeting with his counterparts in Brussels.
The conference is co-organized with France and Romania. Moldova, a small country of 2.6 million inhabitants, one of the poorest in Europe, not a member of the European Union, hosts some 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, according to the Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicu Popescu , who also attended the meeting in Brussels.
5:53 p.m.
Russia has stepped up its air and naval operations in Ukraine in the face of resistance from Ukrainian forces that continue to impede the advance of the Russian military in the country, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday.
“Over the past 24 to 48 hours, we have seen an increase in air activity on both sides,” said the senior official, who requested anonymity, during a press briefing.
“The Russians have carried out more than 300 sorties in the last 24 hours and the Ukrainians have also accelerated the pace of their sorties,” he added, without quantifying the sorties of the Ukrainian aviation, which is much less important than the Russian Air Force.
5:44 p.m.
Ukraine “cannot accept any ultimatum from Russia,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
5:39 p.m.
The Russian army said on Monday that the shopping center ravaged by a powerful strike overnight in kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was vacant and was used as an arms and ammunition depot.
“A battery of Ukrainian multiple rocket launchers and a storage base for their ammunition were destroyed with long-range precision weapons on the night of March 21 in an inoperative commercial center,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. his regular briefing on the offensive in Ukraine.
5:21 p.m.
A demonstration by residents of Kherson, a city in southernUkraine occupied by Russian forces, was dispersed on Monday by automatic weapons fire and tear gas, which injured at least one person, according to videos from two local media.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba denounced on Twitter “Russian war criminals (who) opened fire on unarmed people peacefully demonstrating against the invaders”.
We see on the images of the protesters advancing towards the center of the Place de la Liberté and at the same time soldiers going to meet them before opening fire.
3:30 p.m.
A Moscow court on Monday banned the social networks Facebook and Instagram in Russia on the grounds that they carried out “extremist” activities, Russian news agencies reported.
“We accede to the prosecution’s request to ban the activities of the company Meta”, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, the judge said, according to the agencies. The messaging application WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, is not affected by this measure.
1:33 p.m.
Nearly 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine and the fighting sparked by the Russian army invasion on February 24, according to the UN count released on Monday.
Ten million people, more than a quarter of Ukraine’s population in territories controlled by kyiv before the conflict, have now fled their homes due to the “devastating” war waged by Russia, the High Commissioner revealed on Sunday. United Nations for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
10:58
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the European Union to stop all “trade” with Russia, and in particular to refuse its energy resources, in a video on Telegram messaging.
“No euros for the occupiers, close all your ports to them, do not send them your goods, refuse energy resources”, pleaded the Ukrainian president. “Without trade with you, without your companies and your banks, Russia will have no more money for this war,” he added.
10:41 a.m.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that a new curfew would be introduced in the Ukrainian capital from Monday evening until Wednesday morning. “It will start today at 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT) and last until 7:00 a.m. (05:00 GMT) on March 23,” the former world boxing champion wrote on his Telegram channel. “Shops, pharmacies, gas stations, establishments will not be open tomorrow,” he said. “I ask everyone to stay at home or in shelters when the sirens sound.”
10:27
The toll of the bombings against a shopping center in kyiv climbs to 8 dead.
10:16 a.m.
The Kremlin has estimated that a potential European embargo on Russian oil would hit “everyone”, at a time when the European Union must study at a meeting the possibility of new sanctions against Moscow.
10:05 a.m.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell denounced the destruction committed indiscriminately by the Russian army in the besieged city of Mariupol in Ukraine as a “major war crime”.
“What is happening in Mariupol is a major war crime. The indiscriminate bombardments are devastating the city and killing everyone,” he accused, before a meeting with the Union’s foreign and defense ministers. European Union, devoted to the examination of new sanctions against Moscow.
09:47
Marine Le Pen said she had “no particular admiration” for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country was invaded by Russia, however hailing a “head of state”, and that she did not would not be Wednesday in the Assembly when he will address the French deputies because of “obligations”.
07:39
Staff rotations at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began on Sunday for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced.
06:29
A bombardment in kyiv killed at least 6 people last night.
Six bodies were lying Monday morning outside the “Retroville” shopping center in northwest kyiv, according to an AFP journalist. The site was hit by a very powerful strike which pulverized vehicles parked in the parking lot and left a gaping crater several meters wide.
05:36
Ukrainian authorities on Monday asked residents of the northern town of Novoselytsya to take shelter after an ammonia “leak” at a nearby chemical plant, as fighting against Russian troops rages in the region. .
04:04
Ukraine rejected on the night of Sunday to Monday the ultimatum of Russia demanding the capitulation of the besieged city of Mariupol. “There is no question of talking about surrender or laying down arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told the Ukrayinskaya Pravda newspaper. “It’s deliberate manipulation and real hostage-taking,” she added of the request.
02:11
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said overnight from Sunday to Monday that Jerusalem would be “the right place to find peace” by referring to the negotiations with Russia, which he calls for.
01:40
At least one person was killed in kyiv in a strike by the Russian army on a shopping center on Sunday evening, announced the mayor of the Ukrainian capital.
“One dead so far,” mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram. A huge explosion shook the city during the attack and fires were visible in the rubble of the Retroville shopping center, according to AFP journalists.
