Emmanuel Macron has called for strong action if Russia continues to “refuse peace”, as Moscow’s forces continue heavy attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas.
The French president’s comments came two days after a Russian ballistic missile killed 20 people, including nine children, in Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town.
Mr Macron wrote on X on Sunday: “My thoughts are with the children and all civilian victims of the bloody attacks carried out by Russia, including on 4 April in Kryvyi Rih.
“A ceasefire is needed as soon as possible. And strong action if Russia continues to try to buy time and refuse peace.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the West to amp up pressure on Russia after it launched its latest deadly air raid on Kyiv.
As one person died in Kyiv, and three were injured, Ukraine’s leader said that “pressure on Russia is still insufficient, and the daily Russian strikes on Ukraine prove it”.
He said Kyiv wasn’t the only region which suffered strikes, as the Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy regions were also hit.
“The number of air attacks is increasing. This is how Russia reveals its true intentions – to continue the terror for as long as the world allows it” he said.
Dozens including children still hospitalised after Kryvyi Rih attack
As of Monday morning, more than 30 people remain in hospital following Russia’s ballistic missile attack on Kryvyi Rih on Friday.
A total of 18 adults and two children remain in a serious condition following the attack.
Local official Oleksandra Vilkul said, according to Ukrainska Pravda: “Currently, 33 people who were injured in the attack on 4 April remain in hospital, among them four children. A total of 18 people are in a serious condition, including two children.”
A humanitarian aid centre will be opened in the city’s Saksahanskyi district, he added.
“The centre will provide building materials and accept applications for financial assistance from the city. Aid will be provided to everyone who needs it.”
Ukrainian team to visit US for minerals deal talks this week
A Ukrainian team will travel to the US early this week to discuss a minerals deal, a Kyiv source has told Reuters.
Washington has proposed a more expansive minerals deal which Ukraine has been reviewing in recent days – and has not publicly commented on.
The countries came close to agreeing a framework agreement in late February when Volodymyr Zelensky met Donald Trump in the White House – before the Ukrainian president was booted out after a public spat in front of the cameras.
The agreement could give the US access to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources, including titanium, lithium, and uranium, economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko told the Associated Press.
Submitted by the US after weeks of silence, the draft is more expansive than an earlier framework and could require approval by Ukraine’s parliament, she said.
Critics argue the deal risks undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty and EU membership prospects.
Ms Svyrydenko stressed that the US draft reflects only one side’s position and is not final. “What we have now is a document that reflects the position of the US Treasury legal team. This is not a final version, it’s not a joint position.”
UK Defence Secretary to convene next ‘coalition of willing’ meeting – ICYMI
Defence secretary John Healey is set to convene the next meeting of the “coalition of the willing” next week, as the head of the British armed forces has been in Kyiv for discussions with Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Healey will host defence ministers in Brussels alongside his French counterpart on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence said.
He will then chair the Ukraine Defence Contact Group with his opposite number from Germany on Friday.
Overall, 30 countries are expected to contribute to the group.
Mr Healey said on Saturday: “Our coalition of nations, working at pace and willing to stand with Ukraine for the long-term, is a stark contrast to Russia who stand alone with only North Korea for a friend.
“As Putin prevaricates over a ceasefire, we will continue to ramp up our military planning, exploring the air, sea and land forces that could support a lasting peace in Ukraine.
“However, we will not jeopardise the peace by forgetting about the war.
“That’s why in the week ahead we will also convene the Ukraine Defence Contact Group to supply Ukraine with the military equipment they need to put them in the strongest possible position as they fight back brutal, continuing Russian attacks.”
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Russian railway tracks damaged in Ukrainian strike
A Ukrainian drone damaged Russian railway tracks in the southwest Krasnodar region, local authorities said on Monday.
“There were no casualties, and no fire occurred,” the administration of the region said on Telegram.
Russia’s defence ministry earlier reported that its air defences shot down19 Ukrainian drones overnight, four of which were over the Krasnodar region.
Russia shoots down 19 Ukrainian drones overnight, Moscow says
Russian defences shot down 19 Ukrainian drones overnight, Moscow’s defence ministry said on Monday.
Thirteen of the drones were destroyed over the Sea of Azov bordering southwest Russia, and the rest of the drones were downed over the Krasnodar and Bryansk regions and over the Crimean Peninsula.
Moscow does not alway reveal the total number of drones fired by Kyiv’s forces.
Ukraine labels Russian claims of capturing village in Sumy ‘disinformation’
Russia claimed it had captured the village of Basivka in Ukraine’s Sumy oblast in March this year, but Ukrainian officials have now denied the report, calling it part of a “disinformation campaign”.
While Moscow said the move could disrupt Ukrainian supply lines, Kyiv confirmed ongoing border clashes but insisted its forces were repelling Russian assault groups.
“Russia continues its disinformation campaign regarding the seizure of settlements in Sumy Oblast or the breakthrough of the border,” border guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko told Ukrainian Pravda.
UK’s largest exhibition on Ukraine war opens at The Tank Museum in Dorset
Tanks and deeply personal items donated by Ukrainian refugees – including a hamster cage, house keys from a bombed home in Mariupol, and drawings by an 11-year-old girl – are at the heart of what is believed to be the UK’s largest exhibition on the Ukraine war, now open at The Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset.
Opened by Ukraine’s ambassador, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the exhibition includes many artefacts of symbolic value. “It’s about the personal stories,” the museum’s exhibitions manager, Luke Clark, told BBC News.
“If you come here and you take anything away from this exhibition, it’s hopefully that you’ll have hope for those people who are still out there [in Ukraine], the people who are still in the UK and the hope that they will go home.
“We want to give as much hope to those people as possible.”
The exhibition is due to last for two years.
Restarting Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant would be ‘unsafe’, Ukraine’s nuclear energy chief warns
Restarting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — currently occupied by Russia — would be unsafe and extremely difficult under wartime conditions, according to Ukraine’s nuclear energy chief, Petro Kotin.
He warned that restarting even one reactor during the war is “impossible” due to a lack of cooling water, personnel, and power.
If Ukraine regains control, it could take two months to two years to safely bring the plant back online after full demilitarisation and safety checks, the chief executive of Energoatom said, according to The Guardian.
Russia has said it intends to restart the plant when conditions allow, but experts have raised serious safety concerns, especially given the degraded infrastructure, risk of mines, and untrained staff.
In February this year, Alexey Likhachev, head of Russian nuclear operator Rosatom, said it would be restarted when “military and political conditions allow”.
Source: independent.co.uk
