The West’s continued supply of arms to Kyiv risks a global nuclear catastrophe, Russia’s former president and an ally of President Vladimir Putin said.
“Of course, the pumping in of weapons can continue … and prevent any possibility of reviving negotiations,” Dmitry Medvedev said in remarks published in the daily Izvestia.
“Our enemies are doing just that, not wanting to understand that their goals will certainly lead to a total fiasco. Loss for everyone. A collapse. Apocalypse. Where you forget for centuries about your former life, until the rubble ceases to emit radiation. “
Mr. Medvedev’s apocalyptic rhetoric has been seen as an attempt to deter the US-led Nato military alliance and Kyiv’s Western allies from getting even more involved in the year-old war that has dealt Moscow setbacks on the battlefield.
The latest comments by Mr Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful security council, follow Putin’s nuclear warning last week and his remarks on Sunday casting Moscow’s confrontation with the West as an existential battle for the survival of Russia and the Russian people.
11:39 AM
Ukraine ‘shoots down 11 of 14 Iranian drones’
Ukraine has said it shot down 11 of 14 Iranian drones overnight, including nine over the Kyiv region.
Nine Shahed drones were shot down in the airspace over Kyiv, Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City military administration said.
Air raid sirens blared in the capital Kyiv and other cities overnight.
“The drone attack was actually carried out in two waves,” he added.
There are not thought to have been any casualties or hits on buildings.
11:34 AM
EU’s von der Leyen to meet Britain’s King Charles
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet King Charles at Windsor Castle during her visit to Britain on Monday to finalize talks with the British government on a new deal on post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland.
A palace source said the meeting between Charles and von der Leyen followed government advice that each visit would provide an opportunity to discuss a broad range of issues including Ukraine and climate change.
11:12 AM
Pictured: A woman walks her dog past her destroyed residential building in the Kharkiv region
10:45 AM
Kremlin calls new EU sanctions package against Russia ‘absurd’
The Kremlin hit out at the European Union on Monday after the bloc adopted its latest package of sanctions against Russia for its military intervention in Ukraine.
“All this, of course, is absurd,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to a question about the new penalties, which target 121 individuals and entities.
The latest penalties are the 10th round of EU sanctions aimed at undercutting Russia’s finances and military supplies for the conflict.
10:27 AM
The Kremlin says it is concerned by the situation in the breakaway Moldovan region
The Kremlin said on Monday it was worried about the state of affairs in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region, where it said Ukraine and other European countries were stirring up the situation.
Moscow last week told the West that it would view any actions that threatened Russian peacekeepers in Transdniestria as an attack on Russia itself, a warning that came amid increased concerns in Moldova, a small ex-Soviet republic located between Romania and Ukraine, of a possible Russian threat.
Moldova’s pro-European president, Maia Sandu, this month accused Moscow of plotting a coup, something Russia denied.
“Naturally, the situation in Transnistria is the subject of our closest attention and a reason for our concern,” Peskov told reporters. “The situation is unsettled, it is being provoked, provoked from outside.
“But we know that our opponents in the Ukrainian regime, the Kyiv regime, as well as those in European countries, are capable of various types of provocation.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Moscow’s assertion that Ukraine wants to take over the region, while Moldova said there was no truth to the allegations.
09:53 AM
Second confirmed death from Russian drone attack in western Ukraine
A Russian attack with Iran-made drones early Monday left two people dead and three more wounded in the western Ukraine city of Khmelnytskyi, the mayor said.
Mayor Oleksandr Symchyshyn said in separate messages on social media that two rescue workers had died in hospital following the attack with more than a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles.
“Unfortunately, we have another hospital death. Doctors failed to save the life of another hero – a rescuer,” he said in the second statement after earlier reporting the first death.
09:36 AM
Watch: Inside Zelensky’s wartime bunker in Kyiv
09:16 AM
Comment: Xi and Putin have declared a new Cold War
Our global order is in deep trouble.
It is now more protectionist and more divided than at any time since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Our post-Cold War complacency has seen autocratic states multiply in recent years.
Now, China and Russia are openly pioneering a competing vision – a post-West world order that we cannot afford to ignore.
Read the full story from Tobias Ellwood and Hamish De Bretton-Gordon go away
08:49 AM
UN rights chief warns of backsliding on global freedoms
The United Nations Human Rights chief Volker Turk warned on Monday that human rights gains made in recent decades were being reined back and even reversed, citing Russia’s “senseless” invasion of Ukraine as a current example of oppression.
“Much of the progress made over decades is being reined back and even reversed in some parts…,” High Commissioner Turk said in a speech on the opening day of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva attended by more than 100 ministers and heads of state.
He called for countries to work to overcome their differences and create a “new world-wide consensus on human rights”.
08:35 AM
Pictured: Residents walk near a destroyed residential building after attacks in the town of Borodyanka, Kyiv
08:23 AM
Welcome to wartime Russia… where you can’t protest, buy clothes or go on holiday
From canceled holidays to rows with parents and worries about ex-convict mercenaries wandering the streets War in Ukraine Russia has changed.
One year on from Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasionpeople living in Russia told The Telegraph how their lives have become more boring, precarious and dangerous.
“I had plans and goals and now my only goal is to relocate or if I can’t, to relocate my daughter,” said a nurse who lives in Moscow. “This war has ruined my life.”
Read the full story from James Kilner go away
08:14 AM
Zelensky dismisses the commander of the joint forces
Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Eduard Moskalyov as commander of the joint forces, which are engaged in battles in the Donbas.
The Ukrainian president did not give any reason for firing Mr. Moskalyov.
08:06 AM
Four tales of survival from the siege of Kyiv’s most brutal moments – one year on
A year ago this weekend, the start of Russia’s siege of Kyiv plunged Europe into its gravest military crisis since the Second World War.
Colin Freeman, The Telegraph’s correspondent, was in Ukraine’s capital during the month-long stand-off, reporting on the city’s struggle for survival.
A year on, he and photographer Julian Simmonds track down witnesses to some of the key events to see what their lives are like now.
Read more from Colin Freeman go away
07:58 AM
Ukraine’s ground forces commander visits Bakhmut
The commander of Ukrainian ground forces Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi visited besieged Bakhmut to boost morale and talk strategy with units defending the town and surrounding villages in eastern Ukraine, the military said over the weekend.
Military analysts expect that Ukraine’s forces will put their “maximum effort” in the coming days into defending Bakhmut, which in recent months has seen some of the bloodiest attritional fighting of Russia’s year-old invasion.
Russia has made the capture of Bakhmut a priority in its strategy to take control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas industrial region.
“(Syrskyi) listened to the unit commanders tackling urgent problems, provided assistance in solving them, and supported the servicemen,” the Ground Forces said on the Telegram messaging app.
07:56 AM
Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers treated at a field hospital near Bakhmut
07:54 AM
Latest MoD update
07:52 AM
Good Morning
Good morning and welcome to today’s Ukraine liveblog.
We will be guiding you through all the latest developments on Ukraine.