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Zelensky calls on West to amp up pressure after Putin’s latest deadly air raid on Kyiv
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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.
Russian advances in eastern Ukraine have slowed down in the first part of 2025, the UK defence ministry has said.
Moscow’s forces likely only seized 143 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory throughout March, an average of less than five square kilometres per day, the ministry said in an intelligence update over the weekend.
The rate of advance has dropped each month since November, it said, adding that Ukraine has “carried out tactical counter-attacks, reversing some of Russia’s gains around Pokrovsk”.
Vladimir Putin has congratulated Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin on breaking the all-time National Hockey League record, the Kremlin said on Monday.
He scored his 895th goal on Sunday to break the all-time record set by Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky – that few believed would ever be beaten.
Mr Ovechkin, considered one of ice hockey’s greatest players, has previously been vocal in his support for the Russian president.
In 2017, he launched Putin Team, a social movement which aimed to unite people who are “proud of their country and want to make Russia stronger”.
But since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he has said only that he hoped “it was going to be over and we are going to be living in a good world”.
Asked if he still supported Putin, Ovechkin said according to the Guardian: “Well, he’s my president, but [like] I said, I’m not in politics, I’m an athlete.”
Russia has attacked Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region six times on Monday morning, the chief of the region’s military administration has said.
The attack caused two injuries, fires and damage to a high-rise building, houses, and power transmission lines, Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram.
“As a result of a strike on the eighth floor, the balconies and apartments of a nine-storey apartment building caught fire, covering an area of 100 square metres,” Mr Syniehubov wrote.
“The building was partially damaged. A 67-year-old man and a 79-year-old woman were injured in the 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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
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