• 11:06 a.m .: Lithuania to buy French Caesar guns

Lithuania will sign a letter of intent to acquire French Caesar self-propelled guns.

This announcement was made by the Lithuanian Minister of Defense on the sidelines of the Eurosatory defense fair, which takes place in Paris, where he is to meet his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu.

The number of self-propelled guns that Vilnius intends to acquire is not specified.

This Baltic country, member of the EU and NATO, has decided to increase its military budget by 300 million euros.

A neighbor of Belarus, it fears for its own safety in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

  • 9:50 a.m.: In Severodonetsk, an industrial area housing 500 civilians under Russian fire

The governor of the Luhansk region, Serguiy Gaïdaï, affirms on his Facebook page that an industrial zone of Severodonetsk – where approximately 500 civilians, including 40 children, are refugees – is heavily shelled by the artillery of the Russian forces.

The Ukrainians are trying to organize an evacuation, he said. 

  • 8:49 a.m .: Ukrainian forces driven out of the center of Severodonetsk, according to kyiv

"With artillery support, the enemy carried out an assault on Severodonetsk, achieved partial success and pushed our units back from the city center. Hostilities continue," the Ukrainian General Staff announced in its update. morning posted on Facebook.

Sergiï Gaïdaï, governor of the Luhansk region – of which Severodonetsk is the administrative center for the part controlled by the Ukrainian authorities – confirmed that the Ukrainian forces had been pushed back from the city center.

"The street fights continue (...) the Russians continue to destroy the city", he wrote Monday morning on Facebook, posting photos of buildings in ruins or in flames.

Moreover, according to him, the Russians control "more than 70%" of the city.

  • 7:23 a.m .: a former Russian Prime Minister says he no longer recognizes Putin

From abroad where he took refuge because of his opposition to the Russian offensive in Ukraine, Mikhail Kassianov, Prime Minister of Russia between 2000 and 2004, told AFP that Vladimir Putin was "not himself". 

This opponent, dismissed by the Russian president in 2004, explains that he understood very quickly that a war was looming, three days before the invasion of Ukraine, when Vladimir Putin summoned the members of his Security Council for a meeting broadcast on television.

"When I watched this meeting of the Russian Security Council, I finally understood that yes, there would be a war (...). I know these people and looking at them, I saw that Putin did not was not himself. Not medically, but politically," he said.

  • 4:55 a.m .: the battle intensifies in Severodonetsk

Fighting intensifies in eastern Ukraine.

"The enemy has concentrated most of its efforts in the northern Luhansk region", where it "uses large-scale artillery and, unfortunately, has an advantage of 10 against one", explained on Facebook Valeri Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army.

"We continue to hold our positions", he nevertheless assured, affirming that "every meter of Ukrainian land there is covered in blood - not only ours, but also that of the occupier".

 “The situation in Severodonetsk is extremely difficult,” assured the Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region, Serguiï Gaïdaï.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his evening video message, called the fighting "very fierce", saying Moscow is deploying insufficiently trained troops and using its young men as "cannon fodder".

  • 4:01 a.m .: Moscow has earned 93 billion euros through its fossil exports since the start of the war

Russia earned 93 billion euros in fossil fuel export revenues during the first 100 days of its war against Ukraine, the majority of which went to the European Union, according to the report by the Center for Research on energy and clean Air (CREA).

This publication comes as Ukraine urges Westerners to cut off all trade with Russia to stop feeding the Kremlin's war chest.

  • 3:14 am: Amnesty accuses Russia of war crimes in Ukraine

Titled 'Anyone can die at any time', a report by Amnesty International shows how Russian forces have killed people and caused immense damage by relentlessly bombarding residential areas of Kharkiv since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

During an in-depth investigation, the human rights NGO claims to have found evidence showing that in seven attacks on city neighborhoods, Russian forces used 9N210 cluster bombs and 9N235 and cluster mines, two categories prohibited by international treaties.

Although Russia is not a signatory to either the Convention on Cluster Munitions or the Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines, international humanitarian law prohibits attacks and the use of weapons which, by their nature, strike indiscriminately and constitute a war crime, according to the Amnesty report.

With AFP

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