• 6:20 a.m.: Russian drones launched at Kiev 'shot down' by Ukrainian security forces

According to the head of the military administration of the city of Kiev, Serhi Popko, the Russian drones used on Monday evening to attack Kiev were all destroyed by Ukrainian air defenses. According to him, the remains of a downed drone were found in the Sviatochynsky district, where a shop caught fire during the attack.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its daily morning update that Russia launched a total of 15 Iranian-made drones over Ukraine overnight, and that Ukrainian forces destroyed 14 of them.

  • 4:21 a.m.: Kiev receives its first Western heavy tanks

The first British and German heavy tanks have arrived in Ukraine, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced Monday night to help Kiev's army repel the Russian invasion of the country. These Challenger and Leopard main battle tanks were promised earlier this year.

After russia began deconserving its T-54 tanks manufactured in late 1940s, they also decided to create a division of WWII era T-34s. The plan is to take them down from pedestals in towns and cities across the country.
Abramses, Leopards and Challengers must be really scared now... pic.twitter.com/keo0j9Oqu0

— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) March 25, 2023

  • 1:03 a.m.: Amnesty denounces the West's "double standards"

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 "exposed the hypocrisy of Western states, which reacted forcefully to Russian aggression but turned a blind eye to serious violations committed elsewhere, or even were complicit in them," deplores the NGO Amnesty International in its annual report, denouncing this "double standard".

"The response to Russian aggression against the Ukrainian people is a tremendous response. It is a response that should be a model for other present and future crises," Agnès Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, told AFP.

But "by neglecting other crises, we diminish the value of what has been done in Ukraine," she continued, her organization lamenting that the West has "tolerated" similar acts of aggression in other countries, "only because its interests are at stake".

  • 0:44: Volodymyr Zelensky and Rafael Grossi in Zaporizhzhia region

Volodymyr Zelensky and Rafael Grossi met on Monday at a hydroelectric station in the Zaporizhzhia region (Ukraine), while the second, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected in the coming days at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Moscow.

"Without the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and personnel from (the plant) and adjacent territories, any initiative to restore nuclear safety and security is doomed to failure," President Zelensky warned, according to remarks reported by the Ukrainian presidency.

The two leaders visited the site of a hydroelectric power plant in Dnieper on Monday to supply the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by the Russian military and regularly suffered power cuts.

01:19

  • 00:36: Explosions in Kiev

The mayor of Kiev, Vitaly Klitschko, reported, in a Telegram message, explosions Monday night in the Ukrainian capital, "in the neighborhoods of Obolonsky and Sviatochynsky". According to him, a store in the latter district is on fire, but according to an initial report, there are no victims.

Shortly before the explosions, the sirens of the city's air raids had been activated, the military administration of the Kiev region said on Telegram. Authorities reported a drone attack at 22:12 p.m. local time (21:12 p.m. in Paris).

With AFP and Reuters

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