Key events
Death toll from Dnipro strike rises to 35
The number of people killed in a Russian missile attack on a residential block in Dnipro has risen to 35, according to Ukrainian officials.
Dnipro’s regional governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, confirmed 35 people were killed in the attack in an update shared to Telegram about 8.30am on Monday.
The search and rescue operation in Dnipro has been going on for almost 40 hours.
At night, rescuers pulled out several more dead from under the rubble of a high-rise building destroyed by a Russian missile.
At that time, the enemy attack claimed the lives of 35 residents of the building. Among them are two children.
39 people were saved, 75 were injured. Among the injured are 14 children.
The fate of another 35 residents of the building is unknown. The search for people under the rubble continues.
Dnipro’s mayor, Borys Filatov, told Reuters:
The chances of saving people now are minimal. I think the number of dead will be in the dozens.”
Claiming responsibility for the missile strikes across Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that it achieved its goal.
A ministry statement posted on Telegram said: “All designated targets have been hit. The goal of the attack has been achieved.” However, it did not mention the attack on the Dnipro residential building.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the Russian people’s “cowardly silence” over the attack, noting that Ukraine had received messages of sympathy from around the world over “this terror.”
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next few hours.
Rescuers continue to comb the rubble of a nine-story apartment building that was destroyed by a Russian strike in Dnipro on Sunday, as the death toll from the attack climbs to 35.
Russia and Belarus will begin joint air force drills on Monday, which have triggered fears in Kyiv and the west that Moscow could use its ally to launch a new ground offensive in Ukraine.
Minsk says the drills are “purely defensive in nature” though Ukraine has warned of possible attacks from its neighbour to the north.
If you have just joined us, here are all the latest developments:
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The number of people killed in a Russian missile attack on a residential block in Dnipro has risen to 35, according to Ukrainian officials. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest address that “the list of the dead includes 30 people, including one child – a girl, she was 15 years old”. At least 73 people were wounded and 39 people had been rescued as of Sunday afternoon. The city government in Dnipro said 43 people were still reported missing. “The chances of saving people now are minimal,” Dnipro’s mayor, Borys Filatov, told Reuters. I think the number of dead will be in the dozens.”
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Claiming responsibility for the missile strikes across Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that it achieved its goal. A ministry statement posted on Telegram said: “All designated targets have been hit. The goal of the attack has been achieved.” However, it did not mention the attack on the Dnipro residential building.
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President Vladimir Putin has told Russian state television that what he calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine has gained positive momentum. “The dynamic is positive,” he told Rossiya 1 state television. “Everything is developing within the framework of the plan of the ministry of defence and the general staff.” Putin said he hoped soldiers would deliver more wins after Russia claimed control of the eastern Ukrainian salt-mining town of Soledar – a claim disputed by Kyiv.
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Battle tanks from German industrial reserves wanted by Ukraine will not be ready to be delivered until 2024. The warning from arms manufacturer Rheinmetall will dampen Kyiv’s hopes that the UK’s promise to deliver Challenger 2 tanks would encourage other European nations to swiftly follow suit. “Even if the decision to send our Leopard tanks to Kyiv came tomorrow, the delivery would take until the start of next year,” Rheinmetall’s chief executive, Armin Papperger, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
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The UK prime minister has confirmed the country will provide 14 of its Challenger 2 main battle tanks and other advanced artillery support to Ukraine in the coming weeks. Downing Street said Rishi Sunak made the pledge during a call on Saturday morning with Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a sign of the UK’s “ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine”. Russia’s embassy in Britain said the move would only “intensify” the conflict.
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The UK foreign secretary has said “now is the time to accelerate and go further and faster” in giving Ukraine the support it needs. In a column for British tabloid the Sun on Sunday, James Cleverly writes that the Russian army is on the defensive and morale among its troops is pitiful, blaming the “shambolic state of Russian military logistics”.
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Nato’s secretary general said Ukraine could expect more deliveries of heavy weapons from western countries soon. “The recent pledges for heavy warfare equipment are important – and I expect more in the near future,” Jens Stoltenberg told Germany’s Handelsblatt daily on Sunday. Western allies will consider sending battle tanks to Kyiv ahead of a meeting in Ramstein in Germany next Friday where governments are expected to announce their latest pledges of military support.
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Belarus’s security council said on Sunday that joint air force drills with Russia, due to start on Monday, were purely defensive in nature and would focus on reconnaissance missions and how to thwart a potential attack. “The exercise is purely defensive in nature,” said Pavel Muraveyko, first deputy state secretary of the Belarusian security council, according to a post on the Belarusian defence ministry’s Telegram app on Sunday. “It will be a set of measures to prepare our and Russian aviation to carry out the relevant combat missions.”
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