The battle for eastern and southern Ukraine is enduring as Ukrainian forces push back against Russian offensives in Donetsk and Mariupol.
Here are the latest headlines:
Zelensky suspends top officials and names interims: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has suspended, not fired his Prosecutor General and the head of the Security Service to prevent their interference in the investigations of some people in their departments, according to the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Smyrnov. Talking to Ukrainian television on Monday, Smyrnov said Ukraine identifies enemy “collaborators in these law enforcement agencies every week.” In separate presidential decrees issued on Monday, Zelensky named the first deputy head of the Secret Service, Vasyl Maliuk, to temporarily replace Ivan Bakanov, and Ukraine’s deputy prosecutor general, Oleksii Symonenko, to lead in Iryna Venediktova’s stead.
Foreign ministers’ meeting: At the European Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brussels, the focus is on Ukraine. Ahead of the meeting, the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday said that they will not “stop supporting Ukraine and putting sanctions on Russia.” Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted the main points of his message to the EU: “weapons to Ukraine, sanctions on Russia, and accountability for Russia are the three ways to restore peace, enhance security, and protect stability in Europe.”
Battle for the South: Ukrainian officials say a steady flow of Russian military equipment is moving westward from Mariupol toward other parts of southern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces are on the offensive. A convoy of up to 100 units of military equipment passed through Mariupol in the direction of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, according to Ukrainian officials. Some independent analysts believe this is to support Russian forces in Kherson that have come under attack from Ukrainian long-range weapons. Towns in Donetsk have been under constant shelling in Russia’s attempt for control. On Monday, a Ukrainian official said that a two-story building in Toretsk was hit, from which “the rescue service found and recovered the bodies of 5 dead people.”
Ukrainian defense: Ukraine has struck two warehouses in Russian-occupied territory — one in Chulakivka late on Sunday and another in Raiske in the early hours of Monday morning, the adviser to the head of Kherson’s military administration, Serhii Khlan, told CNN. The Ukrainian military said Russian forces are also trying to eliminate its defensive positions in Donetsk, with the town of Siversk their immediate priority, but they appear to be defending terrain further west with tenacity — despite superior Russian firepower.
