Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that members of NATO have deployed specialists to Ukraine in a psychological influence operation meant to disparage Russia.
Lt. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, Head of Interagency Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, specifically pointed to the United States and France of engaging in the PYSOP activities, according to reporting from Russia state-owned media. Mizintsev said that the foreign operatives are attempting to spread disinformation about Russia and lay the groundwork to accuse its forces of warm crimes.
But Rebekah Koffler, an author and former DIA intelligence officer, believes the declaration by Mizintsev is an attempt by Russia to launch its own disinformation campaign as a way to cover for potential crimes committed in Ukraine.
"This statement is almost certainly Russia’s own disinformation campaign intended to hide Russia’s hand in the atrocities that have been, are being, and will be conducted in the coming weeks by the Russian forces in Ukraine," Koffler said. "The goal is to blame Ukraine, in order to confuse Western audience about who exactly commits brutality in Ukraine."
The Ukrainian government assisted in the evacuation of 4,354 people from Mairupol and other Ukrainian cities on Monday, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement.
On Telegram, Vereshchuk said over 550 people from the group were evacuated from Mairupol while another nearly 3,300 were evacuated from the towns of Polohy, Vasylivka, Berdiansk and Melitopol.
Over 500 people were also evacuated out of Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna and Popasna, the deputy minister added.
The individuals were mostly taken to Zaporizhia, Ukrinform reported.
During his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces left behind a vast amount of mines and explosive devices in Ukrainian cities which they once occupied.
"Russian troops left behind tens if not hundreds of thousands of dangerous objects," he said.
While Ukrainian forces were successful in driving out the invaders, they now begin yet another dangerous mission to clear the way for civilians to return to these areas.
"These are shells that did not explode, mines, tripwire mines. At least several thousand such items are disposed of daily," Zelenskyy added.
{{#rendered}}Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian state-TV journalist who shocked the world last month with her on-air protest of the ongoing invasion in Ukraine, has landed a new job with a German newspaper.
Ovsyannikova, an editor for Russia's Channel One, disrupted one of the country's most-watched newscasts by appearing on the set with a large sign that read "No War."
On Monday, German publisher Axel Springer announced Ovsyannikova is joining its WELT newspaper as a freelance correspondent and will be a regular contributor to its TV channel.
Read more: Russian TV journalist who protested Ukraine invasion during newscast lands job with German newspaper
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said that the US has not been able to confirm reports of a chemical attack in Mariupol.
“We are aware of social media reports which claim Russian forces deployed a potential chemical munition in Mariupol, Ukraine," Kirby said in a statement Monday. "We cannot confirm at this time and will continue to monitor the situation closely. These reports, if true, are deeply concerning and reflective of concerns that we have had about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine.”
{{#rendered}}If Western countries implemented a "real embargo" on Russian oil and gas, then Putin's invasion of Ukraine could come to a halt in just a couple of months, a former chief economic adviser to Putin told the BBC.
"I would bet that probably within a month or two, Russian military operations in Ukraine, probably will be ceased, will be stopped," Dr. Andrei Illarionov, who resigned from his post as chief economic adviser to the Kremlin in 2005, told the British news outlet.
"It's one of the very effective instruments still in the possession of the Western countries."
Read more on Fox Business: Russia's invasion of Ukraine could be stopped with a 'real embargo' of oil: former Putin economic adviser
{{#rendered}}President Biden on Monday said the United States and India are in "close consultation" in managing the "destabilizing" effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The president held a virtual meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, and said the U.S. and India "share a strong and growing major defense partnership."
The meeting, according to a senior administration official, lasted for an hour. The two leaders had a "very candid" conversation to discuss "a range of bilateral and global issues."
"The meeting was warm and productive and they covered a lot of ground," the official said.
The Russian military has killed 10,000 Ukrainian civilians in the city of Mariupol alone, the city's mayor stated Monday.
Mayor Vadym Boychenko spoke over the phone with the Associated Press on Monday, saying bodies of civilians "carpeted" the streets. Boychenko also alleged that Russians had brought mobile crematoriums to dispose of the bodies and conceal the deaths.
Mariupol has seen some of the heaviest fighting in Ukraine since Russia began its invasion in late February. The city has faced near-constant shelling and is now largely unrecognizable.
Read more: Russia has killed 10,000 civilians in Mariupol alone, mayor says
{{#rendered}}Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Moscow remains interested in peace talks with Ukraine -- but won't pause its military operations when the two sides get together.
The development comes as Russian officials say negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government have been progressing at a pace slower than they hoped for, according to Reuters.
The news agency, citing comments Lavrov made Monday to Russian state television, quoted him as saying that President Vladimir Putin ordered the military to halt operations during the first round of talks in late February.
"After we became convinced that the Ukrainians were not planning to reciprocate, a decision was made that during the next rounds of talks, there would be no pause [in military action] so long as a final agreement is not reached," Lavrov reportedly said.
The United Nations Children's Fund said Monday that nearly two thirds of all children living in Ukraine have fled their homes during the Russian military invasion.
To date, at least 142 children have been killed and 229 have been injured during the war, UNICEF also said.
Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s emergency programs director who returned from Ukraine last week, told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that of the 3.2 million children estimated to have remained in their homes “nearly half may be at risk of not having enough food,” and attacks on water system infrastructure and power outages have left an estimated 1.4 million people in the country without access to water.
He said the situation is worse in cities like Mariupol and Kherson in the south, which have been besieged by Russian forces where children and their families have spent weeks without running water, sanitation or a regular supply of food.
“Hundreds of schools and educational facilities have been attacked or used for military purposes,” Fontaine said. “Others are serving as shelters for civilians.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Monday became the first leader from a European Union country to visit Moscow during its bloody invasion of Ukraine, holding what he described as a "very direct, open and tough" meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Nehammer’s Moscow visit comes after a trip on Saturday to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a statement released by his office after the meeting, Nehammer said Monday his primary message to Putin was "that this war needs to end, because in war both sides can only lose."
The Austrian leader stressed that the Monday trip was "not a friendly visit," but rather his "duty" to exhaust every possibility for ending the violence in Ukraine.
Austria, according to Reuters, gets 80% of its natural gas from Russia. Austria is a member of the European Union and has backed the 27-nation bloc’s sanctions against Russia, though it so far has opposed cutting off deliveries of Russian gas.
For more on this story: Russia welcomes first EU head of state to Moscow since Ukraine invasion began
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
{{#rendered}}Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told the Associated Press Monday that more than 10,000 civilians have died in the southeastern city since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.
Boychenko said corpses were “carpeted through the streets of our city” and that the death toll could be more than 20,000.
The figures could not be independently confirmed.
Boychenko's comments come hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said "tens of thousands" of Ukrainians have been killed in Mariupol.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Fresh images are emerging showing Ukraine’s military striking back at Russian forces in the Donbas region as its fight against Vladimir Putin’s army is shifting east.
The scenes of rockets being launched at Russian positions near the city of Luhansk comes as the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense is reporting frequent shelling by Moscow’s forces there.
"Russian shelling has continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with Ukrainian forces repulsing several assaults resulting in the destruction of Russian tanks, vehicles, and artillery equipment," it said in a tweet Monday.
"Russia’s continued reliance on unguided bombs decreases their ability to discriminate when targeting and conducting strikes while greatly increasing the risk of further civilian casualties," the tweet added.
For more on this story: Images show Ukrainian troops fighting back against Russia as battle shifts east
Russia’s military on Monday is claiming to have destroyed air defense systems that were "delivered to the Kyiv regime by a European country."
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said in a statement that the four S-300 launchers were hidden in a hanger near the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro and that 25 Ukrainian soldiers were also hit in the strike, according to Reuters.
"High-precision sea-launched Kalibr missiles destroyed the equipment of a S-300 anti-aircraft missile division which had been delivered to the Kyiv regime by a European country," the ministry reportedly added.
Russia didn’t elaborate on which country allegedly supplied the air defense systems to Ukraine.
But NATO member Slovakia, which announced Friday that it gave an S-300 system to Ukraine, said theirs has not been hit, Reuters reports.
For more on this story: Russia says it destroyed Ukrainian air defense systems gifted by unidentified European country
{{#rendered}}Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that "Mariupol is destroyed, tens of thousands people [are] dead but Russians are still continuing the military operation."
Zelenskyy made the remark while addressing South Korean lawmakers.
"Ukraine needs various military technologies from airplanes to tanks," he reportedly said, according to Reuters. "South Korea can help us."
Mariupol officials have estimated that roughly 5,000 civilians had been killed, but warned last week that given the size of the destruction caused to the city the death toll could be in the tens of thousands.
The Mariupol City Council last week also accused Russian forces of relying on a mobile crematorium to cover up their alleged war crimes there.
For more on this story: Zelenskyy claims 'tens of thousands' killed by Russian military in Mariupol
During a nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said President Joe Biden was "the person" who could stop Russia's invasion of his country.
“Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state,” Zelenskyy cautioned, saying he has provided Biden a list of resources he needs to ensure Ukraine's survival.
“To be honest, whether we will be able to (survive) depends on this,” the Ukrainian president said. “Unfortunately, I don’t have the confidence that we will be receiving everything we need."
“He has the list,” Zelenskyy added. “President Biden can enter history as the person who stood shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian people who won and chose the right to have their own country. (This) also depends on him.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin, a Ukraine separatist who once left his region in an attempt to join Russia, has blamed Ukraine and its leadership for the civilian deaths in Mariupol.
According to Pushilin, Ukraine — not Russia's military — is responsible for thousands of victims in the city, according to Russian news outlet.
“To say that it is five thousand or not is a very modest designation of the real number of victims,” Pushilin told a group of reporters Monday.
{{#rendered}}Nuns at the Greek Catholic Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family have opened their doors to nearly 40 people who have been displaced by Russia's military invasion in Ukraine.
Many of the children who arrived traumatized are now laughing and hugging their nuns.
"In the beginning, they were a little reticent. This is a new place for them. They came from cities where (there is shooting), where there are constant (air raid) sirens," said Sister Dominica, the head nun.
Read more: Ukrainian nuns open their monastery doors to the displaced
{{#rendered}}At least 1,793 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 2,439 have been injured since the start of the Russia-Ukraine War, according to a report.
The figure includes 458 men, 294 women, as well as 899 adults whose gender is not known, the UN reported.
The number also includes 27 girls and 46 boys and an additional 69 whose genders are not know, per the report.
Russia may orchestrate a provocation in Moldova and blame it on Ukraine, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine warned late on Sunday.
"It is possible that the armed forces of the russian federation will carry out provocative actions in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova in order to accuse Ukraine of aggression against a neighboring state," the general staff posted on Facebook.
{{#rendered}}The latest figures from the United Nations has determined over 6.48 million people have been displaced inside Ukraine.
The report comes as over 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees have been forced to flee the war-torn country, with most of them traveling to Poland and neighboring countries.
While negotiations to end the military siege are continuing, so too is Russia's military occupation of Ukrainian cities and their shelling of population centers.
Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Monday morning that he believed Russia's military forces would launch an overwhelming offensive effort to take several Ukrainian cities, according to a report.
The potential attack would include efforts to take Mariupol, Kyiv and Donetsk, the official said, Reuters reported.
"There will be an offensive," Kadyrov said on Telegram, "not only on Mariupol, but also on other places, cities and villages."
"Luhansk and Donetsk - we will fully liberate in the first place ... and then take Kyiv and all other cities," he added via the report.
The report comes as at least 227 civilians were reported dead in Donetsk, with another 748 civilians that were wounded.
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