At least 14 people were killed in Russian strikes across Ukraine, state agency says
From CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey and Josh Pennington
Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities killed at least 14 people and wounded 97 others on Monday, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said.
The strikes also knocked out power in the regions of Kyiv, Lviv, Sumy, Ternopil and Khmelnytsky, the agency said.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia launched more than 84 missile and air strikes. Ukraine claimed it intercepted 56 of the missiles and drones.
The military said around 20 Ukrainian settlements were hit.
International response: Global leaders have condemned the Russian attacks and vowed to continue to support Ukraine in its war efforts. Additionally, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said the agency would be conducting a criminal investigation.
Ukraine and Russia duel at UN General Assembly hours after missile strikes on Kyiv and other cities
From CNN’s Richard Roth and Artemis Moshtaghian
Hours after Russia launched large-scale air strikes in Ukraine, the two nations dueled in the United Nations General Assembly ahead of a likely vote this week on whether to condemn Moscow’s move to annex partially-occupied regions in Ukraine.
Late Monday, the audience reaction summed up the initial results: Ukraine’s UN Ambassador received applause while Russia’s delegate was met with silence.
Ukraine’s Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya opened his remarks by saying, “My day started almost 14 hours ago because my country was under attack” and described his family sheltering in a building.
“My immediate family was in a residential building under attack, unable to go to a bomb shelter because there was no electricity. Because Russia has already killed some of my family members and we see no end to that cruelty,” Kyslytsya said.
A debate of more than 66 speakers is expected to lead to a vote on a resolution strongly condemning Russia’s annexation and declaring them illegal under international law.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he saw dangerous cynicism in the room with countries ganging up on Moscow, and he scoffed at nations who accused his country of breaching the charter by invading Ukraine.
Earlier, the General Assembly soundly defeated a Russian bid to allow the vote on the annexation to be carried out by secret ballot. The vote in favor of a non-secret ballot was 107 nations. Thirteen were opposed. Thirty-nine nations abstained.
Kyiv mayor posts video of the city’s famous glass bridge hours after it was damaged by Russian missile strike
From CNN’s Julia Kesaieva
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko posted a video of himself crossing a famous pedestrian bridge above the river Dnipro that was damaged by a Russian strike earlier Monday.
As he crossed, Klitschko said in the video posted on Telegram:
“Our pedestrian bridge with a picturesque view was damaged by the barbarians, the glass was damaged. Here I can see some missile wreckage, shrapnel. The glass is shattered. But we will renew this.”
Klitschko said it was fortunate nobody was injured in the attack.
“The municipal workers are cleaning already. The glass will be changed. In a few days, it will be alright. Metal structures are all intact,” he added.
There’s widespread condemnation of Russia’s missile strikes. Here’s what else you should know today
Russia launched 84 cruise missiles at Ukraine on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials, who said critical infrastructure facilities, mainly handling the energy supply, were struck, leaving several regions without power.
At least 11 people died and 64 were injured in the attacks, the officials said.
Here are the top headlines:
- Infrastructure impacted: At least four regions — Lviv, Poltava, Sumy and Ternopil — had no electricity supply. Authorities requested Lviv residents who may have access to electricity to only use it for “urgent needs.” Kyiv briefly suspended its subway operations. The region of Khmelnytskyi, which lies west of Kyiv, has “no electricity supply, electric transport does not work, water supply is suspended, traffic lights do not work,” according to the region’s head.
- Ukraine will keep fighting: Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine will continue to liberate territories despite the attacks on Monday. Last week, Russian forces had begun to intensify their strikes, launching missile attacks on residential buildings in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia that killed at least 43 civilians over a period of a week, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
- Putin blames Ukraine for attack on Crimean bridge: Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the Crimean bridge blast, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukrainian special services of the weekend attack. He said Monday’s strikes were in response, but Ukrainian intelligence says the attacks had been planned since early last week.
- International support: President Joe Biden said Russian missile strikes are a display of Putin’s “utter brutality” and that the attacks “only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes.” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola called for the EU to provide Ukraine with more military equipment, specifically tanks.
- War crime investigations: Karim Ahmad Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, said he believes that there will be justice for war crimes committed during Russia’s war in Ukraine. He said he is “extremely concerned” by the civilian deaths following numerous Russian strikes Monday and said that the ICC would be conducting a criminal investigation.
Biden spoke with Zelensky and pledged advanced air defense systems to Ukraine, according to White House
From CNN’s Sam Fossum
US President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday to condemn Russia’s recent missile strikes and pledge continued US security assistance, including advanced air defense systems, according to a White House readout of the call.
“He expressed his condemnation of Russia’s missile strikes across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, and conveyed his condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured in these senseless attacks,” according to the White House readout. “President Biden pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems.”
The readout did not provide additional details on what advanced air defense systems were discussed.
“He also underscored his ongoing engagement with allies and partners to continue imposing costs on Russia, holding Russia accountable for its war crimes and atrocities, and providing Ukraine with security, economic, and humanitarian assistance,” the readout continued.
In a statement earlier Monday, Biden said the recent wave of Russian strikes “once again demonstrate the utter brutality of Mr. Putin’s illegal war on the Ukrainian people.”
There will be a “day of reckoning” on Ukraine war, top international prosecutor tells CNN
From CNN’s Emmet Lyons and Claire Calzonetti
Karim Ahmad Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), said he believes that there will be justice for war crimes committed during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
International law is going to “ensure that there will be a day of reckoning in Ukraine and other situations where any bully, any individual with a gun or with a missile, or with the capacity to inflict terror on the most vulnerable of our next generations, will realize that the law is there,” Khan told CNN on Monday.
“’The law may not be as strong as many people want, but it is not as weak as many people think. And the law is in play,” Khan said.
The ICC chief said that he is “extremely concerned” by the civilian deaths following numerous Russian strikes that swept across Ukraine on Monday. He told CNN that the ICC would be conducting a criminal investigation.
“I have members of my office that last night were in bunkers along with many other civilians. Ukrainian children, women and men and this is a matter that engages issues of morality, issues of law and issues of empathy and humanity,” he said.
“We need to be there to get to the truth,” he added.
Ukraine will continue offensive actions despite Russian strikes, foreign minister says
From CNN’s Emmet Lyons and Maddie Araujo
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine will continue to liberate territories across Ukraine despite a wave of Russian missile attacks on Monday.
“Whatever he [Putin] does, we will continue to liberate our territory,” Kuleba told CNN.
“This is the war for the existence of Ukraine. This is the war for the existence of international law and rule-based order. So he may escalate, he may do whatever he wants. But we are going to continue fighting and we will win,” he added.
Kuleba said the “vast majority” of targets in the Russian assault were energy facilities, adding saying that he is “not aware of any major military facility that was targeted. It was only energy facilities and civilian houses, apartment buildings.”
He said that he believed the attack was an act of vengeance by Russian President Vladimir Putin following recent defeats on the battlefield.
“There should be no doubt that the goal of this attack was to terrorize a peaceful population and to make their life as difficult as possible. I’m pretty sure, I’m confident that this is the result of Putin’s defeat on the battleground. When his army cannot beat Ukrainian army, he chose to terrorize civilians in response as revenge,” Kuleba said.
When pressed on whether Ukraine was responsible for a massive explosion on a key strategic bridge linking Crimea and Russia, Kuleba said that he doesn’t “know who blew up the bridge. I wouldn’t exclude something happening inside of Russia because this bridge is so heavily protected from all sides.”
Putin “not capable” of accepting defeat in Ukraine, says Finnish president
From CNN’s Arnaud Siad
Russian President Vladimir Putin is incapable of accepting defeat in Ukraine, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said on Monday at a joint press conference in Oslo with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
“I have said that I found it very difficult to see that President Putin could acknowledge any kind of defeat. Is he capable [of] that? That is the question. And I think he is not capable of taking a defeat,” Niinistö said.
Støre was not hopeful of any kind of negotiated resolution and an end to Russian aggression, saying “unfortunately that isn’t an immediate prospect.”
Both Nordic leaders condemned deadly strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine on Monday. “This is an unacceptable attack on civilians and a breach on all principles key to humanitarian law and international rules and regulations,” the Norwegian Prime Minister said.
“Nuclear threats, mobilization and sham referenda and annexation of territory under occupation is simply unacceptable and it has to be rebuffed by the democracies of Europe in a very consistent way,” he added.
Niinistö said: “What has happened now in Ukraine, well, it is indiscriminate bombing targeting civilians, targeting also infrastructure which is most important for civilians. Of course it’s terror [in] people’s minds. Unfortunately, it seems that, in the war, there is a new pace opening or starting and that is a kind of escalation in the situation.”