Geography of Ukraine

Russia's offensive in Donbas has begun, world leaders are meeting in an emergency meeting, Putin has rewarded the Bucha executioners. Here are the highlights of events in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Russia's offensive in Donbas has started

Russia has launched a major offensive into eastern Ukraine, authorities in Kiev said, opening a new phase of its invasion after being thwarted in efforts to capture the capital.

At least three people have been killed in another Russian shelling of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, local authorities said. This happened a day after six other people were killed in a shelling of the city, AFP reported.

Ukrainian guards on an artillery patrol boat in Mariupol in January 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY VAGANOV

Fourteen Bulgarian seamen and one Ukrainian who have been evacuated from a ship that was stranded in embattled Mariupol, arrived on Monday in the Bulgarian city of Varna, the authorities said.

The sailors from the ship "Tsarevna" arrived in their homeland. They were picked up by a government plane. The machine landed at Varna Airport.

14 Bulgarian citizens and one citizen of Ukraine, a graduate of the Bulgarian Naval School, were evacuated from the port of Mariupol.

Here are the highlights from recent events related to the war in Ukraine:

BBC correspondent Joe Inwood in Dnipro reports that air raid sirens are now "heard almost constantly" throughout eastern Ukraine.

Zelensky: Russia seeks to "destroy" Donbas

Braced for an all-out Russian assault in the east, Ukraine vowed to "fight absolutely to the end" in strategically vital Mariupol, where the ruined port city's last known pocket of resistance was holed up in a sprawling steel plant laced with tunnels.

"Next week could be difficult. This may be the last chance to save you," Lugansk Regional State Administration Chief Sergei Gaidai was quoted as saying by the BBC.

Konashenkov adds that the regime in Kyiv has ordered the shooting of anyone who wants to surrender.
According to him, in the former metallurgical plant "Azovstal", together with the Ukrainian forces, about 400 foreign mercenaries were blocked, most of whom are citizens of European countries, and there are also citizens of Canada, Izvestia writes.

Russian Ministry of Defense announced that "the entire urban part of Mariupol has been cleared of Ukrainian forces."
The Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that its naval units are preparing for the Russian landing in the area of Mariupol, after they announced that Russia carried out assault operations near that port.