Ukraine war briefing: Russia pressures US to clear way for attacks on Kyiv

Sergei Lavrov pressured the US to evacuate staff from its embassy in Kyiv during a phone call with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Monday. Russia has threatened “systematic strikes” on the capital and demanded that foreigners leave. The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, urged Kyiv’s allies not to give in to “Russian blackmail”. Katarina Mathernova, the head of the EU mission in Kyiv, said the 27-nation bloc was “not going anywhere”. Mathernova said: “Russia wants fear, panic, isolation of Ukraine. It will not work. The EU is not going anywhere. We are staying in Kyiv. We are staying with Ukraine.”

In Kyiv, rescuers tackled the aftermath of Sunday’s strikes, which authorities said killed at least four people and injured 91. More than 70 foreign diplomats paid their respects to the victims of the strikes, visiting the heavily damaged neighbourhood of Lukyanivka. Agence France-Presse reported that Kyiv residents returned to their normal routines on Monday – sunbathing on terraces, playing in the streets, sitting at cafes – with some saying they had become desensitised after more than four years of war.

“We’re used to it,” said Roman, a 36-year-old firefighter who helped clear the ruins from one of many destroyed buildings. “Emotions take a back seat,” he said as behind him a young man stepped over a heap of charred debris, taking care not to spill his latte macchiato. On one street, children played metres from the site of a Russian strike. “Watch out for glass!” one woman shouted at them.

After one coffee shop was damage by a strike, dozens of Kyiv residents flocked to support the business, queueing up to make orders despite the damage. The owner, Yevgen Prusak, became a minor social media celebrity after serving hot drinks to rescuers through the blown-out windows of his shop. “Yesterday I thought I was going to close for good,” said Prusak, the 35-year-old owner of Hogo cafe. But seeing customers come back, “I understood who I’m working for”.

Among the buildings damaged was the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a small college that specialises in liberal arts. Mykola, 17, and Maksym, 18, came to class despite the attack. “We don’t give this so much meaning. Life is not stopping,” said Mykola. “It affects sleep the most,” said Mykola. “I’ve gotten used to it, but before, at the beginning, it was downright stressful.”

For the Guardian’s comment section, Nathalie Tocci writes: “I was in Kyiv a few weeks ago, and am looking forward to returning next month. At no point since late 2022 have I sensed such grounded confidence.” Ukrainians do not believe the end of the war is imminent – “a bloody war of attrition, in which Russia has advanced at a snail’s pace. Yet Ukrainians also see that the snail is moving slower and slower, almost grinding to a halt. The cracks in the Russian economy are ever more visible. Ukrainians are acutely aware of the vast resources being poured into Russia’s war machine, but this merely boosts Ukrainians’ confidence in their ability to keep resisting.”

In a display of solidarity, the exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya arrived in Kyiv on Monday on her first visit to Ukraine. Ukraine has announced it is stepping up security measures around its northern border with Belarus over the threat of fresh Russian attacks from that front. Tikhanovskaya was forced from Belarus following 2020 presidential elections that saw the dictator Alexander Lukashenko announce victory, despite credible claims from the opposition and European countries that Tsikhanouskaya was the real winner.

Tsikhanouskaya said she visited the grave of Maria Zaitseva, a Belarusian woman who joined anti-Lukashenko protests in Belarus and also helped to counter Russia’s invasion before being killed. “Maria is a symbol of a new generation of Belarusians. People who understand that the freedom of Belarus and the freedom of Ukraine are inseparable.”

Ukraine has continued its attacks against Russian infrastructure and industrial assets. Ukraine struck a Russian oil depot in the Bryansk region, Kyiv’s general staff said on Monday. The depot is part of the fuel supply chain for the Russian army, it said.

In Russia’s Belgorod region, a missile and drone attack cut power and water supplies, with one man killed, local authorities said. The Russia-installed head of parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, who is under international sanctions, said seven people were killed in Ukrainian attacks. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians since Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.

In Ukrainian-held territory, two people were killed and 16 wounded in Russian attacks over 24 hours in the southern Kherson region, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. In a missile attack on Monday on the town of Derhachi near Kharkiv, two people were killed and more than 20 injured, officials said.

In the Black Sea port of Odesa, the city’s top official said one person was killed and three injured in a Russian strike. A further 14 were wounded in the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, officials said, while emergency services said drones attacked a nine-storey apartment building in the town of Pavlohrad. The governor of those parts of Donetsk region held by Ukraine, Vadym Filashkin, said 12 people had been hurt in the frontline city of Kramatorsk.

Zelenskyy, in his nightly address on Monday, said Ukraine had made little progress with the US in expanding production of anti-missile defences. He also repeated that Kyiv was “expecting new diplomatic measures” from Washington.