Fierce fighting continued in and around Bakhmut, and Kyiv mocked Russia’s claims of seizing the administrative center of the city in eastern Ukraine, saying its enemies had raised a victory flag on “some toilet bowl.” Finland will become a NATO member on Tuesday, completing a historic shift in security policy. caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while neighboring Sweden remains in the waiting room.

The latest on the war in Ukraine, day 405, LIVETEXT:

07:40 New satellite images of Crimea taken by Maxar Technologies show a complex network of trenches that show Russia has built dozens of defense structures stretching for miles, the Washington Post reports. Despite the fact that Russia has built defense structures in other places, the scale of those located in Crimea, according to experts, stands out.

“For Putin, Crimea is simply a sacred cow. If something happens, troops will be immediately sent to this line of defense,” said Russian military analyst Yan Matveev.

Oil prices exploded after production cuts

06:51Oil prices rose more than 6% on Monday, the biggest daily gain in nearly a year.

05:53 Russian drones hit Odesa port

01:30 Zelensky:
generals-sirski-tarnavski-are-the-hottest-spots-on-the-front-line.htm”>We are thoroughly preparing actions to liberate our territories / Generals Sirski and Tarnavski are in the hottest spots on the front line

00:45Lavrov: Russia and China will “side by side” defend their interests

00:25 Russia will no longer pay its contribution to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

A brief summary of recent events:

• US journalist Evan Hershkovich, who was arrested and accused of spying in Russia last week, has appealed his pre-trial detention, with Washington saying it “insists” on his release.
• The Russian commissioner for children’s rights, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes in Ukraine, is likely to give a briefing at an informal meeting of the UN Security Council, according to a memorandum seen by Reuters.
• Russia launched 17 Iranian-made Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles to attack Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian Air Force Command said Tuesday morning, with air defense systems destroying 14 of them.
• The military command in eastern Ukraine said that Russian forces were “very far” from capturing Bakhmut: “They raised a flag over some toilet. They attached it to the side of I don’t know what (building), hung a cloth and they said they captured the city. Very well, let they think they captured him.”
• Russia has accused Ukraine of masterminding the killing of prominent military blogger Vladlen Tatarskyi in a St. Petersburg cafe and arrested a Russian woman who appears on police video admitting to planting the bomb that killed him. Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded the victim of the attack on the blogger. The Russian authorities say that the Anti-Corruption Foundation of the dissident Oleksii Navalny was involved in the organization of the murder.
• Elections in Bulgaria: surprise result of pro-Russian party may encourage pro-European parties to overcome rivalry and form a coalition
• By order of President Oleksandr Lukashenka, an inspection of the combat training of the Belarusian army began on Monday, the Ministry of Defense in Minsk reported.
• Zelensky said he would like Vladimir Putin to spend the rest of his life locked in a basement with a bucket instead of a toilet. He said this on Monday, when he visited a Ukrainian village liberated by Russian troops a year ago.
• The Republic of Moldova is Ukraine’s most vulnerable neighbor, and some wanted Moldova to fall and thus weaken Ukraine and the European Union, Maia Sandu said Monday in Kotrocheny.
• Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that he welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s peace plan, which respects the central principles of the UN Charter, but there are no signs that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is preparing for peace, but for a “bigger war.”
• Russia’s message after cutting oil production: This is in the interests of the world market. Whether other countries are satisfied or not is their business
• Oleksandr Grusko, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, gave Moscow’s first reaction on Monday to NATO’s announcement that Finland would be accepted into the North Atlantic alliance in a day’s time.
• An image on social media shows Ukrainian fighters receiving a rare type of American grenade designed to destroy soldiers in fortified positions such as bunkers.
• James Olson, the former head of the CIA’s counterintelligence division, says Russian President Vladimir Putin may be a “walking corpse” about his political future as Russia’s leader.

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• Monday’s events related to Russian aggression were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro