Ukraine updates: Kyiv and Moscow report overnight strikes

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced he was going to visit India for the first time later this week. Kuleba announced the trip while extending Holi wishes to Indians celebrating the Hindu festival of colors marking the advent of spring on Monday.

"I wish everyone a happy Holi! Standing here in Kyiv, in front of Mahatma Gandhi's monument, I am also pleased to announce that this week I will pay my first-ever visit to India," he said in a video.

India has traditionally had close economic and defense ties with Moscow and has refrained from criticizing Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

The visit comes following an invitation from Klueba's Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, after a phone call between Indian Prime Minister Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the beginning of the year.

Modi held separate phone calls last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy and discussed strengthening ties with both. Kuleba will seek to build support for its peace plan, Reuters news agency reported citing two unnamed Indian officials.

Russia's Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev ignored a summons to appear at Warsaw's Foreign Ministry on Monday after Poland said a Russian missile launched at targets in western Ukraine violated its airspace. 

"The ambassador of the Russian Federation ... did not attend the Foreign Ministry today to explain the incident," ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski told reporters, adding that his failure to attend led the government to question "whether he is able to properly represent the interests of the Russian Federation in Warsaw."  

Poland had reported the incident on Sunday, saying that a missile strayed into its airspace for 39 seconds, crossing roughly 2 kilometers into its territory in the process, before returning to neighboring Ukraine.

Russia's embassy in Warsaw confirmed that Andreev did not attend. 

"The ambassador asked whether the Polish side was ready to provide evidence for its claims," it said, referencing what it described as a "similar situation" in December last year. 

"Since the replies of our Polish colleagues did not indicate that such evidence would be provided this time, the ambassador decided that a discussion on this topic would be pointless and rejected the invitation to the meeting," the embassy said. 

 

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday warned Russia against any "exploitation" of Friday's deadly concert hall attack in Moscow in which at least 137 people were killed.

Macron said that it would be "cynical and counterproductive for Russia to use this context to try and turn it against Ukraine."

Macron said France had information that "ISIS-K," an offshoot of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) had carried out Friday's attack. 

"It was an entity of Islamic State that planned the attack and carried it out," Macron told reporters, adding that "this particular group made several attempts [at attacks] on our own [French] soil."

The Kremlin on Monday said it would not comment on the ISIS-K claims of responsibility.

"The investigation is ongoing. No coherent version has been voiced yet. We are talking only about preliminary data," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly mentioned the Islamist group's involvement but has claimed, without providing evidence, that the attackers were trying to escape to Ukraine. Kyiv has strongly denied any connection.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) said that while it believed Russia would be able to muster manpower for two new armies in 2024, it would face challenges relating to the state of its equipment and training.

The MOD was referring to the formation of two new armies announced by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on March 20.

The daily UK intelligence briefing said that while the exact composition of the force was as yet unknown, it would likely comprise of "mechanized, armored, artillery and logistics" units.

The MOD said that Russia had been successful in recruitment efforts and that it was likely the units would be sufficiently staffed.

The MOD however pointed out "that given Russia's limited training widespread use of legacy equipment and infrastructure issues, it is likely these units will suffer similar resourcing problems."

Russia is estimated to have incurred significant military losses since launching its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A declassified US intelligence assessment shared with Congress in December said there had been 315,000 dead and injured troops, or nearly 90% of its pre-war force.

Russia has previously said reports on the scale of losses have been exaggerated.

Ukraine said on Monday that five people were injured following a Russian missile strike on Kyiv.

Kyiv's military administration chief, Sergiy Popko, said two Russian ballistic missiles were launched from the annexed Crimean peninsula, in the third such attack on the capital in five days.

Regional authorities said that debris from a missile hit a two-story residential building in the region, setting it alight.

"Five people were injured in the Pechersky district. Three were treated at the scene. Two were hospitalized," Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on social media.

US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, said that Kyiv had been attacked by "hypersonic missiles" in a social media post on Monday and called for more assistance.

Ukraine's military also said that Russian drones had struck the country's electricity grid in the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions, causing power outages.

State-owned power utility Ukrenergo said that a substation in Mykolaiv had been struck. Russian forces have increased attacks on Ukraine's power infrastructure in recent days with Kharkiv being particularly badly hit.

Russian regional authorities in Rostov meanwhile reported that a fire had broken out in a power station and said that the cause of the blaze was under investigation.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces destroyed 11 drones launched over Rostov by Ukraine, which borders the region, but did not say if there was any related damage.