TOP HEADLINES

· Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed Eduard Moskalyov as commander of the joint forces of Ukraine. No reason was given.

· Vladimir Putin said the stand-off with the West over Ukraine was a battle for Russia's survival and that he was forced to consider NATO's nuclear capabilities while deliberating on the conflict.

· Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev said Western arms supply to Kyiv risked a global nuclear catastrophe.

· A Russian missile killed one person in the western Ukrainian town of Khmelnitskyi as the capital Kyiv and other cities sounded the alarm amid a wave of overnight strikes.

· One of Ukraine's most senior generals visited Bakhmut to boost morale as Russian forces close in on the bombed-out Donetsk city, which is considered a stepping stone for Moscow to take the whole of the Donbas region.

· Russia is targeting areas of the frontlines near Kharkiv's Kupiansk, and Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine's armed forces said.

· Belarusian anti-government activists have claimed responsibility for a drone attack on a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft at an airfield near Minsk.

· More than 100 heads of state and ministers join a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the situation in Ukraine, including alleged war crimes.

· The EU has vowed to increase pressure on Moscow "until Ukraine is liberated" after passing a tenth package of sanctions against Russia.

IN DETAIL

China said it is seeking dialogue and peace for Ukraine after the U.S. alleged that it might be considering sending weapons to Russia to aid its campaign. On Friday, the first anniversary of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, China published a 12-point plan calling for a ceasefire and gradual de-escalation of the conflict, warning against the use of nuclear weapons and saying the conflict benefited no one.

Kyiv was receptive to the proposals but said there could be no peace without a total Russian withdrawal, something Moscow has ruled out. 

On Monday, China said it was in contact with all sides in the crisis and its position was clear. "The core is to call for peace and promote dialogue and promote a political solution to the crisis," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a news briefing in Beijing.

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Moscow's forces are trying to make gains in east Ukraine as Kyiv readies to launch a counter-offensive bolstered by advanced Western weapons, including battle tanks.

NATO allies said they were trying to dissuade China from supplying Russia with weapons. China has refuted a similar allegation from the Biden Administration saying the U.S. "kept smearing China by falsely claiming that China might offer weapons to Russia." 

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