TOP HEADLINES

• Russian troops are employing "scorched earth" tactics in the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, according to the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, flattening buildings with airstrikes and artillery in a style reminiscent of Moscow's military campaign in Syria. However, he added that Ukraine's defenses continued. READ MORE BELOW

• Ukraine's military reported a barrage of Russian strikes along the frontline, with the attacks and heaviest fighting still focused on the two cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka in eastern Donetsk region. Kyiv said it repelled more than 40 enemy strikes over the past 24 hours.

• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit out at a series of Russian air strikes that coincided with Palm Sunday, a key date in the Christian calender, including an attack that killed a father and daughter at home in the city of Zaporizhzhia.

• Russia will overhaul its air forces and bolster its air defenses as a response to its experience of the Ukraine conflict and as direct reaction to Finland's accession to NATO, a commander in Russia's aerospace forces said.

• Russia has destroyed a Ukrainian depot containing 70,000 tonnes of fuel near the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, its defense ministry has announced.

• U.S. officials said Russia or pro-Russian elements were likely behind the leaking of highly classified U.S. military and intelligence documents, with details ranging from Ukraine's air defenses to Israel's Mossad spy agency. 

• Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister is set to visit India, where she will seek humanitarian aid and equipment to repair damaged energy infrastructure, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

IN DETAIL

'Scorched earth' tactics in Bakhmut 

Russian forces are pressing attacks in the eastern Donetsk region, with a Kyiv commander saying Ukrainian positions were being pounded by air strikes and artillery barrage in what he called "scorched earth" tactics.

The focus of the attacks continues to be on the besieged strategic town of Bakhmut, which lies at the edge of a chunk of Russian-controlled territory and has for months been the site of the biggest battle of the conflict.

Ukraine's Armed Forces General Staff said on Sunday fighting was heaviest along the western approaches to Bakhmut, adding that Russia was also targeting the nearby city of Avdiivka.

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On Monday, ground forces commander Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said the defence of Bakhmut continued. "The situation is difficult but controllable," he said, according to Ukraine's Media Military Center.

Moscow was sending in special forces and airborne assault units to bolster the attack, Syrskyi said, claiming members of Russia's private mercenary Wagner group were now exhausted. Wagner fighters have led the Russian assault on Bakhmut which has left the town largely in ruins.

"The enemy switched to the so-called scorched earth tactics from Syria. It is destroying buildings and positions with air strikes and artillery fire," Syrskyi said.

Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces were trying unsuccessfully to advance on areas west of Bakhmut, while also failing to make headway in Avdiivka. Donetsk is one of four provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia is seeking to fully occupy. 

If Moscow were to control Bakhmut, it would allow Russian forces to directly target Ukrainian defensive lines in Chasiv Yar in the east and open the way for its forces to advance on two bigger cities in the Donetsk region - Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

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