Ukraine updates: Russia hits Kharkiv, Odesa in new strikes

Authorities in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, have begun dismantling a giant Soviet-era monument.

The granite structure was built in 1982 to celebrate "friendship" between Ukrainians and Russians.

It depicts the signing of a 1654 treaty that binded Ukraine to Russian rule.

"The dismantlement could take several days since the structure is quite massive. It includes around 20 pieces" weighing between six and seven tons each, the mayor's office said.

The monument will be transferred to a museum in Kyiv.

Ukraine has been dismantling Soviet-era monuments and renaming towns and cities since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. This process has intensified since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

One small line on page 86 of the 2023 annual review data from Ukraine's Supreme Court attracted considerable attention in domestic media on Tuesday. 

It showed that 930 people were convicted in 2023 for failing to heed orders to sign up for military service. That's quite a sharp increase on the 186 such convictions recorded in 2022.

Article 336 of Ukraine's constitution requires that people honor a call to mobilize in a military draft, or face a prison term of between 2 and 5 years.

The government in Kyiv has been trying to do more to ensure people participate in military service in recent months. Last week, for instance, the country announced it would suspend consular services like passport renewal for most Ukrainians living abroad unless they also registered with the military, therefore potentially increasing the chances of them being called up. 

However, despite last week's rule changes, Ukrainian Minister of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna told DW on Tuesday in Brussels that Kyiv "does not plan to forcibly return its citizens — men of conscription age — from abroad."

Long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) were shot down over the Moscow-controlled Crimean Peninsula, Russian authorities said on Tuesday.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed head of the peninsula, posted on Telegram a photo purportedly showing undetonated submunitions of ATACMS missiles. He did not specify how many missiles had been shot down, or when.

If the information's accurate, it would be among the first known or suspected Ukrainian uses of this technology. A US official said last week that Ukraine had used them twice following the recent secret shipment from the US.

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

An air strike by Russian forces on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkivkilled at least one person and wounded seven others, the mayor of the city, Igor Terekhov, said on Telegram on Tuesday.

The attack was carried out with a glide bomb, Ukrianin officials said, referring to relatively short-range weapons with a flatter and gliding flight path.

Ukraine's second-largest city, located near the Russian border, is under frequent Russian shelling.

Meanwhile, the death toll from Russia's missile attack on the southern Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa the day before rose to five, with 32 injured, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Aside from those killed in the attack, another person died of a stroke, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

Russia repeatedly targets Ukraine's major Black Sea port city, essential for Ukrainian economic exports.

ac, msh/wd (Reuters, dpa, AFP )