Key events
Russia’s labour shortage has been in part caused by the mobilisation of working age soldiers being called up to fit in the war in Ukraine.
In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said Russian parliamentarians are now considering changing the labour code so that “excess labour force” could be moved to places of work that are short of workers.
Ukraine will introduce hourly energy shutdowns for industrial and household consumers in all regions from 6:00pm local time on Monday until midnight.
The restrictions will not affect critical infrastructure facilities, said Ukraine’s state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, on 19 May.
A recent uptick in Russian strikes put a heavy strain on Ukraine’s power grid, with several power plants being destroyed or disabled.
Due to resulting power deficits, Ukraine began implementing rolling shutdowns on 15 May.
These restrictions may last until August, said Yurii Boiko, an adviser to prime minister Denys Shmyhal.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has sent his condolences to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over the death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi.
According to the Kremlin, Putin told Khamenei in a message:
Please accept my deep condolences in connection with the great tragedy that befell the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Seyed Ebrahim Raisi was an outstanding politician whose entire life was devoted to serving the Motherland.
As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good neighborly relations between our countries and made great efforts to bring them to the level of strategic partnership.
Iranian state-run media have confirmed the death of Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash in the province of East Azerbaijan on Sunday as they headed towards the city of Tabriz.
The group were returning from Azerbaijan, where they had attended the inauguration of a dam alongside President Ilham Aliyev, when the helicopter crashed in a mountainous region amid poor weather conditions.
Iran has supplied arms to Russia in its war on Ukraine and the two countries have been strengthening bilateral relations over recent months.
Ukrainian forces shot down all 29 drones used by Russian forces in an overnight attack, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement on Monday.
Sixteen of the drones were shot down over the southern region of Mykolaiv where debris damaged a private residence and caused a fire, the region’s governor said.
Three of the drones were shot down over the western region of Lviv, with no damage reported by local officials. The attack also targeted the Odesa and Poltava regions with drones, in addition to attacking the Kharkiv region with an Iskander-M ballistic missile.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. The time has just gone past 10:30am in Kyiv.
Russia struck a lakeside resort on the edge of Kharkiv on Sunday and attacked villages in the surrounding region, killing at least 11 people, officials said. Prosecutors said six people were killed in the resort, with one missing and 27 injured.
Rescuers said the initial strike was followed by a second strike about 20 minutes later, targeting emergency crews at the scene.
Another five people were killed and nine injured later in the day in two villages in Kupiansk district. Local governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces shelled two villages of the district with a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher.
Prosecutors also said one person was killed in Russian shelling in the town of Vovchansk, a town at the centre of a Russian incursion launched just over a week ago. Three people were injured.
The missile strikes were the latest in what have been constant attacks in recent weeks on the Kharkiv region of north-eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have launched an offensive.
In other news:
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Russia has said that Ukraine launched a major 62-drone attack on Russian regions forcing an oil refinery to halt operations, and that Kyiv’s forces had fired US, French and Ukrainian missiles at Russian-held territory. Russia said it shot down at least 103 drones, including 62 over Russian regions, as well as Army Tactical Missile System (Atacms) over Crimea, French guided “Hammer” bombs and US High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
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Local officials said six drones crashed on to the territory of an oil refinery in Slavyansk in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. Interfax news agency said the refinery halted work after the attack.
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Elsewhere, the Ukrainian navy said had destroyed the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Project 266-M Kovrovets minesweeper.
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Britain and Finland will sign a strategic partnership on Monday to strengthen ties and counter the threat of Russian aggression, UK foreign secretary David Cameron has said. The two countries will declare Russia as “the most significant and direct threat to European peace and stability”, according to a Foreign Office press release.
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Russia has expressed its condolences over the deaths of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. Iran and Russia are allies, with the Islamic Republic supplying drones used in Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian forces. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov hailed Raisi and Amir-abdollahian as true patriots of the Islamic Republic and reliable friends of Russia. “Their role in strengthening mutually beneficial Russian-Iranian cooperation and trusting partnership is invaluable,” Lavrov said.
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Divisions over whether Ukraine can lawfully be handed an extra €30bn (£26bn) loan drawn from €270bn in seized Russian state assets are likely to be aired at a meeting of G7 finance ministers this week in Stresa, northern Italy.