Latest Ukraine News: Russia’s Invasion Update

Russian airstrikes hit a large military base near the western city of Lviv, close to Poland’s border, a NATO member, killing at least 35 people.

There have been heavy explosions in Kyiv and multiple casualties after a residential building in the Ukrainian capital was hit by shelling, authorities said.

In the besieged city of Mariupol, more than 2,500 civilians have died, Ukrainian officials estimate, and those who remain are without electricity, water and heat.

A pregnant woman who was photographed being stretchered out of a bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol last week has died, along with her baby.

UK RESIDENTS OFFERED $457 A MONTH TO HOST UKRAINIAN REFUGEES

A new British government scheme will offer UK residents $467 (£350) per month to host Ukrainian refugees, according to Michael Gove, UK Secretary of State for Leveling Up.

All Ukrainian nationals and residents will be eligible for the “Homes for Ukraine,” Gove said, stressing that “there will be no limit to the number of Ukrainians who can benefit from this scheme.”

Ukrainians arriving in the UK “will have full and unrestricted access and benefits, health care, employment,” Gove said.

Under the scheme, sponsors will have to provide accommodation for a minimum of six months and will have to undergo “necessary vetting checks,” according to Gove.

The UK has “a long and proud history of supporting the most vulnerable during their darkest hours,” Gove told lawmakers in the UK parliament on Monday.

The scheme will initially “facilitate sponsorship between people with known connections” with the government hoping to “rapidly expand” the scheme to encompass charities, churches and community groups.

US DEFENSE OFFICIAL: RUSSIANS HAVEN’T ACHIEVED “AIR SUPERIORITY OVER ALL Of UKRAINE” 

The airspace over Ukraine “remains contested,” a senior US defense official told reporters Monday.

“We still maintain the airspace is contested, that the Russians have not achieved air superiority over all of Ukraine,” the official said.

Because the airspace is “dynamic” there are “times and places” where Russia or Ukraine “has more dominance,” the official added.

“The Russians certainly have, although they have not achieved air superiority, they certainly have more assets available to them and they are flying many more times per day than the Ukrainians are,” the official added.

The Ukrainian air plan changes every day, the official said.

“I can’t speak to the Ukrainians air plan, it changes every day, they’re being, we think appropriately careful with their air assets and how they’re using them and what they’re using them for,” the official said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has “100% of his assembled forces inside Ukraine,” the official said.

“He’s moved everything in,” the official added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for the establishment of ano-fly zone over Ukraine as Russia continues strikes across the country.

The US and NATO have opposed creating a no-fly zone in Ukraine, warning that such a move could lead to a “full-fledged war in Europe.”

(CNN)