Deadly shelling strikes Kyiv as Russian troops advancing on Ukrainian capital 'stall'
ITV News Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo reports on the latest strikes to hit Kyiv
At least eight people were killed by shelling close to the centre of Kyiv late on Sunday night, the city's mayor has said.
Shelling devastated a shopping centre, leaving a flattened ruin still smouldering on Monday morning.
The force of the explosion shattered every window in the high-rise apartment block next door and twisted their metal frames.
Following the assault, Kyiv's Mayor Klitschko announced a new, 35-hour curfew for the besieged city.
From 8pm on Monday to 7am on Wednesday, residents won't be able to leave their homes, unless they're travelling to a bomb shelter.
The shelling was captured by a surveillance camera
Mayor Klitschko also said the Russian shelling hit several houses in the densely populated district of Podil, while two schools and two kindergartens in the capital were struck.
Summoning the Russian defence attaché for the second time since the war began, the UK's Ministry of Defence warned him that "schools, theatres and hospitals are not legitimate military targets".
How has Russia justified its attack on the shopping centre?
The MoD said under-secretary Laurence Lee warned that the UK will be collecting evidence of war crimes on Russia's part.
Russian troops have been shelling Kyiv for three weeks now and are trying to surround the capital, home to nearly three million people before the war.
The Russian Ministry of Defence released footage of the strike on the shopping mall, claiming it shows the centre was used to house missiles
According the MoD, forces advancing on the city from the north-east have stalled.
Those approaching from the direction of Hostomel, to the north-west, meanwhile, have been held back by fierce Ukrainian resistance.
The MoD added the bulk of Russian forces remain more than 25 kilometres from the centre of the city.
"Despite the continued lack of progress, Kyiv remains Russia’s primary military objective and they are likely to prioritise attempting to encircle the city over the coming weeks," the MoD said on Monday morning.
In the encircled city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected Russian's demand their forces lay down arms and raise white flags.
Russia has been barraging the southern city, hitting an art school sheltering some 400 people only hours before offering to open corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, Ukrainian officials said.
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, officials said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant a little after 3am on Monday, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain.
Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a “planned provocation” by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack.
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Mr Konashenkov also said an overnight cruise missile strike hit a Ukrainian military training centre in the Rivne region. He said 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed. Vitaliy Koval, the head of the Rivne regional military administration, confirmed a twin Russian missile strike on a training centre there early on Monday but offered no details about injuries or deaths.
The UN has confirmed 902 civilian deaths in the war but concedes the actual toll is likely much higher. It says nearly 3.4 million people have fled Ukraine. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands. Some Russians also have fled their country amid a widespread crackdown on dissent. Russia has arrested thousands of anti-war protesters, muzzled independent media and cut access to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.