Russia-Ukraine war live: Navalny’s mother refused access to morgue; Russians seek to capitalise on fall of Avdiivka

Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, has launched a scathing attack on his EU counterparts for failing to step up to the plate to provide Ukraine with enough ammunition to defeat Russia.

On arrival at the summit of foreign ministers in Brussels, he said it was a “miracle that it has been able to withstand so far” given the “6:1” advantage Russia has in terms of ammunition.

“We spent two years discussing; trying to figure out the way that we can help Ukraine bit by bit,” he said.

“But unfortunately, since we did not fall formulate a strategic goal for what we are trying to achieve, we’re unable to declare that we’re in this for the victory.”

He urged the EU to stop dithering about military funds, with Germany doing the heavy lifting with €17bn contributed so far and Europe still debating a fund of €5bn a year.

“Europe should be able or could be able to form a fund of €5bn when, you know, Germany alone is considering sending €7bn. So for the 27 countries of Europe, €5 bn should be a day’s work, an hour’s work.”

Belgium’s foreign minister, Hadja Lahbib, has called on the EU to develop an army amid increasing nervousness about Russia’s capacity to defeat Ukraine.

She said:

It’s been almost two years since Russia attacked Ukraine, trying to subjugate, to invade this country hungry for democracy and freedom, just like Putin’s fiercest opponent, Alexei Navalny, who died this weekend.

Here too, we must become aware of what is at stake today. If Ukraine is invaded, if Russia manages to expand, it is a dictatorship that will expand and move a little closer to the European Union.

It is essential that, here too, we are united, that we develop a defence capacity together, that we also develop an army, not only to defend our territory, but also our values.

Alexei Navalny’s mother and his lawyers were not allowed into the morgue in the Russian town of Salekhard, near the prison colony where authorities said he died, Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said.

“One of the lawyers was literally pushed out,” Yarmysh wrote on X, adding that morgue staff would not answer a question about where Navalny’s body was.

Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, and his lawyer travelled over the weekend to the notorious “Polar Wolf” IK-3 penal colony in Russia’s Arctic north, where Navalny had been held since last year, to track down his body, but received contradicting information from various institutions over its location and left without recovering or seeing her son.

Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who was a fierce Kremlin critic, had been serving a decades-long prison term on various charges, the latest of which was a 19-year sentence on six counts, in the remote penal colony within the Arctic Circle. He had been behind bars since returning from Germany in January 2021 for charges that he rejected as politically motivated.

The 47-year-old former lawyer fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the “Polar Wolf” penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900km (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, the prison service said.

Navalny’s mother was told on Saturday at the prison colony that he had died from “sudden death syndrome”, a vague term for different hearth conditions that end in death, according to Navalny’s team.

Yarmysh said Lyudmila Navalnaya, 69, and lawyers were told that the official verification of the cause of death had been extended and that it was unclear how long it would take.

“The cause of death is ‘undetermined’,” Yarmysh said, adding that the Russian authorities were lying and stalling.

Good morning, this is the Guardian’s live coverage of the Russian war against Ukraine. Here are the latest developments:

• Russian troops launched multiple attacks to the west of just-captured Avdiivka in a bid for more gains, a Ukrainian army spokesperson said on Sunday. Kyiv also announced it had opened a war crimes investigation after two separate reports of Russian troops shooting captured Ukrainian soldiers emerged. On Monday, state news of Russia said its troops had also taken control of the coking coal plant where some Ukrainian troops had remained. There was no verification of this from trustworthy sources.

• Russia’s Avdiivka offensive is now likely to be reaching the end of its potential, or the “culmination” point, as the Ukrainians are able to withdraw to prepared lines of defence not far from Avdiivka, the the Institute for the Study of War has assessed as of Monday morning. The ISW acknowledged there were varying accounts of the strength of Ukraine’s new defensive positions.

• Ukraine’s forced withdrawal from Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region handed Moscow its first major territorial gain since May last year – a gain made at great cost of casualties and equipment. “The enemy is trying to actively develop its offensive,” said Dmytro Lykhoviy, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army commander leading Kyiv’s troops in the area. Ukraine’s general staff reported failed Russian attacks on the village of Lastochkyne, around 2km (one mile) to the west of Avdiivka’s northern edge. “But our considerable forces are entrenched there,” Lykhoviy said.

• Lykhoviy also reported failed Russian attacks near the villages of Robotyne and Verbove in the southern Zaporizhzhia region – one of the areas where Ukraine managed to regain ground during last year’s counteroffensive. He said it would be “very difficult” for Russia to break through there, given heavy Ukrainian defensive lines and natural conditions of the terrain. “The situation in the Zaporizhzhia sector is stable … No positions have been lost. The enemy was kicked in the teeth and retreated.”

• Denmark has decided to donate all its artillery to Ukraine, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, told the 60th Munich Security Conference on Saturday, pointing out that other European countries are also holding munitions they do not immediately need. “If you ask Ukrainians, they are asking us for ammunition now, artillery now,” he said. “From the Danish side, we decided to donate our entire artillery.”

• The widow of Alexei Navalny, who died aged 47 in highly suspicious circumstances in an Arctic prison on Friday, will join EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, days before the two-year mark of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Navalny was serving a three-decade sentence that was imposed for being an opponent of Vladimir Putin. He was subjected to years of persecution that included poisoning with a nerve agent in Siberia in 2020.

• The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, announced the visit by Yulia Navalnaya to highlight “support to freedom fighters in Russia and honour the memory of Alexei Navalny”. Ministers are due to discuss military support for Ukraine and what would be the EU’s 13th package of sanctions against Putin’s regime since the 24 February 2022 full-scale invasion.

• Japan promised more aid for Ukraine as it hosted the country’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, on Monday in Tokyo. Japan has pledged more than $10bn worth of financial aid but cannot provide direct military support because the export of lethal weapons is forbidden. “Japan has stood with and continues to stand with Ukraine,” said Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida. He announced a new bilateral tax treaty with Ukraine and negotiations towards an investment treaty.

• More than 100 Kremlin documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by the Washington Post reportedly show that Russia ran a disinformation campaign to undermine Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The US publication said Kremlin instructions had “resulted in thousands of social media posts and hundreds of fabricated articles” that “tried to exploit what were then rumoured tensions” between Zelenskiy and his top army commander, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.