Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Severodonetsk cut off as last bridge is destroyed

Here are updates from across the country:

Severodonetsk: Russia has not captured the city, where Ukrainian troops hold on in some parts, Serhiy Haidai, the regional governor of Luhansk, said Monday. About 500 civilians, including 40 children, were holed up in bunkers beneath a chemical plant in the city, Haidai said.

Mariupol: The Ukrainian attorney general said the deaths of 24 more children have been recorded in this southern city now controlled by Russia, bringing the confirmed number of children killed in Ukraine since the war began to 287. The civilian casualty figures are incomplete, authorities have said. Meanwhile, the bodies of dozens of fighters killed while defending the Azovstal steel plant have not been recovered, said Maksym Zhorin, a former commander of the Azov Regiment that formed the backbone of the defense there. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised Monday that Ukraine’s forces will come for its citizens in Russian-occupied areas, including Mariupol, Kherson and Melitopol.

Elsewhere in the Donbas region: A key flank of the Russian front lies to the west of the Siversky Donets river, which flows through eastern Ukraine and into Russia and forms a natural barrier against Moscow’s advances. Russian troops have sought to destroy bridges over the river to disrupt the flow of supplies and reinforcements between Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, but the destruction has made it difficult for them to attack Slovyansk because of challenges crossing the river, according to analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

Bryan Pietsch, Lateshia Beachum and María Paúl contributed to this report.