Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered generals to prioritise destroying Ukraine's long-range missile and artillery weapons after Western-supplied weapons were used to strike Russian supply lines. * British military intelligence said on Monday that Russia has used the private military contractor Wagner to reinforce its frontline forces in the Ukraine conflict.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sidelined his childhood friend as head of Ukraine's security service, and another close ally as a top prosecutor, in the biggest internal purge of the war, citing their failure to root out Russian spies. FIGHTING

* Six people were killed in Russian shelling of the town of Toretsk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Monday, the State Emergency Service said. * Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered generals to prioritize destroying Ukraine's long-range missile and artillery weapons after Western-supplied weapons were used to strike Russian supply lines.

* British military intelligence said on Monday that Russia has used the private military contractor Wagner to reinforce its frontline forces in the Ukraine conflict. * Russia's defense ministry said its aircraft had shot down a Ukrainian MI-17 helicopter near the eastern town of Sloviansk and a SU-25 aircraft in the Kharkiv region.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts. ECONOMY/DIPLOMACY/SOCIETY

*European Union foreign ministers sought on Monday to show that the bloc can maintain its financial and military support for Ukraine despite the serious inflationary impact on EU economies five months after Russia's invasion. The foreign ministers are likely to approve another 500 million euros ($504.35 million) of EU funding to supply arms to Ukraine, taking the bloc's security support to 2 billion euros since Russian forces swept into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

* The refusal of Ukraine and Western powers to recognize Moscow's control of Crimea poses a "systemic threat" for Russia and any outside attack on the region will prompt a "Judgment Day" response, former President Dmitry Medvedev said. * Dozens of relatives and residents on Sunday attended the funeral of 4-year-old Liza Dmytrieva, one of 24 people killed in a Russian missile strike in the city of Vinnytsia last week.

QUOTES * "Three people lost their lives, why? What for? Because Putin went mad?" said Raisa Shapoval, 83, sitting in the ruins of her home in Chuhuiv.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)