The United States’ top diplomat and defence secretary both visited the Ukrainian capital Kyiv yesterday.

It was the first official US visit since the start of the Russian invasion two months ago.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and defence secretary Lloyd Austin travelled from Poland to Kyiv, where they met President Volodomyr Zelenskiy and other top officials.

During the trip, the pair announced the gradual return of US diplomats to Ukraine, and the nomination of a new ambassador.

They also pledged more than $700 million in support for Ukraine and other countries in the region.

Source: Reuters

The Ukrainian national news agency has reported that Ukrainian forces regained control of five towns in the south of the country yesterday, as fighting continued in many parts.

Russian soldiers tried once again to storm the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, according to Ukrainian officials.

The facility is the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the city, where a thousand civilians are sheltering.

Eight people were reported to have been killed in Russian attacks in the Luhansk region on Saturday, with an unspecified number killed on Sunday.

Meanwhile Russia’s defence ministry said that its troops had used high-precision missiles to attack nine Ukrainian military targets, including four arms depots in the Kharkiv region.

Source: Reuters

The death toll from accidents at Poland’s coal mines in recent days has reached 10, after a incident at a second mine on Saturday.

Four miners were pronounced dead at the Borynia-Zofiowka mine after their bodies were brought to the surface following an underground tremor and methane gas discharge.

Six miners there are still missing.

And a sixth miner died over the weekend as a result of an explosion at the Pniówek mine last Wednesday.

Both mines are owned by the same company, JSW, and are close to the Czech border.

Source: PAP, AP

Talks will continue this afternoon to resolve the dispute between Poland’s air traffic controllers and their employers.

The two sides failed to reach agreement over the weekend, and will sit down again at 2 o’clock today.

The negotiations have been going on now for several weeks, and are currently focused on the controllers’ demands for pay rises and changes to safety and working regulations.

The European aviation safety agency said on Friday that unless an agreement is reached there could be a huge cut in flights using Polish airspace from 1 May.

However Poland’s civil aviation authority has said that flights should be unaffected.

Source: PAP, thefirstnews.com

Polish tennis player Iga Świątek has won the Women’s Tennis Association tournament in Stuttgart.

She defeated her Belarusian rival Aryna Sabalenka 6:2, 6:2.

It’s Świątek’s fourth title win this year, and the seventh in her career.

Her prize in Stuttgart was almost €94,000 and a Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo car worth over half a million zlotys.Source: PAP

Weather

Today will be cool and cloudy in Gdańsk with temperatures topping out at 7°C / 44°F, and light winds. After a cold night, tomorrow promises to be much warmer, with a sunny afternoon and a high of 14°C / 57°F.

Andrew Carter