Ukraine says Russians stole lethal Chernobyl materials; Airport destroyed by Russian shells | Ukraine live 

Ukraine has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it has carried out the first staff rotation at Chernobyl for three weeks.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that the agency would send a mission there soon following the withdrawal of Russian forces who had occupied the site.

Ukraine's state nuclear energy company, Energoatom, said Russian forces left the plant in early April towards the Belarusian border.

The IAEA said on Sunday that Ukraine had provided updates to the agency about damage to the site's analytical laboratories for radiation monitoring.

It said the premises were "destroyed and the analytical instruments stolen, broken or otherwise disabled" and that systems for monitoring radiation were disabled or damaged.

"While it is very positive that Ukrainian authorities are gradually restoring regulatory control of the Chernobyl site, it is clear that a lot of work remains to return the site to normality," said Mr Gossi .

"As soon as it is possible, I will head an IAEA mission to Chernobyl to conduct a radiological assessment there, resume remote safeguards monitoring of the facility and its nuclear material and deliver equipment."

The photograph below captures the aftermath of relentless shelling in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, on Saturday afternoon.

Natalia Titova, 62, is seen standing in the doorway of what once was her home, after it was destroyed by bombs rained down on Ukraine by Russia.

Her family were in the basement at the time of the strike.

"When the rocket hit our house, we ran into the street, it was very scary," she said

Russia has appointed a new Ukraine war commander, a US official said on Sunday.

General Alexander Dvornikov, 60, one of Russia's most experienced military officers, will reportedly lead renewed efforts expected to hit eastern regions.

US officials say Mr Dvornikov has a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other war zones.

The senior official who identified the new commander was not authorised to be identified and spoke on condition of anonymity.

But the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said "no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine".

"This general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians," Mr Sullivan told CNN's State of the Union show.

"And the United States, as I said before, is determined to do all that we can to support Ukrainians as they resist him and they resist the forces that he commands."