Ukraine round-up: Defiance in Mykolaiv and a wooden monastery ablaze

On day 101 of the war, Ukraine said Russia was doing everything it could to take control of the key eastern city of Severodonetsk.

"The Russian army is throwing all its power, all its reserves in this direction," said Serhiy Haidai, the regional governor.

The city has seen extremely fierce fighting in recent days as Russian troops try to take control of the entire Luhansk region - one of two regions which make up the part of eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas.

Mr Haidai said earlier that Ukrainian forces had managed to retake some of Severodonetsk from Russian forces, adding that Russia had suffered huge losses.

The Russian bombardment of the city has been compared to the battle of Mariupol, which was all but destroyed by a relentless Russian assault.

The BBC's Joe Inwood explains why Severodonetsk has both a symbolic and military significance.

Elsewhere in the Donbas, fighting sparked a major fire at a famous wooden monastery - the Sviatohirsk Lavra Monastery in the Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church said the flames had engulfed the monastery's main shrine.

"Another crime of Russian barbarians for whom there is nothing sacred," Ukrainian army officer, Yurii Kochevenko, said on Facebook.

A Ukrainian government tweet shows the fine old monastery intact, before it was hit.

Russia blamed Ukrainian "nationalist" troops for setting fire to the building. Read more about the monastery fire here.

Russia's focus on the Donbas does not mean the shelling has stopped in other parts of the country.

To the south, the important Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv was one of the first cities attacked when the invasion began. Russian forces were pushed back from the city limits.

But there is still shelling every day there, and if Russia accomplishes its goal of capturing the Donbas it could refocus its efforts to the south and try once again to take Mykolaiv.

Despite the constant danger, residents of the region remain defiant.

"Thank God, we are holding on... they [the Russians] should know better than loitering on our land," Natalia Panashii told the BBC's Laura Bicker on a recent visit.

You can read Laura's report from Mykolaiv here.

French President Emmanuel Macron landed himself in hot water with many Ukrainians on Saturday as he attempted to position France as a potential mediator in the war.

"We must not humiliate Russia," he told French media, so that "when the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means."

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba quickly responded: "Calls to avoid humiliation of Russia can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it.

"It is Russia that humiliates itself."

The war, particularly in the south, has had a devastating effect on Ukraine's ability to export food products from its Black Sea ports.

Kyiv and its allies say Moscow has imposed a naval blockade which prevents ships from operating in the region. Ukraine has also mined the coast to prevent a Russian amphibious assault.

The resulting shortage of products has driven up the price of staple foods like wheat around the world. That's why the head of the African Union, Macky Sall, has described African countries as innocent victims of the war.

More than 40% of wheat consumed in Africa usually comes from Russia and Ukraine.

Mr Sall was visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

You can read more here about how the war in Ukraine is making Africa's food crisis worse.