Russia resumes long-range bombing of Ukrainian cities

Kyiv (Reuters) – Russian forces bombed the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol on Saturday, the latest bombing of urban areas that has killed at least 37 people in the past three days and wounded dozens.

Ukraine’s emergency services said two people were injured and two others were trapped under the rubble in Nikopol, on the Dnipro River.

The region’s governor, Valentin Reznichenko, said on Telegram that late Friday, Russian missiles hit the city of Dnipro, about 120 km north of Nikopol, killing three people and wounding 15. He added that the missiles hit an industrial factory and a street next to it. Video footage on social media showed thick black smoke rising from buildings and burning cars. Read more

The region’s governor said that a Russian strike hit the northeastern Ukrainian town of Chuhiv in the Kharkiv region last night, killing three people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others. Read more

Governor Ole Senhopov said on Telegram that the raid damaged an apartment complex, a school and a shop, and rescuers were passing through the rubble.

The attacks are the latest in a series of Russian strikes in recent weeks, using long-range missiles on crowded urban buildings.

Governor Pavlo Kirilenko said in a TV interview on Friday that eight people were killed and 13 wounded in a series of shelling at 10 locations in the eastern Donetsk region.

On Thursday, Kalibr cruise missiles were fired from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea at an administrative building in Vinnytsia, a city of 370,000 people, 200 km southwest of Kyiv.

Kyiv said the strike killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens.

In Vinnytsia, residents placed teddy bears and flowers at a temporary memorial to the dead.

Among the dead was Lisa, a 4-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was found among the rubble next to a stroller. Soon, photos of her pushing the same stroller spread, which her mother posted on a blog less than two hours before the attack.

Doctors said her seriously injured mother, Irina Dmitrieva, was being held in a media blackout in the hospital for fear that her daughter’s discovery would kill her.

“She has burns, chest injuries, abdominal injuries, liver and spleen injuries. We sewed the organs together, and the bones were shattered as if they were going through a meat grinder,” said Oleksandr Fomin, chief physician at the Venezia Emergency Hospital. . If she was told of her daughter’s death, she would “lose”.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the strike on Vinnytsia was directed at a building where senior officials of the Ukrainian armed forces were meeting with foreign arms suppliers. Read more

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas, despite mounting evidence that its missiles have hit residential areas across the country. The United Nations says thousands of civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Tens of thousands of fighters were also killed.

Advance Cereal

Despite the bloodshed, both sides described progress towards an agreement to lift the embargo restricting the export of Ukrainian grain. The Turkish mediator said an agreement could be signed next week.

Asked if this timetable was realistic, a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters: “We really hope so. We go as fast as we can.” The official requested anonymity.

The Russian Defense Ministry said an agreement was close, but Moscow’s negotiator warned that the grain deal would not lead to a resumption of peace talks.

The deal will likely include inspections of ships to ensure that Ukraine has not brought in weapons and guarantees from Western countries that Russian food exports are exempt from sanctions.

The war dominated the meeting of G-20 finance ministers in Indonesia. Two sources said the group was not likely to issue an official statement on Saturday. Russia is a member, as is the G7 industrial powers, along with China, India and South Africa, among others. Read more

Western sources had warned this week that it would be difficult to agree on a statement because the body is working on the basis of consensus and Russia blocked language on the cause of the economic downturn that prompted the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to downgrade their ratings. Forecasting.

“The ability of the G20 to work and communicate is severely hampered by the war in Ukraine, for which one of the G20 members bears full responsibility,” a French finance ministry source said.

Russia describes its intervention as a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and root out the nationalists. Kyiv and its allies describe it as an unjustified attempt to reoccupy a country liberated from Moscow’s rule in 1991.

Reporting by Reuters offices. Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by William Mallard

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