13 minutes ago 07.01
Reported casualties in eastern Ukraine, strikes on Kyiv
There have been initial reports of casualties from Russian shelling in the east and potential casualties in the capital, Kyiv. Following are local media reports of explosions in Lviv and Kyiv early Saturday morning.
Local media reported casualties in Poltava, Severodonetsk and Lisichansk over Russian shelling, according to the Kyiv Independent. Luhansk Oblast Governor Sergei Haidai said one person was killed, three were injured and a gas pipeline burst due to Russian shelling overnight in Severodonetsk and Lisichansk.
He said that the UNIAN news agency, referring to the regional governor of Poltava region Dmitry Lunin, reported that one person died as a result of shelling in the region.
The Guardian has not independently verified the reports.
Kyiv is also under fire, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a few minutes ago on his official Telegram channel.
“The explosions took place in the Darnytskyi district on the outskirts of the city. Rescuers and medics are currently working at the site. The data on the victims are being clarified.
Once again, I urge everyone: please do not ignore air alarms! And those Kievans who left earlier and will now return to the capital, please refrain from this and stay in safer places.
Sirens for air strikes are also heard again in various cities and regions, including Kharkiv, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, Krivoy Rog and Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk.
Updated at 07.03 BST
29 minutes ago 06.44
Ukraine’s armed forces have released their latest update on operations and events over the past day, as well as intelligence on Russian activities.
“The main efforts of the enemy are aimed at regrouping and strengthening the troops, continuing the partial blockade of the city of Kharkov and artillery shelling,” the statement said.
The report, shared on official Telegram channels, said Ukrainian forces had repulsed 10 Russian attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk in the past 24 hours, destroying three tanks, an armored personnel carrier, two cars and three artillery systems. It says a Russian armored personnel carrier has also been captured.
It warns of an increased threat of missile strikes on Ukraine’s defense and logistics infrastructure by Russian warships in the Black Sea armed with missiles.
“In the waters of the Sea of Azov, the enemy’s naval group continues to carry out tasks to block the port of Mariupol and provide fire support in the coastal direction,” the statement said.
The briefing of the armed forces said that “there are no significant changes” in the situation in Severodonetsk, where yesterday the head of his Civil Military Administration Alexander Struck announced heavy fire and destruction of about 70% of the city. Only about 20,000 residents out of a total of 135,000 remain in the city, he said.
According to the statement of the Armed Forces, Russian activity is most concentrated in the direction of Slobozhansky and Donetsk. The briefing reported on the resumption of fighting in Slobozhansky, including Russian ground forces, airborne troops and coastal troops of the Baltic and Northern Fleets.
Russian forces were trying to take control of the Luhansk villages of Popasna, where Ukrainian forces reportedly kept Rubezhne under constant fire, and to establish full control of Mariupol, it said. The shelling continued “in most directions”.
Up to 22 battalions were in the town of Izyum, the statement said, noting the deployment of additional units. Izyum, a city on the Donetsk River and a gateway to Donbass, was the site of heavy fighting during the invasion, and the briefing noted the possibility of intensifying fighting in Izyum and Barvinkove as Russian troops pressed on Slavyansk. He also warned of intensified hostilities in Avdievka, about 130km north of Mariupol.
“The enemy is expected to continue to fight to reach the administrative borders of the Kherson region and will try to resume the offensive,” the statement said.
45 m ago 29.06
Explosions were heard in the capital Kyiv and the western city of Lviv in the early hours of Saturday, local media reported.
Air raid sirens sounded in the cities, covering the whole country at pre-dawn hours. Alarms rang in Kyiv, as well as in Rivne, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Krivoy Rog, Zaporizhia, Cherkasy, Donetsk, Odessa, Kharkiv, Poltava and Mykolaiv, according to official Ukrainian telegrams. channels.
There is no official confirmation of the explosions.
48 m ago 26.06
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmihal and senior financial officials will visit Washington next week, according to a Reuters and AP report, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
The delegation, which also includes Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko and Central Bank Governor Kirill Shevchenko, will be there at the same time as the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Reuters reported.
Shmihal, Marchenko and Shevchenko are expected to hold bilateral meetings with financial officials from the Group of Seven and others, the report said, and will attend a World Bank roundtable on the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday.
The event will be the first opportunity for key Ukrainian officials to meet in person with a number of financial officials from developed economies since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Thursday’s meeting will be a roundtable rather than a donors’ conference, although both the IMF and the World Bank have set up separate accounts to process and transfer donations, and additional promises are expected next week.
This will allow officials to discuss the physical devastation and economic consequences of the war, as well as the continued functioning of Ukraine’s banking and financial sector.
“Without support now, there will be no reconstruction in the future,” said one source.
The World Bank did not comment on the event immediately.
48 m ago 26.06
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and about 10,000 wounded in the conflict. That’s compared to approximately 19,000 to 20,000 Russian soldiers killed, he told CNN in an interview.
- The American media reported that senior defense officials confirmed that the Russian warship “Moscow” was destroyed by a Ukrainian missile strike.
- The captain of the Russian warship Moscow was killed during the attack that sank it, Ukraine claims. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Kyiv’s interior ministry, said Anton Kuprin had died in an explosion and fire aboard the ship.
- Ukraine is now preparing for revenge attacks on its arm in the sinking of Moscow. Western intelligence confirms Ukraine’s account that two of its missiles sank the warship, although Russia has provided an alternative explanation. Russian strikes were aimed at a factory near Kyiv, which produces Ukrainian missiles used to sink the flagship.
- According to reports, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmihal and senior financial officials will visit Washington next week. The delegation, which also includes Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko and Central Bank Governor Kirill Shevchenko, is expected to hold bilateral meetings with finance officials from the Group of Seven and others and will attend a World Bank roundtable on the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday. .
- The German government has said it plans to provide more than 1 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine.
- More than 900 civilian bodies were found in the area around Kyiv after the withdrawal of Russian forces, local police said. It is alleged that almost all of them were shot, indicating execution during the Russian occupation. Their number was much larger than previously thought. In Kharkov, officials also said 10 people, including babies, had been killed and 35 injured in Russian airstrikes.
- Zelensky recently called directly on his American counterpart, Joe Biden Washington, to designate Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism.” The Washington Post was the first to announce the news. This would be a rare and radical sanction. But Zelensky was adamant in putting pressure on the West to support Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion.
- In his last address, Zelenski again called for more weapons and more sanctions – so that the war could end sooner. Zelenski also spoke of a return to “normal life” in some parts of the country – or efforts to restore normalcy amid the tragedy. In parts of Ukraine Zelensky noted that four-fifths of Ukrainian enterprises have returned to work in safe areas.
- Sweden and Finland have said they are considering NATO membership. Titi Tupurainen, Finland’s Minister for European Affairs, said: “The people of Finland seem to have already decided.” She added that the decision was “very likely”, but “not yet taken” pending parliamentary debates.
- Surpassed, outnumbered and surrounded by Russian forces, one of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe has become a redoubt of Mariupol. The factory is a “huge space” in which Russians “simply cannot find” Ukrainian forces, Kyiv-based military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told Reuters.
- Russia has threatened to step up its attacks on Kyiv if Ukrainian forces conduct any operations on Russian territory. A spokesman for Moscow’s defense ministry said: “The number and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will increase in response to the Kiev nationalist regime, which carries out all kinds of terrorist attacks or sabotage on Russian territory.”
- Today, Russia described journalist and Youtuber journalist Yuri Dud and political analyst Ekaterina Shulman as “foreign agents,” a continuation of Russia’s crackdown on critics of the Russian government. Both Dood and Shulman have publicly criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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