Not less than 34 individuals – together with two kids – have been killed after a Russian missile assault on a Ukrainian metropolis.
The nation’s state emergency service mentioned one other 117 individuals have been injured, with 15 kids amongst them, within the northeastern metropolis of Sumy.
Ukraine’s international ministry later added that one of many kids injured was a child woman born this yr, saying “even newborns are targets for Russia’s crimes”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy additionally shared movies on Telegram of the aftermath of the assault on social media, exhibiting lifeless our bodies in the midst of a metropolis road close to a destroyed bus.
Because it occurred: Russian assault is ‘sign’ to US and Ukraine
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Two kids had been killed within the strike. Pic: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
Russia ‘dragging out this battle’ – Zelenskyy
The Ukrainian president mentioned on social media “only scoundrels can act like this” and that “tough reaction from the world is needed”.
“Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out this war,” he added. “Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible.
“Talks have by no means stopped ballistic missiles and air bombs. We’d like the sort of perspective in the direction of Russia {that a} terrorist deserves.”
Andriy Kovalenko, a safety official who runs Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation, famous the strike got here after a go to to Moscow by US envoy Steve Witkoff.
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From Saturday: Putin meets Trump envoy for talks
US official: ‘That is flawed’
Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump’s envoy for the Ukraine battle, mentioned the assault crosses “any line of decency” and that “there are scores of civilian dead and wounded”.
He added: “As a former military leader, I understand targeting and this is wrong. It is why President Trump is working hard to end this war.”
In response to Mr Kellogg, Mr Zelenskyy’s communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvynm requested: “Don’t you think it’s time to smack the Moscow mule across the nose with a 2X4?”.
Later, US secretary of state Marco Rubio mentioned the strike was “horrifying” and a “tragic reminder of why President Trump and his Administration are putting so much time and effort into trying to end this war and achieve durable peace”.
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Pic: AP
UK Overseas Secretary David Lammy added he was “horrified” by Russia’s “barbaric strike” on Sumy, and referred to as for an “immediate ceasefire”.
In the meantime, EU Fee President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned “cruelty struck again” and referred to as the strike a “blatant violation of international law”.
It got here hours earlier than a separate Russian strike killed three individuals within the central district of the southern metropolis of Kherson.
The native governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, mentioned a 68-year-old lady was injured and died in hospital and {that a} 48-year-old man additionally died after “the occupiers dropped an explosive device from a drone”.
A 62-year-old lady was additionally killed “as a result of the shelling”.
On Saturday, a Russian guided bomb hit a home within the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk on Saturday, injuring 4 individuals.
Governor Oleh Syniehubov mentioned on Telegram that three others may very well be trapped below rubble.
It comes after Russian diplomats accused one another of violating a tentative US-brokered deal to pause strikes on vitality infrastructure.
“The Ukrainians have been attacking us from the very beginning, every passing day, maybe with two or three exceptions,” Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s international minister, mentioned, including that Moscow would supply a listing of Kyiv’s assaults from the previous three weeks.
Andrii Sybiha, his Ukrainian counterpart, dismissed the declare saying on Saturday that Russia launched “almost 70 missiles, over 2,200 [exploding] drones, and over 6,000 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine, mostly at civilians” since agreeing to the restricted pause on strikes.
