- The last target of long-range bombing of the southern city
- At least 37 people have been killed in bombings since Thursday
- Closure of the agreement to lift the blockade on grain exports from Ukraine
- The war derails the G20 meeting, which is likely to end without a formal statement
Kyiv, July 16 (Reuters) – Russian forces bombed the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol on Saturday, the latest in a series of bombings in urban areas that have killed at least 37 people in the past three days. they have been injured.
Ukrainian emergency services said two people were injured and two others were trapped under the rubble in Nikopol, located on the Dnipro River.
At the last minute on Friday, Russian missiles struck the city of Dnipro, about 120 km (75 miles) north of Nikopol, killing three people and wounding 15, regional governor Valentyn Reznychenko told Telegram. The rockets hit an industrial plant and a street next door, he said. Images on social media showed thick black smoke rising from buildings and cars burning. Read more
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A Russian attack hit the Ukrainian town of Chuhuiv in northeastern Ukraine in the Kharkiv region overnight, killing three people, including a 70-year-old woman, and injuring three more, the regional governor said. Read more
The strike damaged a residential block, a school and a shop, and rescuers were passing through the rubble, Governor Oleh Synehubov told Telegram.
The attacks were the latest in a series of Russian impacts in recent weeks with long-range missiles against crowded buildings in cities.
Eight people were killed and 13 were injured in a series of shells at 10 locations in the eastern Donetsk region, Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a television interview on Friday.
On Thursday, Kalibr cruise missiles fired from a Russian submarine into the Black Sea hit an office building in Vinnytsia, a city of 370,000 people about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Kyiv.
Kyiv said the attack killed at least 23 people and injured dozens.
In Vinnytsia, residents placed teddy bears and flowers on a makeshift monument to the killings.
Among the dead was Liza, a 4-year-old girl with Down syndrome, found among the rubble next to a stroller. Images of her pushing the same stroller, posted by her mother on a blog less than two hours before the attack, went viral quickly.
Her seriously injured mother, Iryna Dmitrieva, was on a blackout in a hospital for fear of finding out about her daughter’s death, doctors said.
“He is suffering from burns, chest injuries, abdominal injuries, liver and spleen injuries. We sewed the organs, the bones were crushed as if he were going through a meat grinder,” said Oleksandr Fomin, the hospital’s chief physician. of Vinnytsia Emergencies. . If they told her about her daughter’s death, “we would lose her.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry has said the attack on Vinnytsia was aimed 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 growing 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 24th. Tens of thousands of fighters have also died.
DEGREE PROGRESS
Despite the bloodshed, both sides have described progress towards an agreement to lift the blockade restricting Ukrainian grain exports. Mediator Turkey has said an agreement could be signed next week.
Asked if this timeline was realistic, a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters: “We really hope so. We hurry as fast as we can.” The official asked not to be identified.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the deal was close, but the Moscow negotiator warned that a grain deal would not lead to the resumption of peace talks.
An agreement would likely involve ship inspections to make sure Ukraine did not carry weapons and guarantees from Western countries that Russia’s food exports are free of sanctions.
The war has dominated a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Indonesia. Two sources said the group was unlikely to issue a formal statement on Saturday. Russia is a member, as are 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 in a statement because the agency is working on the basis of consensus and Russia had blocked language on the cause of the economic recession that has caused the World Bank and International Monetary Fund downgrade. forecasts.
“The G20’s ability to act and communicate is severely hampered by the Ukraine war, for which one of the G20 members is fully responsible,” a source in the French finance ministry said.
Russia describes its intervention as a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and eliminate nationalists. Kyiv and its allies call it an unsuccessful attempt to reconquer a country that was liberated from Moscow rule in 1991.
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Reuters office reports; Written by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Edited by William Mallard
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