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☆ Boy killed in Kharkiv was asleep when Russian missile hit, Ukraine says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Radina Gigova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A 10-year-old boy who was killed by Russia’s strike on the city of Kharkiv on Friday was apparently asleep when missiles hit residential buildings, Ukrainian officials said. He was murdered this morning in Kharkiv by a Russian missile. “The Iskander is a Russian ballistic missile that can reach Kharkiv, Ukraine’s border city, in just a few seconds,” it added. This photo posted by Ukraine's Defense Ministry purports to show the body of a 10-year-old boy killed in Russia's strike on Kharkiv on October 6. Friday’s attack on Kharkiv comes a day after a devastating Russian missile strike on the village of Hroza on Thursday, in which another child was killed, along with at least 51 more people.

Persons: Russia’s, Oleh Syniehubov, Volodymyr Zelensky, “, ”, Olena Zelenska, Dmitro Kuleba Organizations: CNN, Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Kharkiv, Ukraine's Defense, Ukrainian Defense, General’s, RF, Russian Federation, Ukrainian Locations: Kharkiv, “, Russian, Ukraine’s, Russia, Ukraine, Hroza

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a likely roadblock from House Republicans on aid for Ukraine, President Joe Biden said Wednesday he’s planning to give a major speech on the issue and suggested there may be “another means” to provide support for Kyiv if Congress continues to balk. White House officials declined to say when Biden planned to give his speech. The president did not elaborate on the alternate method he was looking at to get additional military aid to Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia. After Biden spoke, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the Wednesday news briefing that Biden was “confident” Ukraine aid would approved because there is broad bipartisan support. But she noted the objections by some House Republicans were an obstacle to the United States' work with allies to support Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022.

Persons: Joe Biden, “ I'm, Biden, I’m, ”, Kevin McCarthy, Matt Gaetz, McCarthy, Karine Jean, Pierre, ” Jean, Pierre said, ” Biden Organizations: WASHINGTON, Republicans, White Locations: Ukraine, Kyiv, United States, Russia, U.S, Florida, Europe, Japan, Canada

The night-time assault is part of a coordinated Ukrainian offensive push near the beleaguered eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, to which CNN obtained exclusive access. “Sometimes there are a lot of them,” Groove says, searching the area with his drone, trying to scope out Russian forces. They chase a few Russian vehicles, dropping bombs on them as they go. Ukrainian drone pilots are able to see their targets through their controllers, even at night, with the help of night vision. German-made Leopard 2 tanks, American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles among others were sent to the area to support Ukrainian forces as they stormed Russian positions.

Persons: They’ve, ”, “, ” Ukraine’s, Mykhailo Fedorov, ‘ Flint ’, Wagner Organizations: Eastern, Eastern Ukraine CNN —, CNN, Ministry for Digital Transformation, Digital Transformation, Russia, “, US, American Bradley, Southern Locations: Eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, Kyiv, Russian, Ukraine, zeroing, East Kyiv, Melitopol, Berdiansk, American, Crimea, South, “, Russia

☆ Viktor Sokolov: Ukraine 'clarifying' whether Russian commander was killed in strike, after video purportedly shows him alive
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Olga Voitovych Clare Sebastian Florence Davey-Attlee Rob Picheta | Olga Voitovych | Clare Sebastian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Ukraine’s military has said it is “clarifying” information received about the alleged assassination of Russian commander Viktor Sokolov, after Moscow released a video that appears to show him alive and well. Kyiv claimed on Monday it killed Sokolov, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, in an attack on the fleet’s headquarters in occupied Crimea last Friday. The nametape on his uniform reads Sokolov V. N. and his screen shows the Cyrillic letters “ЧФ,” the abbreviation for the Black Sea Fleet. “Available sources claim that the Black Sea Fleet Commander is among the dead. Russia appointed Sokolov as its new commander for its Crimea-based Black Sea fleet in August 2022, according to reports from state media outlet TASS at the time.

Persons: CNN —, Viktor Sokolov, Sokolov, Sergei Shoigu, Rustem Umerov, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, “, ” Umerov, Amanpour, Dmitry Peskov, Crimea –, Andrii Yusov Organizations: CNN, Russian Ministry of Defense, Black, Fleet, Ukraine Special Operations Forces, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, Naval Academy, Northern Fleet, ЧФ Locations: Moscow, Crimea, Kyiv, Ukraine, Russia, Ukrainian Crimea, ” Ukraine, Russian, Saky, Sevastopol

Ukraine’s military claimed on Monday that it had killed the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in a strike on Crimea — a blow that, if confirmed, would be among the most damaging suffered by the Russian Navy since the sinking of the fleet’s flagship last year. Citing “new information about the losses of the enemy as a result of the special operation,” Ukraine’s special operations forces said in a statement that the strike on Friday killed 34 officers, including the fleet commander, and wounded 105 others. It did not name the naval leader, but the commander of the Black Sea Fleet is Adm. Viktor Sokolov, one of the most senior officers in Russia’s Navy. The attack came during a meeting of Russian commanders, Ukraine’s military said, and badly damaged a headquarters of the Russian fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea. The chief of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, also told Voice of America on Saturday that the strike had badly wounded two senior Russian generals — Col. Gen. Aleksandr Romanchuk and Lieut.

Persons: ”, Viktor Sokolov, Kyrylo Budanov, — Col, Gen, Aleksandr Romanchuk, Oleg Tsekov Organizations: Russian Navy, Black, Russia’s Navy, Russian, America, Russia’s Defense Ministry Locations: Crimea, Sevastopol, Russian

And at least 10 people were injured in overnight missile attacks on the city of Cherkasy in central Ukraine. Last year, Russia began a series of intense attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in October. Ukrenergo said the overnight missile attacks resulted in damage to power facilities in western and central regions and caused blackouts in several areas. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 36 of 43 missiles launched by Russia on Thursday, Ukraine’s army chief said. On Thursday, Zelensky travels to meet Biden, who is seeking to hear a “battlefield perspective,” the White House said.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Joe Biden, Vitalii Klitschko, Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s, “, ”, Ihor Klymenko, Kyiv City Military Administration Serhii Popko, Vladyslav Sodel, Sergei Supinsky, Zelensky, ” Zelensky, Biden, John Kirby Organizations: Ukraine CNN —, White House, Internal, Kyiv City Military Administration, Russia, Reuters Firefighters, Getty, United Nations General Assembly, UN, National Security Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, Ukraine CNN — Ukraine, Kherson, Kharkiv, Russia, Cherkasy, “, Vladyslav, AFP, New York, Ukrainian

Away from the front, Ukraine’s war has become a numbers game: who can acquire, make and resupply more tanks, bullets, and, most of all, artillery shells. All in all, Kyiv needs some 1.5 million artillery shells annually, according to the CEO of one of Europe’s largest arms manufacturers, Rheinmetall. By July, the US had supplied more than two million artillery rounds to Ukraine since the 2022 invasion, the Pentagon said. But in February 2023, Europe-wide production of artillery ammunition had a maximum capacity of 300,000 shells annually, Estonian defense officials estimated. The best-case scenario of an increase to making 2.1 million shells annually is still years away from being realized.

Persons: Oleksandra Ustinova, ”, Volodymyr Zelensky, Armin Papperger, Papperger, William LaPlante, Diego Herrera Carcedo, Nammo, LaPlante, Tuuli Duneton, Morten Brandtzæg, “, ” Brandtzæg, you’re, Jérôme, Creuillot, it’s, Jonathan Caverley, hasn’t, Ignacio Marin, Caverley, Josep Borrell Organizations: CNN, Artillery, Rheinmetall, Pentagon, European, NATO, Defense, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Estonian, US Naval War College, EU Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Estonian, United Kingdom, Europe, Brussels, “, Kyiv, ”, Norway, France

CNN —At least 17 people have been killed, including a child, after a Russian missile struck a market in a town in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, officials said, one of the worst attacks in months. “Russian troops are terrorists who will not be forgiven and will not be left in peace,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram. “There will be a just retribution for everything.”Russian missile attacks regularly hit civilian areas but tolls this high are unusual. But footage of the attack shared by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed civilians walking along the market street before the missile struck on Wednesday afternoon. In a brief exchange with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, Blinken noted the “good progress” Ukraine has made in its counteroffensive.

Persons: Denys Shmyhal, Kostiantynivka, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, ” Zelensky, Utter, Antony Blinken, Dmytro Kuleba, Blinken, “, Rustem Umerov, Umerov Organizations: CNN, Dnipro, Ukrainian, Firefighters, Reuters, Ukrainian Defense Forces Locations: Russian, Ukrainian, Donetsk, Uman, Bakhmut, Ukraine, Kyiv, Russia, Kostiantynivka, Denmark

☆ 3 Bullets, 2 Wars, 1 Village
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Thomas Gibbons-Neff | More About Thomas Gibbons-Neff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the spring of that year German forces counterattacked around Izium and the city of Kharkiv to the northwest. The Soviet and German forces arrayed against each other, on just a portion of World War II’s sprawling eastern front, involved hundreds of thousands of men more than the Ukrainian and Russian armies fighting today. The roughly two-week battle resulted in roughly 300,000 casualties on both sides and a crushing Soviet defeat. But World War II’s relevance is not just buried in the soil of Ukraine, it also serves as an undercurrent of Russia’s present-day invasion. He falsely claimed the country was overrun by the same type of adversaries millions of Soviet soldiers had died fighting during World War II, or what Russians call the Great Patriotic War.

Persons: ” Mr, Glantz, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Soviet, denazify Locations: Izium, Kharkiv, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Russia, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, Germany

Work on an insurance mechanism follows Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative last month, which threatens the safe passage of ships carrying grain to and from Ukrainian ports. To keep grain shipments moving, Ukraine’s government will share potential losses with insurers, which should make cover for travel through risky Ukrainian waters more affordable for commercial shipping companies. Russia’s withdrawal from the grain deal has had a chilling effect on merchant shipping around Ukraine’s three Black Sea ports as the Kremlin warned that ships leaving these ports might come under attack. And earlier this month a Russian warship fired warning shots and boarded a cargo ship in the Black Sea it claims was headed to Ukraine. Last week, the Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte container ship became the first vessel to depart from any of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports since the grain deal broke down on July 17.

Persons: —, ” Oleksandr Hryban, Marsh McLennan, Marsh, Oliver Wyman —, Hryban, Marcus Baker, ” Baker, Crispin Ellison, Oliver Wyman, ” Marsh McLennan, Joseph Schulte, Volodymyr Zelensky, ” Organizations: Kyiv CNN —, United Nations, “, CNN, Initiative, Kremlin, ” Locations: Kyiv, Kyiv CNN — Ukraine, Ukrainian, Turkey, London, Marsh, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Hong Kong, Odesa, ” Ukraine

☆ MI6 chief makes open plea to Russians to spy for UK
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Prague CNN —The head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service used a rare speech Wednesday to issue a plea to disaffected Russians to spy for the UK. They know in their hearts that Putin’s case for attacking a fellow Slavic nation is fraudulent,” he added. The MI6 chief told CNN that Prighozin is alive and at liberty following the group’s 24-hour mutiny against the Kremlin, and that Putin is clearly under pressure. Over the years they have developed a particularly gruesome reputation and have been linked to various human rights abuses. A CNN investigation in April found that Wagner has been supplying Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces with missiles to aid their fight against the country’s army.

Persons: Richard Moore, ”, Vladimir Putin’s, ” Moore, Moore, “, Putin, Wagner, Yevgeny Prighozin, Belarus –, Prighozin, Putin “ didn’t, –, ” Putin Organizations: Prague CNN, Kyiv, Russian, CNN, Kremlin, Prighozhin, Wagner Group, Central African, Rapid Support Forces Locations: Prague, Ukraine, Russian, Odesa, Belarus, Moscow, Denmark, Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, Mozambique, Syria

☆ Rabbi’s Brush With Danger in Ukraine Went Viral
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Cassandra Vinograd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

His role as chief rabbi has particular resonance in a war that President Vladimir V. Putin has falsely claimed is about “denazifying” Ukraine, a country whose current president is Jewish and whose Jewish community has historically suffered persecution. Born in Leningrad, the rabbi emigrated to Israel in the 1980s to escape the former Soviet Union. After marrying a Ukrainian woman, he came to Ukraine in the early 1990s to help children affected by the Chernobyl disaster and later led the rehabilitation of Kyiv’s main synagogue. When Russian-backed fighters launched a war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Rabbi Azman helped evacuate civilians from the fighting. Photographs of him shaking hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and other notable people cover a wall in his office.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Rabbi Azman, Anatevka, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Boris Johnson Organizations: denazifying, Soviet Union Locations: Ukraine, Leningrad, Israel, Ukrainian, Kyiv’s, Russian, Kyiv, Britain

☆ Ukraine Says It Is Ready for Arrival of Wagner Troops in Belarus
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Megan Specia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As Belarus has ratcheted up its messaging about plans to offer refuge — and possibly work — to Wagner group mercenaries after a failed rebellion in Russia, Ukrainian forces say they are ready for any potential threat from their neighbor to the north. In recent days, Ukrainian officials have tried to tamp down concerns while heralding their preparations, with President Volodymyr Zelensky nodding to plans for reinforcing the border in his overnight address into Saturday and top commanders emphasizing that no current threat had been found. Mr. Zelensky indicated that Ukrainian intelligence was monitoring the situation closely, adding, “We very carefully analyze every fact and any prospects in all directions.” Ukraine’s top generals were “instructed to strengthen the northern direction — to guarantee peace,” he said. This week, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, the Kremlin-aligned autocratic leader of Belarus, invited members of the Wagner group who had participated in a rebellion against Russian forces to relocate to an “abandoned” military base in his country. New satellite imagery from Thursday and Friday, analyzed by The New York Times, shows that more than 250 tents, enough to house thousands of troops, have been erected in the past five days at an unused base.

Persons: —, Wagner, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, Ukraine’s, “, ”, Aleksandr G, Lukashenko Organizations: The New York Times Locations: Belarus, Russia, Ukrainian

CNN —Russian missiles struck the busy city center of the east Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk and a nearby village on Tuesday, killing at least two people and injuring dozens, according to local officials. An eyewitness to the aftermath of the strike in Kramatorsk city described up to a dozen people being pulled from the rubble. A restaurant heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in central Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 27, 2023. The attack happened at around 7:30pm local time, Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of Donetsk region military administration, said on Ukrainian state TV. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited the frontlines of the Donetsk region, later announcing that Ukrainian forces had advanced “in all directions.

Persons: “, Ihor Klymenko, Andriy, Andriy Yermak, Zelensky, Pavlo Kyrylenko, Wagner, Volodymyr Zelensky Organizations: CNN, Internal, Reuters, Monday Locations: Russian, Kramatorsk, “ Russia, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Bilenke, Donetsk

☆ Kakhovka dam collapse has made Black Sea a ‘garbage dump and animal cemetery,’ Ukraine warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Mariya Knight | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Floodwaters are receding following the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, but debris washed along the Dnipro river is turning Odesa’s Black Sea coastline into “a garbage dump and animal cemetery,” according to Ukrainian authorities. “The Dnipro river flows into the Black Sea, bearing many signs of the devastation caused by Russians,” the ministry said. The collapse of the dam in southern Ukraine on June 6 is one of the biggest industrial and ecological disasters in Europe for decades. Several Western officials have blamed the collapse of the Russian-occupied dam on Moscow. Call for international supportThe developments came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for international support to help rescue victims of the dam collapse in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

Persons: ”, it’s, Oleksandr Prokudin, Prokudin, ” Prokudin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, ” Zelensky, “, Justin Trudeau Organizations: CNN, Ukraine’s Ministry, Internal Affairs, “, Russian Foreign, Armed Forces of, State Emergency Service, Ukraine Saturday, Canadian Locations: Dnipro, ”, Ukraine, Europe, Russian, Moscow, Kherson, Ukrainian, Kherson region, “ Russia, Mykolaiv, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk, Nikopol, Afanasivka, Canada

☆ Ukraine’s Top Commander Signals Counteroffensive Could Be Imminent
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Marc Santora | Eric Schmitt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ukraine’s top military commander signaled on Saturday morning that the nation’s forces were ready to launch their long-anticipated counteroffensive following months of preparations, including recently stepped-up attacks on logistical targets as well as feints and disinformation intended to keep Russian forces on edge. “It’s time to get back what’s ours,” Ukraine’s supreme military commander, Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, wrote in a statement. But General Zaluzhnyi offered no indication of where and when Ukrainian forces might try to break Russia’s hold on occupied territory. Other senior Ukrainian officials also suggested that the counteroffensive was imminent. Oleksiy Danilov, the head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, told the BBC in an interview released on Saturday that Kyiv’s forces were “ready” and that a large-scale assault could come “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week.”

☆ Bakhmut: Wagner forces claim to have taken the eastern Ukrainian city. But Kyiv's forces could still exact a heavy toll
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Sam Kiley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Kyiv rebuffed claims that Russian forces have captured the city in the eastern Donetsk region. LIBKOS/APYevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner private military group, pictured in a screengrab from May 20, 2023, insisted that his men captured Bakhmut after months of fighting. A Ukrainian serviceman checks Russian positions in Bakhmut on May 11, 2023. He said regular Russian troops were incompetent cowards. And they’re being flanked to the north and south by Ukrainian troops.

☆ As Putin Bides His Time, Ukraine Faces a Ticking Clock
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Paul Sonne | Andrew E. Kramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Both armies have tanks, artillery and tens of thousands of soldiers ready to face off on the battlefields of Ukraine in a long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia. But one thing clearly sets the two sides apart: time. If the Ukrainians fall short of expectations, they risk an erosion of Western support. As a result, there is a sense in Ukraine that its war effort faces a ticking clock. “In countries that are our partners, our friends, the expectation of the counteroffensive is overestimated, overheated, I would say,” Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, said in an interview this past week in Kyiv, the capital.

☆ Opinion: Whatever happened in the skies over Putin’s fortress, one thing is certain
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Opinion Frida Ghitis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. (The following day, the Kremlin also accused the US of involvement in the alleged attack, which the US denies). What exactly happened over the presumably heavily fortified Kremlin – a word that means fortress in Russian – the seat of government and home to the president? Russia’s credibility, particularly concerning its war against Ukraine, has been crushed by its persistent lies. In the Immortal Regiment parade, hundreds of thousands of Russians take to the streets, many holding up photographs of their relatives who served the nation in World War II, the Great Patriotic War, as it is known there.

Peskov did not provide any evidence to his claims, nor additional details regarding the alleged attack, saying that information would be released later. Earlier this week, Russia claimed Ukraine launched a drone strike targeting the Kremlin in an attempt to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it a “planned terrorist attack.” Ukraine has strongly denied any involvement. The United States had nothing to do with this. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty ImagesRyabkov also accused US officials of trying to “promote the idea of Washington’s non-involvement” in the purported drone attack, TASS reported. “Washington has long been a direct party to the Ukrainian conflict and aims to destroy sovereign Russia,” he said, according to TASS.

☆ Secret ‘Mission’ for Peace in Ukraine May Show Limits of Pope’s Influence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jason Horowitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

ROME — A secret mission revealed days ago by Pope Francis to bring peace between Russia and Ukraine is so secret that Russia and Ukraine claim to know nothing about it. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it had no idea what the pope was talking about. “Ukraine doesn’t know about it,” Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash, said in an interview Wednesday, adding that he had scheduled a meeting for Thursday with the pope’s foreign minister. “I will for sure ask him what it is.”Later Wednesday evening, the pope’s second-in-command and chief diplomat, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told reporters, “to my knowledge, they were and are aware” of the peace plan, saying that the denial by the governments “surprises me.”The apparent bewilderment of the war’s parties, and confusion around the existence of a plan contributed to the sense that the pope’s influence as a geopolitical player and peacemaker — already chastened in countries like Cuba, South Sudan and Myanmar — did not extend to Ukraine.

☆ Opinion | The Curious Conservative Case Against Defending Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Is there a coherent philosophical grounding for these antiwar conservatives? From Vietnam to Iraq, the antiwar left (both in the United States and abroad) tended to be united by a kind of instinctive pacifism, a belief that war was almost never the right answer. There has also often been a fair amount of anti-Americanism on the left — the Chomskyite view that Washington’s foreign policy is generally a force for neo-imperialism and rapacious capitalism. But that’s not the case with the antiwar right. Much of this incoherence is partly explained via the George Costanza school of modern conservatism: If a Democrat is for it, they’re against it.

☆ Explosions Rock Kyiv After Russian Strike: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Marc Santora | Malachy Browne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Image Emergency workers at the scene of a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Uman, Ukraine, on Friday. A flurry of missiles fired by both sides this weekend appears to mark the next phase of the conflict. Credit... Brendan Hoffman for The New York TimesExplosions echoed across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday as Ukrainian officials warned of a large-scale Russian missile attack. Air defences intercepted 15 of 18 cruise missiles that Russia aimed at Ukraine, according to the military. The explosions in Kyiv on Monday were a few hours after Russia attacked Pavlograd in central Ukraine, sparking a massive fire that lit up the night sky.

☆ Explosions Over Kyiv as Ukraine Braces for Broad Russian Attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Marc Santora | Malachy Browne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Explosions echoed across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday as Ukrainian officials warned of a large-scale Russian missile attack aimed at targets nationwide. About an hour later, a Ukrainian military official confirmed that all of the missiles and drones were destroyed and there were no reports of damage or injuries in Kyiv. The air raid sirens were turned off at about 6:30 a.m. after blaring for three hours.The attacks follow a weekend of explosions deep behind Russian lines, including one at an oil depot in Russian-occupied Crimea on Saturday. The spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern command, Natalia Humeniuk, said the depot fire is part of preparations for “the broad, full-scale offensive that everyone expects” Ukraine to launch soon. Both sides have said they are preparing for a counteroffensive that would likely renew attempts to gain territory.

The death toll from Russia’s deadly, early-morning missile strikes across Ukraine on Friday has risen to 14, officials said, after two more bodies were pulled from the rubble of a residential building in the city of Uman. “As of 11:50 a.m., the body of one more dead person was removed from the rubble of a residential building,” Ukraine’s state emergency service said on the Telegram messaging app. The press office of Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs later said another body had been found. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter earlier that one apartment building in Uman had been “destroyed” and many others damaged before dawn on Friday. “More lives tragically lost as Russia’s missiles hit another apartment building.

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