Russian strikes hit a residential building in Kyiv yesterday, the first attack on the capital in almost three weeks, sparking calls by Ukraine for more support from G7 leaders meeting in Germany.
Four people, including a seven-year-old girl, were taken to hospital following the early morning strikes on a neighborhood that includes a weapons factory, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Moscow said its forces had carried out strikes against three military centers in northern and western Ukraine, including one near the border with Poland.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The high-profile attacks, just over four months since Russia invaded its neighbor, came ahead of a week of Western diplomacy focused around the G7 and NATO summits.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is to address both gatherings, where allies including US President Joe Biden are to take stock of their support for Kyiv and of sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Biden yesterday condemned the attack on Kyiv as “more of their barbarism,” referring to Russia.
The G7 talks yesterday opened with the announcement of a ban on imports of Russian gold, but Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba called for more.
He posted on Twitter a photograph of an injured child being carried on a stretcher, who he said was “sleeping peacefully in Kyiv until a Russian cruise missile blasted her home.”
The “G7 summit must respond with more sanctions on Russia and more heavy arms for Ukraine. Russia’s sick imperialism must be defeated,” he said.
The EU this past week offered a strong show of support when it granted Ukraine candidate status, although the path to membership is long.
Russian forces sought to encircle Kyiv in the first few weeks after the Feb. 24 invasion, but yesterday’s attack was the first strike on the capital since early this month.
Klitschko said the attack was a Russian missile strike intended to “intimidate Ukrainians” ahead of the NATO summit.
It was the third time since the invasion that the northwest neighborhood had been hit.
An Agence France-Presse team said there was a fire on the top three floors of the building and its stairwell was completely destroyed.
The Russians made a strategic breakthrough on Saturday when they took the industrial hub of Severodonetsk, the scene of weeks of fierce battles that have left it largely destroyed.
Severodonetsk’s mayor said it had been “fully occupied” by Russian troops after Ukrainian forces retreated to better defend the neighboring city of Lysychansk.
Pro-Moscow separatists said Russian troops and their allies had entered Lysychansk, which faces Severodonetsk on high ground across the Donets River.
At talks on the sidelines of the G7, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron said they saw an “opportunity to turn the tide” in Ukraine, a Downing Street spokesman said.
However, Johnson also cautioned Macron — who has maintained dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, unlike the British leader — that “any attempt to settle the conflict now will only cause enduring instability.”
In St Petersburg on Saturday, Putin said Russia would deliver Iskander-M missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the coming months, as he met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from