Ukraine’s city of Dnipro held a day of mourning after a Russian missile and drone attack killed five people and wounded more than 50 this week, including a 14-year-old girl.
The Russian aerial raid targeted kindergartens, schools and hospitals, and sparked major fires across the city, Dnipro city mayor Borys Filatov said. Photos of the fatal attack showed windows of a shopping mall blown out, raining shards onto the street.
Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the Russian attack and renewed his call for long-range weapons to stop Russian guided bombs.
“There is only one way to end this terror: By providing Ukraine with more air defense systems and by enabling longer-range strikes on Russian terrorist bases, particularly their airbases,” he said.
The war, now in its third year since Russia invaded its neighbor, has killed more than 10,000 civilians and wounded around 20,000 others, the United Nations says.
Russia dismisses Turkey offer on peace talks
Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson has ruled out a suggestion by the Turkish president that he could help mediate peace talks. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Vladimir Putin that Ankara could help end the conflict in Ukraine.
But a spokesman for the Russian president appeared to dismiss the suggestion, saying Mr. Erdogan could not act as an intermediary in the war.
Speaking to Putin on the sidelines of a security summit in Kazakhstan Wednesday, President Erdogan said he believed a fair peace was possible, with an outcome that suited both sides.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later ruled out any role as a go-between for the Turkish leader.
“No, it’s not possible,” Peskov told the Russian TASS news agency.
It was not clear why Russia was opposed to such participation by Erdogan, as he has managed to maintain good relations with both Russia and Ukraine throughout the conflict.
Russia launches another attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city
Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv came under attack again on Wednesday afternoon, said its regional governor Oleg Sinegubov.
Sinegubov said “at least three strikes” were reported by security forces in a northeastern district of the city.
Two private houses were destroyed and a child was rescued by emergency workers, he said, while a grass fire broke out at another home.
No casualties were reported, yet one person was killed and another four were wounded in other Russian attacks in the Kharkiv region, officials said.
Kharkiv regional prosecutors said one person was killed and two wounded in an attack in the village of Borova that also damaged ten homes, stores and an administrative building.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky’s senior aide Andri Yermak said Kyiv was not ready to compromise with Russia and it would never give up any territory seized by Putin’s forces since February 2022.
“We are not ready to go to the compromise for the very important things and values… independence, freedom, democracy, territorial integrity, sovereignty,” he said.
Moscow has stepped up its attacks on Kharkiv since it opened a new front in the northeastern region nearly two months ago.
Kyiv launches attack on Putin’s Black Sea naval base
Ukraine launched an overnight drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea naval base, where Moscow’s once revered fleet is hiding.
Kyiv fired two sea drones at Novorossiysk, which were shot down by Russian defenses, according to the Russian ministry of defense.
Satellites detected large fires in the area of the Novorossiysk port, which is one of Russia’s largest and serves as a major outlet for crude oil and oil product export and transit in Russia’s south.
Zelensky thanks US for new $2.3bn aid package
President Zelensky has welcomed the news that the US will send an additional $2.3bn (£1.8bn) in security assistance to Ukraine.
US defense secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday that Washington would soon announce the aid package, which includes anti-tank weapons, interceptors and munitions for patriot and other air defense systems.
It came as he met Ukrainian defense minister Rustem Umerov at the Pentagon.
In a post to social media, Zelensky said the “critical items” will strengthen troops and “improve our battlefield capabilities”.
“We count on continued US assistance to strengthen Ukraine’s defense and enable us to effectively counter Russian aggression and protect our people against Russian terror,” he said.
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
