The Russia-Ukraine conflict rages on its 430th day.
A view shows an apartment building allegedly damaged by a Russian missile strike in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. / Photo: AFP archive
Russia has fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 19 people, almost all of them when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the centre of the country, officials said. Three children were among the dead.
The missile attacks included the first one against Kiev, Ukraine's capital, in nearly two months, although there were no reports of any targets hit. The city government said Ukraine’s air force intercepted 11 cruise missiles and two unmanned aerial vehicles over Kiev.
The strikes on the nine-story residential building in central Ukraine occurred in Uman, a city located around 215 kilometres south of Kiev. Seventeen people died in that attack, according to the capital region's governor, Ihor Taburets. They included two 10-year-old children and a toddler.
The Ukrainian national police said 17 people were wounded and three children were rescued from the rubble. Nine were hospitalized.
The Russian Defence Ministry, however, said that its strategic bombers had carried out what it called high-precision missile strikes on Ukrainian army reserve units overnight to prevent them from getting to the frontline.
Russia's defence ministry, which denies deliberately targeting civilians, said the aim of the strikes was to prevent Ukraine - which says it is poised to launch a counter-offensive against Russian forces - from bringing reserve forces to the front line.
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1238 GMT – Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilians amount to 'war crimes', says EU
The EU considers Russia's missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians to be war crimes, an official from the bloc said.
"The Russian attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure constitute war crimes," the European Commission's lead spokesperson on foreign affairs, Peter Stano, told reporters.
He pointed out that Russia has been carrying out "reckless drone and missile strikes against Ukraine's population" on a daily basis since the war between the two countries broke out in February last year.
Stano also condemned overnight bombings in the Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy regions on Friday that "targeted civilian people while they are sleeping" and injured or killed "a number of innocent people, including children."
1227 GMT – UN body deplores 'grave' rights abuses by Russia in Ukraine
A United Nations committee said it was deeply concerned about human rights violations by Russian forces and private military companies in Ukraine, including enforced disappearances, torture, rape and extrajudicial executions.
In its findings on Russia, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on the Russian authorities to investigate allegations of human rights violations committed during the war in Ukraine.
"The Committee was deeply concerned about the grave human rights violations committed during the ongoing armed conflict by the Russian Federation's military forces and private military companies ... ," it said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from the Russian permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
0114 GMT — Ukraine envoy says UN not perfect, but proved effective
Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya said there may be no other country in the world where citizens pay such heed to debates at the UN General Assembly or Security Council about their nation.
"The United Nations is clearly not perfect," he said, recalling decisions even dating back to its founding in 1945.
"We should not really have illusions about the United Nations. That's true. On the other hand, do we have an alternative to the United Nations? No," Kyslytsya said.
The envoy cited the many resolutions in the General Assembly calling for Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. The last vote, near the February anniversary of the invasion, saw 141 nations vote in favour, seven against and 32 abstaining.
"It was a very serious blow against Russia, that was already spreading this narrative that the world (was) tired, that the world lost interest in that war," he said.
Even with such achievements in his nation's favor, Kyslytsya offered an evaluation of UN shortcomings and said he remains optimistic.
0059 GMT — Ukraine allies sent 1,550 armoured vehicles, 230 tanks: NATO
NATO allies and partner countries have delivered more than 98 percent of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine during Russia's invasion and war, the military alliance's chief has said, giving Kiev a bigger punch as it contemplates launching a counteroffensive.
Along with more than 1,550 armoured vehicles, 230 tanks and other equipment, Ukraine's allies have sent “vast amounts of ammunition” and also trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian brigades, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
More than 30,000 troops are estimated to make up the new brigades. Some NATO partner countries, such as Sweden and Australia, have also provided armoured vehicles.
"This will put Ukraine in a strong position to continue to retake occupied territory,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.
source ; trt and world
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