Firefighters work on the scene of a residential constructing following explosions in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 26, 2022.
Nariman El-Mofty/AP
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Nariman El-Mofty/AP
Firefighters work on the scene of a residential constructing following explosions in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 26, 2022.
Nariman El-Mofty/AP
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital within the early hours of Sunday morning, hanging not less than two residential buildings, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated, as elsewhere Russian troops consolidated their features within the east.
Related Press journalists in Kyiv noticed rescue providers battling flames and rescuing civilians. Klitschko stated 4 folks have been hospitalized with accidents and a 7-year-old lady was pulled alive from the rubble. Tradition minister Oleksandr Tkachenko stated on Telegram {that a} kindergarten was hit within the assaults.
Ukraine Member of Parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app that “in accordance with prelim information 14 missiles have been launched towards Kyiv area and Kyiv.” Air Pressure spokesman Yuriy Ignat stated the missiles have been Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles fired from planes over the Caspian Sea.
Earlier than Sunday’s early morning assault, Kyiv had not confronted any such Russian airstrikes since June 5.
Klitschko advised journalists that he believed “it’s possibly a symbolic assault” forward of this week’s NATO summit in Madrid.
Two extra explosions have been later heard in Kyiv, however their trigger and potential casualties weren’t instantly clear.
In the meantime, Russian forces have been searching for to swallow up the final remaining Ukrainian stronghold within the japanese Luhansk area, urgent their momentum after taking full management Saturday of the charred ruins of Sievierodonetsk and the chemical plant the place a whole bunch of Ukrainian troops and civilians had been holed up.
Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk area that features Sievierodonetsk, stated Sunday that Russia was conducting intense airstrikes on the adjoining metropolis of Lysychansk, destroying its tv tower and significantly damaging a highway bridge.
“There’s very a lot destruction — Lysychansk is sort of unrecognizable,” he wrote on Fb.
Additionally Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden stated the USA and different Group of Seven main economies intend to announce a ban on imports of gold from Russia. They hope that measure will additional isolate Russia economically over its invasion of Ukraine.
Senior Biden administration officers stated gold is Moscow’s second largest export after vitality, and that banning imports would make it tougher for Russia to take part in world markets.
Biden’s Twitter feed stated Russia “rakes in tens of billions of {dollars}” from the sale of its gold, its second largest export after vitality.
On Saturday, Russia additionally launched dozens of missiles on a number of areas throughout the nation removed from the guts of the japanese battles. Among the missiles have been fired from Russian long-range Tu-22 bombers deployed from Belarus for the primary time, Ukraine’s air command stated.
The bombardment preceded a gathering between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, throughout which Putin introduced that Russia deliberate to provide Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system.
Russian Protection Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov stated late Saturday that Russian and Moscow-backed separatist forces now management Sievierodonetsk and the villages surrounding it. He stated the try by Ukrainian forces to show the Azot plant right into a “cussed heart of resistance” had been thwarted.
Haidai confirmed Saturday that Sievierodonetsk had fallen to Russian and separatist fighters, who he stated have been now making an attempt to blockade Lysychansk from the south.
Russia’s Interfax information company quoted a spokesman for the separatist forces, Andrei Marochko, as saying Russian troops and separatist fighters had entered Lysychansk and that combating was going down within the coronary heart of town. There was no rapid touch upon the declare from the Ukrainian facet.
Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk have been the point of interest of a Russian offensive aimed toward capturing the entire Donbas and destroying the Ukrainian navy defending it — essentially the most succesful and battle-hardened phase of the nation’s armed forces.
Capturing Lysychansk would give Russian forces management of each main settlement within the province, a major step towards Russia’s intention of capturing your complete Donbas. The Russians and separatists management about half of Donetsk, the second province within the Donbas.
