What is happening in Ukraine today and how are countries around the world responding? Read live updates on Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
BERLIN – The German government sharply criticized the Russian missile attack on kyiv during the UN secretary-general’s visit to the Ukrainian capital on Thursday.
Germany “condemns the Russian missile attack in kyiv, while Secretary-General (Antonio) Guterres was there simultaneously for talks, in the sharpest possible way,” government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner told reporters on Friday. Berlin.
The attack “reveals in the eyes of the world community once again that Putin and his regime have no respect for international law,” it added.
The US-funded station Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty says one of its journalists was killed in the Russian missile attack. Ten people were injured in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukraine’s emergency services.
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The US-funded station Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty says one of its journalists was killed by a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian capital kyiv on Thursday night.
Vira Hyrych was killed when the building he lived in was attacked and his body was found in the rubble of the building on Friday, Radio Free Europe said. Hyrych had worked for the station’s Ukrainian-language service since 2018, Radio Free Europe said in a statement.
Ten people were injured in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukraine’s emergency services.
Describing the attack, Russia says it “destroyed production buildings” at a defense factory in kyiv. Russia used “high-precision, long-range weaponry” to attack the Artem factory in the Ukrainian capital, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said on Friday.
The spokesman appeared to be referring to the attacks in kyiv that took place on Thursday night, shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said cruise missiles were used in the attack and kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and four were hospitalized when a residential building was hit.
Konashenkov also said that Russia had destroyed a missile launch site that Ukraine had used to attack the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Kherson.
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LONDON – Britain is sending a team of experts to Ukraine to help local authorities investigate reports of war crimes, including sexual violence, committed by Russian troops.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says the team, including experts on conflict-related sexual violence, will arrive in Poland in early May and meet representatives from international agencies, non-governmental organisations, refugees and the Ukrainian government to determine what assistance it can provide. .
“Russia has brought barbarism to Ukraine and has committed vile atrocities, including against women,” Truss said in a statement. “The British experience will help uncover the truth and hold the Putin regime accountable for its actions. Justice will be served.”
Truss plans to meet the president of the International Criminal Court, Judge Piotr Hofmanski, on Friday in The Hague, where he will reaffirm Britain’s support for the investigation and prosecution of war crimes in Ukraine.
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LVIV, Ukraine – A British aid group says it believes two Britons have been kidnapped by Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine.
The British Foreign Office said it is “urgently seeking further information” about the two men’s case.
Dominik Byrne, co-founder and chief operating officer of the Presidium Network, told The Associated Press on Friday that the men were last heard from on Monday.
Byrne said the men were abducted while trying to carry out an independent evacuation in Dniprorudne, near the city of Zaporizhzhia, about 470 kilometers (290 miles) southeast of kyiv.
Byrne said the family the two men had been trying to evacuate were later questioned by Russian forces, who asked them about “British spies.” Bryne said the family later fled to Poland.
Byrne identified the men as Paul Urey and Dylan Healy. He said that they had been operating on their own in the war zone and had not been associated with any aid group.
The British Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia has not acknowledged that it took the men.
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STOCKHOLM – The Swedish capital will change the name of part of a park near the Russian embassy to Fria Ukrainas plats (Free Ukraine Square in Swedish) to show “Stockholm’s solidarity with the Ukrainian people,” the mayor said on Friday.
Stockholm’s planning department decided to rename part of the Mariebergspark, with Stockholm mayor Anna Konig Jerlmyr calling it on Facebook “an important mark against the actions of the Russian regime.”
Several European cities have changed the name of the streets. One of the first was Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where a quiet alley where the Russian Embassy is located in the Lithuanian capital changed its name to “Ukrainian Heroes’ Street” in March.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark. A 25-year-old Dane was killed in Mykolajiv on April 26 while fighting with the Ukrainian International Legion, a unit for foreigners who want to join the fight against Russia, according to Danish broadcaster TV2. The man’s name was not given.
In a statement to Danish media, the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen said it could not confirm the report and was in contact with Ukrainian authorities.
“Therefore, it may take time before details are clarified” because the war creates “extremely difficult conditions,” the statement read.
Jyllands-Posten, one of Denmark’s largest newspapers, said that up to 100 Danes had traveled to Ukraine to fight Russia, citing the Ukrainian Embassy in Denmark.
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LVIV, Ukraine – The British Ministry of Defense says Russia’s focus in its war against Ukraine remains the Donbas region.
In an update on Friday, the British military said heavy fighting had been seen around Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. The British said they believe Russia is trying to attempt a drive south from Izium towards Slovyansk.
The British military said in a tweet: “Due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.”
The British Army has been providing daily public reports on the fighting since the start of the war in February.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia struck targets virtually from one end of Ukraine to the other on Thursday, including kyiv, shelling the city while the United Nations chief was visiting in the most audacious attack on the capital since security forces Moscow withdrew a few weeks ago.
Ukrainian emergency services said 10 people were injured when a Russian missile hit a 25-story apartment building in kyiv on Thursday night, sparking a fire that partially destroyed the first and second floors.
The bombing came just an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said Ukraine has become “an epicenter of unbearable anguish and pain.” .
A spokesman said Guterres and his team were safe.
Meanwhile, explosions were reported across the country: in Polonne in the west, Chernihiv near the border with Belarus, and Fastiv, a large rail hub southwest of the capital.
The mayor of Odessa, in southern Ukraine, said air defenses intercepted rockets.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had “very substantive and warm talks” on energy and defense cooperation with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov during his visit to kyiv on Thursday.
Zelenskyy said they agreed that damaged Ukrainian military equipment could be repaired at Bulgarian plants and then shipped back to Ukraine.
“Another issue we agreed on was the supply of Ukrainian electricity to Bulgaria and the joint use of the trans-Balkan gas pipeline” to diversify the energy supply in the region,” Zelenskyy said Thursday night in his late-night video address to the nation. .
Russia this week cut off natural gas supplies to Bulgaria and also to Poland, two NATO members that have been among Ukraine’s strongest European supporters in the war.
Although Bulgaria gets more than 90% of its gas from Russia, the cut-off does not immediately put the country in deep trouble because of other potential suppliers. The Trans-Balkan Gas Pipeline runs from Greece through Bulgaria and Romania to Ukraine.
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ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — An 11-year-old Ukrainian boy was one of at least three people injured in what emergency officials call the first Russian attack on a residential area of the southern city of Zaporizhzhia since the Russian invasion began. .
The city has been a crucial reference point for tens of thousands of people fleeing the besieged southern port of Mariupol.
The rocket attack came Thursday as parts of southern Ukraine braced for a new attack by Russian forces seeking to strip the country of its coastline.
Residents said at least eight houses in the modest neighborhood were damaged or destroyed.
Glass shards cut the boy’s right leg to the bone. The father of the injured boy, Vadym Vodostoyev, said “just take a second and you’re left with nothing.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital of kyiv shortly after a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday night.
At least one person was killed and several were injured, including some who were trapped under the rubble, according to rescue teams. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Shevchenkivskyi district in the northwestern part of the city was attacked twice, setting fires to at least two high-rise buildings.
The blasts, which sent plumes of black smoke into the air, came shortly after the two leaders held a news conference in which Guterres condemned atrocities in cities like Bucha, where evidence of mass killings of civilians was found after the withdrawal of Russia. Authorities said the UN chief and his team were safe.
Appearing to be one of the boldest attacks in kyiv since Russian forces withdrew from the capital weeks ago, the blasts came as residents increasingly returned to the city. Cafes and other businesses have reopened, and a growing number of people have gotten out and enjoyed the spring weather.
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