Russian missiles on Friday hit a medical clinic in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing at least two people, as Russia blamed Kyiv for dozens of strikes on its southern Belgorod region.
In Moscow, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov discussed the Ukraine conflict with Chinese Special Representative for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui (李?), blaming Ukraine and Western countries for creating “serious obstacles” to resuming peace talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted a video online of smoke billowing from roofless buildings with blown-out windows after the attack in Dnipro that authorities said had left 30 people injured including two boys aged three and six.
Photo: AFP
The head of the regional military administration Sergiy Lysak said that Russia struck a residential area with a medical and veterinary clinic and high-rise blocks.
Zelenskiy said that by hitting civilian medical facilities, “Russian terrorists once again confirm their status of fighters against everything humane and honest.”
US Senator Lindsey Graham, on his third visit to Ukraine, condemned the attack as a war crime.
Photo: AFP
“There was a hospital bomb today. Just over 500 medical facilities have been hit by the Russians. A war crime was committed while I was here, just one of many war crimes,” he said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that its strikes on Ukraine had targeted arms depots, and that all the assigned targets had been hit.
Ukrainian journalists posted video footage of rescuers helping people with blood on their faces escape from the clinic through corridors full of rubble.
Dnipro, which had nearly 1 million inhabitants before the war, is about 125km from the front line.
The announcement of the attack on the city came as Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said at least five districts of his region in southern Russia had been repeatedly hit by Ukrainian forces over the past 24 hours.
The districts had been attacked by drones, mortars and artillery and the village of Kozinka was struck more than 130 times, he said, reporting no casualties.
In a rare attack on the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, two drones damaged buildings in the city center, officials said, but no one was killed.
The claims of fresh strikes in the Belgorod region came after an unprecedented two-day incursion from Ukraine claimed by two anti-Kremlin groups this week, with Russia using its air force and artillery to push back the fighters.
The Russian defense ministry has pledged an “extremely harsh” response if there are any further attacks on its soil.
The apparent exchange of artillery and missile fire reported on Friday came one day after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Russia had begun the transfer of nuclear weapons to his tightly controlled country.
However, the Kremlin stopped short of confirming the start of the transfer, saying only that Russia’s ally was seeing “aggressive statements” from neighboring countries.
In Washington, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described Russia’s move as “yet another example of making irresponsible and provocative choices.”
Brazilian resident Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday declined an invitation to travel to Saint Petersburg during a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, Lavrov hosted Li, praising Beijing for its “balanced” position on Ukraine.
Li’s visit to Moscow came after he met Zelenskiy in Kyiv earlier this month.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also made an official diplomatic protest aimed at the US embassy for what it said were recent US comments condoning alleged Ukrainian attacks on Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula.
In Washington, the US Department of State said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would next week visit new NATO member Finland, where he would deliver a speech championing Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
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