Diplomatic correspondent
Russia has hit Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, Kharkiv, with an enormous drone and bomber assault, killing 4 folks and injuring almost 60, officers say.
Two folks have been additionally killed in Russian strikes on Kherson, in southern Ukraine, native authorities mentioned.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov mentioned 48 drones, two missiles and 4 glide bombs had been used in opposition to his metropolis on Friday night time, whereas extra glide bombs have been reportedly dropped on Saturday.
Earlier, Moscow mentioned an enormous wave of drone and missile assaults throughout Ukraine on Thursday night time was in response to “terrorist assaults by the Kyiv regime”, after assaults on Russian railway infrastructure and air bases final weekend.
In one other growth, Russian and Ukrainian officers launched conflicting accounts about when a prisoner swap agreed at earlier talks would occur.
In Kharkiv, some 18 residence buildings and 13 different properties have been hit on Friday night time, the mayor mentioned. A child and a 14-year-old lady have been among the many injured, he added.
One civilian industrial facility was attacked by 40 drones, one missile and 4 bombs, Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov mentioned, including that there would possibly nonetheless be folks buried underneath the rubble.
Within the later Russian assault utilizing glide bombs on Kharkiv on Saturday night, yet one more particular person was killed and no less than one other 18 folks injured, the town’s mayor mentioned.
Ukrainian International Minister Andriy Sybiha urged allies to extend strain on Moscow and to take “extra steps to strengthen Ukraine” in response to Russia’s newest assaults.
Six folks have been killed and 80 injured throughout Ukraine on Thursday night time, when Russia attacked the nation with greater than 400 drones and almost 40 missiles.
EPAUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned the strikes on Kharkiv made “no navy sense” and have been “pure terrorism”.
He accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of “shopping for himself time to maintain waging the warfare”, and mentioned “strain should be utilized” to cease the assaults.
In the course of the newest spherical of direct talks in Istanbul earlier this week, the 2 warring sides agreed to trade all sick and closely wounded prisoners of warfare, these aged underneath 25, in addition to the our bodies of 12,000 troopers.
Moscow’s chief negotiator on the assembly, Vladimir Medinsky, mentioned on Saturday that Ukraine had “unexpectedly postponed each the acceptance of our bodies and the trade of prisoners of warfare for an indefinite interval”.
He additional mentioned that the our bodies of greater than 1,000 Ukrainian troopers had been taken to an agreed trade level however that Ukrainian officers had by no means arrived.
A listing of 640 prisoners-of-war had additionally been handed to Ukraine “in an effort to start the trade”, Medinsky wrote on social media.
Ukrainian officers responded angrily to the allegations, telling Russia to “cease taking part in soiled video games”.
An announcement from Ukraine’s Co-ordination for PoWs workplace mentioned that the feedback did “not correspond to actuality or to earlier agreements”.
The Co-ordination HQ mentioned each side had been engaged on preparations for the trade over the previous week and alleged that Russia was not sticking to the agreed parameters of the swap.
It added that Ukraine had submitted its PoW lists in keeping with the “clearly outlined classes” of the deal, however that Russia had submitted “various lists that don’t correspond to the agreed-upon method”.
Whereas an settlement on the repatriation of our bodies had been reached, a date had not been set, Ukraine mentioned, with Russia taking “unilateral steps that had not been co-ordinated”.
Russian air strikes over the previous two nights got here after bomb assaults on railways in western Russia reportedly killed seven folks and injured greater than 100, and Ukrainian drone strikes focused strategic warplanes at 4 air bases deep inside Russia.
Ukraine’s safety service SBU mentioned no less than 40 Russian plane had been struck throughout “Operation Spider’s Internet” final Sunday.
Ukraine says it used 117 drones that have been first smuggled into Russia, then positioned inside picket cabins mounted on the again of lorries and hid beneath remotely operated removable roofs.
The lorries have been then apparently pushed to areas close to the Russian air bases by drivers who have been seemingly unaware of their cargo. The drones have been then launched remotely.
On Saturday, Ukraine launched extra footage from that assault – exhibiting a single drone’s total flight.
US President Donald Trump mentioned on Friday that the Ukrainians had given Putin “a purpose to go in and bomb the hell out of them final night time”.
He earlier mentioned that in a telephone name, Putin had instructed him “very strongly” that Moscow would “have to reply” following Ukraine’s airfield assaults.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It presently controls round 20% of Ukrainian territory, together with the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014 after the overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president.
Peace talks between the 2 sides have up to now didn’t safe a ceasefire, and each side stay deeply divided on find out how to finish the warfare, with Ukraine pushing for an “unconditional ceasefire” as a primary step, one thing Russia has repeatedly rejected.
Further reporting by Jaroslav Lukiv and Vitaliy Shevchenko
