Today an urgent G7 meeting on Ukraine, after the dramatic escalation of the conflict with the Russian raids that responded to the Ukrainian attack on the Crimean bridge.
Yesterday Russian missiles ( 83 dropped to which 17 Iranian kamikaze drones must be added ) hit all the main cities of the country. Kiev, Lviv, Ivano-Frakivsk, Dnipro, Odessa. About twenty dead, one hundred wounded.
And in Putin's crosshairs there is precisely the Ukrainian President Zelensky, touched by the bombing , with the missiles that have fallen a few steps from the presidential palaces. And while Moscow spread news that the Ukrainian president was on the run, Zelensky showed up in the center of the capital in a video on Telegram, ready to respond blow for blow to the Russian attacks: " We do not let ourselves be intimidated ," he said.
The missiles destroyed strategic infrastructure, causing fires, explosions and mass blackouts and returning terror to the capital and the western part of the country .
It is Putin's revenge after the Ukrainian attack on Crimea , "and it is only the beginning", said the vice-president of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, according to whom the goal must be " the total dismantling of the political regime in Ukraine ".
" They are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth ", denounced Zelensky, while Putin claimed "massive attacks on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine", calling it a " terrorist organization ", and the Defense of Moscow announced that "The objectives of the precision raids have been achieved".
The West condemned unanimously, with Biden calling the attacks "brutal" and announcing the dispatch of new arms packages to Kiev . The US president has pledged to supply Kiev also with "advanced air defense systems".
( HERE all the news about the war)
( HERE all the videos of the conflict)
Here is the news by the hour
Musk denies Bremmer: "I haven't talked to Putin for 18 months"
Elon Musk denied having spoken to Vladimir Putin before posting on his Twitter account the proposed peace plan for Ukraine, as revealed by political scientist Ian Bremmer. Responding to a user on the Vice.com account, who first posted the news, Tesla boss clarified: "I only spoke to Putin once, about 18 months ago, and we discussed aerospace."
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Bremmer: "Musk spoke to Putin before the tweet on the peace plan"
Elon Musk spoke directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin before tweeting his proposal to end the war in Ukraine last week. This was revealed by the US political scientist, Ian Bremmer, in a newsletter to subscribers of the Eurasia Group, of which he is president. According to Bremmer, Tesla's patron would have confided to him that Putin was "ready to negotiate", but only if Crimea remained Russian, if Ukraine accepted a form of permanent neutrality and recognized Moscow's annexation of Luhansk. , Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
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Kiev: "78 bodies exhumed in Donetsk, including children"
Ukrainian authorities exhumed 78 bodies in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, including those of some minors, including a one-year-old girl buried with family members. This was announced by the Public Prosecutor of Kiev, quoted by Ukrinform, according to which some of the bodies showed signs of violent death. 34 bodies were exhumed in Sviatohirsk, while two others were found charred in a car, and another 44 in Lyman.
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Russia includes Meta among the terrorist organizations
Russia has included Meta - the company headed by Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram - in its list of "terrorist and extremist" organizations.
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Moscow: "The war is getting longer with the US defense systems"
Putin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, said the US delivery of advanced air defense systems to Ukraine "will make the conflict longer and more painful for the Ukrainian side" but "this will not change the definition of objectives" from part of the Kremlin "and the final result". The Interfax agency reports. Yesterday, after the bombing by the Russian armed forces on Ukrainian cities which claimed numerous civilian casualties, US President Joe Biden pledged "to continue to provide Ukraine with the support it needs to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems" .
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Draghi hears Zelensky: "Russian attacks are brutal"
In view of today's G7 Summit, Prime Minister Mario Draghi had a new telephone conversation with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. "The meeting focused on the latest serious developments in the situation on the ground with particular regard to the missile attacks conducted by the Russian forces against Kiev and other Ukrainian cities - reports Palazzo Chigi -. President Draghi condemned the unacceptability of these brutal attacks," which further aggravate Russian responsibilities, and confirmed Italy's closeness to the Ukrainian authorities and population ".
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Minsk: "Joint force with the Russians is only defensive"
A joint force with Russian troops is "purely defensive". Official sources in Minsk say so.
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Lavrov: "Nuclear power only if Russia risks annihilation"
In accordance with its nuclear doctrine, Moscow plans retaliatory measures solely to prevent the annihilation of Russia. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov, as reported by Tass.
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UN: "Russian war crimes raids"
Yesterday's Russian bombing of Ukraine "may have violated" international war law. The UN affirms it.
"Intentional attacks directed against civilians and civilian objects are tantamount to war crimes," explained Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. "The location and timing" of the attacks by the Russian armed forces that hit cities across Ukraine yesterday as people went to work and children to school, "are particularly shocking," he said.
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Alarm sirens in Kiev and across the country
The anti-aircraft sirens resounded this morning in Kiev and throughout Ukraine: this was reported by the BBC and TASS, which cited the Ukrainian news portal Strana. According to the portal, the country's Emergency Service issued messages that explosions are highly likely during the day, stressing that citizens are advised to stay in shelters and not ignore air warnings.
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New raid on Zaporizhzhia
Russian forces attacked the city of Zaporizhzhia, in southern Ukraine, again in the night: the governor of the region, Oleksandr Starukh, announced it. According to reports from the Kyiv Independent, Moscow has targeted an infrastructure site. At least 15 explosions.
(Unioneonline)
