
Russia strikes Kyiv metro entrance as civilians shelter inside
Four of Kyiv's districts were attacked on Monday morning, with reports of burning residential buildings, a kiosk and a kindergarten, according to Vitali Klitschko, the city's mayor.
The entrance to the Lukianivska metro station was also damaged by missiles and drones as residents shielded inside. Emergency services said smoke spread underground, with footage showing the makeshift bomb shelter being filled with fumes.
Oleh Synehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, reported multiple explosions in the country's second-largest city, but gave no immediate details on the damage.
It was the latest in a series of escalating attacks by Russia targeting densely populated civilian areas. Moscow has been known to launch repeated attacks on the same area once emergency services have arrived.
In Moscow, a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack forced thousands of passengers to wait in lines or sleep on the floor at airports with a number of flights being delayed or cancelled.
Videos published by Russian media showed people sleeping on the floor of Sheremetyevo, Russia's busiest airport by passenger numbers, amid long queues.
Russia's defence ministry said it had downed 117 drones overnight, including 30 over the Moscow region, forcing restrictions on flights at Moscow's main airports – Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovskiy.
Ukraine's air force meanwhile said Russia had launched 426 drones and 24 missiles in Monday's attack. It downed or jammed 224 drones and missiles, while another 203 drones disappeared from radars, most likely having been jammed by electronic warfare, the air force said.
The renewed attacks came after Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said he had proposed a new round of talks with Moscow this week.
The two sides have already held two rounds of direct negotiations in Istanbul but have so far been unable to make any meaningful progress beyond exchanging prisoners and repatriating the dead.
The UK announced on Sunday that along with Germany it would launch a '50-day drive' to arm Ukraine and force Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, into peace.
'As members of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, we need to step up in turn with a '50-day drive' to arm Ukraine on the battlefield and force Putin to the negotiating table,' John Healey, the Defence Secretary, is expected to say on Monday.
The Kremlin said on Sunday it was open to peace but insisted achieving its goals remained a priority after Donald Trump, the US president, gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to peace and confirmed the US would send billions of dollars' worth of weapons to Ukraine via Nato, including Patriot air defence missiles.
Putin has 'repeatedly spoken of his desire to bring the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. This is a long process, it requires effort, and it is not easy,' a spokesperson for the Russian president said.
'The main thing for us is to achieve our goals,' he said. 'Our goals are clear.'
The Kremlin has insisted that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022 – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia – but never fully captured.
It also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join Nato and accept strict limits on its armed forces, demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected.
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Reuters
6 minutes ago
- Reuters
Russian attacks kill two in east Ukraine, 33 hurt in Kharkiv
KHARKIV, Ukraine, July 24 (Reuters) - Two people were killed in a Russian strike on eastern Ukraine on Thursday and at least 33 were wounded when Russian glide bombs struck a residential neighbourhood in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, regional officials said. The Donetsk regional prosecutor's office in eastern Ukraine said the two deaths were in the city of Kostiantynivka, where 12 people were also wounded. In Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said a 10-year-old child and a month-old infant were among those hurt when Ukraine's second-largest city was hit by two glide bombs - air-launched munitions fitted with wings and satellite-aided navigation to extend their range and precision. "These are utterly senseless strikes with no military purpose whatsoever," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X. Thick black smoke billowed above the northern district of Kharkiv where a local business and an apartment bloc were damaged. Stunned residents fled, with some clutching children and flames engulfing parked cars. "I looked around and everything was smashed," said Yevhen Hanushchak, holding a crate with his cat outside a damaged apartment building. "Tons of smoke, people running and screaming, grabbing their things." Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has stepped up airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities since talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in its nearly 3-1/2 year-old-war in Ukraine stalled this year. Glide bombs have been particularly devastating in areas closer to the battlefield. The regional prosecutors said Thursday's attack was launched nearly 100 km (62 miles) away.


The Sun
6 minutes ago
- The Sun
Battle of Black Sea erupts as Russia and Ukraine strike biggest resorts after peace talks fail to deliver ceasefire
A NEW front in Vladimir Putin's bloody war erupted as Ukraine and Russia traded deadly Black Sea strikes after peace talks collapsed. The tit-for-tat attacks were the fiercest in months and marked a chilling escalation in a war showing no signs of ending. 11 11 11 11 In the Russian resort city of Sochi - Putin's glittering showcase to the world and personal playground - massive Ukrainian drones tore through vital infrastructure. Explosions rocked oil depots, ignited railway warehouses, and tore apart road links in Sirius Federal Territory, where elite schools, luxury developments, and whispers of Putin's own children echo. In an embarrassing blow to the Kremlin, a Russian S-400 missile system misfired during the chaos, smashing into a residential block and killing at least two civilians. One woman was among the dead, and another 11 people were wounded. Tourists at Sochi's five-star beachside hotels were seen cowering in underground car parks as their luxury summer breaks were shattered by war. This was the first major Ukrainian strike on Sochi in almost two years - and the symbolism couldn't be clearer. The city is home to Russia's most elite gymnastics academy run by Alina Kabaeva, Putin's long-time secret lover. It's also just a stone's throw from the palace Mad Vlad is building after razing his last one - and only a mile from the Sirius school where he once held private talks with Donald Trump. Ukraine used Lyutyi‑196 long-range drones in the daring raid that lit up the night sky with fireballs. The Lukoil-Yugnefteprodukt oil depot exploded in flames as local officials scrambled to control the chaos. Warped Russian state TV parades 'drone death factory' packed with kamikaze killing machines after Ukraine blitzes Moscow Sochi airport was also shut down, delaying more than 100 flights. While Sochi burned, the heart of Odesa bled. The historic Ukrainian port city, often described as the soul of the nation, suffered yet another hellish night under a hail of Russian drones. A nine-storey residential building was torn apart from the fifth to eighth floors, and the city's beloved Privoz Market - a cultural landmark since 1827 - was engulfed in flames. Regional governor Oleh Kiper said: "There is damage to architectural monuments in the historic centre of Odesa, which is under UNESCO protection." Russia also launched drone strikes on Mykolaiv and a missile assault on Cherkasy, injuring seven people and a child. Fires raged across Ukrainian industrial sites as sirens screamed through the night. All this, just hours after peace talks in Istanbul collapsed into bitter recriminations. 11 11 Kremlin negotiator Vladimir Medinsky admitted the two sides were "quite far from each other". Ukraine's Rustem Umerov demanded an immediate ceasefire and face-to-face negotiations. He warned: "We emphasise that the ceasefire must be real. "It must include a complete halt to strikes on civilian and critically important infrastructure." 'Prepping for nuclear war' As the bloodshed on the ground escalates, Putin's propaganda machine turns even more apocalyptic. Leading Russian media outlets - or Kremlin mouthpieces - have begun preparing their citizens for nuclear war. Newspapers such as Komsomolskaya Pravda ran chilling features warning that war with the West could come before the end of the decade, fuelled by what they claim is Nato aggression. Accusing the West of wanting to "dismember" Russia to access its resources, Russian military analyst Andrei Klintsevich warned: "The aim is to provoke Russia… and launch direct confrontation." He called for a nuclear test in the Arctic - the first since the Cold War - in a move meant to terrify Western powers. The warnings coincided with threats from Putin's infamous crony Dmitry Medvedev, who claimed World War Three has already begun, and urged Russia to bomb the West. Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, raged that Nato and the West are effectively already at war with Russia as he pushed the Kremlin's view that his country is the victim. That's despite it being Russia who invaded Ukraine and is continuing to wage a bloody war. 11 11 The Kremlin's fury was further stoked after US General Christopher Donahue declared Nato could capture Kalinigrad - the strategic fortress Russia clings to in the heart of Europe - "faster than we've ever done before." It comes after Trump threw his own firepower to the mix. He pledged to arm Ukraine with advanced defence systems and slap Russia with brutal 100 per cent tariffs - unless Putin strikes a peace deal within 50 days. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has found himself facing a new kind of battle - not with Putin, but with his own people. The Ukrainian leader is under intense fire after signing a controversial anti-corruption bill that critics say hands him near-absolute power over previously independent watchdogs. Thousands poured into the streets of Kyiv in the biggest anti-government protest since the war began. "We chose Europe, not autocracy," read one handmade placard. Another one read: "My father did not die for this." Zelensky insisted the law was needed to purge Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies of Russian infiltration, claiming: "We all share a common enemy: the Russian occupiers… "Those who work against Ukraine must not feel comfortable or immune to the inevitability of punishment." But his assurances did little to calm protesters, which included Kyiv's mayor and former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, who said bluntly: 'Sapo and Nabu must remain independent institutions.' The protests have now spread to Lviv, Dnipro and even battle-hardened Odesa, adding political turmoil to an already exhausted nation. 11 11


Reuters
6 minutes ago
- Reuters
Zelenskiy approves bill 'upholding independence' of anti-corruption agencies
July 24 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he had approved a draft bill strengthening Ukraine's law enforcement system and the independence of anti-corruption agencies and it would be submitted to parliament later in the day. Zelenskiy said on X that the bill was well-balanced and "upholds the independence of anti-corruption agencies", which had been curbed by legislation passed earlier this week, drawing strong criticism from Ukraine's Western allies.