logo
Pregnant in Kyiv, in the wreckage of apartment hit by Russian drone

Pregnant in Kyiv, in the wreckage of apartment hit by Russian drone

Reutersa day ago
KYIV, July 28 (Reuters) - Bohdana Zhupanyna had planned to use the last two weeks of her pregnancy in Ukraine brushing up on parenting skills and preparing for the arrival of her daughter.
Instead, the 30-year-old found herself sifting through the charred remains of her second-floor apartment in Kyiv, wrecked in a Russian drone attack on July 21.
"I don't know what kind of fate this is, why this happens, for what reason," she told Reuters, clutching her belly as daylight poured through a gaping hole that was once her living room.
Around her, broken pieces of a couch and bed sat clumsily stacked, and once-sleek kitchen shelves were covered in shattered glass and dust.
Ukrainians like Zhupanyna have endured months of worsening Russian air strikes that have killed dozens and upended daily lives since peace talks broke down last spring.
On Monday, Russian forces unleashed a fresh wave of attacks involving hundreds of drones, wounding eight people in Kyiv as it continued grinding forward on the battlefield.
Zhupanyna, who was elsewhere at the time of last week's attack, said she felt lucky that her mother was able to seek cover and emerge unscathed.
But a jagged piece of a Russian drone in her smartly designed bathroom serves as a grim reminder of the dangers she and millions of other Ukrainians face on a daily basis.
"This is confirmation that they're attacking civilian places, specifically residential apartments," she said.
Nearby, a metro station, businesses and other residential properties were also damaged.
Moscow, which has killed thousands of civilians since its full-scale invasion in February 2022, denies intentionally targeting them but says it strikes civil infrastructure such as energy systems to degrade Ukraine's ability to fight. Ukraine has also targeted Russian cities with long-range weapons, though it has caused far more limited damage.
U.S. President Donald Trump has cited the upsurge in attacks on Ukrainian civilians for a decision this month to resume shipments of weapons to Kyiv, including air defences.
The Russians "have to stop killing us," said Zhupanyna, whose father was killed fighting at the front. "As for Trump, I would like him to simply help more."
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

New York shooting: gunman kills four people at Manhattan skyscraper
New York shooting: gunman kills four people at Manhattan skyscraper

The Guardian

time36 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

New York shooting: gunman kills four people at Manhattan skyscraper

A gunman killed four people at a Manhattan skyscraper that houses the headquarters of the NFL and the offices of several major financial firms before turning the gun on himself, New York officials have said. An NYPD officer identified as Didarul Islam, an immigrant from Bangladesh and a father of two whose wife is pregnant, was among those killed. He was working off-hours as a security guard at the time, New York mayor Eric Adams told reporters, describing him as a 'true blue hero'. Authorities offered few details about the three other victims killed by the suspect – two men and a woman. A third male was gravely wounded by the gunfire and was 'fighting for his life' in a nearby hospital, the mayor said. Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, confirmed that 'the lone shooter has been neutralized'. New York police also said the shooter acted alone and was dead. Tisch said the gunman, identified as Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old Las Vegas resident with a history of mental illness, had driven cross-country to New York in recent days. The shooting spree in the evening rush hour began in the lobby of the Park Avenue tower in Midtown Manhattan. Tisch said that surveillance videos showed the gunman exiting a double-parked Black BMW between 51st and 52nd street on Park Avenue. He allegedly opened fire immediately after entering the tower's lobby, shooting multiple people. Police said that the gunman let a woman exit the elevator unharmed, and then took the elevator to the 33rd floor, the offices of Rudin Management Company, a behemoth New York real estate firm. Tisch said that the gunman opened fire on the 33rd floor and killed one person. The gunman then went to the stairwell and shot himself with an assault rifle, she said. Photographs show people exiting the building around 7pm ET with hands raised. Tisch said that the NYPD found weapons in the parked BMW, as well as a prescription in Tamura's name. Tisch said Tamura entered the office fresh after driving across the country, making stops in Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa. Tamura's final alleged stop was in New Jersey at 4.24pm ET. The NYPD believes that the shooting was an isolated incident. US House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed his concern over the 'horrific shooting', and said he was 'praying hard' for the NYPD officer. 'May God watch over our city during this challenging moment,' Jeffries wrote in a post. A large police presence converged on the area around the tower, according to Reuters journalists near the scene. 'I just saw a lot of commotion and cops and people screaming,' said Russ McGee, a 31-year-old sports bettor who was working out in a gym adjacent to the skyscraper, told Reuters in an interview near the scene. The office building at 345 Park Avenue occupies an entire city block and houses the corporate offices for the National Football League and the headquarters of investment firm Blackstone. It also holds offices for JP Morgan Chase. According to an ESPN reporter, Jeff Darlington, an NFL security alert was sent to employees: 'Do not exit the building. Secure your location and hide until law enforcement clears your floor. Please switch phones to silent.' This shooting is the 254th mass shooting in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun-related violence, who defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people, excluding the shooter, are killed or injured by firearms. With Reuters

Ukraine's live-blogging lawmakers fuel public anger at parliament
Ukraine's live-blogging lawmakers fuel public anger at parliament

Reuters

timean hour ago

  • Reuters

Ukraine's live-blogging lawmakers fuel public anger at parliament

KYIV, July 29 (Reuters) - Swivelling his selfie camera around the floor of Ukraine's parliament, opposition lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko beamed out a real-time view of colleagues fast-tracking legislation that would soon spark the biggest political crisis since Russia's invasion. "Friends, this is how parliamentarianism is being destroyed in Ukraine," he said in the July 22 broadcast to his more than 2 million social media subscribers. Honcharenko is one of a handful of politicians in Ukraine's parliament, mostly from the opposition, who have filled the gap left by a wartime suspension of an official live broadcast. They provide followers with play-by-play text and visual updates of Ukraine's thorny politics, which helped to fuel a popular backlash against a law pushed through last week by the ruling party to defang anti-corruption watchdogs. The practice of airing parliamentary sessions, once a staple of Ukraine's vibrant political culture, was scrapped after Russia's February 2022 invasion because it was considered a security risk. Honcharenko and several other opposition members stepped in, using their platforms increasingly since 2023 to keep Ukrainians up to speed on the inner workings of Ukraine's 450-seat legislature. Events there captured public attention last week after lawmakers led by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's Servant of the People party rammed through measures curbing the powers of two prominent anti-corruption agencies. The vote, which the opposition said had been marred by procedural violations, was documented online by Honcharenko and at least one other opposition lawmaker. Within minutes of the legislation passing, some of Ukraine's leading online influencers weighed in, stoking anger that sent thousands of protesters onto the streets of Kyiv and other cities that night in rare wartime unrest. "Today they simply shat on everyone's head with this law and set us back 10 years," wrote blogger Ihor Lachenkov to his 1.5 million Telegram subscribers. Protesters expressed anger at the speed with which the measures were passed, and some suspected they were designed to protect top officials from investigation. The anti-graft agencies are also crucial to Ukraine's aim to one day join the European Union. Zelenskiy reversed course after the outcry and pressure from senior European politicians. Lawmakers will consider restoring the independence of the agencies on Thursday. Ukraine's parliament has been in session throughout the war, and until last week's controversy had largely taken on a rubber-stamp function to pass laws critical to the country's wartime survival. On Monday, nearly 70 prominent civic and media organisations called on parliament to restore the broadcast from the chamber, saying transparency was "the foundation of trust in parliament". "I think it had a very big significance on people saying 'No, this isn't right. This isn't Europe,'" said Honcharenko, who is the only lawmaker streaming live video, of the impact of his broadcasts on public opinion after last week's vote. Broadcasting from parliament is not technically illegal but instead banned by a non-binding resolution respected by most lawmakers. Sessions are posted online later in the day. A spokesperson for parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters. Calls to resume broadcasting are part of broader criticism among opposition politicians and the public that Zelenskiy's administration has attempted to monopolise the wartime narrative, including through centralised state television. His office denies the charge. "(Opening up parliament) is not convenient for them - that's clear," said lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak, who delivers live text coverage of sessions on Telegram, often with scathing wit that is accented by emojis. He said some of his colleagues who had voted for the controversial measures would not have done so if they knew voters were watching in real time. Vita Dumanska, head of the pro-transparency group CHESNO said lawmakers' feeds were not proper substitutes for an official transmission because they can curate what voters see. "This is not an objective presentation of facts," said Dumanska, whose organisation led the call by civic groups. "These are facts with a political stance."

Trump eyes Aug 1 trade deals as EU, China talks continue, US Commerce chief says
Trump eyes Aug 1 trade deals as EU, China talks continue, US Commerce chief says

Reuters

timean hour ago

  • Reuters

Trump eyes Aug 1 trade deals as EU, China talks continue, US Commerce chief says

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will make his trade deal decisions this week even as separate negotiations with China and the European Union continue, U.S. Commerce chief Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday ahead of Trump's self-imposed Aug. 1 deadline. U.S. and EU officials were still discussing steel and aluminum tariffs as well as digital services regulations following their framework announced on Sunday, Lutnick told CNBC in an interview, adding that talks with China were also "their own thing". "But for the rest of the world, we're going to have things done by Friday," he said in the interview. Asked about remaining uncertainties surrounding the U.S.-EU agreement, Lutnick said Trump was working "to get things done now." He said pharmaceuticals were a key part of the EU deal so that medicines made in European countries—home to several major drugmakers—would see their products included in the 15% tariff. "It was important for them to have pharmaceuticals be part of the deal at 15% because President Trump is going to come out in the next two weeks with his pharmaceutical policy, and it is going to be higher," he said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store