Ukraine: Four killed in massive Russian drone, missile attack
Moscow has stepped up aerial strikes over recent months and US-led ceasefire talks aimed at pausing the over three-year war have stalled. 'Twenty-six cruise missiles and 597 attack drones were launched, of which more than half were 'Shaheds',' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, referring to Iranian-made drones. The Ukrainian air force said it had downed 319 Shahed drones and 25 missiles, adding that one missile and about 20 drones hit 'five locations'.
Zelensky said the strikes had killed at least two people and wounded 20 in the southwestern Chernivtsi region, far from the front lines of the east and south.
Twelve people were wounded in Lviv, also in the west. In the east, two people died in Dnipropetrovsk and three were wounded in Kharkiv, local authorities said. The Russian defence ministry said it had targeted companies in Ukraine's military-industrial complex in Lviv, Kharkiv and Lutsk and a military aerodrome. On Friday, Ukrainian retaliatory drone and shelling attacks killed three people in Russia. US special envoy Keith Kellogg is due on Monday to begin his latest visit to Ukraine as a Washington-led peace effort flounders.
US President Donald Trump also said he would make a 'major statement... on Russia' on Monday.
On Friday, the Kremlin restated its opposition to a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron said Kyiv's allies had a plan 'ready to go... in the hours after a ceasefire'. Trump called Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week but said afterwards there had been no progress towards ending the war.
The Kremlin said Putin would not give up on Russia's war goals but would nonetheless continue to take part in negotiations. Moscow says its aim in Ukraine is to get rid of the 'root causes' of the conflict and has demanded that Kyiv give up its NATO ambitions.
In Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, a drone 'hit the Belgorod Arena sports center, where classes were taking place,' regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Saturday, adding there were no casualties. He said a man died after a separate strike hit a house in the city of Shebekino.
Washington's announcement earlier this month that it would pause some armament deliveries to Ukraine was a blow to Kyiv, which is reliant on Western military support. On Saturday, Zelensky urged his Western allies to send 'more than just signals' to stop the war launched by Russia in February 2022. 'The pace of Russian air strikes requires swift decisions and it can be curbed right now through sanctions,' he said on social media.
Zelensky specifically demanded penalties for those who 'help Russia produce drones and profit from oil'. Oil exports are important for the Russian economy especially in the face of existing Western sanctions.
Sanctions imposed on Russia—the world's largest fertilizer producer—after the invasion spared its grain and fertilizer exports. But prices skyrocketed, fuelling fears of food insecurity.
The United Nations signed a deal with Russia in July 2022 to facilitate exports of food and fertilizer to limit global price increases. But on Friday, it said the accord would not be renewed when it expires on July 22. Russia has repeatedly complained the agreement does little to protect it from secondary sanction effects. — AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
3 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Hundreds killed in recent weeks while seeking aid in Gaza: UN
Ceasefire talks held up by Zionist entity withdrawal plans JERUSALEM: Ten Palestinians were reported killed Friday while waiting for rations in Gaza, adding to nearly 800 similar deaths in the last six weeks, according to the UN, with Zionist entity's army saying it issued new instructions to troops following repeated reports of fatalities. Friday's reported violence came as negotiators from Zionist entity and the Palestinian group Hamas were locked in indirect talks in Qatar to try to agree on a temporary ceasefire in the more than 21-month conflict. Zionist entity's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he hoped a deal for a 60-day pause in the war could be struck in the coming days, and that he would then be ready to negotiate a more permanent end to hostilities. Hamas has said the free flow of aid is a main sticking point in the talks, with Gaza's more than two million residents facing a dire humanitarian crisis of hunger and disease amid the grinding conflict. Zionist entity began easing a more than two-month total blockade of aid in late May. Since then, a new US- and Zionist entity-backed organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has effectively sidelined the territory's vast UN-led aid delivery network. There are frequent reports of Zionist forces firing on people seeking aid, with Gaza's civil defense agency saying 10 Palestinians were killed Friday while waiting at a distribution point near the southern city of Rafah. The UN, which refuses to cooperate with GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Zionist military objectives, said Friday that 798 people have been killed seeking aid between late May and July 7, including 615 'in the vicinity of the GHF sites'. 'Where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food and medicine, and where... they have a choice between being shot or being fed, this is unacceptable,' UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. GAZA: Palestinians carry bags of flour at a UN World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse on Al-Jalaa street in Gaza City, in the central Gaza Strip on July 12, 2025. -- AFP Indirect talks between Hamas and Zionist entity for a ceasefire in Gaza are being held up by Zionist entity's proposals to keep troops in the territory, two Palestinian sources with knowledge of the discussions told AFP on Saturday. Delegations from both sides began discussions in Qatar last Sunday to try to agree on a temporary halt to the 21-month conflict sparked by Hamas's deadly October 2023 attack on Zionist entity. Zionist entity has meanwhile kept up its strikes on Gaza and the territory's civil defence agency said more than 20 people were killed on Saturday, including in an air strike on an area sheltering the displaced. 'We all generally came here because we were told it was a safe area,' Bassam Hamdan told AFP after the overnight attack in an area of Gaza City. 'While we were sleeping, there was an explosion... where two boys, a girl and their mother were staying. We found them torn to pieces, their remains scattered,' he added. In southern Gaza, bodies covered in white plastic sheets were brought to the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis while wounded in Rafah were taken for treatment by donkey cart, on stretchers or carried, AFP photographs showed. If an agreement for a 60-day ceasefire were reached, both Hamas and Zionist entity have said 10 hostages taken in 2023 who remain alive in captivity would be released. Zionist entity Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared then to enter talks for a more permanent end to hostilities. But one Palestinian source, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the talks, said Zionist entity's refusal to accept Hamas's demand to withdraw all of its troops from Gaza was holding back progress. A second source said mediators had asked both sides to postpone the talks until the arrival of US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in the Qatari capital. 'The negotiations in Doha are facing a setback and complex difficulties due to Zionist entity's insistence, as of Friday, on presenting a map of withdrawal, which is actually a map of redeployment and repositioning of the Zionist army rather than a genuine withdrawal,' the first source said. They added that Zionist entity was proposing to maintain military forces in more than 40 percent of the Palestinian territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into a small area near the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt. 'Hamas's delegation will not accept the Zionist entity maps... as they essentially legitimize the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement,' they said. The second Palestinian source accused the Zionist delegation of having no authority, and 'stalling and obstructing the agreement in order to continue the war of extermination'. — AFP
Kuwait Times
3 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Mexico: Trump threat of 30% tariffs ‘unfair'
TIJUANA: Cargo trucks heading towards US are pictured at the Otay Commercial crossing in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on March 27, 2025. -- AFP MEXICO CITY: Mexico slammed US President Donald Trump's latest threat of 30 percent tariffs Saturday as an 'unfair deal,' according to a government statement. Mexico was informed of the new duties—which Trump said would come into effect by August 1 -- during talks in the United States on Friday. 'We mentioned at the table that it was an unfair deal and that we did not agree,' the Mexican economy and foreign ministries said in a joint statement. Mexico is already in negotiations seeking an alternative to tariffs that would protect businesses and jobs on both sides of the border, the ministries added, saying they hope to avoid the duties. President Claudia Sheinbaum, whom Trump often refers to favorably, expressed confidence Saturday that a deal would be reached. 'We are going to reach an agreement with the US government,' Sheinbaum said during a public event hours after Trump's social media post announcing the elevated tariffs. She said the talks in Washington would allow Mexico to be in a 'better position' by August 1. Mexico is one of the countries most vulnerable to the US leader's tariffs, with 80 percent of its exports destined for its northern neighbor, which is also its largest trading partner. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has reproached Mexico for not doing what he says is enough to prevent illegal migration and drug trafficking across the border, and has wielded tariffs as retaliation. The fresh duties for Mexico announced by Trump would be higher than the 25 percent levy he imposed on Mexican goods earlier this year, although products entering the United States under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) are exempted. 'Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,' Trump said in his letter to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. 'Starting August 1, 2025, we will charge Mexico a Tariff of 30 percent on Mexican products sent into the United States.' The Mexican government said it had been informed of the new threat during talks in the United States on Friday. 'We mentioned at the table that it was an unfair deal and that we did not agree,' the Mexican economy and foreign ministries said in a joint statement. -- AFP
Arab Times
6 hours ago
- Arab Times
At least 30 are killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza as war deaths top 58,000
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip, July 13, (AP): Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 30 people on Sunday, including six children at a water collection point, local health officials said, despite attempts by mediators to bring about a ceasefire. Israel and Hamas appeared no closer to a breakthrough in talks meant to pause the 21-month war and free some Israeli hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington last week to discuss the deal with the Trump administration, but a new sticking point has emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce, raising questions over the feasibility of a new deal. Israel says it will only end the war once Hamas surrenders, disarms, and goes into exile, something it refuses to do. Hamas says it is willing to free all the remaining 50 hostages, less than half said to be alive, in exchange for an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces. Gaza's Health Ministry said Sunday that more than 58,000 people have been killed in the war. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says more than half of the dead are women and children. In the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 in a raid on northern Israel. Throughout the war in Gaza, violence has also surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where funerals were held Sunday for two Palestinians, including Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet, 20, who was killed in an attack by Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. In central Gaza, officials at Al-Awda Hospital said it received 10 bodies after an Israeli strike on a water collection point in nearby Nuseirat. Among the dead were six children, the hospital said. Ramadan Nassar, a witness who lives in the area, told The Associated Press that around 20 children and 14 adults were lined up Sunday morning to fill up water. When the strike occurred, everyone ran, and some, including those who were severely injured, fell to the ground, he said. He said Palestinians walk some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) to fetch water from the area. The Israeli military said it was targeting a militant but that a technical error made its munition fall "dozens of meters from the target.' It said the incident was being examined. Additionally, health officials said an Israeli strike hit a group of citizens walking in the street on Sunday afternoon, killing 11 people and injuring around 30 others in central Gaza City. Dr. Ahmed Qandil, who specializes in general surgery and laparoscopic, was among those killed, the Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement. One of the ministry's spokespeople, Zaher al-Wahidi, told the AP that Qandil was on his way to Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital when the strike happened. All bodies and those wounded were taken to Al-Ahli hospital, according to al-Wahidi. In the central town of Zawaida, an Israeli strike on a home killed nine, including two women and three children, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said. The military said it was unaware of a strike on the home, but has struck over 150 targets over the past 24 hours, including what it said are weapons storage facilities, missile launchers, and sniping posts. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militant group operates out of populated areas. In the West Bank, where violence between Israeli troops and Palestinians has been compounded by attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers, funerals were held for a Palestinian-American and a Palestinian friend of his. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Musallet, a Florida native, was killed after being beaten by Israeli settlers. Diana Halum, a cousin, said the attack occurred on his family's land. The Health Ministry initially identified him as Seifeddine Musalat, 23. Musallet's friend, Mohammed al-Shalabi, was shot in the chest, according to the ministry. On Sunday, their bodies were carried through the streets of Al-Mazraa a-Sharqiya, a town south of where they were killed. Mourners, waving Palestinian flags, chanted "God is great.' In a statement Saturday, Musallet's family said he was "a kind, hard-working, and deeply-respected young man, working to build his dreams.' It said he built a business in Tampa, Florida, and that he was deeply connected to his Palestinians heritage. Musallet's family said it wants the U.S. State Department to investigate his death and hold the settlers accountable. The State Department said it was aware of the reports of his death but had no comment out of respect for the family. Israel's military has said Palestinians hurled rocks at Israelis in the area on Friday, lightly wounding two people and setting off a larger confrontation.
