Latest news with #UkrainianCivilians
BreakingNews.ie
7 days ago
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Zelensky condemns ‘brutal' rocket attack after four killed in Ukrainian city
A Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday, in which at least four people were killed and many others injured, was described by President Volodymyr Zelensky as 'brutal'. According to authorities, a barrage of multiple rockets struck apartment buildings and a medical facility in the centre of the north-eastern city a day after direct peace talks made no progress on ending the three-year war. Advertisement Mr Zelensky said one of the rockets fired at Sumy pierced the wall of an apartment building but failed to detonate. 'That's all you need to know about Russia's 'desire' to end this war,' Mr Zelensky wrote in a post on Telegram. 'It is clear that without global pressure, without decisive action from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who holds power, (Russian president Vladimir) Putin will not agree even to a ceasefire.' At talks in Istanbul on Monday, delegations from the warring countries agreed to swap dead and wounded troops. But their terms for ending the war remained far apart. Advertisement Russian President Vladimir Putin (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) The war has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations, as well as tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides along the roughly 620-mile front line where the war of attrition is grinding on despite US-led efforts to broker a peace deal. Though Russia has a bigger army and more economic resources than Ukraine, a spectacular Ukrainian drone attack that Ukrainian officials said damaged or destroyed more than 40 warplanes at air bases deep inside Russia was a serious blow to the Kremlin's strategic arsenal and its military prestige. Both Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin have been eager to show US president Donald Trump that they share his ambition to end the fighting, thereby aiming to avoid possible punitive measures from Washington. Ukraine has accepted a US-proposed ceasefire, but the Kremlin effectively rejected it. Mr Putin has made it clear that any peace settlement has to be on his terms. Advertisement A senior Ukrainian delegation led by first deputy prime minister and economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko has travelled to Washington for talks about defence, sanctions and post-war recovery, Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said. The delegation will meet with representatives from both major US political parties, as well as with advisers to Mr Trump, Mr Yermak added. Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who now serves as deputy head of the country's Security Council chaired by Mr Putin, indicated there would be no let-up in Russia's invasion of its neighbour. 'The Istanbul talks are not for striking a compromise peace on someone else's delusional terms but for ensuring our swift victory and the complete destruction of (Ukraine's government),' he said. Advertisement In an apparent comment on the latest Ukrainian strikes, he declared that 'retribution is inevitable'. 'Our army is pushing forward and will continue to advance,' Mr Medvedev said, adding that 'everything that needs to be blown up will be blown up, and those who must be eliminated will be'. Ukrainians on the streets of Kyiv welcomed their country's stunning drone strike on Russian air bases but were gloomy about the chances for a peace agreement. The Russians 'won't negotiate peace with anyone,' said 43-year-old Ukrainian serviceman Oleh Nikolenko. 'Russia has invested too many resources in this war to just … stop for nothing.' Advertisement Anastasia Nikolenko, a 38-year-old designer, said diplomacy cannot stop the fighting. 'We need to show by force, by physical force, that we cannot be defeated,' she said. Russia has recently expanded its attacks on Sumy and in the Kharkiv region following Mr Putin's promise to create a buffer zone along the border that might prevent long-range Ukrainian attacks hitting Russian soil. Sumy is about 15 miles from the Russian border. It had a prewar population of around 250,000.
BreakingNews.ie
03-06-2025
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Zelensky condemns ‘brutal' rocket attack after three killed in Ukrainian city
A Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday, in which at least three people were killed and many others injured, was described by President Volodymyr Zelensky as 'brutal'. According to authorities, a barrage of multiple rockets struck apartment buildings and a medical facility in the centre of the north-eastern city a day after direct peace talks made no progress on ending the three-year war. Advertisement Mr Zelensky said one of the rockets fired at Sumy pierced the wall of an apartment building but failed to detonate. 'That's all you need to know about Russia's 'desire' to end this war,' Mr Zelensky wrote in a post on Telegram. 'It is clear that without global pressure, without decisive action from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who holds power, (Russian president Vladimir) Putin will not agree even to a ceasefire.' At talks in Istanbul on Monday, delegations from the warring countries agreed to swap dead and wounded troops. But their terms for ending the war remained far apart. Advertisement Russian President Vladimir Putin (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) The war has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations, as well as tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides along the roughly 620-mile front line where the war of attrition is grinding on despite US-led efforts to broker a peace deal. Though Russia has a bigger army and more economic resources than Ukraine, a spectacular Ukrainian drone attack that Ukrainian officials said damaged or destroyed more than 40 warplanes at air bases deep inside Russia was a serious blow to the Kremlin's strategic arsenal and its military prestige. Both Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin have been eager to show US president Donald Trump that they share his ambition to end the fighting, thereby aiming to avoid possible punitive measures from Washington. Ukraine has accepted a US-proposed ceasefire, but the Kremlin effectively rejected it. Mr Putin has made it clear that any peace settlement has to be on his terms. Advertisement A senior Ukrainian delegation led by first deputy prime minister and economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko has travelled to Washington for talks about defence, sanctions and post-war recovery, Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said. The delegation will meet with representatives from both major US political parties, as well as with advisers to Mr Trump, Mr Yermak added. Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who now serves as deputy head of the country's Security Council chaired by Mr Putin, indicated there would be no let-up in Russia's invasion of its neighbour. 'The Istanbul talks are not for striking a compromise peace on someone else's delusional terms but for ensuring our swift victory and the complete destruction of (Ukraine's government),' he said. Advertisement In an apparent comment on the latest Ukrainian strikes, he declared that 'retribution is inevitable'. 'Our army is pushing forward and will continue to advance,' Mr Medvedev said, adding that 'everything that needs to be blown up will be blown up, and those who must be eliminated will be'. Ukrainians on the streets of Kyiv welcomed their country's stunning drone strike on Russian air bases but were gloomy about the chances for a peace agreement. The Russians 'won't negotiate peace with anyone,' said 43-year-old Ukrainian serviceman Oleh Nikolenko. 'Russia has invested too many resources in this war to just … stop for nothing.' Advertisement Anastasia Nikolenko, a 38-year-old designer, said diplomacy cannot stop the fighting. 'We need to show by force, by physical force, that we cannot be defeated,' she said. Russia has recently expanded its attacks on Sumy and in the Kharkiv region following Mr Putin's promise to create a buffer zone along the border that might prevent long-range Ukrainian attacks hitting Russian soil. Sumy is about 15 miles from the Russian border. It had a prewar population of around 250,000.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia killed six civilians and injured over 20 in Donetsk and Kherson oblasts
Six people were killed and another 21 injured in Russian attacks on Donetsk and Kherson oblasts on 23 May. Source: Donetsk Oblast Military Administration; Kherson Oblast Military Administration Details: In particular, the Russians killed four residents of Donetsk Oblast: two in Kostiantynivka, one in Rodynske and one in Dovha Balka. Another eight people in the oblast were injured. Meanwhile, Russian forces struck critical and social infrastructure and residential areas of settlements in Kherson Oblast, damaging three high-rise buildings and 12 houses. The Russian attack also affected a sports ground and a garage. Two people were killed and another 13 injured in the oblast due to Russian aggression. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Ukraine and Russia begin prisoner-exchange in swap set to be biggest of war
Russia and Ukraine each released 390 prisoners on Friday and said they would free more in the coming days, in what is expected to be the biggest prisoner swap of the war so far. An agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each was the only concrete step towards peace to emerge last week from the first direct talks between the warring sides in more than three years, when they failed to agree a ceasefire. Both sides said they had each released 270 soldiers and 120 civilians so far, with more due to be released on Saturday and Sunday. The freed Russians were in Belarus, which neighbours Ukraine, receiving psychological and medical assistance before being moved to Russia for further care, the Russian defence ministry said. They include civilians captured inside Russia's Kursk region during a Ukrainian incursion. READ MORE Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted photographs of released captives, all with shaven heads, celebrating their release and wrapped in Ukrainian flags. Ukrainian media outlet Espreso TV published a video of the wife of a prisoner crying tears of joy, wrapped in a flag on Kyiv's Independence Square. She said she had been waiting for her husband's release since 2022, and had just received the call from Ukrainian authorities confirming the good news. 'We waited, hoped and fought,' said the woman, whose name was given as Victoria. Earlier, Ukrainian authorities told reporters to assemble at a location in the northern Chernihiv region in anticipation that some freed prisoners could be brought there. Referring to the prisoner swap earlier on Friday, US president Donald Trump , who had pressed the sides to meet last week, wrote on Truth Social: 'Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???' Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are believed to have been wounded or killed on both sides in Europe's deadliest conflict since the second World War, although neither side publishes accurate casualty figures. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have also died as Russian forces have besieged and bombarded Ukrainian cities. Ukraine says it is ready for a 30-day ceasefire immediately. Russia, which launched the war by invading its neighbour in 2022 and now occupies about a fifth of Ukraine, says it will not pause its assaults until conditions are first met. A member of the Ukrainian delegation called those conditions 'non-starters'. Mr Trump, who has shifted US policy from supporting Ukraine towards accepting some of Russia's account of the war, had said he could tighten sanctions on Moscow if it blocked peace. But after speaking to Mr Putin on Monday by phone he decided to take no action for now. Moscow says it is ready for talks while the fighting goes on, and wants to discuss what it calls the war's 'root causes', including its demands that Ukraine cede more territory and be disarmed and barred from military alliances with the West. Kyiv says this is tantamount to surrender and would leave the country defenceless in the face of future Russian attacks. [ US and Russia exchange two more prisoners amid efforts to repair relations Opens in new window ] Russia claimed on Friday to have captured a settlement called Rakivka in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region. The governor of Ukraine's Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said Russia had struck port infrastructure there with two missiles on Friday afternoon, killing one person and wounding eight. – Reuters
