| |
Russia Drones, Missiles Hit Ukraine 10/22 06:09
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- A large-scale Russian drone and missile attack across
Ukraine killed at least six people, including a woman and her two young
daughters, officials said Wednesday, as U.S.-led efforts to end the war
floundered and Ukraine's president sought more foreign military help.
Repeated waves of missiles and drones throughout the night targeted at least
eight Ukrainian cities, as well as a village in the Kyiv region where a strike
set fire to a house in which the mother and her 6-month and 12-year-old
daughters were staying, regional head Mykola Kalashnyk said.
At least 25 people, including five children, were injured in Kyiv alone,
authorities said.
Russian drones also hit a kindergarten in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest
city, during the day Wednesday when children were in the building, Mayor Ihor
Terekhov said. One person was killed and six were injured but no children were
physically harmed, he said.
Even so, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said many of the children
were in shock after being rescued from the building by emergency crews.
Russia fired 405 strike and decoy drones and 28 missiles at Ukraine, mainly
targeting Kyiv, Ukraine's air force said.
Peace efforts mark time
U.S. President Donald Trump 's efforts to end the war that started with
Russia's all-out invasion of its neighbor more than three years ago have failed
to gain traction. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with Russian
President Vladimir Putin's refusal to budge from his conditions for a
settlement after Ukraine offered a ceasefire and direct peace talks.
Trump said Tuesday that his plan for a swift meeting with Putin was on hold
because he didn't want it to be a "waste of time." European leaders accused
Putin of stalling.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the planned summit
requires careful preparation, suggesting that laying the groundwork could be
protracted. "No one wants to waste time: neither President Trump nor President
Putin," he said. "These are the two presidents who are accustomed to working
efficiently with high productivity."
Zelenskyy urged the European Union, the United States and the Group of Seven
industrialized nations to heap more pressure on Russia and force it to the
negotiating table.
Pressure can be applied on Moscow "only through sanctions, long-range
(missile) capabilities, and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners," he
said.
Zelenskyy credited Trump's remarks that he was considering supplying
Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for Putin's willingness to meet.
Russia has not made significant progress on the battlefield where a war of
attrition has taken a high toll on Russian infantry and Ukraine is short of
manpower, military analysts say. Meanwhile, both sides have invested in
long-range strike capabilities to hit rear areas.
Ukraine says it hit a key Russian chemical plant
Ukraine's army general staff said the country's forces struck a chemical
plant in Russia's Bryansk region on Tuesday night using British-made
air-launched Storm Shadow missiles. The plant is an important part of the
Russian military and industrial complex producing gunpowder, explosives,
missile fuel and ammunition, it said.
Russian officials in the region confirmed an attack but did not mention the
plant.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 33 Ukrainian drones
over several regions overnight, including the area around St. Petersburg. Eight
airports temporarily suspended flights overnight because of the attack.
Zelenskyy arrived Wednesday in Oslo, Norway, and after that was to visit
Stockholm, where he is expected to meet with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf
Kristersson at the start of what the Ukrainian leader has said will be a week
of intense diplomacy.
More international economic sanctions on Russia are likely to be discussed
at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. On Friday, a meeting of the Coalition
of the Willing -- a group of 35 countries who support Ukraine -- is to take
place in London.
Also Wednesday, Trump is expected to hold talks at the White House with NATO
Secretary-General Mark Rutte. The military alliance has been coordinating
deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, many of them purchased from the United States
by Canada and European countries.
Russia's long barrage
Moscow's attack, which began overnight and extended into Wednesday morning,
also targeted energy infrastructure and caused rolling blackouts, officials
said. Russia has been trying to cripple the country's power grid before the
bitter winter sets in.
In Kyiv, residents reeled from the drone and missile bombardment.
"We heard a loud explosion and then the glass started to shatter, and then
everything was caught up in a burst of fire, the embers were everywhere," Olena
Biriukova, a 58-year-old living in an apartment building told The Associated
Press.
"It was very scary for kids," she said. "I never thought that this could
happen in our neighborhood."
Zelenskyy said the Russian attack targeted the wider Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv,
Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy, and
Sumy -- 10 regions in all.
Two more people were found dead in the Dnipro district of the Ukrainian
capital, where emergency services rescued 10 people after a fire caused by
drone debris hit the sixth floor of a 16-story residential building, local
authorities said.
And in Kyiv's Darnytskyi district emergency services were responding after
drone debris hit a 17-story residential building causing a fire on five floors.
Fifteen people had to be rescued, including two children.
|
|
