Here are the latest developments from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict on June 28, 2022
Here are the latest developments from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict on June 28, 2022
Leading economic powers conferred by video link with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday as they underscored their commitment to Ukraine for the long haul with plans to pursue a price cap on Russian oil, raise tariffs on Russian goods and impose other new sanctions. In addition, the U.S. was preparing to announce the purchase of an advanced surface-to-air missile system for Kyiv to help Ukraine fight back against Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
Russian long-range bombers struck a crowded shopping mall in Ukraine’s central city of Kremenchuk with a missile on Monday, raising fears of what President Volodymyr Zelensky called an “unimaginable” number of victims in “one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.” The toll from the missile strike has risen to 16 dead and 59 wounded, the head of Ukraine’s emergency services said early Tuesday. “As of now, we know of 16 dead and 59 wounded, 25 of them hospitalised. The information is being updated,” Sergiy Kruk said on Telegram.
Ukraine has called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over recent Russian strikes on civilian targets, the presidency of the U.N. body said Monday. The missile strike on the shopping centre “is the main focus” of the meeting, set for Tuesday at 1900 GMT, said a spokesman for the Albanian mission, which currently holds the rotating Security Council presidency. The “shelling all over Kyiv” on Sunday, which hit a residential complex, will also be discussed at the meeting, the spokesman said.
Here are the latest updates:
Brussels
NATO to boost rapid reaction force, Ukraine military support
NATO will increase the strength of its rapid reaction force nearly eightfold to 300,000 troops as part of its response to an “era of strategic competition,” the military alliance’s secretary-general said Monday.
Kharkiv
Russian shelling kills five civilians in Ukraine’s Kharkiv
Russian forces shelled central districts of the city of Kharkiv on Monday, hitting apartment buildings and a primary school and killing five people and wounding 22, the regional governor said.
Five children were among the injured, Oleh Synehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said.
The attacks shattered apartment buildings, video footage showed. The blast gouged a vast crater in front of the school, with debris strewn about classrooms, their windows all blown out. – Reuters
Germany
G7 denounces ‘war crime’ as Russian strike kills shoppers
A Russian missile strike on a crowded mall in central Ukraine killed at least 16 people on June 17 in what Group of Seven leaders branded “a war crime” at a meeting in Germany where they looked to step up sanctions on Moscow.
The leaders vowed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and those responsible would be held to account for the strike in the city of Kremenchuk, carried out during the shopping mall’s busiest hours.
“Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime,” they said in a statement condemning the “abominable attack.” – AFP
Ukraine
16 killed, 59 wounded in missile strike on Ukraine mall
A Russian missile strike on a crowded mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk killed at least 16 people, the head of emergency services said early Tuesday, sparking international outrage.
“The Russian strike today on the shopping centre in Kremenchuk is one of the most brazen terrorist acts in European history,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening broadcast posted on Telegram.
KREMENCHUK, Ukraine
Russian missile strike hits crowded shopping mall in Ukraine
Rescuers work at a site of a shopping mall hit by a Russian missile strike, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kremenchuk, in Poltava region, Ukraine on June 27, 2022.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Russian long-range bombers struck a crowded shopping mall in Ukraine’s central city of Kremenchuk with a missile on Monday, raising fears of what President Volodymyr Zelensky called an “unimaginable” number of victims in “one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.”
Mr. Zelensky said that many of the more than 1,000 afternoon shoppers and staff inside the mall managed to escape. Giant plumes of black smoke, dust and orange flames emanated from the wreckage, with emergency crews rushing in to search broken metal and concrete for victims and put out fires. Onlookers watched in distress at the sight of how an everyday activity such as shopping could turn into a horror. – AP
June 27
Russia’s Putin to make first foreign trips since launching Ukraine war
Vladimir Putin will visit two small former Soviet states in central Asia this week, Russian state television reported on Sunday, in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since ordering the invasion of Ukraine.
