Russia-Ukraine crisis live updates on July 16 2022

Air raid sirens sounded across Kyiv on Saturday as Russia stepped up long-range bombardment of Ukrainian cities that has killed at least 34 people in the last three days and wounded scores.

Late on Friday, Russian missiles hit the central city of Dnipro, killing three people and wounding 15, regional Governor Valentyn Reznychenko said on Telegram. Rockets hit an industrial plant and a street next to it, he said. Eight people were killed and 13 injured in a string of shellings in 10 locations in the eastern region of Donetsk, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a television interview.

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On Thursday, Kalibr cruise missiles launched from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea hit an office building in Vinnytsia, a city of 370,000 people about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Kyiv. Officials said the strike killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens.

The attacks were the latest in a series of Russian hits in recent weeks using long-range missiles on crowded buildings in cities far from the front, each killing dozens of people.

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Here are the latest updates:

Kyiv

Russia deploys missiles from Europe’s largest nuclear plant: Ukraine agency

Russia is using Europe’s largest nuclear power plant as a base to store weapons including “missile systems” and to shell the surrounding areas of Ukraine, an official with Kyiv’s nuclear agency has said.

Located on the Dnipro river in southeastern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been under Russian control since the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion, though it is still being operated by Ukrainian staff.

The president of Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom said Friday in a televised interview that the situation was “extremely tense”, with up to 500 Russian soldiers controlling the plant. “The occupiers bring their machinery there, including missile systems, from which they already shell the other side of the river Dnipro and the territory of Nikopol,” Pedro Kotin said, referring to the city across the water.

“They physically control the perimeter. The occupiers’ heavy machinery and trucks with weapons and explosives remain on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” he said. “The pressure on the occupiers to leave the territory of the plant is insufficient,” he added, before taking aim at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“(The IAEA) is playing some political games, balancing between Russia and Ukraine,” he said. – AFP

Russia/Ukraine

‘Progress’ towards agreement to lift blockade restricting Ukrainian grain export

Despite the bloodshed, both sides have described progress towards an agreement to lift a blockade restricting the export of Ukrainian grain. Mediator Turkey has said a deal could be signed next week.

Asked if that timeline was realistic, a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters: “We really hope so. We’re hurrying as fast as we can.” The official asked not to be identified.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said an agreement was close, but Moscow’s negotiator cautioned that a grains deal would not lead to a resumption of peace talks. A deal would probably involve inspections of vessels to ensure Ukraine was not bringing in arms and guarantees from Western countries that Russia’s own food exports are exempt from sanctions.

The war has dominated a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Indonesia. Two sources said the group was unlikely to issue a formal communique on Saturday. Russia is a member, as are the G7 industrial powers, along with China, India and South Africa, among others. – Reuters

Dnipro

Russian cruise missiles rain down on southern Ukrainian city

Cruise missiles fired by Russian strategic bombers struck a southeastern Ukrainian city late Friday, killing at least three people and wounding 15, as air raid sirens went off across the country, officials said.

The attack on Dnipro came a day after a Russian missile strike killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 200 in Vinnytsia, a city southwest of Kyiv, the capital.

Russia’s military campaign has been focusing on the Donbas in Ukraine’s east, but Russian forces also have been pounding other parts of the country in a relentless push to wrest territory from Ukraine and soften the morale of its leaders, civilians and troops as the war nears the five-month mark. – AP