Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that four people, including a child, were killed in overnight Russian missile attacks on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, while a teenager and another person were killed in attacks on Kiev and the surrounding region.

Authorities said that many buildings, including a hospital, were damaged in the attacks in Dnipro.

Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Sergiy Lysak said in a statement on Telegram that twenty people, including four children, were injured in the city.

Young girl in Kiev killed in drone attack, according to regional authorities.

The strike came less than 48 hours after Russia finished hosting a three-day summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies in the city of Kazan, where President Vladimir Putin faces calls from world leaders to end the conflict.

“After everything that was said in Kazan, the Russian killers went back to business as usual,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. he said.

“This proves once again that aggression cannot be stopped by talking, but only by decisive actions in defense of the state,” he added.

Ukrainian cities, including Kiev, have been subjected to deadly drone and missile attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The Russian military said on Saturday it had captured the front-line village of Oleksandropol in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where it has made a series of advances in recent months.

World leaders express ‘serious concerns’ about North Korea’s troops in Russia

U.S., South Korean and Japanese national security advisers expressed “serious concerns” on Friday about the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia for possible use against Ukraine, according to the White House.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the trio viewed the North Korean military presence as the latest sign of growing Moscow-Pyongyang military relations and called for Russia and North Korea to halt weapons and missile transfers.

He said the transfers violated UN Security Council resolutions.

Mr. Kirby briefed reporters after U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan held talks in Washington with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Shin Won-sik and Takeo Akiba, respectively.

“National security advisers are expressing serious concerns about North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia that has the potential to be used against Ukraine,” Mr. Kirby said.

He added that the North Koreans’ presence in Russia and arms transfers “extend the security consequences of Russia’s brutal and illegal war beyond Europe and into the Indo-Pacific.”

Mr. Kirby spoke after Mr. Zelenskyy, citing intelligence reports, said on X that Russia planned to deploy North Korean troops starting Sunday.

He did not say where they would be sent.

It was possible there were more than 3,000 North Korean troops in Russia, Mr. Kirby said on Thursday, confirming the size of the deployment.

“We are investigating reports that the number may be north of that,” he said.

Mr. Kirby said some North Korean troops could be sent to fight Ukrainian forces, which have held part of Russia’s Kursk region since August.

G7 agrees to lend billions of dollars to Ukraine

Loading…

Leaders of seven wealthy democracies agreed on Friday to lend Ukraine nearly US$50 billion ($75.7 billion), backed by gains from Russian state assets frozen since December.

“These loans will be repaid and repaid by future extraordinary revenue streams resulting from the immobilization of Russian State Assets,” the G7 statement said.

“Our goal is to start distributing funds by the end of the year,” the statement, issued as global finance chiefs gathered in Washington for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, said. The statement was included.

Friday’s announcement of “extraordinary revenue acceleration loans” fulfills an easement G7 leaders reached during their annual summit in southern Italy in June to use proceeds from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine; This agreement requires solving many technical details. .

About US$280.62 billion ($424.8 billion) in Russian assets, such as central bank reserves, were frozen as part of sanctions imposed after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The vast majority of these assets are held at Euroclear, a central securities depository based in Belgium, making the European Union a key player in any plan to exploit the assets.

“The G7 remains steadfast in its solidarity to support Ukraine’s struggle for freedom, recovery and reconstruction,” G7 leaders said in a statement. While the statement was included, it was added that “time is not on President Putin’s side.”

AFP/Reuters