Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky condemns ‘pure terrorism’ as Putin’s forces hit Kharkiv with fresh strikes

Russia’s in a single day assault on Ukraine’s second metropolis Kharkiv has killed at the very least 4 individuals, together with a child, and injured greater than 60, native officers say.

“Kharkiv is presently experiencing probably the most highly effective assault for the reason that begin of the full-scale warfare,” the town’s mayor Ihor Terekhov mentioned in a Telegram put up on Saturday.

Dozens of explosions had been reportedly heard throughout the town at night time as Russia continues its barrage of aerial strikes with drones, missiles and guided bombs.

Photographs from Kharkiv present destroyed homes, institutional buildings, and automobiles, and of rescuers eradicating particles and carrying the injured to security.

The US suspects Russia’s retaliation to Ukraine’s drone strikes on its airbases final weekend can be an “asymmetrical” response not mirroring Kyiv’s assault.

US officers instructed Reuters on the situation of anonymity that Russia’s intense missile and drone strikes throughout Ukraine will possible intensify.

“It will likely be large, vicious and unrelenting….However the Ukrainians are courageous individuals,” a senior diplomat mentioned.

Officers suspect Moscow’s strikes in opposition to symbolic Ukrainian targets like authorities buildings might intensify within the coming days to ship a message to Kyiv.

The UK pledged to ship 100,000 drones to Ukraine by the tip of April, stating that such unmanned aerial automobiles had been altering trendy wars.

The promised variety of drones is valued at £350 million and marks a tenfold enhance from the UK’s goal of 10,000 in 2024.

“The UK is stepping up its help for Ukraine by delivering lots of of hundreds extra drones this yr and finishing a significant milestone within the supply of essential artillery ammunition,” defence secretary John Healey mentioned.

The choice by the UK comes after Ukraine attacked Russian airbases with over 100 drones final weekend, damaging a number of warplanes.

“We’re studying classes day by day from the battlefield in Ukraine, which British firms are utilizing to develop superior new drones to assist shield Ukraine’s civilians and likewise strengthen our personal nationwide safety,” Mr Healey mentioned.

Following the dying of at the very least 4 individuals in Kharkiv as a result of Russian drone and missile strikes since Friday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky known as Moscow’s act “pure terrorism”.

“That is one other savage killing. Aerial bombs had been dropped on civilians within the metropolis — there’s even a youngsters’s railway close by,” the Ukrainian president mentioned.

“This makes no army sense. That is pure terrorism,” Mr Zelensky mentioned in a put up on X.

At the least two individuals had been killed in Russian strikes on Kharkiv since final night, with at the very least 18 individuals injured.

Rescuers are nonetheless looking for these trapped below the rubble with many extra feared useless.

“In additional than 11 years of Russia’s warfare in opposition to Ukraine, they’ve introduced just one new factor to our land, and that is actually probably the most widespread Russian product – ruins and dying,” Mr Zelensky mentioned.

Polish president-elect Karol Nawrocki mentioned yesterday that he was “in opposition to Ukraine’s entry into the European Union”.

“On the one hand, we should help Ukraine in its battle with the Russian Federation, however Ukraine should perceive that different nations, together with Poland, Hungary, and different European nations, even have their very own pursuits,” Nawrocki instructed Hungarian outlet Mandiner.

The president-elect has repeatedly accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of making the most of allies.

“I see Ukraine as a rustic that, though it is extremely bravely defending itself in opposition to the Russian Federation, should additionally respect the pursuits of different nations that in any other case help Ukraine,” he mentioned.

Russia’s deputy overseas minister Sergei Ryabkov blamed Europe for being the principle impediment to negotiating peace with Ukraine.

Mr Ryabkov accused German chancellor Friedrich Merz of opposing peace in Ukraine and of attempting to persuade American president Donald Trump to return the US to the “path of escalation” within the warfare.

He claimed the US was conscious Russia wouldn’t stray from its aim of eliminating the “root causes” of the warfare, a phrase the Kremlin has used to name for regime change in Kyiv for the reason that begin of its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine has refuted Russia’s declare that it delayed an alternate of prisoners of warfare and our bodies of fallen troopers deliberate for Saturday and Sunday.

Kyiv and Moscow had agreed on a significant swap of prisoners, together with of severely injured troopers on each side following peace talks in Istanbul final week.

Russia had additionally provided to return the our bodies of 6,000 fallen Ukrainian troopers and officers.

However on Saturday, the pinnacle of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky accused the Ukrainian aspect of suspending the switch of our bodies and the POW alternate “indefinitely”.

Ukraine’s defence ministry refuted the declare.

“Sadly, the Ukrainian aspect is as soon as once more dealing with makes an attempt to retroactively revise agreements. If the Russian aspect is now backing away from what was promised in Istanbul, it raises severe questions in regards to the reliability and functionality of their negotiating staff,” Ukraine’s defence ministry mentioned in a put up on Telegram.

A Ukrainian drone assault compelled closure of two of the important thing airports serving Moscow, Russia mentioned early on Sunday.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin mentioned Russia air defence items destroyed 9 Ukrainian drones heading in direction of Moscow round 4am GMT.

There was no speedy touch upon the strikes from Ukraine.

Ukrainian drones additionally attacked the Azot chemical plant in Russia’s Tula area, sparking a short-lived fireplace, Reuters reported.

Russia’s civil aviation authority introduced halting of flights on the Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports to make sure air security.

Immediately’s editorial in The Impartial states:

Mr Zelensky has .. uncovered Mr Putin for what he actually is. The Ukrainian president has given the Russian chief each probability for peace. He has been ready to compromise on territory and alliances in a manner that no chief of a sovereign nation ought to be requested to do. And but Mr Putin presses on, making it abundantly clear, even to Mr Trump, that it’s the Kremlin that’s the impediment to peace.

Even when Mr Trump’s obvious taking of sides with Mr Putin in opposition to the Ukrainian individuals had been a crafty plan to appease the paranoid mystical nationalism of Mr Putin and his cronies, it has not labored. Mr Putin has made it clear that he can be glad by nothing lower than the subjugation of the entire of Ukraine by pressure of arms.

During which case, he should be resisted. Mr Trump is correct about one factor: that warfare is a horrible factor. However a peace constructed on give up to an imperialist dictator can be no peace in any respect.

The Ukrainian individuals should proceed to battle, and all of the nations of the world that imagine in freedom, democracy and nationwide self-determination should proceed to assist to defend them.