Rescue teams with sniffer dogs searched the rubble in a central Ukrainian city yesterday looking for people still missing after a… RussiaA rocket attack the day before killed at least 23 people and injured more than 100 others.
US forces, meanwhile, stormed other sites in an effort to take territory Ukraine and try to soften the unbending morale of its leaders, civilians and troops as the war approaches the five-month mark.
Thursday’s cruise missile attacks on the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, launched from a Russian submarine, were the latest incidents to have claimed civilian lives and sparked international outrage since Russian presidential rule. Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on February 24.
Even as the fighting raged, Russia was seeing signs of progress in negotiations over a potential deal to allow Ukraine to export millions of tons of grain through the Black Sea to help feed a world afflicted with higher food prices.
Alluding to talks in Istanbul this week between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, said a final document had been drawn up and that Russian proposals to limit grain shipments via Ukrainian ports “were largely supported”. by other participants.
He said work on a document called the “Black Sea Initiative” would be completed “in the nearest time.”
The Russian proposal would allow shipments of food “while excluding the use of those logistics chains for the delivery of weapons and military equipment” to Ukraine. Lieutenant General Konashenkov also said the plan aims to “prevent provocations”.
The war has left about 22 million tons of grain trapped in Ukraine.
It was the most comprehensive Russian commentary to date on the grain talks, involving mostly military officials.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Russia and Ukraine have taken “a crucial step” to secure the export of much-needed grain to help alleviate a global food crisis, but said more technical work was needed to create a to close a deal.
The Russian military campaign has targeted Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, but Russian troops are also regularly firing on targets in many other parts of the country.
Ukraine’s interior ministry said yesterday that Russian forces carried out more than 17,000 attacks on civilian targets during the war, killing thousands of fighters and civilians and displacing millions from their homes.
The invasion has also rocked the global economy, raising prices and hindering exports of key Ukrainian and Russian products, including grain, fuel and fertilizer.
At least 73 people, including four children, remained hospitalized and 18 people were missing after Thursday’s strike, said Oleksandr Kutovyi of the Vinnytsia region emergency service.
Search teams were at work yesterday in two locations: an office building housing a medical center and a concert hall near an outdoor recreation area where mothers with children often walk.
Vinnytsia governor Serhiy Borzov said only 10 people have been identified among the dead so far.
“Russia has deliberately beaten civilians and all those responsible for the crime must be held accountable,” he said, denouncing Russia’s “barbaric behavior that is trampling on humanitarian law.”
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, of the Ukrainian president’s office, said three missiles were used.
“There is no answer to why yesterday, and why in Vinnytsia,” he said. “We expect every second and minute that this could happen in every corner of Ukraine.”
After the initial silence following the attacks on Vinnytsia, the Russian Defense Ministry said yesterday that its forces had attacked an officers’ club, which the concert hall was known for in Soviet times.
A Defense Ministry spokesman said the Kalibr cruise missiles landed as “that military facility hosted a meeting between Ukraine’s Air Force Command and representatives of foreign weapons suppliers”.
He said attendees discussed future deliveries of fighter jets and weapons, as well as work to repair Ukrainian aircraft.
“Participants in the meeting were eliminated in the strike,” he said.
His claim could not be independently verified. Ukrainian authorities have maintained that the site had nothing to do with the military.
Ukraine’s presidential office said yesterday that 26 civilians have been killed and 190 injured by Russian shelling in the past 24 hours. Among them were three other victims in the Donetsk region, which together with neighboring Luhansk – almost entirely controlled by Russian forces – makes up the wider Donbas region.
“The situation in Donetsk is deteriorating every day and civilians have to leave because the Russian army is using scorched earth tactics,” said Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
It appeared that the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk were next in line for Russian troops, but it was not clear when the attack could begin.
Elsewhere, authorities in Mykolayiv said there were at least 10 explosions in the southern city overnight, accusing Russia of hitting universities.
Vitaliy Kim, the head of Mykolaiv’s military administration, posted a video of smoke rising after the strikes.
Separately, Russia’s Tass news agency, citing Russian-backed separatists, said yesterday that two civilians were killed and six injured after Ukrainian forces allegedly shelled a bus station in the city of Donetsk the day before.