Ukraine’s emergency services said two people were injured and two others were trapped under rubble in Nikopoli, which is on the Dnipro River. Late on Friday, Russian missiles hit the city of Dnipro, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Nikopoli, killing three people and injuring 15, regional governor Valentyn Reznychenko said on Telegram. Rockets hit an industrial plant and a road next to it, he said. Footage on social media showed thick black smoke billowing from buildings and burning cars. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register A Russian raid hit the northeastern Ukrainian city of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region overnight, killing three people, including a 70-year-old woman, and injuring three others, the regional governor said. read more The strike destroyed a residential block, a school and a shop, and rescuers were wading through the rubble, governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram. The attacks were the latest in a series of Russian strikes in recent weeks using long-range missiles on crowded buildings in cities. Eight people were killed and 13 wounded in a series of bombings at 10 locations in the eastern Donetsk region, Governor Pavlo Kirilenko said in a televised interview on Friday. On Thursday, Kalibr cruise missiles fired 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 Kiev. Kyiv said the attack killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens. In Vinnytsia, residents placed teddy bears and flowers at a makeshift memorial for the dead. Among the dead was Lisa, a 4-year-old girl with Down syndrome, who was found in the wreckage next to a stroller. Images of her pushing the same pram, posted by her mother on a blog less than two hours before the attack, quickly went viral. Her seriously injured mother, Irina Dmitrieva, was being kept under wraps at a hospital for fear that if she found out about her daughter she would kill her, doctors said. “He is suffering from burns, chest injuries, abdominal injuries, liver and spleen injuries. We have sewn the organs together, the bones are crushed as if he went through a meat grinder,” said Oleksandr Fomin, head doctor at the Vinnytsia Emergency Hospital . . If she was told of her daughter’s death, “we would lose her.” Russia’s defense ministry said the strike in Vinnytsia targeted a building where top officials from Ukraine’s armed forces were meeting with foreign arms suppliers. read more Russia has repeatedly denied that it targeted civilian areas, despite mounting evidence that its missiles have struck residential areas across the country. The United Nations says thousands of civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Tens of thousands of militants have also been killed.
GRAIN PROGRESS
Despite the bloodshed, both sides have described progress toward an agreement to lift the embargo limiting Ukrainian grain exports. Mediator Turkey said a deal could be signed next week. Asked if that timetable was realistic, a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters: “We really hope so. We are rushing as fast as we can.” The official asked not to be named. The Russian Defense Ministry said a deal was close, but Moscow’s negotiator warned that a deal on grain would not lead to a resumption of peace talks. A deal would likely include ship inspections to ensure Ukraine did not bring in weapons and guarantees from Western countries that Russia’s own food exports are exempt from sanctions. War dominated the meeting of G20 finance ministers in Indonesia. Two sources said the team is unlikely to make an official announcement on Saturday. Russia is a member, as are the G7 industrial powers, along with China, India and South Africa, among others. read more Western sources had warned this week that it would be difficult to agree on a communique because the body operates by consensus and Russia had blocked language on the cause of the economic downturn that prompted the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to downgrade the predictions. “The ability of the G20 to act and communicate is very strongly hampered by the war in Ukraine, for which one of the G20 members is fully responsible,” said a French finance ministry source. Russia calls its intervention a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and root out nationalists. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked attempt to retake a country that broke free from Moscow’s rule in 1991. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report from Reuters offices. Written by Raju Gopalakrishnan. Edited by William Mallard Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
