Ukraine said Thursday’s strike in Vinnytsia, a city of 370,000 people about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of the capital Kiev, was carried out by Kalibr cruise missiles fired from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called Russia a “terrorist” state, called for more sanctions against the Kremlin and said the death toll in Vinnytsia could rise. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “Unfortunately, this is not the final number. Debris removal continues. Dozens of people are missing. There are seriously injured (people) among those being treated,” he said in a video address. Zelensky told an international conference aimed at prosecuting war crimes in Ukraine that the attack had taken place in “an ordinary, peaceful city”. “No other state in the world poses as much of a terrorist threat as Russia,” Zelensky said. Russia has reiterated that it is not targeting civilians in what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine and said its strike hit a military training facility. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts. Vinnytsia is home to the command headquarters of the Ukrainian Air Force, according to an official Ukrainian military website, a target that Russia used cruise missiles to try to strike in March, the Ukrainian air force said at the time. read more Ukraine’s state emergency service said three children, including a 4-year-old girl named Lisa, were killed in Thursday’s attack. Another 71 people were hospitalized and another 29 are missing. She posted a photo on her Telegram channel of a toy kitten, a toy dog and flowers lying on the grass. “The little girl Lisa, who was killed by the Russians today, has become a ray of sunshine,” he said. The attack overshadowed the start of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Indonesia on Friday, where the top representatives of the US and Canada accused Russian officials of involvement in the atrocities. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen condemned Russia’s “brutal and unjust war” and said Russian economic officials shared responsibility. read more “By starting this war, Russia is solely responsible for the negative effects on the global economy, particularly higher commodity prices,” he said. Russian officials who attended the meeting “add to the horrific consequences of this war through their continued support for the Putin regime,” he added. “You share responsibility for the innocent lives lost and the ongoing human and economic toll that the war is wreaking around the world,” she said, addressing Russian officials. Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told Russian officials at the meeting that she held them personally responsible for “war crimes,” a Western official told Reuters. As Russia pressed its offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the United States and more than 40 other countries agreed Thursday to coordinate investigations into suspected war crimes. read more
ghost town
The war in Ukraine has sent prices of grain, cooking oil, fuel and fertilizer skyrocketing, sparking a global food crisis. Negotiators hope a deal will be signed next week. read more The United States took steps Thursday to facilitate exports of Russian food and fertilizer, reassuring banks, shipping and insurance companies that such transactions would not violate Washington’s sanctions on Moscow. read more Enabling those Russian exports is a key part of efforts by the United Nations and Turkey to broker a package deal with Moscow that would unlock the blockade on the Black Sea port of Odessa to allow Ukrainian grain to be shipped. read more The Kremlin has said Russia is ready to end what the West calls Moscow’s unprovoked war of aggression if Kyiv agrees to its terms, including formally recognizing Russian control of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014. and the independence of two self-proclaimed Russians. supported states in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has repeatedly stated that it is not willing to cede any territory and will take back any land lost by force. The eastern Ukrainian town of Popashna that fell to Russian forces two months ago is now a ghost town with little sign of life. read more A Reuters reporter who visited the city on Thursday found it almost deserted, with almost all apartment buildings destroyed or badly damaged. Former resident Vladimir Odartchenko stood inside his destroyed home and surveyed the debris strewn across the floor. “I have no idea what I’m going to do. Where to live? I don’t know,” he said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report from Reuters offices. Written by Cynthia Osterman and Stephen Coates. Editing: Aurora Ellis & Simon Cameron-Moore Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
