Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - At least 23 people were murdered in an attack by Russian missiles on a Ukrainian city located far from th...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - At least 23 people were murdered in an attack by Russian missiles on a Ukrainian city located far from the frontlines, which Kiev officials deemed to be a war crime. Meanwhile, efforts to open up Ukrainian grain exports continued to show signs of improvement.
Following a breakthrough in negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv on resuming Ukrainian grain shipments, the strike on Vinnytsia on Thursday, which Ukraine claimed was carried out with Kalibr cruise missiles launched from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea, highlighted how far the two sides remain from a peace agreement.
By guaranteeing banks, shipping companies, and insurance companies that such transactions would not violate Washington's sanctions against Moscow, the United States took action on Thursday to facilitate Russian exports of food and fertiliser.
Allowing for those Russian exports is a crucial component of efforts by UN and Turkish officials to negotiate a package deal with Moscow that would also permit shipments of grain from the war-blocked port of Odesa in the Black Sea.
A global food crisis has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which has driven up costs for fuel, grains, cooking oils, and fertiliser. Next week is when the negotiators aim to sign a deal.
However, the chances of peace remained slim. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, president of Ukraine, dubbed Russia a "terrorist" nation, requested more sanctions on the Russian government, and warned that the dead toll in Vinnytsia could surpass 23.
"Sadly, this is not the final figure. Clearing of debris keeps going. There are dozens of people listed as missing. In a video message, he stated that some of the hospitalised patients were critically hurt.
Russia reaffirmed that it did not target people and claimed that its attack hit a site used for military training.
Russian diplomat Evgeny Varganov stated at the United Nations on Thursday, "The Russian Federation only hits military objects in Ukraine, and the strike in Vinnytsia was against the house of officers where the armed forces of Ukraine were being trained."
Reuters was unable to independently confirm any combat reports.
According to the official emergency agency of Ukraine, 29 people were reported missing, 71 people were hospitalised, and three children, including a 4-year-old girl called Lisa, were among the dead.
On its Telegram channel, it published a picture of a toy dog, a toy cat, and some flowers lying in the grass. It said, "The little child Lisa, slain today by the Russians, has become a beacon of sunshine."
Zelenskiy said that the attack had been launched against "an average, calm city" at an international conference aimed at investigating war crimes in Ukraine.
Russia claims that it utilises highly-precision weaponry to weaken Ukraine's military infrastructure in order to safeguard its own security. On February 24, Russia began what it called its "special military operation" against Ukraine.
According to an official Ukrainian military website, Vinnytsia, a city of 370,000 people located 200 kilometres (125 miles) southwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, is home to the command headquarters of the Ukrainian Air Force, a target that Russia attempted to strike in March using cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force at the time.
While images uploaded online by the State Emergency Service showed later-rising grey smoke from the twisted remains of burned-out cars and smouldering wreckage, video footage showed dense black smoke billowing out of a tall building.
One displayed a pram that had been abandoned and was laying on the ground.
"No other nation in the world poses a greater threat from terrorism than Russia, according to Zelenskiy.
THE EASTERN FRONT OF WAR
On Thursday, the US and more than 40 other nations decided to work together to coordinate investigations into possible war crimes in Ukraine.
The West's attempts to penalise a nuclear power like Russia for the conflict in Ukraine run the risk of hurting humanity, according to former president and current deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.
According to the Kremlin, if Kiev agrees to its demands, Russia is prepared to end what the West refers to as Moscow's unjustified war of aggression.
Andrey Rudenko, the deputy foreign minister of Russia, stated on Thursday that should Kyiv be prepared to resume peace talks, Moscow would react favourably, according to the Interfax news agency. Rudenko was quoted as adding that Kyiv would need to formally acknowledge its territorial realities as well as its non-aligned and non-nuclear status.
That would entail, specifically, acknowledging that Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, was under Russian rule and that two self-declared statelets in eastern Ukraine with Russian support were no longer within Kyiv's purview.
Ukraine has stated repeatedly that it is not willing to relinquish any territory to what it terms a hostile occupier and that it intends to reclaim any area that is taken by force.
A representative of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic with Russian support, Daniil Bezsonov, claimed that Russia and the statelet were concentrating their fire on the towns of Siversk and Soledar in eastern Ukraine.
He claimed that the Russian strategy was to take control of the two towns before moving on to attack Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the east.
Russian shelling of Siversk, Soledar, and Kramatorsk was reported by the Ukrainian military, which claimed to be maintaining its ground and resisting all assaults.
