[ad_1]
key event
Ground fighting continues to rage in east UkraineRussia is launching an offensive along a stretch of the front west of the city of Donetsk, which has been controlled by its proxies since 2014, according to Reuters.
The Ukrainian General Staff said that Russian troops were again trying to advance towards the main targets in the Donetsk region – Bakhmut and Avdivka. Russian forces shelled both areas and set fire to Ukrainian positions with incendiary devices, but with little effect, the General Staff said.
Among those fighting the Russians in Bakhmut is a contingent of Chechen fighters who hope a victory in Ukraine will spark a political crisis in Russia and overthrow the powerful pro-Moscow leader in Chechnya.
Further south, Russian forces are digging on the east bank of the Dnieper and shelling areas on the west bank, including the town of Kherson, which was recently retaken by Ukrainian forces, the General Staff said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the Battlefield account.
Russia’s resignation unblocks main UNESCO committee
The resignation of Russia’s ambassador to Unesco would end an impasse over a key group he heads that is tasked with protecting cultural sites around the world, a diplomatic source told AFP.
The World Heritage Committee, which is responsible for adding properties to Unesco’s World Heritage List, has been unable to function for months after an international outcry against the Russian invasion Ukraine.
“I am honored to inform you that my mission as Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to UNESCO has come to an end,” Russian Ambassador Alexander Kuznetsov said in a letter to World Heritage Committee members on Tuesday.
A UN diplomat told AFP that the resignation would allow the committee to “quickly appoint a new chair” and resume its activities. Russia’s position as chairman of the council sparked outcry from other members following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The committee was due to meet in the Russian city of Kazan in June, but 46 countries, including France and Britain, boycotted the event. The meeting was supposed to update the landscape, monuments and cities on the institution’s heritage list.
UNESCO rules stipulate that a replacement for a resigning committee chairperson is appointed by the country listed in English alphabetical order.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said Russian forces fired about 70 cruise missiles at targets across the country Attack drones were also deployed.
The strike killed 10 people and disconnected three nuclear power plants from the power grid, officials said.
The country’s energy ministry said supply had been cut to “the vast majority of electricity consumers”. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the capital, Kyiv, said the whole of Kyiv was without water. Water and heat will be restored to residential buildings Thursday morning, the city said.
Kyiv and a dozen regions, including Lviv and Odessa in the south, had been reconnected to the grid, Ukraine’s deputy head of the president’s office said late Wednesday.
Klitschko said 21 of the 31 missiles aimed at Kyiv were shot down before reaching their targets. One of 10 people who evaded defenses attacked an apartment building in Vyshgorod, on the city’s northern outskirts, killing three and injuring 15.
A kindergarten was located on the basement level of the building, but it was evacuated after air-raid sirens sounded. The explosion left a three-meter-high crater in front of the building, destroyed surrounding apartments, blew up nearby tree tops and damaged a children’s playground.
Earlier in the day, a Russian rocket hit the maternity ward of a hospital in southern Ukraine, killing a newborn. Ukraine’s state emergency service said a woman and her two-day-old baby were at the facility in the town of Vilniarsk, near the city of Zaporozhye, at the time of the attack. Rescuers pulled the mother and doctor from the rubble, but the baby died, the Telegram messaging app said.
Lorenzo Tondo and Julian Berger Reporting from Kyiv:
New Russian attack batters Ukraine’s already-collapsed power grid, causing power outages across the country and in neighboring Moldova, attacks Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky Told the UN it was a “clear crime against humanity”.
Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council late Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukraine A resolution condemning “any form of energy terror” will be tabled. Referring to a possible Russian veto, he said, “It’s nonsense that the party that started this war gets a veto.”
“We cannot be held hostage by an international terrorist,” Zelensky said.
He also invited the United Nations to send experts to inspect and assess Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.
“When our temperatures are below zero, millions of people are left without energy, without heat, without water, which is clearly a crime against humanity,” Zelensky told the council via video link.
summarize
Hi my name is Helen Sullivan and you are reading The Guardian’s live coverage of the war Ukraine.
On Wednesday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the UN Security Council to act against Russia Airstrikes on civilian infrastructure have plunged Ukrainian cities into darkness and cold again as winter approaches.
Russia fired missiles into Ukraine on Wednesday, killing 10 people, forcing the shutdown of nuclear power plants and disrupting water and electricity supplies in many places.
“Today is only one day, but we have received 70 missiles. This is the Russian formula of terror. It is completely detrimental to our energy infrastructure… Hospitals, schools, transportation, residential areas are all affected,” Zelensky said. Said via video link to the parliament chamber.
At least 10 people were killed in the strike, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said. including a two-day-old baby.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urges UN Security Council to act on Russian airstrikes on civilian infrastructure As winter approaches, Ukrainian cities are once again dark and cold. Russia fired missiles into Ukraine on Wednesday, killing 10 people, forcing the shutdown of nuclear power plants and disrupting water and electricity supplies in many places.
Neighboring Moldova says it is suffering massive power outage caused by missile attack Its EU-friendly president Mayasandu accused Russia of keeping her country “in the dark”.
EU governments failed to reach an agreement on Wednesday on the level to cap Russia’s seaborne oil prices under the G7 plan Negotiations will resume, EU diplomats said. Earlier Thursday, EU representatives met in Brussels. The move is part of sanctions aimed at slashing Moscow’s oil export revenue to reduce the amount it can use to finance its invasion of Ukraine.
The exchange of 35 Russian prisoners for 36 Ukrainian prisoners was a positive development amid the “bad news” of Russia’s airstrikes on Russia, UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. Ukraine. According to Reuters, DiCarlo encouraged all parties to continue to release prisoners of war and abide by international humanitarian law related to prisoners of war.
A Russian court on Wednesday extended by six months the detention of opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who could be jailed for condemning attacks by President Vladimir Putin 10 years. Ukraine. The 39-year-old Moscow city councilor was in the dock as part of an unprecedented crackdown on dissent Russia, most opposition activists are either in prison or in exile. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was confident its offensive would be “successful” Ukraine. “There is no doubt about the future and success of this special operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a visit to Armenia, according to AFP.
European cities urged to send backup generators to Ukraine Help the country survive the winter in the face of a Russian attack on its electricity infrastructure. Ukraine’s power grid has been bombed yet again after European Parliament President Roberta Mezzola called for generators to be shipped to Ukraine.
[ad_2]
Source link