MOSCOW – Russia’s defense ministry on Friday promised to increase “the scale of missile attacks” on Kyiv in response to “Ukraine’s diversions into Russian territory.”
The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the country’s border regions with Ukraine, injuring seven people.
About 100 residential buildings were damaged in Thursday’s attack on the village of Klimovo in Bryansk Oblast, Russian officials said. The Defense Ministry said that Russian forces in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region have grounded a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.
Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— The damaged Russian military flagship on the Black Sea sinks
– As Russia loses a vital ship, Zelenskyy lauds the nation’s determination
– Russian lawmaker and 2 aides criminally charged in US
– According to the UN, the war in Ukraine threatens to devastate many poor nations
– The AP interview: UN food chief says Mariupol is starving
— For more coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LONDON – Britain’s Defense Ministry says the loss of Russia’s naval flagship will likely force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea.
The Moskva sank after being damaged in disputed circumstances. Ukraine says it hit the ship with rockets, while Moscow confirmed fire on board but no attack.
In an update shared on social media on Friday, Britain’s MoD said the Soviet-era ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major overhaul, “plays a key role both as a command ship and as an air defense hub.” played”.
The sinking “means that Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russia’s Alligator-class Landing Ship Saratov on March 24. Both events are likely to prompt Russia to review its maritime stance in the Black Sea.”
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KIEV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday told Ukrainians to be proud of surviving 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians “gave us a maximum of five”.
In his late-night video address, Zelenskyy called it “an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, everyone who made the most important decision of their lives on February 24 — to fight.”
Zelenskyy provided a lengthy and almost poetic list of the many ways Ukrainians have helped repel Russian forces, including “those that have shown that Russian warships can sail away, even if it hits the bottom of the sea.” It was his only reference to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank while being towed into port.
Zelenskyi said he remembered the first day of the invasion, when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.
“But they didn’t know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the opportunity to live the way we want,” said Zelenskyy.
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OTTAWA, Ontario — Canada is deploying troops to Poland to help with the care, coordination and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, including some who will come to Canada.
More than 2.6 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the first Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, and over 2 million others have fled to other surrounding countries.
Defense Minister Anita Anand on Thursday announced the deployment of up to 150 troops and said the majority of deployed troops will travel to reception centers across Poland to care for and register Ukrainian refugees.
Another group will be sent to coordinate international relief efforts.
Canada has deployed hundreds of additional troops to Eastern Europe since the Russian invasion as the NATO military alliance seeks to support Ukraine and prevent the conflict from escalating into a larger war.
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Kyiv, Ukraine – The head of the UN World Food Program said people were “starving” in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and he predicted the country’s humanitarian crisis is likely to deepen as Russia intensifies its attacks in the coming weeks .
WFP Executive Director David Beasley warned in an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv on Thursday that Russia’s invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilizing nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere search.
The war, which began on February 24, “devastated the people of Ukraine,” Beasley said, lamenting the lack of access WFP and other aid organizations faced as they tried to reach those in need amid the conflict.
The fluid nature of the conflict, which has seen fighting shift from areas around the capital towards eastern Ukraine, has made reaching hungry Ukrainians particularly difficult.
WFP is now trying to move food supplies to areas that could be engulfed by fighting, but Beasley acknowledged there was “a lot of complexity” as the situation is rapidly evolving.