Latest news with #Zaporizhzhia
The Australian
17 hours ago
- Politics
- The Australian
Ukraine says Russian strike on training camp kills 3 soldiers
A Russian strike on a military training camp killed at least three Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday, following an overnight offensive in the south that killed a pregnant woman and a dozen prisoners. The Kremlin has come under intense pressure to end its war on Ukraine, now in its fourth year, with US President Donald Trump issuing a 10-day ultimatum to act or face sanctions. On social media, the Ukrainian army said a Russian missile hit one of the ground force's training units, without specifying the location. At least "three servicemen are dead and 18 wounded," it said Tuesday. Over the previous night, a series of Russian attacks killed at least 25 civilians, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman and more than a dozen inmates at the Bilenkiska penal colony in southern Zaporizhzhia region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately targeting the prison, which the justice ministry said killed 17 people and wounded another 42. The Kremlin denied the claim, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters, "the Russian army does not strike civilian targets". The attacks came hours after Trump said he was shortening the deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the war from 50 days to 10-12 days. Hours later, Trump solidified the 10-day timeline, threatening "tariffs and stuff", while also conceding to not knowing if the measures would work. Peskov said Moscow had "taken note", and that it remained "committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests". - 'Prolonging the war' - The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 37 drones and two missiles overnight into Tuesday, with 32 of the drones successfully downed. Zelensky also accused Russia of targeting a hospital in the town of Kamyanske in Dnipropetrovsk region, killing three people and wounding 22. Other Russian attacks killed six in the Kharkiv region, where the city of Kharkiv faced another attack at dawn on Wednesday. "Putin is rejecting a ceasefire, avoiding a leaders' meeting and prolonging the war," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on social media. "He will only end his terror if we break the spine of his economy," he added, calling on Western allies to impose sanctions. Kyiv has been trying to repel Russia's summer offensive, which has made fresh advances into areas largely spared since the start of the invasion in February 2022. The Russian defence ministry claimed advances across the front line on Tuesday, saying its forces had taken two more villages -- one in the Donetsk region, and another in Zaporizhzhia. Tuesday's prison strike fell on the third anniversary of an attack on the Olenivka detention centre in Russian-occupied Donetsk. Ukraine and Russia traded blame for that nighttime strike, which Kyiv said killed dozens of soldiers who had laid down arms after a long Russian siege of the port city of Mariupol. burs-jxb-tc/lb
Al Arabiya
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Locusts spread in Ukraine's south as war disrupts control measures
A massive locust invasion is threatening sunflower and other crops in Ukraine's southern regions, largely caused by the war against Russia's invasion that makes it impossible to use traditional pest control methods, officials and producers say. Locusts, which can destroy huge areas of crops in a matter of days, traditionally breed in secluded places along rivers or in uncultivated areas, and controlling that is almost impossible in regions neighboring the frontline. The situation is complicated by record high temperatures this summer, the inability to use aircraft for locust control and the absence of birds - locusts' natural predators - which are avoiding the combat zone. Local and government officials declined to provide data on the extent of the locust infestation or damage caused so far. Ukraine is the world's largest sunflower oil exporter and before the war ranked fifth among wheat exporters. Swarms of locusts are covering roads, fields and bushes in Zaporizhzhia region and farmers say the insects have destroyed up to a third of their sunflower crops. 'We saw a big swarm. And the next day the 'infantry' marched in. The small ones, they ate everything that was hanging low, they ate everything,' said Oleh Tolmatov, 46, a resident of Kushuhum village in Zaporizhzhia region. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has partially occupied the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson, forcing farmers to abandon their fields. Grains and oilseeds are traditional crops for these regions. 'The reason for all of this is high temperatures, the reason for all of this is abandoned land, the reason for all of this is the corresponding Russian aggression,' Vadym Chaikovskyi, Ukraine's Chief Phytosanitary Inspector, told Reuters. Denys Marchuk, deputy head of Ukraine's largest farm producers' union UAC, said that the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River by Russian troops two years ago had created huge swampy areas where locusts are breeding. Kyiv says that Russia blew up the Kakhovka dam in the summer of 2023, draining thousands of square kilometers of the former reservoir and leaving farms and Europe's largest nuclear power plant without water.
Reuters
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Locusts spread in Ukraine's south as war disrupts control measures
KUSHUHUM, Ukraine, July 30 (Reuters) - A massive locust invasion is threatening sunflower and other crops in Ukraine's southern regions, largely caused by the war against Russia's invasion that makes it impossible to use traditional pest control methods, officials and producers say. Locusts, which can destroy huge areas of crops in a matter of days, traditionally breed in secluded places along rivers or in uncultivated areas, and controlling that is almost impossible in regions neighbouring the frontline. The situation is complicated by record high temperatures this summer, the inability to use aircraft for locust control and the absence of birds - locusts' natural predators - which are avoiding the combat zone. Local and government officials declined to provide data on the extent of the locust infestation or damage caused so far. Ukraine is the world's largest sunflower oil exporter and before the war ranked fifth among wheat exporters. Swarms of locusts are covering roads, fields and bushes in Zaporizhzhia region and farmers say the insects have destroyed up to a third of their sunflower crops. "We saw a big swarm. And the next day the 'infantry' marched in. The small ones, they ate everything that was hanging low, they ate everything," said Oleh Tolmatov, 46, a resident of Kushuhum village in Zaporizhzhia region. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has partially occupied the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson, forcing farmers to abandon their fields. Grains and oilseeds are traditional crops for these regions. "The reason for all of this is high temperatures, the reason for all of this is abandoned land, the reason for all of this is the corresponding Russian aggression," Vadym Chaikovskyi, Ukraine's Chief Phytosanitary Inspector, told Reuters. Denys Marchuk, deputy head of Ukraine's largest farm producers' union UAC, said that the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River by Russian troops two years ago had created huge swampy areas where locusts are breeding. Kyiv says that Russia blew up the Kakhovka dam in the summer of 2023, draining thousands of square kilometres of the former reservoir and leaving farms and Europe's largest nuclear power plant without water.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Russian strikes on Ukraine kill dozens, despite Trump push for ceasefire
KYIV — Hours after President Donald Trump shortened the deadline for Russia to reach a ceasefire with Ukraine, Russian strikes killed at least 27 people including a pregnant woman in a maternity hospital. Russian forces struck the Belenkivska correctional colony in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region with four guided bombs just before midnight on Monday, killing 17 inmates, the Justice Ministry said. The strike 'completely destroyed' the colony's dining room and 'significantly damaged' its administrative headquarters and quarantine station.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Strikes overnight on Ukraine kill 22, says Zelenskyy, as Trump sets new Russia deadline
Russian airstrikes on Ukraine killed 22 people overnight, said the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and injured another 85, a day after Donald Trump said he was setting a new deadline of '10 or 12 days' for Russia to make progress towards ending the war. The worst death toll was at a prison facility in the town of Bilenke in the frontline region of Zaporizhzhia, which appeared to have taken a direct hit from a guided air bomb. Local authorities said 17 people died and dozens sustained injuries. A hospital in the city of Kamianske in the Dnipropetrovsk region was also hit, killing three people including a 23-year-old pregnant woman, Zelenskyy said. The Zaporizhzhia regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, said Russian forces launched eight strikes against the region, with four aerial bombs used against the prison in Bilenke, destroying the facility and damaging nearby houses. Video footage from the aftermath of the attack showed part of the brick prison building had collapsed and broken glass and debris were scattered on the ground. 'It was a deliberate strike, targeted, not accidental. The Russians could not have been unaware that they were hitting civilians in this penal colony. Many people died, another 43 were injured, and among them there are people with very serious injuries,' Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel. Zelenskyy said only harsh measures against Moscow could stop the killing, and said he welcomed Trump's recent harsher rhetoric towards the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. 'Every murder of our people by the Russians, every Russian strike, when there could have been a ceasefire long ago if Russia had not refused – all this shows that Moscow deserves very tough, truly painful, and therefore fair and effective sanctions pressure. They must be forced to stop the killings and make peace,' Zelenskyy wrote. On Monday, during talks with Britain's prime minister, Keir Starmer, Trump said he was going to cut a previous 50-day deadline for Putin to 'about 10 or 12 days', citing 'disappointment' with the Russian president over a lack of progress. Sign up to Headlines Europe A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day after newsletter promotion 'We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever. You have bodies lying all over the street, and I say that's not the way to do it. So we'll see what happens with that,' the US president said. In Kyiv, there is hope that the new tough words from Trump could be followed up with concrete action, including tougher sanctions on Russia and continued military and intelligence support for Ukraine.
