bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Rescuers in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Dnipro pulled numerous injured people from the rubble of an apartment building after a Russian attack on Saturday, according to Ukrainian authorities.
A two-year-old girl was killed in the attack, authorities said early on Sunday, reporting 22 injured, including five children.
Rescuers were still searching for survivors.
“Again Russia has shown that it is a terrorist state. Unfortunately, there are people under the rubble,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Saturday evening.


The head of state released a video showing the two-storey building completely destroyed.
Emergency workers were reportedly searching for survivors.
Zelensky said a missile struck the area between two two-storey residential buildings. There had been an air alert in the region soon before.
“The Russians will bear responsibility for everything they did to our state and people,” added Zelensky.
Earlier on Saturday, Zelensky said he believes the country is ready for a long-awaited counteroffensive to liberate its territories from Russian occupation.
“In my opinion, as of today, we are ready to do it,” he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, which the US newspaper also published as a video on its website.
Zelensky also said Ukraine would have liked to have some more weapons for the offensive against the Russian invasion, but could not wait months more for their delivery.

“We strongly believe we will succeed,” he said, according to the newspaper’s translation. “I don’t know how long it will take.” He added that the price for success would be high.
For months there has been speculation about when the offensive would start; at times it was said in Kyiv that the operation was already under way.
Recently there have been attacks in western regions of Russia, close to the Ukrainian border, that some suggest are Kiev’s work and part of a counteroffensive that has already begun. Ukraine denies these claims.
Two paramilitary Russian volunteer battalions have repeatedly claimed responsibility for attacks involving drones and explosions in the western Russian regions of Kursk, Bryansk, Smolensk and Kaluga.
The governor of the Russian border region of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported massive shelling, including with artillery, from the Ukrainian side on Saturday. This led to deaths, injuries and extensive destruction of buildings, he said.
Amid fire on the Belgorod, the head of the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused the Russian Defence Ministry of failing.
“The ministry is not able to do anything. There is chaos in the ministry,” he said on Saturday, also referring to the faltering war effort in Ukraine.




Prigozhin is a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said he himself would march to the region with his troops if the Russian military does not establish order there “as quickly as possible.”
“There is already a conquest of the area going on there,” Prigozhin said. “Peaceful people are dying.” The population needs protection, he said. “We will not wait for an invitation.”
However, he said, the Russian military must provide ammunition. “Otherwise, as they say, we will be sitting on our bare arses on the frost.”
Prigozhin defended his criticism of the Russian Defence Ministry and parts of the Kremlin in a lengthy speech on Telegram. He has recently faced threats, including from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s army. Prigozhin has also been asked to refrain from publicly attacking the ministry.
He has since cleared up the dispute through a phone call with Kadyrov, Prigozhin said, though adding that he refused to be muzzled.
Prigozhin said again that he agreed with Kadyrov that it would take a general mobilisation and martial law to win the war – steps that the Kremlin has so far refused to take.
However, later on Saturday, Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had expanded the number of mustering points to recruit volunteers for the war.




There are more such points and more instructors to work with candidates, the ministry said on Saturday. This would allow more contracts to be signed with citizens to serve in the war.
The number of applicants who “want to combine their lives with military service” has increased to a “significant extent,” the ministry said.
These efforts are now being organised more effectively in the Moscow region and in the Bashkir region, too, it said.
The Wagner Group are also recruiting volunteers, offering salaries the equivalent of more than US$2,000 – a figure much higher than the average wage in Russia.
Additional reporting by dpa


Ukraine-Russia talks in Geneva wrap up in 2 hours with no sign of breakthrough

Zelensky says Trump’s peace demands focused only on Ukraine ‘not fair’

Ukraine and Russia meet in Geneva as Trump piles new pressure on Kyiv

Ukraine’s Olympic sign bearer was a Russian woman: ‘I have to be worried’

Ukraine war

Strike kills 2-year-old girl, injures at least 22 others in Dnipro: Ukraine officials

Rescuers work at the site of rocket attack in the Dnipro area, central Ukraine. Photo: State Emergency Service/EPA-EFE/handout

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: -/Ukrainian Presidency/dpa

Ukraine: counteroffensive on track despite Russian missile barrages – ‘we’ll win this war’, defence official confirms

A Ukrainian soldier fires a mortar at Russian positions on the frontline. Photo: AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that his country was ready to launch a much-awaited counteroffensive. Photo: EPA-EFE

Firefighters at a house in Ukraine following shelling during the invasion by Russia. Photo: Reuters

Ukraine war: civilians killed, hundreds flee area near Russia’s Belgorod as shelling intensifies

Ukrainians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee by crossing the Irpin River on the outskirts of Kyiv. Photo: AP 

A deep crater formed as a result of Russian shelling in Ukraine. Photo: EPA-EFE

Ukrainians inside a bomb shelter during Russian shelling of the border town Shebekino, Belgorod. Photo: EPA-EFE

A temporary shelter set up at the Belgorod sports arena for residents evacuated from the town of Shebekino. Photo: AFP

Ukraine war: drones target Moscow as Russia launches another air raid on Kyiv

The damage to the exterior of a residential block in Moscow, Russia. Photo: AP

A broken window in a residential block following the reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia. Photo: Reuters

Russia unleashes biggest drone attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv since war began

A view of damage to a residential building in Kyiv on Sunday after a massive attack on the Ukrainian capital by dozens of drones. Photo: EPA-EFE

A partially destroyed residential building in Kyiv on Sunday after a massive strike by Russian drones. Photo: AFP

News

World

Russia & Central Asia

Europe

Regional governor Serhiy Lysak said a young girl’s body was recovered from underneath the rubble of a house
‘Once again, Russia proves it is a terrorist state,’ said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Moscow denies its military forces target civilians


Regional governor Serhiy Lysak said a young girl’s body was recovered from underneath the rubble of a house. Reports on social media said a Russian missile caused the explosion. Moscow denies its military forces target civilians.


Russia

War and conflict