A Russian missile attack struck a nine-story residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, killing at least one person and wounding six.Authorities say the death toll is fewer than 100. Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said the death toll was likely to rise as more people remain trapped inside after a four-story building collapsed as a result of the attack. Photos posted by Governor Serhiy Lisak on Telegram and other images on social media showed a badly damaged building with smoke rising from a gaping hole in the upper floors. Lisak said a seven-month-old baby was among the injured. Three people were in critical condition.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said 10 civilians, including one politician and two priests, who were held captive in Russia and Belarus had been released with the help of the Vatican.Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners during the two-year conflict, but the release of civilian prisoners is rare. “We have been able to free more than 10 of our nationals who were held captive by Russia,” the Ukrainian president said in Telegram. It was not immediately clear if the releases were part of a deal to swap Russian prisoners held in Ukraine. Some of those released had been arrested in Russian-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine that were then controlled by Moscow-backed separatists and had been imprisoned since 2017, the president said.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Russian forces had taken control of the Rozdivka settlement in eastern Ukraine, but Ukrainian forces said heavy fighting was continuing around the settlement.The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that Russia’s “Southern” military group had taken a more favorable position after driving Ukrainian forces out of the settlement. Rozdivka is in Donetsk Oblast, the epicenter of Russia’s slow advance in eastern Ukraine. Rozdivka lies north of Bakhmut and Soledar, which came under Russian control last year.
Biden administration plans to provide Ukraine with $150 million worth of weapons and ammunitionThe aid will include Hawk air defense interceptors and 155mm artillery shells, according to two U.S. officials. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Friday that the arms assistance package is expected to be announced on Monday. The administration comes as Russia has launched air strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks, answering Ukraine’s desperate request for air defense support.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia should start producing short- and medium-range missiles banned under a now-defunct arms treaty with the United States.The Russian president was referring to missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers that are banned under the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The United States withdrew from the treaty in 2019 due to Russia’s non-compliance. At the time, the Kremlin said it would comply with a production halt if the United States did not place the missiles within Russia’s range. In a televised address to senior security officials on Friday, Putin said the United States had begun using such missiles in exercises in Denmark and “we need to respond to this.”
Russia’s defence minister has ordered authorities to prepare a “response” to US military drone flights over the Black Sea.The Russian Defense Ministry warned that Russia may take aggressive action to repel U.S. reconnaissance aircraft. It noted that U.S. drone flights over the Black Sea have “intensified” recently, and said they are “collecting intelligence and detecting targets for precision weapons supplied by Western countries to the Ukrainian armed forces for attacks on Russian facilities.”
The International Monetary Fund’s board of directors approved a $2.2 billion payment to Ukraine. The IMF cut total lending under existing lending programs by $1 billion and lowered its growth forecast following a “devastating” Russian attack on the country’s energy infrastructure. The IMF said on Friday that the much-needed funds would be used for “budget support,” bringing total lending under the 48-month loan agreement to about $7.6 billion.
