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Russia blew up apartment blocks in Ukraine with missiles on Wednesday and cities with drone strikes overnight, in a show of force as Russian President Vladimir Putin bid farewell to his “dear friend” and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Firefighters battled a blaze in two residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, where officials said at least one person was killed and 33 injured in a twin missile attack.
“Now, residential areas where ordinary people and children live are fired,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted, with security camera video showing one building exploding.
“This should not be ‘just another day’ in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world. The world needs greater unity and determination to defeat Russian terror more quickly and protect lives.”
The playground and car park at the site were littered with broken glass, debris and cars. Emergency workers carry out the injured or escort those who can walk.
An old woman with scratches on her face sat alone on a bench, wiping her tears and whispering a prayer.
“When I came out, there was destruction, smoke, people screaming, debris. Then firefighters and rescuers came,” said Ivan Nalyvaiko, 24.
6 dead after the hostel was hit
In Rzhyshchiv, a riverside town south of the capital, at least six people were killed, 18 injured and three missing after a drone struck two college dormitories. Reuters saw a five-story building with parts of it collapsed on the top floor.
Overnight, sirens rang out across the capital and parts of northern Ukraine, and the military said it had shot down 16 of 21 Iranian-made Shahed suicide drones.
In an apparent reference to the Chinese president’s visit to the Russian capital, Zelenskyy tweeted: “Every time someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow, another order is given for such criminal attacks.”
Zelenskyy visited troops near the front line on Wednesday. His office released a video of him presenting medals to soldiers, which was filmed near Bakhmut, the eastern city where Ukrainian forces are putting up defenses in Europe’s biggest infantry battle since World War II.
International agencies estimate that rebuilding Ukraine will cost US$411 billion – 2.6 times Ukraine’s 2022 gross domestic product.
Little said about Ukraine
Hosting Xi in Moscow this week is Putin’s biggest diplomatic gesture since launching the war a year ago.
They called the two “dear friends,” promised economic cooperation, condemned the West and described the relationship as the best it could be.
He “shared the view that this relationship has gone beyond the bilateral scope and has acquired critical importance for the global landscape and the future of mankind,” said a statement released by China.
But his public comments lacked specificity, and during the visit, Xi barely spoke about the Ukraine war, beyond China’s “neutral” position.
The White House is asking Beijing to force Russia to withdraw from Ukraine. Washington also criticized the timing of the trip, just days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges, which Beijing has joined Moscow in denying.
China has promoted itself as a neutral peacemaker, proposing a plan for Ukraine last month that the West generally dismissed as vague at best, and at worst a ploy to buy time for Putin to regroup his forces.
Ukraine says there will be no peace unless Russia withdraws from occupied lands. Moscow says Kyiv must recognize its territorial “reality” after it claims it has annexed almost a fifth of Ukraine.
Grinding war in Bakhmut
After Ukraine retook territory in the second half of 2022, Moscow launched a massive winter offensive using hundreds of thousands of reservists and newly-recruited prisoners as mercenaries from prisons.
Despite the bloodiest battle of the war, described by both sides as a meat grinder, the front line had been closed for almost four months.
Russia has only recorded gains around Bakhmut, but Kyiv has decided in recent weeks not to cancel there, saying its defenders are inflicting enough losses on Russian attackers to justify continuing out.
In an intelligence update, the British defense ministry said there was still a risk that the Ukrainian garrison in Bakhmut could be surrounded, following a Russian attack on the city. can run out of steam.
A Ukrainian counterattack in the new day west of Bakhmut is likely to relieve pressure on the supply route of Ukraine, updated Wednesday said.
Britain has rejected accusations from Moscow that supplying Ukraine with munitions made from depleted uranium poses a risk of “nuclear collision.”
“There is no threat to Russia, this is just to help Ukraine defend itself,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.
On Monday Britain confirmed that it had supplied Ukraine with the shell, used by many militaries to penetrate armor due to the high density of the metal.
Depleted uranium is a byproduct of enriched uranium used in nuclear reactors and weapons. It is less radioactive than natural uranium, but campaigners want to limit its military use because of concerns about lasting health risks around affected sites, where dust can enter people’s lungs and vital organs.
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