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Three people were killed and six others wounded when a Russian missile hit a five-story apartment building in a town in southeastern Ukraine on Thursday, police said, as the war continued into its second year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said several floors of buildings were destroyed in the attack in Zaporizhzhia, which took place while it was still dark.
The State Emergency Service said in an online statement that it had rescued 11 people so far.
Zaporizhzhia, a large city with a population of more than 700,000 before Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor just over a year ago, is the administrative capital of the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region, which is home to Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
Russian artillery, drones and missiles have been pounding Ukrainian-held territory in the south and east of the country for months. Moscow denied targeting civilians, but indiscriminate shelling caused damage to the city center.
The war dragged on and became a stalemate during the winter.
Meanwhile, fierce fighting continues for control of Bakhmut, a key eastern stronghold from which Ukrainian officials say they can make a strategic retreat.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces “continued to advance and attack the city,” but Kyiv forces repelled several attacks on the devastated city.
Bakhmut is one of the towns and villages in the Donetsk region under Russian attack, according to the General Staff update.
Taking the city would not only give Russian forces a rare battlefield gain after months of setbacks but could also sever Ukraine’s supply lines and allow Kremlin forces to press into another Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk.
Moscow accuses Ukraine of invading Russian soil
For their part, Kremlin officials on Thursday accused Ukrainian saboteurs of crossing into western Russia and attacking local villages. The exact circumstances of the incident reported in the Bryansk region are unclear, including what the strategic purpose of the attack was.
If confirmed, it would be another indication after drone strikes earlier this week that Kyiv could increase pressure on Moscow by exposing Russian defense weaknesses, embarrassing the Kremlin and spreading uneasiness among Russian civilians.
WATCH l How Elon Musk was involved in communications during the war in Ukraine:
Ukraine’s ability to stay online and share information is critical to the war effort, even as Russia continues to attack its infrastructure. How can we do that? The answer: lots of batteries and a little help from Elon Musk.
The announcement could also be used by Russian authorities to escalate attacks on Ukraine in retaliation.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak described the Russian report as a “classic deliberate provocation.”
Russia “wants to terrorize its people to justify attacks on other countries [and] growing poverty after years of war,” he tweeted, claiming the attack was the work of Russian partisans.
Russia’s Federal Security Service was quoted by the state news agency Tass as saying that “activities to eliminate armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border” were underway in the Bryansk region.
WATCH l A ‘burning city’: Heavy losses on both sides in Bakhmut:
Russian forces are approaching the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Fighting across the city has ramped up in recent days with the Ukrainian military commander calling the situation ‘very tense.’
Tass, citing Russian law enforcement, reported earlier that up to six people were being held hostage. The agency reported that two villages in the region – Sushany and Lyubechane – were attacked by “several dozen armed fighters.”
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, said the group opened fire on a vehicle in Lyubechane, killing one person and wounding a child. He also said that a Ukrainian drone attacked a house in Sushany, causing a fire.
Earlier this week, the Kremlin said Ukraine-launched drones were flying deep inside Russian territory, including within 100 kilometers of Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin canceled a planned trip to southern Russia set for Thursday and received a report on the situation from regional governors.
Top US, Russian diplomats chat for a while
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked for about 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G20 conference in New Delhi, according to US officials. The brief meeting comes as relations between Washington and Moscow fall apart over Russia’s war with Ukraine.
It is believed that the first contact that Blinken and Lavrov have since the end of the summer, when they spoke by phone. Not long after, WNBA star Brittney Griner – who had been detained for several months in Russia – was released in a swap that saw a Russian arms dealer deported from the US after serving several years in prison.
The G20 meeting ended Thursday in New Delhi without a consensus on the Ukraine war, India’s foreign minister said.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said there were “differences” on the issue of the war in Ukraine “which we cannot reconcile because different parties have different views.”
The host country did not directly criticize Russia, a key Cold War ally, when it increased its imports of Russian oil, despite growing pressure from Western countries to stand firm on Moscow.
In a video address to the assembled foreign ministers, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged not to allow current tensions to undermine possible agreements on food and energy security, climate change and debt.
Last week, India was forced to issue a summary of its compromised seats at the conclusion of the G20 finance ministers’ meeting after Russia and China rejected a joint communique that kept language on the war in Ukraine lifted directly from last year’s G20 summit declaration in Indonesia.
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