Ukraine slams Kyiv attack amid efforts for new Mariupol evac
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s leader accused Russia of trying to humiliate the United Nations by raining missiles on Kyiv during a visit by Secretary-General António Guterres, an attack that shattered the capital’s tentative return to normality as the focus of the war moved east.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s leader accused Russia of trying to humiliate the United Nations by raining missiles on Kyiv during a visit by Secretary-General António Guterres, an attack that shattered the capital’s tentative return to normality as the focus of the war moved east.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s forces were holding off Russia’s attempted advance in the south and east, as efforts continued to secure safe passage for residents of Mariupol, which has been largely reduced to rubble in a 2-month-long siege.
Russia pounded targets all over Ukraine on Thursday, including the attack on Kyiv that struck a residential high-rise and another building. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Friday that one body was found in the rubble of the attack. Ten people were wounded, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukraine’s emergency services. The first Russian bombardment of the capital since Moscow’s forces retreated weeks ago came barely an hour after Zelenskyy held a news conference with Guterres, who toured some of the destruction in and around Kyiv and condemned attacks on civilians. “This says a lot about Russia’s true attitude towards global institutions, about attempts of Russian authorities to humiliate the U.N. and everything that the organization represents.,” Zelenskyy said in an overnight video address to the nation. “Therefore, it requires corresponding powerful reaction.”
One aim of Guterres’ visit was to secure the evacuation of people from the ruined southern port city of Mariupol, including a shattered steelworks where Ukrainian defenders are holed up and hundreds of civilians are also sheltering,
It was unclear whether it had borne fruit. Previous evacuation attempts have collapsed.
“I cannot confirm the exact details of the operation to make sure it is done with safety for our people and for civilians stranded in Mariupol” said Saviano Abreu, a spokesperson for the U.N.’s humanitarian office. An official in Zelenskyy’s office said negotiations were underway with U.N. mediation, and did not rule out that an evacuation of the plant could come Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Mariupol has seen some of the most dramatic suffering of the war. Under siege since the early days of the invasion, many of its residents became trapped with scarce access to food, water, medicine or electricity.
An estimated 100,000 people are believed to still be in the city, and the city council warned Thursday that a lack of safe drinking water or a working sewer system could lead to outbreaks of deadly diseases such as cholera and dysentery. It added that bodies lay decaying under the rubble.