Ukraine war: Russian missile strike on humanitarian convoy kills 25 – as Putin faces defeat in key city
A Russian missile strike has hit a humanitarian convoy in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing 25 people and injuring dozens more.
The convoy had been preparing to leave Ukrainian territory controlled by Kyiv to visit relatives and deliver supplies in an area occupied by Russia, officials said.
The assault came as Moscow moved to formally annex four Ukrainian regions including Zaporizhzhia – and amid reports Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s forces have encircled the Russian stronghold of Lyman in the Donetsk region.
Highly stage-managed referenda in the Ukraine regions including Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson were held last week after which it was claimed residents had overwhelmingly voted to join Russia.
They were universally dismissed as rigged “shams” by Kyiv and its Western allies.
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Ukraine: Civilians killed in convoy
In Zaporizhzhia, anti-aircraft missiles that Russia has repurposed as ground-attack weapons were launched and rained down on people who were waiting in cars to cross into Russian-occupied territory to bring family members back across the front lines, said the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
The general prosecutor’s office said 25 people were killed and 50 wounded.
The region’s Ukrainian governor, Oleksandr Starukh, posted images online of burnt vehicles and bodies lying in the road.
A crater had been gouged in the ground near two lines of vehicles.
He wrote on Telegram: “The occupiers struck defenceless Ukrainians. This is another terrorist attack by a terrorist country.”
Russian strikes were also reported in other cities including Dnipro, Mykolaiv and the Black Sea port city of Odesa.
High-rise buildings and buses were destroyed in the attack on Dnipro, where the regional governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, said at least one person was killed and five wounded by Iskander missiles.
Pic: AP
In Mykolaiv, a Russian missile struck a high-rise building and wounded eight people, said Vitaliy Kim, the regional head.
Iranian-made suicide drones were launched by Russian forces from the Black Sea around Odesa, some of which were shot down by air defences while others struck targets, the Ukrainian air force’s command said.
The Russian strikes follow warnings by analysts that Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to step up attacks as part of a strategy to escalate the war to an extent that would shatter western support for Ukraine.
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But even as Moscow prepared to celebrate the incorporation into Russia of four occupied Ukrainian regions – in defiance of international law – there were reports by Russian and Western analysts that Ukrainian forces have surrounded the city of Lyman in the occupied Donetsk region.
Retaking Lyman – located around 100 miles southeast of Kharkiv – could allow Kyiv to push deep into Russian-occupied Luhansk, which would be a stinging blow for Moscow.
It has been a sought-after prize for a Ukrainian counter-offensive that has already had spectacular success since its launch in late August.
Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada have come into effect, as has an additional 10% on Chinese products, bringing the total import tax to 20%.
The US president confirmed the tariffs in a speech at the White House – and his announcement sent US and European stocks down sharply.
The tariffs will be felt heavily by US companies which have factories in Canada and Mexico, such as carmakers.
Mr Trump said: “They’re going to have a tariff. So what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.”
There’s “no room left” for a deal that would see the tariffs shelved if fentanyl flowing into the US is curbed by its neighbours, he added.
Mexico and Canada face tariffs of 25%, with 10% for Canadian energy, the Trump administration confirmed.
And tariffs on Chinese imports have doubled, raising them from 10% to 20%.
Canada announced it would retaliate immediately, imposing 25% tariffs on US imports worth C$30bn (£16.3bn). It added the tariffs would be extended in 21 days to cover more US goods entering the country if the US did not lift its sanctions against Canada.
China also vowed to retaliate and reiterated its stance that the Trump administration was trying to “shift the blame” and
“bully” Beijing over fentanyl flows.
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Mr Trump’s speech stoked fears of a trade war in North America, prompting a financial market sell-off.
Stock market indexes the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.48% and 2.64% respectively on Monday.
The share prices for automobile companies including General Motors, which has significant truck production in Mexico, Automaker and Ford also fell.
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Consumers in the US could see price hikes within days, an expert has said.
Gustavo Flores-Macias, a public policy professor at Cornell University, New York, said “the automobile sector, in particular, is likely to see considerable negative consequences”.
This is due to supply chains that “crisscross the three countries in the manufacturing process” and ” because of the expected increase in the price of vehicles, which can dampen demand,” he added.
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The Trump administration is gearing up to bring in other tariffs in the coming weeks.
On 2 April, reciprocal tariffs will take effect on all countries that impose duties on US products.
He is also considering 25% tariffs on goods from the EU “very soon” after claiming the bloc was created to “screw the United States”.
A truck has collided with a bus in southern Bolivia, killing at least 31 people, according to police – just two days after a deadly crash claimed at least 37 lives.
Officers said the bus rolled some 500m (1,640ft) down a ravine after the collision on Monday, which took place on the highway between Oruro, in the Bolivian Altiplano, and the highland mining city of Potosi.
The driver of the truck has been arrested, while the cause of the accident is under investigation.
Police spokesperson Limbert Choque said men and women were among the dead, and 22 people suffered injuries.
Rescue teams operating at the site of the crash. Pic: Bolivia’s attorney general/Reuters
Bolivia’s President, Luis Arce, expressed condolences for the victims on social media: “This unfortunate event must be investigated to establish responsibilities,” he said in a post on Facebook.
“We send our most sincere condolences to the bereaved families, wishing them the necessary strength to face these difficult times.”
The crash happened between Oruro and Potosi
On Saturday morning, a crash between two buses killed more than three dozen people in the same region.
It happened between Colchani and the city of Uyuni, a major tourist attraction and the world’s largest salt flat.
People stand near the wreckage of one of the two buses involved in a crash on Saturday. Pic: Reuters/Potosi Departmental Command
Coincidentally, one of the buses was heading to Oruro, where one of the most important carnival celebrations in Latin America is currently taking place.
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More than 30 people were also killed after a bus crash on 17 February.
In that crash, police said the driver appeared to have lost control of the vehicle, causing it to drop more than 800m (2,600ft) off a precipice in the southwestern area of Yocalla.
Bolivia’s mountainous, undermaintained and poorly supervised roads are some of the deadliest in the world, claiming an average 1,400 fatalities every year.
The Pope has had two episodes of “acute respiratory failure”, the Vatican has said.
The 88-year-old has been in hospital since 14 February with a severe respiratory infection that triggered other complications.
The Vatican said the respiratory failures were caused by “significant accumulation” of mucus in his lungs and a “bronchospasm”, akin to an asthma attack.
Doctors were then required to perform two bronchoscopies – a test which sees medics use a long, thin, telescope with a light to look into the lungs – to evaluate the Pope’s air passages, the statement said.
“In the afternoon, non-invasive mechanical ventilation was resumed,” the Vatican continued. “The Holy Father has always remained vigilant, oriented and collaborative. The prognosis remains reserved.”
Vatican sources said the situation had been calm this morning, before becoming worse this afternoon.
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Behind the scenes at the Vatican
The respiratory issues the Pope suffered today are due to an ongoing infection rather than a new one but he is not out of danger, they added.
Asked if the Pope is in good spirits, they gave no answer. When asked if the Vatican’s apartment is getting ready to welcome Francis back, the source said it was too premature to discuss this.
His clinical picture remains complex, they said.
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Earlier on Monday, Pope Francis issued a written message after Vatican officials begged him to let his voice be heard following more than two weeks out of public view.
He thanked his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers, before praying for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“From here, war appears even more absurd,” he wrote.
People at a nightly rosary prayer for the Pope in St. Peter’s Square yesterday evening. Pic: AP
This has become the longest public absence of his 12-year papacy.
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski presided over the evening rosary prayer in St Peter’s Square on Sunday night.
“Let us pray together with the entire church for the health of the Holy Father Francis,” he said.
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