Ukraine denies Russian claims that ‘massive missile strike’ killed 600 Ukrainian troops
A Russian claim that its forces carried out a “massive missile strike” killing 600 Ukrainian troops has been dismissed outright by Kyiv.
The Kremlin says an attack in Kramatorsk hit a temporary barracks with “over 700 Ukrainian military personnel in dormitory 28 and over 600 Ukrainian military personnel in dormitory 47”.
Russia says it has killed 600 Ukrainian troops – Ukraine war latest updates
“The Russian information is not true,” said Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukrainian Joint Forces.
“Russian army attacked Kramatorsk with seven missiles at 11.30pm yesterday. But it does not have any impact on the Ukrainian army.”
People look at the site of a missile strike that occurred during the night in Kramatorsk
Read more: Why Russia’s claim that air strike killed 600 is almost certainly a grotesque untruth
A Finnish journalist who visited the site of the alleged strike in Kramatorsk said it is unlikely it was a direct hit.
Antii Kuronen said: “I’m there and it’s a bit strange that the building isn’t even insulated. Locals didn’t see any ambulances here in the morning either.
“I heard the explosions last night when this target was also hit. Large crater (possibly S-300) in front of the school. No direct hit. Military contacts visited the place in the morning and according to them the school was empty.”
Reuters reporters also visited the two dormitories and found neither appeared to have been directly hit by missiles or seriously damaged.
The agency reported that there were no obvious signs that soldiers had been living there and no sign of bodies or traces of blood.
Reuters pictures from the scene in Kramatorsk show a large crater in front of a building that has no windows and shattered shop fronts.
Sky News international correspondent Alex Rossi, in Ukraine, says the view from the Ukrainian military is that this latest claim from the Kremlin is another act of Russian propaganda.
“Now whether it’s true or not, as far as the Russians concerned, doesn’t really matter.
“It’s insidious. It kind of claws into people’s consciousness.
“I think the fact remains, though, that all of the evidence and from what we have managed to glean from the area where it’s said to happen… reports that are coming now through on social media are suggesting that this attack didn’t really happen at all in the way that it has been shaped by the Russian Ministry of Defence.”
A man walks in front of a damaged building in Kramatorsk
The Russian Defence Ministry says the alleged strike was revenge for a deadly Ukrainian attack on a building in Makiivka on New Year’s Eve.
One of the biggest single losses of life for Russia during the war, it was blamed by some on mobile phone use by soldiers stationed in the building.
The death toll for that attack remains contested, with Moscow claiming that dozens died while Ukraine says the number was as high as 400.
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Meanwhile, in eastern Ukraine, officials said at least two people have been killed in fighting, with one dying in strikes on Bakhmut, with eight others hurt in the wider Donetsk region, and another killed in the Kharkiv region town of Merefa.
And with nighttime temperatures dropping to -17C (1F), Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said there was heavy fighting in the region and Russian forces had deployed their most combat-ready units and heavy equipment to the city of Kreminna that they occupy, which he said meant the Russians were slowly retreating.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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UK aims to build relationship with Syria
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
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