Russia-Ukraine war: At least 18 people killed and more than 110 injured in Belgorod shelling, say officials
At least 18 people – including two children – have been killed and more than 110 have been injured during shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod, officials in Moscow say.
They have accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack – a day after an 18-hour aerial Russian barrage across Ukraine killed at least 39 people.
Russia’s foreign ministry has requested a United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss what officials have called the “indiscriminate” shelling of Belgorod, according to the state-run news agency, RIA.
Firefighters in Belgorod. Pic: Russia Emergency Situations Ministry telegram channel via AP
“The terrorist attack in Belgorod will be the subject of proceedings in the UN Security Council,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova is reported to have said.
While Kyiv never acknowledges responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the occupied Crimean Peninsula, larger aerial strikes against Russia have previously followed heavy assaults on Ukrainian cities.
Images of Belgorod on social media showed cars on fire and plumes of black smoke rising among damaged buildings as air raid sirens sounded.
Read more: Ukraine-Russia war latest
Firefighters in Belgorod. Pic: Russia Emergency Situations Ministry telegram channel via AP
A person is carried away after the shelling in the Russian city
Belgorod is a Russian city on the border with Ukraine
One strike hit close to a public ice rink in the heart of the city.
Earlier on Saturday, officials in Russia reported shooting down 32 Ukrainian drones over the country’s Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol and Kursk regions.
They also reported that cross-border shelling had killed two people in Russia – one man in the Belgorod area and a nine-year-old in the Bryansk region.
Pic: Governor of Russia’s Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov via Telegram/Reuters
Pic: Russia Emergency Situations Ministry telegram channel via AP
Russia launches missiles and drones
Meanwhile, Russian drone strikes against Ukraine continued on Saturday.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported 10 Shahed drones had been shot down across the Kherson, Khmelnytskyi and Mykolaiv regions.
On Friday, Moscow’s forces launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones across Ukraine, an onslaught described by one air force official as the biggest aerial barrage of the war.
Ukrainian officials said 39 people had been killed – a figure that is expected to rise as the extensive rubble is cleared – with another 160 people wounded.
Russia’s recent aerial assault on Ukraine may have cost up to $1bn
It would appear Russia tested the Ukrainian air defences this past few weeks with small-scale attacks to establish where the clusters of air defence capability lie, before launching a massive, co-ordinated attack.
But what was Russia seeking to target?
Although Ukraine understandably highlights the damage inflicted on Ukrainian hospitals and schools, it is hard to believe Russia would “waste” scarce (and expensive) missiles on targets that do not further its war aims.
Instead, Valerii Zaluzhnyi – the head of the Ukrainian armed forces – suggested Russia focused on military targets, transport hubs and defence infrastructure.
President Zelenskyy desperately needs weapons and ammunition if Ukraine is to prevail in its war with Russia, and has made clear his intent to develop a national Defence Industrial Base.
However, factories take months or years to build, and a single bomb to destroy, so it is very likely that Ukraine’s fledgling defence industry was a priority target.
And, the single wave of attacks probably comprised over $1bn (£785m) of Russian missile capability, so Russia would have wanted to ensure the majority hit their intended targets which explains its detailed preparation.
To meet its munition demands, Russia is securing over one million rounds of artillery from North Korea, and drones and missiles from Iran. And, Russia is leveraging its significant Defence Industrial Base to increase production rates, funded by its oil revenues.
However, Ukraine has very limited potential to meet its own wartime requirements, and without Western long-term support, its military prospects are bleak.
Army chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said the attack targeted critical infrastructure and industrial and military facilities.
A maternity hospital, flat blocks and schools were also damaged in the attack, according to officials.
Read more from Sky News:
Ukraine and Zelenskyy: What went wrong in 2023? And what next?
How a significant tactical victory for Russia will embolden Putin
Poland’s defence forces said on Friday that an unknown object had entered the country’s air space before vanishing from radars, and that all indications pointed to it being a Russian missile.
Poland’s deputy foreign minister summoned Russian ambassador Andrei Ordash on Friday to discuss the alleged breach of Poland’s airspace.
Several Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, were hit in strikes on Friday
However, Mr Ordash said Poland had provided no proof of Russian involvement.
In a statement, published by the state-owned RIA news agency, Mr Ordash said: “I was handed a note which contained an unsubstantiated claim that allegedly on the morning of 29 December, an airborne object violated Polish airspace, which Polish specialists identified as a Russian guided missile.
“No proof was presented. My request for documented proof of what was in the note was refused.”
World
US trade court blocks Donald Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs – claiming he ‘exceeded his authority’
World
Trump doubles down on Putin criticism – as Russia offers Ukraine a date and location for peace talks
Donald Trump has doubled down on his criticism of Vladimir Putin – adding he will know soon if the Russian leader is just “tapping” him along.
The US president told reporters at the White House that he believed his counterpart in Moscow may be intentionally delaying ceasefire talks, while he also expressed disappointment at heavy Russian bombing over the weekend.
While Mr Trump has so far stopped short of imposing sanctions – to avoid, he says, “screwing up” negotiations – he warned his stance could change.
Ukraine Q&A: Are we any closer to war ending?
The president said: “We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little differently,” adding that he “can’t tell you” if Mr Putin wanted peace.
Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
His comments in the Oval Office came minutes after Russia’s foreign minister announced that the Kremlin had offered Ukraine a second round of talks on 2 June in Istanbul.
Kyiv did not immediately respond to the proposal, which Sergei Lavrov said would see Moscow hand their proposals for a potential peace deal directly to Ukraine.
“We hope that all those who are sincerely, and not just in words, interested in the success of the peace process will support holding a new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul,” Mr Lavrov added.
Later on Wednesday, Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said his government was “not against” further meetings, but called for Russia to deliver its memorandum to Kyiv beforehand.
Meanwhile, Mr Lavrov also hit out at Germany for agreeing to finance the production of long-range missiles in Ukraine, accusing Berlin of showing it is “already a participant in the war”.
However, German leader Friedrich Merz declined to say that his country would hand over the Taurus missiles that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who was in Berlin on Wednesday – has long wanted.
Ukraine’s need for ammunition has become all the more urgent after Russia launched some of the largest aerial assaults of the war so far over the weekend.
Read more:
Would ‘smart’ missiles allow Ukraine to hit key bridge?
Lavrov accuses West of secrecy over strikes
Russia said it had downed 296 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions overnight, while Ukraine said it had struck several weapon production sites.
Kyiv, in turn, said Moscow had launched 88 drones and five ballistic missiles since Tuesday.
World
Hamas’s Gaza chief ‘eliminated’, says Netanyahu – but military sources say they cannot confirm death
Hamas’s Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar has been “eliminated”, according to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But Israeli military sources have said they are not yet able to confirm the death.
Hamas has also not yet confirmed the apparent killing of its leader.
Meanwhile, with Gaza on the brink of famine, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations broke down in tears as he spoke of the suffering of its people.
Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour broke down in tears as he spoke of the suffering of people in Gaza
Riyah Mansour told the Security Council: “Children are dying of starvation. The images of mothers embracing their motionless bodies. Caressing their hair, talking to them, apologising to them, is unbearable.”
He added: “I have grandchildren. I know what they mean to their families. And to see this situation over the Palestinians without us having hearts to do something is beyond the ability of any normal human being to tolerate. Flames and hunger are devouring Palestinian children. This is why we are so outraged as Palestinians everywhere.”
Sinwar was one of Israel‘s most wanted and the younger brother of the Palestinian militant group’s former leader Yahya Sinwar.
The older sibling was the mastermind of the October 7 2023 attack, which killed 1,200 people in Israel, with around 250 others taken hostage into Gaza.
The attack triggered Israel’s assault on Gaza which decimated the territory, with more than 53,000 people killed, mostly women and children, and over two million displaced, according to health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally of fatalities.
Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israel in October 2024. File pic: AP
Yahya Sinwar was killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops in Gaza last October. His younger sibling was believed to have then become the head of Hamas’s armed wing.
Speaking to the Knesset on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu included Mohammed Sinwar in a list of Hamas leaders killed in Israeli strikes. Later, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) sources said they were not yet able to confirm the death.
The prime minister said: “We have killed tens of thousands of terrorists. We killed (Mohammed) Deif, (Ismail) Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar.” He did not elaborate.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s claimed could not be confirmed. Pic: AP
Mohammed Sinwar had reportedly been the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza on 13 May and Mr Netanyahu said on 21 May that it was likely he had been killed.
The Israeli military had said it struck a Hamas command centre under the European Hospital in the Sinwars’ hometown of Khan Younis, and it declined to comment on whether Sinwar was targeted or killed.
At least six people were killed in the strike and 40 wounded, Gaza’s health ministry said at the time.
Sinwar rose through ranks
Like his older brother, Mohammed Sinwar joined Hamas after it was founded in the late 1980s as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. He became a member of the group’s military wing, known as the Qassam Brigades.
👉Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈
Sinwar rose through the ranks to become a member of its so-called joint chiefs of staff, bringing him close to its longtime commander, Deif, who was killed in a strike last year.
Read more from Sky News:
Humanitarian chief talks of Gaza ‘catastrophe’
UN boss condemns ‘teaspoon’ of aid allowed into Gaza
“In the last two days, we have been in a dramatic turn towards a complete defeat of Hamas,” the Israeli leader told the Knesset.
Mr Netanyahu also spoke about how Israel was “taking control of food distribution”, a reference to a new aid distribution system that has been criticised and boycotted by humanitarian groups and the UN.
One killed at site of aid hub
The development comes after one person was killed and 48 others injured when forces opened fire on a crowd that overwhelmed an aid hub in Gaza, according to local health officials.
Palestinians have become increasingly desperate for food after almost three months of Israeli border closures. A blockade has recently been eased.
People broke through fences around the distribution site on Wednesday, and a journalist with the Associated Press said they heard Israeli tank and gunfire, and saw a military helicopter firing flares.
It was not yet known whether the death and injuries were caused by Israeli forces, private contractors or others.
The Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which set up the hub outside Rafah, said its military contractors had not fired on the crowd but “fell back” before resuming aid operations. Israel said its troops nearby had fired warning shots.
The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system, saying it will not meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and allows Israel to use food to control the population.
Israel has vowed to seize control of Gaza and fight until Hamas is destroyed or disarmed and exiled, and until the militant group returns the last 58 hostages, including around a third thought to be still alive.
‘This is a man-made catastrophe’
Meanwhile, a US trauma surgeon who has been working in Gaza urged the UN Security Council to not “claim ignorance” about the humanitarian devastation.
Dr Feroze Sidhwa said: “Let’s not forget, this is a man-made catastrophe. It is entirely preventable. Participating in it or not allowing it to happen is a choice.
“This is a deliberate denial of conditions necessary for life: food, shelter, water and medicine. Preventing genocide means refusing to normalise these atrocities.”
The UN World Health Organization has documented around 700 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza during the war. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals as command centres and to hide fighters.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway