Russian drones target two Ukrainian cities, killing at least one person

The assault targeted the southern port city of Odesa and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, hitting apartment blocks, officials said on Friday.
The barrage of more than 20 drones injured almost two dozen civilians, including girls aged 17 and 12, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The strikes came as a Kremlin official said he expected an announcement next week on dates for a fresh round of direct peace talks.
'Russia continues its tactics of targeted terror against our people,' Mr Zelensky said on messaging app Telegram, urging the US and the European Union to increase economic pressure on Moscow.
Russia has shown no sign of relenting in its attacks, more than three years after it invaded its neighbour. It is pressing a summer offensive on parts of the 620-mile front line and has kept up long-range strikes that have hit civilian areas.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the date for the next round peace talks is expected to be agreed next week.
Kyiv officials have not recently spoken about resuming talks with Russia, last held when delegations met in Istanbul on June 2, though Ukraine continues to offer a ceasefire and support US-led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.
The two rounds of brief talks yielded only agreements on the exchange of prisoners and wounded soldiers.
A fire caused by Russia's nighttime strike on Odesa engulfed a four-storey residential building, which partly collapsed and injured three emergency workers.
A separate fire spread across the upper floors of a 23-storey high-rise, leading to the evacuation of around 600 residents.
In Kharkiv, at least eight drones hit civilian infrastructure, injuring four people including two children, according to Ukraine's Emergency Service.
Russia launched 80 Shahed and decoy drones overnight, Ukraine's air force said, claiming that air defences shot down or jammed 70 of them.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

South Wales Guardian

2 hours ago

• South Wales Guardian

EU review ‘paints grim picture' of Israel's actions in Gaza, Irish premier says

The Taoiseach said the report highlights the restriction of food and medicines into Gaza, which he said 'amounts to the use of starvation as a method of war'. The EU-Israel Association Agreement is being reviewed after a dozen EU member states backed it last month. The unpublished report has found that there are 'indications' Israel could be in breach of its human rights obligations under the agreement, according to several media outlets. Reacting on Saturday, Mr Martin welcomed the 'substantive and important' report on Israel's compliance with its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel deal. He said Ireland had 'long argued' that clauses on human rights in the EU's international agreement 'have to be respected' and should prompt 'serious consequences' when they are not. Back in February 2024, Ireland and Spain jointly called for an urgent review of whether Israel had breached its human rights obligations in the trade agreement. A majority of EU countries did not back the review until last month, prompted by a proposal from The Netherlands. The shift came amid Israel's months-long blockade of Gaza, which has accelerated fears of a famine. A new Israeli and US-backed aid system has been marred by violence. Israel's 20-month military campaign in the the Palestinian enclave has killed an estimated 55,000 people and injured thousands more, according to Gaza's health ministry. Mr Martin said: 'I very much welcome the substantive and important report of the EU's High Representative for Human Rights on Israel's compliance with its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel Association Agreement. 'Bringing together the reports and analysis of serious, credible and reliable sources – including the International Court of Justice, the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and others – it paints a clear and grim picture of a sustained and deliberate failure by Israel to adhere to its international obligations, especially in Gaza but also in the West Bank. 'It highlights a continued restriction of food, medicines, medical equipment, and other vital supplies into Gaza that amount to collective punishment of the civilian population, that amounts to the use of starvation as a method of war. 'It describes an unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians in Gaza resulting from indiscriminate attacks without proportion or precaution, as well as attacks on hospitals, forced mass displacements and the killing of journalists. All of this with a persistent lack of accountability. 'In the West Bank, it reports sustained oppression of the Palestinian population, including through state and settler violence, the appropriation of land, and the use of detention as a form of collective punishment.' He added: 'We will now work with partners to follow up on this important report with concrete steps, and I will be discussing it with my colleagues in the European Council when we meet next week.'

Daily Mirror

3 hours ago

• Daily Mirror

Putin sends his own dead soldiers to Ukraine in 'disdain for fallen troops'

Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia repatriated at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Ukraine - 'they threw the corpses of their citizens at us,' he said Vladimir Putin's Russia has been handing over its own deceased troops to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. Zelensky said the bodies of 20 Russian soldiers had been received. The exchange had been agreed in the early June talks between Ukraine and Russia. It saw Ukraine receive the bodies of 6,057 of its soldiers, while Russia said 6,060 bodies had been transferred to Ukraine and that the remains of 78 of its own soldiers were repatriated. ‌ It is not clear why there is such a large difference between the number of exchanged bodies, but Russia may have been able to recover its own dead following small territorial gains. The process was monitored by members of the Red Cross. ‌ "It has already been confirmed during repatriations that the bodies of 20 people handed over to us as our deceased soldiers are Russian," Zelensky said, describing it as a result of Moscow's disorganisation in carrying out large swaps of wounded POWs and remains of troops.. He said the Russian side insisted the dead were all Ukrainians, adding "Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports". 'They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,' he said. One of the bodies is an ' Israeli mercenary' fighting for Russia, Zelensky said. It comes after Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the body of a Russian soldier being handed to Ukraine showed how Russia "treats its people with contempt". Mr Klymenko said that one of the bodies, labelled 'No. 192/25', was identified as Alexander Viktorovich Bugaev. Bugaev, born in 1974, was carrying a Russian passport and was dressed in a Russian military uniform. Officials also found a military ID that said he had served in the 1st Battalion of the 39th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, the Kyiv Independent reported. ‌ 'This is yet another proof of how Russia treats its people with contempt, throwing their bodies onto the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers," Klymenko said. He said that Bugaev's family had been searching for him for months. The minister also said that Russia had located his remains after he went missing amid fighting close to the village of Novomykhailivka in Donetsk, but they chose to 'dump' his body. "This shows how little human life means to Russia,' said Klymenko. 'Or maybe it's just a way to avoid paying compensation to the families. But they will have to pay anyway: we are returning these bodies." As the was continues to rage in Ukraine, a total of 77 combat clashes between the two sides were recorded today, according to an update from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a Facebook post.

South Wales Guardian

5 hours ago

• South Wales Guardian

Ukraine ‘received at least 20 bodies of Russian soldiers in recent exchanges'

Volodymyr Zelensky said that an Israeli citizen was among the dead Ukraine had received in recent exchanges. 'They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,' he said. He said the Russian side insisted the dead were all Ukrainians. Journalists were shown a Russian passport and ID belonging to one of the 20 dead Russians. According to the document, the man came from the Moscow region. The exchanges of the dead and wounded soldiers are the only tangible result of direct peace talks in Istanbul. In June, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers in a 6,000-for-6,000 format during the second round of negotiations. Ukraine was concerned that the number was too high and that the sides did not have enough time for forensic examinations and checking the identities of the dead. Mr Zelensky said he suspected Russia's plan was to play along with peace talks to appease the US and stave off more sanctions but without ending the war that Russian president Vladimir Putin believes he is winning. He said that because of this, Ukraine would be 'in a really difficult situation' of deciding whether to continue the talks in Istanbul.