Latest news with #Ukraine
Telegraph
44 minutes ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Ukrainian girl, 7, with rare cancer who flew to Israel for a cure is killed by Iranian strike
A seven-year-old Ukrainian girl who was diagnosed with a rare cancer and moved to Israel in hope of a cure has been killed by an Iranian air strike. Nastya Buryk died alongside members with her family in Bat Yam last week when a missile fired by the Islamic regime struck their apartment block. Nastya, her mother, grandmother and two brothers, were all killed in the blast on June 13, the first night of Iran's barrage, it was reported by Israeli news outlet Ynet. Her father, Artem, who is fighting against Russian invaders in Kyiv, remains alive. She had been undergoing treatment for lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare cancer that attacks blood and bone marrow. Nastya, from Odesa, was first diagnosed in 2022 and underwent chemotherapy in Ukraine. Her condition improved but she later relapsed. 'On August 29, 2022, we heard the terrible news: 'Your daughter has cancer,'' her mother Maria Peshkureva wrote on social media. 'Since that day, I have been living in a parallel reality, where the main thing is to save. To breathe. To not give up.' As her health worsened, her family searched for more specialist treatment and, thanks to charitable donations, they sought medical care in Israel, where Nastya had a bone marrow transplant. The procedure was unsuccessful and her leukaemia returned. Earlier this year, her family turned to a new treatment in Israel, while her grandmother, Olena, 60, and two brothers, Konstantin and Ilya, nine and 13, flew from Ukraine to be with her. Both of the boys attended a local school. Nastya's father, who joined Ukraine's 95th Airborne Assault Brigade in 2022, recorded videos from the front line to appeal for donations as the cost of his daughter's care escalated. Her family believed they would be safer in Israel than Odesa, which has suffered deadly shelling from Russian forces. Ukraine's embassy in Israel said: 'On June 14, five Ukrainian citizens, including three minors, were killed in a massive Iranian missile attack on Israel, with a missile hitting a residential building in the city of Bat Yam. 'Ukrainian diplomats and consuls are in close contact with the police and other services to identify and organise the process of returning the bodies of the dead.' The attack on Bat Yam also killed four other people and injured more than 100. Since June 13, Iran has fired missiles at Israel every day in response to Israel's 'pre-emptive strike' on the regime's nuclear facilities on June 12.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
At least 14 injured in Russia's overnight attack on Ukraine's Odesa
At least 14 people were injured when Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa overnight, damaging high-rise buildings and railway infrastructure, local authorities said on Friday. Odesa is Ukraine's largest Black Sea port, key for imports and exports, and has been under constant missile and drone attacks by Russia since the war began. 'Despite the active work of air defense forces, there is damage to civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, a higher education institution, a gas pipeline and private cars,' local governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram messenger. Kiper released photos of burning houses and charred high-rise buildings. Local emergencies service said that during the attack there were at least 10 drone strikes on residential buildings, causing massive fires. Ukraine's air force said on Friday that Russia had launched 86 drones on Ukraine overnight. The military noted its air defense units shot down 34 drones while another 36 drones were lost - in reference to the Ukrainian military using electronic warfare to redirect them - or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads. However, the military reported that drones hit 8 locations. Ukrainian state railways Ukrzaliznytsia reported that Odesa railway station was damaged during the attack, with power wires and rails damaged. Russian drones also attacked Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine overnight, damaging several private and multi-storey houses, Kharkiv officials said.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Russian minister says country's economy is ‘on the verge' of recession
Vladimir Putin 's economy minister has warned that Russia is 'on the verge' of recession as he spoke on the second day of a signature event meant to bolster economic confidence. The minister, Maxim Reshetnikov, said at the St Petersburg economic forum that his view was based on 'current business sentiment and indicators' pointing to a slowdown. 'Everything else depends on our decisions,' Reshetnikov said, calling for the central bank to show a 'little love for the economy'. Russia's central bank raised interest rates to an eye-watering 21 per cent in October 2024 to combat inflation and kept them at that level until this month when it eased them to 20 per cent. Russia's economic growth slowed to 1.4 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, the lowest quarterly figure in two years. Prices are rising across the economy driven up by massive government spending on the war and widespread labour shortages. Annual inflation has been more than double the central bank's 4 per cent target for more than a year. READ MORE Economists have warned since the war began that any Russian growth driven by the defence industry is unsustainable and does not reflect a real increase in productivity. In Ukraine , Kharkiv and Odesa were under attack from Russian-launched drones in the early hours of Friday, according to local officials and social media channels. Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant 'cannot start operating again as long as this large-scale war continues', the UN nuclear agency has said. The plant, illegally held by the Russians, has too many issues with cooling water and its need for electricity supplied from off-site, the IAEA said. Russia and Ukraine said on Thursday that they had completed another exchange of captured soldiers. Neither side said how many. 'Our people are returning home from Russian captivity,' said Volodymyr Zelenskiy , the Ukrainian president. The Ukrainian government agency overseeing the exchanges said it involved 'seriously ill and wounded' soldiers. Russia's defence ministry also confirmed the exchange. Mr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia's defence of Iran 's authorities underscored the need for intensified sanctions against Moscow. Its deployment of Iranian-designed Shahed drones and North Korean munitions was proof that Kyiv's allies were applying insufficient pressure against the Kremlin. 'When one of their accomplices loses their capability to export war, Russia is weakened and tries to interfere. This is so cynical and proves time and again that aggressive regimes cannot be allowed to unite and become partners.' The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said the conflict between Israel and Iran had exposed Russian hypocrisy, with Moscow condemning strikes against Tehran while 'ruthlessly' attacking Ukraine. 'The only rational conclusion is that Russia cannot be trusted in any situation, and it is always part of the problem rather than the solution.' Fighting between Iran and Israel could deflect global attention from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and even bolster the Kremlin's war effort, a senior Ukrainian political source told AFP. The conflict has pushed up the price of oil and 'for Ukraine, the challenge is the price of oil, because if prices remain high for a long time, the Russians will earn more'. However, Kyiv has welcomed Israeli attacks on a country that has directly aided and provided weapons to Russia. Denmark , when it takes over the presidency of the European Council, will continue preparing Ukraine for EU membership against the objections of Hungary, the Danish Europe minister, Marie Bjerre, said on Thursday. The Danish presidency begins on July 1st. 'Unfortunately, Hungary is blocking and we are trying to put as much pressure there as we can and also do everything we can to make Ukraine continue with the necessary reform work,' said Bjerre. - Guardian
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Orbán's anti-Ukraine campaign targets political rival as Hungary's elections loom
BUDAPEST, Hungary — As Hungary heads toward national elections next spring and the populist government's popularity slumps, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has zeroed in on a central theme he hopes will sway voters: an alleged threat posed by neighboring Ukraine. While most European Union countries have offered political, financial, and military support to Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Hungary under Orbán has charted a starkly different course — refusing to supply Ukraine with weapons or allow their transit through Hungarian territory, demanding sanctions relief and rapprochement with Russia, and adopting a combative stance toward both Kyiv and its EU backers. With his ruling Fidesz party slipping in the polls and a new opposition force gaining momentum, Orbán has escalated a sweeping anti-Ukraine campaign — presenting the upcoming election as a referendum on peace or war. Going further, he has accused his leading political opponent of entering into a treasonous pact with Kyiv to overthrow his government and install a pro-Western, pro-Ukraine administration. Some of his ideas mirror the growing anti-Ukraine messaging coming from right-wing populists in the West, including from President Donald Trump. 'Let's be under no illusions: Brussels and Ukraine are jointly building up a puppet government (in Hungary),' Orbán said on June 6 in comments to state radio. 'They want to change Hungary's policy toward Ukraine after the next elections, or even sooner.' At the heart of Orbán's claims is Ukraine's ambition to join the EU, something Kyiv believes would place it firmly within the embrace of the West and provide a measure of security against potential Russian attacks in the future. While Orbán was a firm supporter of Ukraine's eventual EU accession shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, he now argues that its membership — which will likely take many years — would flood Hungary with crime, cheap labor, and low-quality agricultural products, threatening national sovereignty and economic stability. He has also spuriously claimed that Brussels and Kyiv intend to force Hungarians to fight Russia on the front lines. On Monday, Orbán posted a video to his social media page depicting animated, artificial intelligence-generated scenes of bloodied, machine-gun wielding Hungarian soldiers engaged in armed conflict, and rows of caskets lined beneath Hungarian flags. 'We don't want our children, in the form of the Hungarian army, to be deployed to the Ukrainian front lines or to Ukrainian territory and to come back in coffins,' he said in the video. Central to Orbán's life-or-death narrative of the Hungarian election is his growing campaign against his main political rival, Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz insider whose new Tisza party has surged in popularity. Once married to Hungary's former justice minister, Magyar has become the most formidable challenger to Orbán's rule since the EU's longest-serving leader took office in 2010. With Tisza leading Fidesz in most independent polls, some analysts and domestic critics believe Orbán may be laying the groundwork to discredit or even disqualify Magyar ahead of the 2026 election. Péter Krekó, director of the Budapest-based Political Capital think tank, said Orbán's attempt to link Magyar and Tisza to the image of a dangerous Ukraine is aimed at neutralizing his domestic opposition as popular sentiment appears to be turning against him. 'There is an ongoing campaign against any critical voices in Hungary saying that they are agents of Ukraine, and this can be used also against the Tisza party,' he told The Associated Press. 'If you can't win back public opinion anymore, then you can try to use a more authoritarian toolkit.' Beyond political rhetoric, such accusations have reached the highest levels of diplomacy. In May, Ukraine's main security agency said that it had arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Hungary by gathering intelligence on Ukraine's military defenses in the west of the country. That set off a tit-for-tat series of diplomatic expulsions, and accusations from Hungary's government that the affair was part of a concerted Ukrainian campaign involving Magyar and his party to undermine Orbán. The prime minister accused Magyar and Tisza of being 'pro-Ukrainian' and supporting Ukraine's EU bid, and alleging that a prominent Tisza member, the former chief of staff of the Hungarian military, has 'deep ties with Ukrainian intelligence.' No evidence has been provided to support the claims, which Magyar has dismissed outright. 'It is outrageous and blood-boiling when a patriot who trained and prepared to be a soldier since the age of 14 and who took a military oath ... is accused of treason by people who would sell their country out,' Magyar told a news conference on June 5. To reinforce its message, the Hungarian government launched a state-funded communication blitz in March, accompanied by a non-binding 'national consultation' on Ukraine's EU membership. Billboards, television ads, and social media posts have flooded the country, portraying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as the architects of a plot to undermine, or even destroy Hungary. 'They would bring Ukraine into the EU, but we would pay the price!' reads one poster. 'Let's vote no!' Ukrainian officials have been restrained in reacting to the Hungarian campaign. But in an interview published last week in Hungarian outlet Válasz Online, Zelenskyy criticized the government's use of his face as part of its media barrage, and accused Orbán of being 'anti-Ukrainian and anti-European.' 'He is using this in his domestic policy: he wants to turn the war in Ukraine to his own advantage in the elections. That is dishonest,' Zelenskyy said. In a post on X on Tuesday, Ukraine's foreign ministry also pushed back on Hungary's accusations. 'The Hungarian government's communication line, which demonizes Ukraine and President Zelenskyy, has gone off the rails,' the ministry's spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, wrote. 'We don't see Hungary demanding that Russia accept a ceasefire ... They remain silent when principled action is needed and make baseless accusations when diplomacy is required.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Politics
- Reuters
At least 14 injured in Russia's overnight attack on Ukraine's Odesa
KYIV, June 20 (Reuters) - At least 14 people were injured when Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa overnight, damaging high-rise buildings and railway infrastructure, local authorities said on Friday. Odesa is Ukraine's largest Black Sea port, key for imports and exports, and has been under constant missile and drone attacks by Russia since the war began. "Despite the active work of air defence forces, there is damage to civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, a higher education institution, a gas pipeline and private cars," local governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram messenger. Kiper released photos of burning houses and charred high-rise buildings. Local emergencies service said that during the attack there were at least 10 drone strikes on residential buildings, causing massive fires. Ukraine's air force said on Friday that Russia had launched 86 drones on Ukraine overnight. The military noted its air defence units shot down 34 drones while another 36 drones were lost - in reference to the Ukrainian military using electronic warfare to redirect them - or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads. However, the military reported that drones hit 8 locations. Ukrainian state railways Ukrzaliznytsia reported that Odesa railway station was damaged during the attack, with power wires and rails damaged. Russian drones also attacked Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine overnight, damaging several private and multi-storey houses, Kharkiv officials said.
