Kyiv missile attack sends African leaders running to bomb shelters – Ukraine latest

Ukraine’s air force claimed it shot down six hypersonic Russian missiles over Kiev on Friday.

The Kinjal missiles were accompanied by another six Kalibri cruise missiles and two drones, which the Air Force further said were also shot down.

Kinjal translates to “dagger” in Russian. One of the latest weapons being used by Moscow, the Russian military claims the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles).

Flying at 10 times the speed of sound, they are difficult to stop, with Russian President Vladimir Putin previously calling them “unbeatable”.

The combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinjal to destroy heavily fortified targets such as underground bunkers or mountain tunnels.

A senior Ukrainian commander says advancing Ukrainian troops are facing “desperate resistance” from Russian forces around the eastern town of Bakhmut.

Colonel General Oleksandr Sirsky, who is in charge of Ukrainian ground forces, said the situation in the east was tense and that Russia was bringing its best divisions into the Bakhmut sector with backup from artillery and aircraft.

“We continue to conduct offensive operations in different directions with the aim of gradually driving the enemy out of the outskirts of Bakhmut, capturing key heights and forest strips. Realizing this, the enemy units put up desperate resistance,” Syrsky said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian army said last week it had begun pushing back Russian forces in and around Bakhmut.

Heavy flooding from the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on 6 June devastated towns along the lower Dnieper River in the Kherson region, a front line in the war. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of violations.

In the chaotic early days of the flood, Ukrainian rescuers in private boats provided a lifeline to desperate civilians trapped in flooded areas of the Russian-occupied east bank – that is, if rescue missions could brave drones and Russian snipers.

Boats carrying volunteers and servicemen in plainclothes have been moving through Ukrainian-held areas on the West Bank to rescue those trapped on rooftops, in attics and elsewhere.

Now, that window is closing. As floodwaters recede, rescuers are cut through by rotten mud. More Russian troops are withdrawing, asserting control.

Accounts of Russian aid differ among survivors, but many evacuees and residents accuse the Russian authorities of doing little or nothing to help the displaced residents. Some citizens said that evacuees were sometimes forced to present Russian passports if they wanted to leave.

Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to requests from The Associated Press for comment about actions by authorities in the Russian-occupied flood zone.

The AP spoke with the 10 families rescued off the east coast, as well as rescue workers, officials and victims injured in the rescue operation.

“The Russian Federation offered nothing. No aid, no evacuation. They left people alone to deal with the disaster,” said Yulia Valhe, evacuated from the Russian-occupied town of Oleski. “I have friends who were there, people I know who need help. At this point, there’s nothing I can do but say to them, ‘Hold on.'”

Government spokesman Oleksandr Tolokonnikov said at least 150 people had been rescued by Ukraine from Russian-controlled areas in risky evacuation operations. That’s a tiny fraction of the roughly 2,750 people rescued from flooded areas controlled by Ukraine.

Helping to Leave, a local organization that helps Ukrainians living under Russian occupation to escape, said it received requests from 3,000 people in the occupied territory, said Dina Urich, head of the organization’s evacuation department.

The last time Russia was involved in a major oil spill in the Arctic, it sparked one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in recent history.

Three years later, the waters of Ambarnaya are still red and the effects of the event are expected to last for decades.

Now, experts and environmentalists fear that the way Russia is responding to Western oil sanctions over the Ukraine war is creating the right set of conditions for another major spill, and that another disaster is overdue.

A missile attack hit Kiev on Friday as African leaders began a trip to Ukraine, where Volodymyr Zelensky proposed the idea of ​​a Ukraine-Africa summit.

The attack reportedly forced the delegation of African leaders to take cover in a bomb shelter, while several houses on the outskirts of Kiev were destroyed.

Responding to the attack, Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “The Russian missiles are a message to Africa: Russia wants more war, not peace.

“Putin ‘boosts confidence’ by launching biggest missile attack on Kiev in weeks, right in the middle of African leaders’ visit to our capital.”

NATO Secretary General jens stoltenberg His tenure at the helm of the world’s largest security organization appears to have been extended again, as members struggle to agree on another candidate to replace him.

Mr. Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian The prime minister has been NATO’s top civilian official since 2014. His term was due to expire last year but was extended a second time to keep a steady hand at the helm following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

President Joe Biden and their NATO counterparts are due to choose a successor when they meet for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12.

No candidate is publicly proposed, and leaders usually decide by consensus who should be appointed.

In his speech on Friday, Vladimir Putin strongly defended Russia’s move to send troops to Ukraine and reiterated his claims that the Ukrainian government is a neo-Nazi regime, despite President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Jewish roots.

“My Jewish friends say that Zelensky is not a Jew, but a shame to the Jewish people,” Mr. Putin said.

Here are the highlights of his speech on Friday:

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov thanked NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Twitter after a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

“Secretary Austin, thank you for your leadership in coordinating this extraordinary meeting of the Defense Chiefs. Secretary General Stoltenberg, thank you for your hospitality at NATO Headquarters and for your dedication to making the world safer,” Mr. Reznikov wrote on Twitter.

NATO defense ministers discussed additional support for Ukraine as well as an upcoming summit in Lithuania next month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky applied for NATO membership in September.

Ukrainian military officials said Ukrainian forces were advancing in the southern regions of their counteroffensive against the Russian occupation.

Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Mlyar said on the Telegram messaging app that troops were “engaging in active maneuvers to advance in several directions at once.

“Practically in all the areas where our units are attacking in the south, they have registered tactical success,” Ms Maliar said.

“They are moving slowly. At the moment, there is an advance of up to 2 km (1.3 mi) in each direction.”

In Ukraine’s east, Ms Maliar said Russia’s military was trying to drive Ukrainian forces from established positions.

People familiar with Game of Thrones in the Kremlin have claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhinsharp aggression towards the Russian military high command could not have happened without the approval Vladimir Putin,

Even if Putin only tolerated rather than encouraged wagner If there is a quarrel between the tenant and the owner, then that luxury seems to be over for the time being. RussiaThe U.S. President has endorsed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s directive that Prigozhin’s mercenaries must sign contracts with the military.