Keystone-SDA
At least 19 people were killed and nearly 300 injured Tuesday in Russian bombings in the Dnipropetrovsk region. kyiv denounced the “message of terror” sent by Moscow at the time when negotiations between the two camps are at a standstill.
(Keystone-ATS) These new murderous attacks of the Russian army against a big city in Ukraine, after a magnitude attack in kyiv on the night of Sunday to Monday, intervene just before the opening of a NATO summit in Hague.
Arrived in the Netherlands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met the secretary general of the Alliance Mark Rutte and hopes to receive, from kyiv allies, new promises of aid to his country after almost three and a half years of Russian invasion.
On the ground, the Russian forces continue their push in the East Ukrainian in the face of a Ukrainian army in difficulty and less numerous, and multiply the bombings.
Around 11:10 am Tuesday, according to the Ukrainian national police, the Russian army attacked “with missiles” the cities of Dnipro and Samar, also located in the region, notably destroying an administrative building in the first.
“Putin destroys lives”
Tuesday evening, the results in Dnipro, who worsened over the day, rose to 17 dead and 279 injured, announced the head of the regional administration, Serguii Lyssak. In Samar, two people were killed and 14 injured, according to the same source.
“Putin destroys lives, it is his definition of control. If he can kill people, destroy houses, blackmail, he thinks he has power, “castigated Mr. Zelensky on Tuesday evening on X, calling for” forcing Russia to peace “and a” isolation and maximum sanctions “policy against Moscow.
According to the authorities, the strikes have affected educational and health establishments, as well as a train, of which passengers were injured.
“In terms of damage, this is probably one of the most important strikes against Dnipro” since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, said Mayor Boris Filatov.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Andriï Sybiga, quickly denounced the “message of terror and rejection of peace” sent, according to him, by Moscow, whose army announced two weeks ago to carry out a land attack in the region of Dnipropetrovsk, a first since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.
“Strengthen the pressure on Moscow”
“The credibility of the allies is at the credibility of strengthening pressure on Moscow,” said Sybiga, while Volodymyr Zelensky and leaders of NATO member countries, including American Donald Trump, meet from Tuesday in the Netherlands.
This NATO summit must validate the spectacular increase in security expenditure for member countries, in a tense global diplomatic context.
A meeting between MM. Zelensky and Trump, whose relations are fluctuating, is scheduled for Wednesday, according to a senior Ukrainian official, the American president confirming that he would “probably” meet his Ukrainian counterpart.
The tenant of the White House pushes for a stopping hostilities, but his personal involvement in the Ukrainian file has, at this stage, not allowed to bring the positions closer to the two belligerents.
To do this, Donald Trump resumed language with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. He also resumed elements of language of the Kremlin on the origins of war, causing the anger of kyiv.
Ukraine still demands that the Russian army withdraw entirely from its territory, occupied at almost 20% by Russia, while Moscow wishes kyiv to concede him the loss of annexed Ukrainian territories and partially occupied by the Russian forces, while renouncing NATO. Unacceptable requirements for Volodymyr Zelensky.
And Vladimir Putin still maintains these maximalist requests, denying again, at the end of last week, the sovereignty of Ukraine: “I consider the Russian and Ukrainian peoples as a single people. In this sense, all of Ukraine belongs to us, ”he said.
In this context, Russia continues its attacks against its neighbor.
Three people, including one child, were killed in Russian drone strikes in the Soumy agglomeration (northeast), according to the regional administration on Tuesday morning.
In kyiv and in his region, ten civilians had perished on the night of Sunday to Monday in a series of Russian strikes, a week after an attack that had killed at least 28 people in the Ukrainian capital.
In response, Ukraine tries to strike Russia in depth, in particular to disturb the logistics of the Moscow army.
