Russian missile strike
Russian missile strike near Kyiv kills 10 after Zelenskyy meets Patriot maker Raytheon
A Russian ballistic missile strike near Kyiv on Friday killed at least 10 people and injured nearly 100 others after hitting a site hosting a defence industry event, Ukrainian officials said.
The attack came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Kyiv with senior representatives of US defence company Raytheon, which manufactures Patriot air defence systems that Ukraine says are essential to counter Russia's ballistic missile attacks.
Raytheon did not immediately comment on whether any of its employees were present at the event.
"Missiles for Patriot systems are the number one priority," Zelenskyy wrote on social media while confirming the attack.
According to acting regional military administration head Ruslan Oliinyk, the missile struck the grounds of a privately operated military training facility in Bucha district, about 20 to 30 kilometres from central Kyiv. The site was hosting a defence-related gathering when it was hit.
Emergency teams rushed to the scene, where 27 houses and 44 vehicles were also damaged, officials said.
The Ukrainian Defence Industry Council, the country's largest association of private defence manufacturers, confirmed that industry representatives were attending the event, but did not disclose further details.
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said authorities had launched a war crimes investigation into the Russian strike, along with a separate probe into possible negligence over the organisation of the event. Investigators will examine who approved the venue, timing and format of the gathering and whether sufficient safety measures had been taken.
The Ukrainian government later imposed restrictions on reporting details of the attack.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said a separate strike on a military facility in Russia killed six people and injured 26 others, according to the regional governor.
Zelenskyy pushes for Patriot co-productionThe meeting between Zelenskyy and Raytheon representatives took place less than three weeks after US President Donald Trump pledged to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot systems under licence.
Zelenskyy said the company was ready to work with Ukraine on the joint production of Patriot interceptor missiles, adding that government officials and private-sector representatives would continue discussions on the project.
Ukraine has repeatedly urged its Western allies to provide more Patriot systems, which are considered one of the few effective defences against Russian ballistic missiles. While Ukraine has developed its own air defence technologies, officials say expanding domestic production remains critical, though experts caution that establishing local manufacturing could take years.
The meeting also reflected improving ties between Kyiv and Washington. Laura Loomer, a prominent Trump ally, also visited Kyiv on Thursday and criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin over missile attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine expands drone strikes inside RussiaUkraine has continued stepping up long-range drone attacks inside Russia, targeting military and logistical infrastructure as it seeks to disrupt Moscow's war effort.
On Friday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had struck an oil facility about 1,350 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, along with a military plant in Russia's Kirov region that produces aircraft and missile components.
Regional Governor Alexander Sokolov said six people were killed and 26 injured in the attack on the military facility. Russian outlet Astra identified the site as the Avitec plant, which manufactures air defence missiles and aircraft components.
Ukraine also targeted several logistics centres belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer. Company founder Tatyana Kim said warehouses in St. Petersburg, the neighbouring Leningrad region and Simferopol in Russian-annexed Crimea came under attack. Russian media published images showing thick smoke rising over St. Petersburg.
Ukrainian forces had struck four other Wildberries facilities earlier this week, causing major fires.
Kyiv says its campaign aims to disrupt Russia's military logistics and bring the impact of the war closer to ordinary Russians.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defence systems shot down 571 Ukrainian drones overnight.
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Ukrainian rescue teams hunt for survivors in Vinnytsia
Rescue teams with sniffer dogs combed through debris in a central Ukrainian city on Friday looking for people still missing after a Russian missile strike a day earlier that killed at least 23 people.
Russian forces, meanwhile, pounded other sites in a painstaking push to wrest territory from Ukraine and try to soften unbending morale of its leaders, civilians and troops as the war nears the five-month mark.
The cruise missile strikes on Vinnytsia launched by a Russian submarine on Thursday were the latest incidents to take civilian lives and fan international outrage since President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on Feb. 24. The campaign now has been focusing on Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, but Russian forces regularly fire upon targets in many parts of the country too.
Ukraine's Interior Ministry claimed Friday that Russian forces had conducted more than 17,000 strikes on civilian targets during the war, driving millions from their homes, killing thousands of fighters and civilians and rippling through the world economy by hiking prices and crimping exports of key Ukrainian and Russian products like foodstuffs, fuel and fertilizer.
More than 73 people — including four children — remained hospitalized and 18 people were missing after Thursday's missile strike, said Oleksandr Kutovyi, spokesman for the emergency service in the Vinnytsia region. Search teams were poring over two sites on Friday — an office building with a medical center inside, and a concert hall near an outdoor recreation area and park, where mothers with children often stroll.
Vinnytsia Gov. Serhiy Borzov said only 10 people among the nearly two dozen killed had been identified so far.
“Russia deliberately hit civilians and all those responsible for the crime must be brought to account,” he said, denouncing the “barbaric behavior by Russia that tramples on international humanitarian law.”
Read:Russian missiles kill at least 23 in Ukraine, wound over 100
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a deputy head of the president’s office, said three missiles were used.
“There is no answer to the question why yesterday and why in Vinnytsia,” Tymoshenko said. “We expect every second and minute that this could happen in any corner of Ukraine.”
After initial silence after the strikes on Vinnytsia, the Russian military said Friday its forces had struck an officers’ club — which the concert hall has been known for back in Soviet times. Ukrainian authorities insisted the site had nothing to do with the military.
Overall, Ukraine’s presidential office said 26 civilians have been killed and another 190 were wounded by Russian shelling over the past 24 hours. That included three other victims in the Donetsk region, which along with neighboring Luhansk — nearly totally controlled by Russian forces — makes up the broader Donbas region.
“The situation in the Donetsk region is exacerbating every day, and civilians must leave because the Russian army is using scorched earth tactics,” Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said. It appeared that the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk were next in line for Russian forces, but it wasn't at all clear how soon such a push could begin in earnest.
Elsewhere, authorities in Mykolayiv said there were at least 10 explosions in the southern city overnight, accusing Russian fire of hitting universities. Vitaliy Kim, the head of Mykolaiv’s military administration, posted on social media a video of smoke rising over the strikes.
Separately, the Russian news agency Tass reported Friday, citing Russian-backed separatists, that two civilians were killed and six others were injured after Ukrainian forces allegedly shelled a bus terminal in the Voroshilovsky district of the city of Donetsk.
Also Friday, Daria Morozova, the human rights ombudsperson for the Moscow-backed separatist leadership in Donetsk, said a British “mercenary” died in captivity on Sunday. She said the man, whom she identified as Paul Urey, had died of chronic illnesses and stress.
“From our side, he was given the necessary medical assistance despite the grave crimes he committed,” she said.
4 years ago