At Least Two Killed as Russia Launches Attacks on Cities Across Ukraine in Live Coverage
Early on Friday, Russia launched attacks on cities across Ukraine, causing two people to be killed according to officials and media reports. Follow ‘s live blog for all the latest developments.Paris time (GMT+2).
05:30am: Dnipro attack results in two fatalities “A young woman and a three-year-old child have been killed,” stated Borys Filatov, mayor of the central city of Dnipro, on Telegram. Further details were not given.
Social media images showed an apartment building ablaze in the central town of Uman.
Explosions and air raid sirens were heard in Kyiv, and reports of explosions were heard throughout the country via Interfax Ukraine and various social media channels. There was no detail about what had been hit or the extent of damage and casualties.
Kyiv’s military administration reported anti-aircraft units were in operation. Interfax also reported explosions in Dnipro, Kremenchuk, and Poltava in central Ukraine and Mykolaiv in the south. According to Interfax, there were unidentified airborne objects headed toward the west of Ukraine.
04:10am: Kyiv Explosions According to Interfax Ukraine and local telegram channels, explosions were heard in Kyiv and its surrounding areas early on Friday. There have been no details of the targets hit or extent of the damage and casualties.
Kyiv’s military administration has reported that anti-aircraft units were in operation. This follows previous reports that cities across central and southern Ukraine have been struck by explosions after an air raid alert was declared throughout the region.
9:32pm: Forced Transfer of Ukrainian Children by Russia is ‘Genocide’, Says Council of EuropeThe forced transfer of Ukrainian children by Russia amounts to genocide, according to the Council of Europe.-
The parliament called for the children’s safe return to Ukraine and said the practice’s documented evidence matched the international definition of genocide.
The deportation of Ukrainian children is one part of “Russia’s attempt to erase the identity of our people, to destroy the very essence of the Ukrainian people,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his evening address welcoming the resolution.
7:25pm: Basketball Star Brittney Griner Urges US Detainees in Russia to Stay StrongAs the WNBA season reopens, Brittney Griner held her first press conference in Arizona since being part of a prisoner exchange last year, where she urged wrongly detained Americans worldwide to “stay strong, keep fighting, don’t give up.”
3:14pm: Ukraine Requests Pope’s help to Return Children From Russian DetentionUkraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, asked the Pope for assistance in returning Ukrainian children detained, arrested and sent to Russia during his private audience with the Pope on Thursday. He also invited the Pope to visit Ukraine.
2:54pm: Prigozhin Denies Suspending Artillery Fire in BakhmutYevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, said his recent comments about suspending artillery fire in the city of Bakhmut to all visiting US journalists to document the attack were meant as a joke.
