Russia-Ukraine war live: Dnipro mourns Russian missile attack on kindergarten in which five people die

According to authorities, five civilians were killed and 47 others injured, including a 14-year-old girl, in a Russian missile and drone attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro yesterday.

The explosions shattered some windows of a shopping mall and rained shrapnel onto the street, photos released by local authorities show. Mayor Borys Filatov said the daytime attack also shattered the windows of two schools and three kindergartens. Debris hit the intensive care unit of a children’s hospital and a fire broke out in another hospital.

A video posted on social media by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows a rocket leaving a trail of fire across buildings in Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, with debris being thrown into the air by the impact.

The Ukrainian Air Force shot down 21 of 22 Shahed drones in a Russian attack overnight, it announced this morning.

The Ukrainian air defense shot down the drones over six regions in northern and central Ukraine, the air force said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Donald Trump to disclose his plans to end the war in Ukraine, saying that the risks for Kyiv are increasing, including the loss of its statehood.

“If Trump knows how to end this war, he should tell us today. Because if Ukraine’s independence is at risk, if there is a risk of us losing our statehood, we want to be prepared for that,” he told Bloomberg.

Mr Trump has repeatedly said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine within a day if he were re-elected president. But Russia’s UN ambassador says that is not possible.

At a CNN town hall in May 2023, the former US president said: “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’m going to make sure – I’m going to make sure that happens in 24 hours.” He said that would happen after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he’s repeated that claim over and over again during the campaign.

Ukraine’s wartime president responded to Mr Trump’s claims, saying he wanted to know what level of US support would be when Americans vote on November 5.

“They cannot plan my life and the lives of our people, our children,” Zelensky said. “My message is: if they have the plan, it cannot be made public because of the elections, but I think we need to know it beforehand in order to be able to prepare.”

Steven Cheung, communications director for Trump’s campaign, said on Tuesday that “one of the top priorities of his second term will be to quickly negotiate an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.”NEW

A Russian missile hit and destroyed a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet at an airfield in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry told the TASS news agency this morning.

Russian forces have targeted a Ukrainian air base as they expect the arrival of F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine this week.

At least two Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets parked on the runway of the Mirgorod air base in northern Ukraine were destroyed by Russian Iskander ballistic missiles on Monday.

Russian drones continue to hover over Ukrainian air bases. Although officials did not disclose where the F-16s will be based, Moscow said after the attack on Starokostyantyniv last Thursday that it had attacked airfields where it believed they would be based.

Ukraine’s biggest domestic rival – corruption – is expected to impact the country’s NATO membership as Kyiv is put on notice that it is the basis for possible accession to the European Union, officials said.

A senior US State Department official said NATO would ask Kyiv to take “additional steps” before progress could be made in accession talks, reported The Telegraph.

NATO leaders will meet in Washington for a summit from July 9 to 11. NATO’s official line is that Ukraine will join one day, but not while the country is at war. “Ukraine’s future lies in NATO,” leaders declared at the Vilnius summit last year.

Kyiv will be informed in writing of NATO’s latest position in the NATO communiqué, said the source, who added that this was a priority for “many of us here at the table”.

“We need to step back and appreciate everything Ukraine has done in the name of reform over the past two years and more,” they added.

“We would like to commend them for continuing to push forward with these reforms and we would like to talk about further steps that need to be taken, particularly in the area of ​​anti-corruption,” the source said.

Three Ukrainian drones attacked a substation near the Russian-controlled Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the nearby town of Enerhodar, the Russian-appointed management of the power plant said on Wednesday.

In a statement on Telegram, the plant’s management said eight employees were injured and the substation in southeastern Ukraine was damaged.

The Russian state news agency TASS had previously reported on Wednesday that the drones had hit the power plant itself.

A Russian missile and drone attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed five civilians and injured 47 others, including a 14-year-old girl, authorities said. The explosions shattered some windows of a shopping center and rained glass shards onto the street, photos released by local authorities show.

Mayor Borys Filatov said the broad-daylight attack also smashed the windows of two schools and three kindergartens. Debris hit the intensive care unit of a children’s hospital and a fire broke out in another hospital.

Volodymyr Zelensky released a video of the attack showing a trail of fire from a rocket racing over buildings in Ukraine’s fourth-largest city and debris being thrown into the air by the impact.

The attacks also wreaked havoc in other parts of Ukraine. In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, Russian artillery fire hit the village council building. One person was killed and two others injured, said regional head Oleh Suniehubov.

Elsewhere in the region, a Russian glide bomb hit a residential building in the village of Ruska Lozova, injuring at least two people. Others may be trapped under rubble, Syniehubov said.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that Ankara can help lay a foundation for ending the war between Ukraine and Russia and that a peace that is fair to both sides is possible, the Turkish presidential office said.

The two heads of state also discussed the war in the Gaza Strip and ways to end the conflict in Syria, the Turkish head of state said in a statement after Erdogan and Putin met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan.

A survey of people in 13 NATO countries found that, on average, about six in ten people have a positive opinion of the Western military alliance, the Pew Research Center said on Tuesday.

The poll was released ahead of a NATO summit in Washington on July 9-11, which comes at a difficult time for the 75-year-old Western military alliance. NATO’s 32 member countries are adjusting their long-term plans and strategies to counter a more aggressive Russian President Vladimir Putin and respond to Ukraine’s need for sustained support against invading Russian forces.

Meanwhile, the re-election of Donald Trump, who has long spoken disparagingly of NATO allies and admiringly of Putin, is raising concerns among some NATO members about the future engagement of the alliance’s militarily and economically strongest country.