Russia-Ukraine war live: Deadly attack on supermarket in Kharkiv leaves 14 dead and dozens injured

Presidential elections will be held in Lithuania on Sunday. Incumbent Gitanas Nauseda is expected to win the election after a campaign marked by security concerns in the European Union and the NATO member state alongside Russia.

The Baltic state of 2.8 million people has been a loyal ally of Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022. Like other countries in the region, there are fears that it could be Moscow’s next target.

Nauseda, 60, a former chief economist at Swedish banking group SEB who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44 percent of the vote, falling short of the 50 percent he needed for a clear victory.

In the runoff election, he will face Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte (49) from the ruling center-right Homeland Union party, who is lagging behind in opinion polls. She was the only woman among eight candidates in the first round and came second with 20 percent.

Polls close at 20:00 (17:00 GMT) and results are expected before midnight.

Just over half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or even very likely, according to a poll conducted by ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai between February and March. Russia has regularly dismissed concerns that it could attack a NATO member.

Nauseda said in a debate on Tuesday that he sees Russia as an enemy. “Our enemies – who even call themselves our enemies, who are enemies of us and the entire democratic world – are trying to destabilize our politics and we must do everything we can to counteract this.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Eastern Europe next week as concerns grow over Russia’s advances in Ukraine, possible Russian interference in neighboring Moldova and the promotion of pro-Moscow legislation in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, the State Department said Friday.

Blinken will visit the Moldovan capital Chisinau on Wednesday before attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Prague on Thursday and Friday.

This meeting will be the military alliance’s last major diplomatic gathering before heads of state and government meet in Washington in July for a summit to mark NATO’s 80th anniversary.

Russian forces have captured the village of Berestove in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, the TASS news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying on Sunday.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports from the battlefield.

Finance officials from the Group of Seven rich democracies said they were moving toward an agreement on a U.S. proposal to squeeze more money for Ukraine from Russian assets frozen in their countries, but ministers said they would not hammer out a final agreement until a leaders’ summit in June.

“We are making progress in our discussions on possible ways to use the extraordinary profits from immobilized Russian state assets for the benefit of Ukraine,” the draft statement said, without giving details.

Despite progress made at the meeting in Stresa, northern Italy, on Lake Maggiore, the final decision on how to use the funds will rest with G7 leaders, including US President Joe Biden, at their annual summit next month in Fasano, southern Italy.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Sunday that Russia was preparing to intensify its offensive along Ukraine’s northern border after the death toll in a bomb attack on a major building materials store in the city of Kharkiv rose to 14.

In the bomb attack on Kharkiv on Saturday afternoon, 43 people were injured and 16 missing, said Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

In a video message from Kharkiv, Zelensky said Russia was preparing an offensive 90 kilometers northwest of Ukraine’s second-largest city. He said the Russians were “assembling another group of troops near our border.”

A Russian nighttime attack destroyed railway tracks and rolling stock in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, officials said Friday, as authorities organized the evacuation of children from the area, which is being shelled as part of a new, massive offensive by Kremlin forces.

According to the Ukrainian railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia, buildings and freight wagons were also damaged by the night-time strike. No injuries were reported.

Since the Russian attack on May 10, authorities have evacuated more than 11,000 people from Kharkiv region, said the region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov. On Friday, authorities announced that 123 orphans and children living in the region without their parents must be evacuated within the next 60 days.

Fourteen people were killed and dozens more injured in a Russian attack on a busy hardware store in Kharkiv, Ukrainian prosecutors said on Sunday morning. The death toll is rising while the country’s second-largest city is still reeling from two attacks a day earlier.

Two guided bombs hit the Epicentr hardware store in a residential area of ​​the city on Saturday afternoon, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on national television.

The attacks caused a massive fire that sent a thick, black column of smoke hundreds of meters into the air.

Chilean politicians have met on the other side of the world to bolster their claims in Antarctica as tensions rise over Russian activities in the area.

Members of Chile’s parliamentary defense committee flew to an abandoned air base to attend a meeting billed as a demonstration of national sovereignty.

Committee member Camila Flores highlighted Russia in particular as a threat, saying: “We will sit in Antarctica to demonstrate our sovereignty and to protect and support our national integrity in the face of any threats.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend an upcoming peace summit as his country struggles to fend off relentless attacks from Russia in its 27-month-long invasion.

Moscow’s forces have advanced onto the battlefield in recent weeks and stepped up their air strikes on cities. Kyiv hopes the June meeting in Switzerland will help increase international pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an English-language video shot in the charred remains of a printing press destroyed in a Russian airstrike on Thursday, Zelensky said the summit would “show who in the world really wants to end the war.”

“I appeal to world leaders who are still standing back from the global efforts of the Global Peace Summit, to President Biden, the head of the United States, and to President Xi, the head of China,” he said.

“Please show your leadership in promoting peace, real peace and not just a pause between attacks.”