Zelenskyy says surprise Ukrainian attack in Russia puts ‘necessary pressure on the aggressor’
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that Ukrainian forces were fighting in the surprise offensive in Russia’s Kursk, as attacks on the border region continued with authorities rushing to evacuate people.
Moscow’s forces were in their sixth day of intense battles against Kyiv’s largest incursion into Russian territory since the start of the war, which left southwestern parts of Russia vulnerable before reinforcement started arriving.
In a sign of the gravity of the situation, Russia imposed a sweeping security regimen in three border regions on Saturday, while Belarus — a staunch ally of Moscow — sent more troops to its border with Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of violating its air space.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said he had discussed the operation with top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, vowing to restore justice after Russia launched the full-scale invasion on its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
“Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor’s territory,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian officials say 14 people were killed and dozens were injured in a Russian missile strike on a supermarket in the eastern city of Kostyantynivka. The strike came on the fourth day of a Ukrainian ground assault inside Russian territory.
“Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor.”
Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday it had destroyed 14 Ukrainian drones and four Tochka-U tactical ballistic missiles overnight over the Kursk region, and 18 drones over other Russian regions that Ukraine frequently attacks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin cast the Ukrainian attack — which military analysts say caught the Kremlin off-guard — as a major provocation.
Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday the attacks had been halted, but Russia has not pushed the Ukrainian forces back over the border.
Russian military bloggers said the situation had stabilized after Russia’s reinforcements, though they said Ukraine was swiftly building up forces.
Injuries and evacuations
Early on Sunday, Kursk officials said 13 people were injured in the city after debris from a destroyed Ukrainian missile fell onto a nine-story residential building. It was not clear whether there was further damage.
Moscow and Kyiv rarely disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by attacks on them unless there are injuries or damage to residential buildings.
Alexei Smirnov, Kursk’s acting governor, ordered local authorities to speed up the evacuation of civilians in areas at risk.
On Saturday, Russia’s TASS state news agency reported that more than 76,000 people had been evacuated.
Kyiv and Moscow deny targeting civilians in their attacks in the war, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of Ukrainians, and has no end in sight.
Russian military bloggers say fighting is taking place as deep as 20 kilometres inside the Kursk region, prompting some of them to question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily.
After a father and his four-year-old son were killed in a Russian air attack on Kyiv region on Sunday, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak vowed more attacks on Russia’s military infrastructure, saying Moscow does not accept “other arguments.”
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said she had sent an appeal to the United Nations demanding it condemn Ukraine’s actions in Kursk.
In a Telegram post, Moskalkova said she was asking the UN Human Rights commissioner to “take measures to prevent gross mass violations of human rights.”
Published at Sun, 11 Aug 2024 10:46:49 +0000
Vast garbage dump collapses onto homes in Uganda, search for victims continues
The death toll from a landslide at a vast garbage dump in Uganda’s capital of Kampala has risen to 21, police said on Sunday, as rescue workers continued to dig for survivors.
After torrential rain in recent weeks, a huge mound of garbage at the city’s only landfill site collapsed late on Friday, crushing and burying homes on the edge of the site as residents slept.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in a statement he had directed the prime minister to co-ordinate the removal of all those living near the garbage dump.
The government has also started investigations into the landslide’s cause and will take action against any officials found to have been negligent, the Inspectorate of Government said on the social media platform X.
At least 14 people have been rescued so far, police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said, adding that more could still be trapped but the number was unknown.
Tents have been set up nearby for those displaced by the landslide, the Red Cross said.
The landfill site, known as Kiteezi, has served as Kampala’s sole garbage dump for decades and had turned into a big hill. Residents have long complained of hazardous waste polluting the environment and posing a danger to residents.
Efforts by the city authority to procure a new landfill site have dragged on for years.
There have been similar tragedies elsewhere in Africa from poorly managed mountains of municipal garbage.
In 2017, at least 115 people were killed in Ethiopia, crushed by a garbage landslide in Addis Ababa. In Mozambique, at least 17 people died in a similar 2018 disaster in Maputo.
Published at Sun, 11 Aug 2024 17:53:36 +0000