LVIV: Russia struck the city of Lviv in western Ukraine on Wednesday, killing seven people, including children, and damaging historical buildings in a rare attack hundreds of kilometers from the frontline.
The strike came as several Ukrainian ministers, including top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba, offered their resignations, part of a reshuffle President Volodymyr Zelensky said would bring “new energy” to the government.
Russia has stepped up its aerial attacks on Ukraine since Kyiv launched an unprecedented cross-border offensive into Russia’s Kursk region last month.
Among the dead in Lviv were four people from one family, a woman and her three daughters, leaving their father as the only immediate survivor.
The city’s mayor said the missile attack also wounded 64 people and damaged schools and medical facilities as well as buildings in Lviv’s historic center.
“We will not forgive the enemy and will take revenge. They will feel what hell is like while they are still alive,” Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Telegram.
The western city, whose old town is a UNESCO world heritage site, is close to the border with Poland and is sheltering thousands displaced by over two years of war.
It had largely been spared the intense strikes that have rocked cities further east.
The strike came a day after a Russian missile attack killed 53 people in the central city of Poltava, one of the deadliest single strikes of the invasion.
Both attacks triggered renewed calls from Kyiv for more Western air defenses.
“I heard terrible inhuman screams saying ‘Save us’,” said Yelyzaveta, a 27-year-old resident of Lviv who rushed to shelter in her basement.
Others like Anastasia Grynko, an internally displaced person from Dnipro, did not have time to reach a shelter.
“The rocket hit our house. Everything was blown away. At the time of the explosion, I was somehow miraculously in the corridor, so I was not badly hurt,” she said.
Zelensky denounced what he called “Russian terrorist strikes on Ukrainian cities.”
The attack on Lviv was part of a wider barrage against Ukraine, with 13 missiles and 29 drones launched at the war-torn country, the air force said.
The air force said it downed seven missiles and 22 drones.
Wreckage of a downed missile fell on the central city of Kryvyi Rig, emergency services said, damaging a hotel and wounding six people.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal called for more air defense and for long-range weapons to strike Russia in the wake of the attack.
The weapons delivered by Ukraine’s Western partners since the invasion often come with restrictions prohibiting their use against most targets located inside Russia.
Russia said it was pressing on with its offensive in the country’s east, claiming the capture of the village of Karlivka, the latest in a string of territorial gains.
Karlivka is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Pokrovsk, a major Russian target that lies on a key supply route for the Ukrainian army.
Ukrainian officials on Wednesday announced a new round of compulsory evacuations for children living in villages close to the frontline in the region because of the deteriorating “security situation.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin had said Monday that his army was making rapid advances in the Donbas that covers the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
“We have not had such a pace of offensive in the Donbas for a long time,” he said.
Ukraine was also in the midst of a major government reshuffle on Wednesday, as Zelensky seeks to boost confidence in the government two and a half years into the invasion.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba submitted his resignation, a day after six other officials including cabinet ministers said they were stepping down.
“We need new energy. And these steps are related to strengthening our state in various areas,” Zelensky told journalists when asked about the changes.
Ukraine’s parliament approved some of the resignations in a session Wednesday, with Kuleba’s expected to be voted on later in the week.
Russian officials said six people were killed on territory it controls by Ukrainian attacks throughout the day.
Ukrainian shelling killed three people in occupied east Ukraine, according to the Russian-installed Donetsk regional governor Denis Pushilin, and another three in a Russian border village in Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Deadly strike hits Ukraine’s Lviv as Zelensky confirms reshuffle
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Deadly strike hits Ukraine’s Lviv as Zelensky confirms reshuffle
- The strike came as several Ukrainian ministers offered their resignations, part of a reshuffle President Volodymyr Zelensky said would bring “new energy” to the government
- Among the dead in Lviv were four people from one family, a woman and her three daughters
Hundreds rally in Paris for Iranian women’s rights
- The march in solidarity with the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement was attended by Benjamin Briere and Louis Arnaud, two Frenchmen who were arrested and arbitrarily detained in Iran
PARIS: Hundreds of people marched through Paris on Sunday in support of women’s rights and the opposition in Iran, two years after the death of Mahsa Amini sparked protests against the country’s religious authorities.
A 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, Amini died in custody after being arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
The march, organized by around 20 human rights associations, took place as 34 women began a hunger strike in a Tehran prison to mark the two-year anniversary of her death.
Chirinne Ardakani, a Franco-Iranian lawyer and member of the “Iran Justice” collective, said that the “sacrifices” made by Iranians opposed to the regime were “not in vain.”
“Everything has changed in Iran,” Ardakani told AFP.
“We’ve gone from an absolutely patriarchal culture, where there was no question of women being able to reveal themselves in the street, to massive support for these women,” the lawyer and activist added.
The march in solidarity with the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement was attended by Benjamin Briere and Louis Arnaud, two Frenchmen who were arrested and arbitrarily detained in Iran.
Iran is accused of arresting Westerners without cause and using them as bargaining chips in state-to-state negotiations, with French diplomats describing these prisoners as “state hostages.”
Briere was eventually released in May 2023, while Arnaud was let go the month after.
“Yes, I was in prison, but it is an immense honor to have been able to live among you, freedom fighters, who shared my suffering,” Arnaud told the crowd, in his first public address since his release.
Three other French nationals are still being held in Iran.
After Amini died in custody on September 16, 2022, the women-led protests which erupted rattled Iran’s leadership that autumn and winter.
But the demonstrations were then crushed by the authorities, with rights group Amnesty International saying security forces used assault rifles and shotguns in the crackdown.
Human rights groups say at least 551 people were killed. Thousands more were arrested, according to the United Nations.
Russian bomb strikes Kharkiv apartment building, 41 injured, official says
- Zelensky said 3 other guided bombs had struck villages in Kharkiv region, where population centers have been a frequent target of Russian attacks near Russian border
KYIV: A Russian-guided bomb struck a multi-story apartment building on Sunday in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, triggering a fire and injuring at least 41 people, the region’s governor said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the latest attack underscored the need for Ukraine’s Western partners to provide weapons and air defense systems and permission to use weaponry on targets deep inside Russia to save lives.
Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, said on Telegram that rescue operations were proceeding, with 12 people in hospital, three in serious condition. He said residents could be trapped under rubble.
Syniehubov posted photos of heavy damage to the top four of five storys of the building, with smoke and fire billowing out of blown-out windows.
Zelensky, in his nightly video address, said three other guided bombs had struck villages in Kharkiv region, where population centers have been a frequent target of Russian attacks near the Russian border.
Russia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the apartment building but has denied intentionally targeting civilians despite having killed thousands of them since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Zelensky called for rapid decisions on long-range strikes “in order to destroy Russian military aviation right where it is based. These are obvious, logical decisions.
“Every Russian strike of this nature, every instance of Russian terror, like today in Kharkiv...this proves that there must be long-range capability and it must be sufficient.”
He said appropriate decisions were expected in the first instance from the United States, France, Germany and Italy, “those whose decisiveness can help save lives.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the West would be directly fighting with Russia if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles.
Trump safe after multiple shots fired near his Florida golf course
- Trump was injured in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was safe after multiple shots were fired near his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, according to two sources briefed on the incident.
The shots originated outside the fence line of the course, the sources said. Trump’s campaign had earlier said he was safe following gunshots in his vicinity but gave no details.
The Secret Service said it was investigating the incident, which occurred shortly before 2 p.m. (1800 GMT).
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., cited local law enforcement as saying an AK-47 automatic weapon had been discovered in bushes and a suspect has been apprehended, according to a post on X.
Reuters was not immediately able to confirm his account.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump was injured in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13, just months ahead of what looks likely to be highly contested Nov. 5 election in which he will be pitted against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
The first shooting of a US president or major party presidential candidate in more than four decades was a glaring security lapse that forced Kimberly Cheatle to resign as Secret Service director under bipartisan congressional pressure.
Trump was grazed in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire. The gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.
The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had been briefed about the incident and were “relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team.
Vance defends pet-eating story, a claim Democrats call ‘dangerous’
- Trump amplified the claim during his debate Tuesday with Democrat Kamala Harris, provoking widespread mockery at home and abroad
WASHINGTON: The Republican vice presidential nominee defended Sunday his claim that immigrants are eating people’s pet animals in an Ohio town, a claim multiple officials say is “dangerous” and unfounded.
Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance had made the surprising claim earlier this month — saying Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio — were eating people’s pet cats and dogs. Vance is a US senator who represents Ohio.
Trump amplified the claim during his debate Tuesday with Democrat Kamala Harris, provoking widespread mockery at home and abroad — but also prompting a series of threats that forced some Springfield schools and hospitals to close.
“My constituents are telling me firsthand that they’re seeing these things,” an unapologetic Vance said on CNN.
Vance denied any responsibility for the recent spate of threats against Springfield, blaming them on “psychopaths” and “losers.”
Springfield’s mayor, a local sheriff and the state’s Republican governor have said they have no evidence to back up Vance’s claims.
“These discussions about Haitians eating dogs and cats and other things need to stop,” Governor Mike DeWine said on ABC.
“What we know is that the Haitians who are in Springfield are legal. They came to Springfield to work (and)...they are very good workers.”
Thousands of Haitians have settled in Springfield in recent years, most of them under a federal program granting them temporary protected status.
Governor Josh Shapiro of the neighboring state of Pennsylvania, a Democrat once touted as a possible Harris running mate, on Sunday accused Vance of recklessly fanning the flames of rumor.
“When they go out and they lie about this stuff, they put their fellow Americans at risk,” he told CNN interviewer Dana Bash. “JD Vance should be ashamed of himself. ... This is dangerous stuff.”
Vance denied his remarks had any connection to the threats against Springfield.
“The violence is disgusting,” he said. “We condemn it.” But he repeatedly blamed the problems in places like Springfield on the border policies of the Biden-Harris administration.
Trump, like Vance, has doubled down on his attacks on migrants.
Campaigning Friday in California, Trump vowed there would be “large deportations” from Springfield if elected. He has promised to deport millions of undocumented migrants nationwide.
Harris, meantime, appeared Friday in Shapiro’s state of Pennsylvania, perhaps the most crucial of the swing states expected to decide the November election.
“I offer a new generation of leadership,” said the 59-year-old Democrat, underlining the contrast to Trump, who is 78.
Released Indian opposition leader Kejriwal to resign as Delhi chief minister
- Kejriwal is a fierce critic of Narendra Modi and a former anti-corruption crusader whose decade-old Aam Aadmi Party quickly rose to mainstream politics
NEW DELHI: Indian opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday he will resign as chief minister of the Delhi regional government, a day after he was released from prison on bail in a graft case. Kejriwal was granted bail on Friday by India’s Supreme Court and left prison on Saturday almost six months after being detained in relation to alleged irregularities in the capital city’s liquor policy.
Kejriwal is a fierce critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a former anti-corruption crusader whose decade-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) quickly rose to mainstream politics, although its clout is relatively small compared to older opposition parties.
AAP had expected that Kejriwal’s release from prison would allow him to campaign as a chief minister in regional elections next month in the northern state of Haryana, and in Delhi early next year.
Kejriwal, announcing his resignation as chief minister at a meeting with AAP workers, said he would only return to the post if people certify his honesty by voting for him in the upcoming Delhi election. He called on the Election Commission to bring forward the Delhi election to November, from February 2025.
“I demand elections be held in November with Maharashtra elections, I demand the elections be held immediately,” Kejriwal said.
He was first taken into custody in March by India’s financial crime-fighting agency, weeks before the country’s national elections, in relation to Delhi’s liquor policy.
Although he was granted bail in that case in July, he remained in detention due to his arrest the previous month by the federal police in another graft case related to the same policy.
Kejriwal, 55, and AAP deny the allegations and say the cases are “politically motivated.”
