Dozens feared dead after Ukraine school bombing
Putin says ‘victory will be ours, as in 1945’; US sanctions Russian TV stations
As many as 60 people were feared to have been killed in the Russian bombing of a village school in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, the regional governor said on Sunday.
Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian forces dropped a bomb on Saturday afternoon on the school in Bilohorivka where about 90 people were sheltering, causing a fire that engulfed the building.
“The fire was extinguished after nearly four hours, then the rubble was cleared, and, unfortunately, the bodies of two people were found,” Gaidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of whom were injured. Sixty people were likely to have died under the rubble of buildings.” Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russian forces of targeting civilians in the war, which Moscow denies.
In the ruined southeastern port city of Mariupol, scores of civilians have been evacuated from a sprawling steel plant in a week-long operation brokered by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address late on Saturday that more than 300 civilians had been rescued from the Azovstal steelworks and authorities would now focus on trying to evacuate the wounded and medics. Other Ukrainian sources have cited different figures.
Biden meets G7 leaders; discusses war
US President Joe Biden met with his G7 counterparts and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine and new measures to punish Moscow.
Biden, who has lauded unity among the Group of Seven large economies in standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was scheduled to meet by video conference with his fellow leaders at 15:00 GMT from his home in Delaware, where he is spending the weekend. A White House official said the meeting was underway.
The White House said the leaders would discuss adding to the sanctions that Western countries have imposed on Russia since its February 24 invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday vowed that “as in 1945, victory will be ours” as he congratulated former Soviet nations on the 77th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II. Meanwhile, US sanctioned Russian TV stations.