‘SYMBOLIC’ OF RUSSIAN EVIL
1st attack on Kyiv in weeks amid summit
Russia targeted Ukraine’s capital city with airstrikes for the first time in weeks on Sunday — in apparent defiance of G-7 summit leaders as they met to try to tighten the screws on the Kremlin over its invasion.
A member of the Ukrainian parliament, Oleksiy Goncharenko, said on the Telegram messaging app that 14 missiles rained down on the Kyiv region in the wee hours — the first such attacks since June 5.
Preliminary reports indicated one person was killed and four injured, according to the general prosecutor’s office.
Emergency workers battled fires and rescued civilians, including a 7-year-old girl, from rubble in the aftermath, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The former pro boxerturned-politician said two residential buildings were hit by Russian forces.
A nearby kindergarten was also damaged. Video posted to Twitter showed a giant crater in the school’s courtyard right next to playground equipment for pint-sized children.
The rescued 7-year-old was rushed to the hospital with “moderate blast injuries,” according to the Ohmatdyt National Children’s Specialized Hospital, which is treating her.
“The girl had numerous wounds, bruises and abrasions,” the hospital said in a Facebook post Sunday. “The child went through the surgery, now she is in stable condition. Her life is not in danger.”
In other video, first responders used a stretcher to carry the girl from the badly damaged building. One first responder held the young girl’s hand as she was brought to an emergency vehicle.
Two other explosions were heard in Kyiv, but it was not clear if there were any casualties or the cause behind them.
In the city of Cherkasy southeast of Kyiv, one person was killed and five injured from two Russian strikes, regional Gov. Ihor Taburets said.
A Ukraine air force rep said Russian planes over the Caspian Sea fired cruise missiles.
‘Barbarism’
Klitschko told journalists he believed the assault was “maybe a symbolic attack” ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid.
The Russian offensive also wasn’t lost on world leaders gathered Sunday in the Bavarian Alps for the international G-7 summit. President Biden called the latest round of attacks by Russian President Vladimir Putin “more of their barbarism.”
Biden told G-7 allies to “stay together” as the group moved to ban Russian gold imports.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, asked by CNN host Jake Tapper if Russia is winning the war, replied, “When it comes to Putin’s strategic objectives, he’s already failed.
“His strategic objective was to end Ukraine sovereignty and independence, to erase it from the map, to subsume it,” he said on “State of the Union.” “That has failed. And a sovereign, independent Ukraine is going to be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin’s on the scene.”
Russian troops have been strengthening their control of the final Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Luhansk region, taking over the city of Sievierodonetsk on Saturday.
Russian Defense Ministry rep Igor Konashenkov said Saturday that Moscow controlled Sievierodonetsk and the villages surrounding it. Ukraine officials confirmed Sievierodonetsk was lost to Russian forces.
Russia also was hitting the adjacent city of Lysychansk with intense airstrikes. If Russia captures Lysychansk, it would give the invading country every major settlement in the province as the Kremlin attempts to take all of the Donbas region.