Russian strikes on Kiev not personal, says UN chief
UN Secretary-General Ant nio Guterres does not see the Russian missile strikes on iev during his visit to the Ukrainian capital as a personal message.
“He doesn’t see this attack as about him ... He took it really as a sign. Not a disrespect for him but but for the people of iev,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York on Friday.
The United Nations also offered condolences for the family of Vira Hyrych, a journalist killed in the attack.
The Russian military confirmed on Friday that it had attacked iev the previous day, when Guterres visited the Ukrainian capital.
Long-range, high-precision missiles had hit the factory buildings of Ukrainian rocket manufacturer Artem, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor onashenkov said in Moscow, without specifying the time of the attack.
iev Mayor Vitali litschko described Thursday’s attack, which killed Hyrych and injured 10 others, as a “greeting” intended for Guterres, who had met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow ahead of the trip to iev.
“Mr Putin has shown the middle finger,” he said in a video message.
Hyrych, who worked for US broadcaster Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, was found dead under the rubble of her apartment block, the Prague-based broadcaster said.
US Defence Department spokesman ohn irby accused Putin of having “utter disregard” for the lives of Ukrainian civilians.
Russia’s war in Ukraine is of the “coldest and most depraved sort,” irby told reporters on Friday.
“I don’t think we fully appreciated the degree to which he would visit that kind of violence and cruelty.”
The US is presently training Ukrainian soldiers in Germany and other locations in the use of military equipment, irby said.
The training covers the handling of howitzers and other weapons systems that
iev is receiving from Western allies to support it in the war against Russia.
In the area around iev, the number of people found dead following the withdrawal of Russian troops in early April has risen to almost 1,200, according to official data.
“As of today, 1,187 of our fellow citizens have already
been found , our peaceful citizens who perished at the hands of the Russian army,”
iev district police chief Andriy Nebytov said on Ukrainian television. Around 200 people remained missing.
Britain and the Netherlands announced on Friday that they would send experts to help probe possible war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said his country would send a team of 0 border police agents in the first half of May, in comments carried by news agency ANP. They are to act within the sovereignty of the International Court of ustice, based in The Hague.
During a visit to The Hague, his British counterpart Liz Truss said British experts would help to collect “a wide range of evidence - witness statements, forensic evidence, video evidence.”
A first evacuation attempt in the embattled south-eastern port city of Mariupol failed on Thursday because Russian troops deliberately shelled a military hospital on the site, the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda reported, citing a source in the presidential office.
Food, water and medication is running out in the besieged plant, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said, according to UNIAN news agency.
“It is no longer a matter of days, but hours,” he said.
The Russian military confirmed on Friday that it had attacked Kiev the previous day, when Guterres visited the Ukrainian capital