One killed, 14 wounded in Russian attack on Ukraine city
As Ukrainians celebrated a traditional Christmas, Russia launched a deadly strike on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, killing one and wounding 14 including a child. Follow updates.
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At least one person was killed and 14 injured on Tuesday by a Russian strike on the Ukrainian central city of Kryvyi Rih, which is President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, authorities said.
Military administrator Oleksandre Vilkul said the missile strike hit a residential building in the city with a population of 600,000 before the war.
“While the rest of the world is celebrating Christmas, Ukrainians continue to suffer incessant Russian attacks,” said Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets.
“The number of wounded has exceeded 14, including a child. One person was killed,” national police said.
Kryvyi Rih, located about 80 kilometres from the front line, has been frequently targeted by Russian strikes since the February 2022 invasion.
It comes as Ukraine celebrated Christmas Eve with traditional decorations and performances, those in Kharkiv to raise money for the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as church services in Kyiv.
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RUSSIAN SHIP MYSTERIOUSLY EXPLODES AT SEA
Two crew members are missing after a Russian defence ministry-owned cargo ship sank in international waters in the Mediterranean following an explosion on board, Moscow said Tuesday, giving few details on the ship’s mission or what caused the deadly incident.
The Ursa Major sank “after an explosion in the engine room”, the Russian foreign ministry’s crisis unit said on Telegram.
It added that out of the 16 Russian crew members, 14 had been rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena and two were missing.
The explosion came the day after the ship, which has been under sanction by the US since 2022 due to its alleged activities, broke down off the coast of Portugal.
That day, Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service said: “Russia has begun transporting some of its weapons and equipment from the port of Tartus to Libya by sea.”
GUR has previously stated the Ursa Major was used to supply Russian troops in Syria at Moscow’s naval base at Tartus.
However, it does not appear the Ursa Major was on a weapons recovery mission at the time of the explosion.
According to MarineTraffic.com the 124.7 metre long general cargo ship was sailing from the Russian city of Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
Russian transport investigators announced they had opened a probe into the “incident” over possible maritime safety violations, without giving details.
The ship sent a distress call Monday morning from off the coast of southeastern Spain in bad weather, reporting it was listing and sailors had launched a lifeboat, Spain’s sea rescue service said in a statement.
Spain sent out a helicopter and rescue boats and took the survivors to port, the service said.
A Russian warship then arrived and took charge of the rescue operation since the ship was between Spanish and Algerian waters, after which the Ursa Major sunk overnight.
“According to the survivors’ account, the cargo ship was carrying empty containers in the hold and two cranes on deck,” the Spanish rescue service said.
The ship is owned by a subsidiary of Russia’s Oboronlogistika, which belongs to the defence ministry and also provides civilian transport and logistics, the Russian foreign ministry said.
The United States in 2022 imposed sanctions on Oboronlogistika and ships including the Ursa Major for providing “transportation services...for the delivery of cargo to Russian-occupied Crimea”.
This means any US organisation dealing with the company or its ships would risk sanctions.
A map on Oboronlogistika’s website shows the company among other things covers a route to Tartus from Novorossiisk, in southern Russia.
The incident came amid uncertainty over the future of Russia’s bases in Syria – the naval base in Tartus and Hmeimim air base – after the removal of Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad.
These are Russia’s only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union and have been key to the Kremlin’s activities in Africa and the Middle East.
Last week Oboronlogistika issued a press release with photos of the ship in port, saying it was to transport a particularly large and heavy load: cranes each weighing 380 tonnes and hatch covers for icebreakers each weighing 45 tonnes to Vladivostok.
This was part of “state” efforts to develop ports and the northern sea route via the Arctic, Oborono said.
RUSSIA CAPTURES EASTERN UKRAINE VILLAGE
Russia on Monday said it had captured the village of Storozheve in eastern Ukraine, near the town of Velyka Novosilka which its troops is apparently trying to encircle.
“As a result of decisive action by troop units... the settlement of Storozhevoye has been liberated,” the defence ministry said in a statement, using the Russian name of the village.
Russia has been advancing steadily in the Donetsk region where Storozheve is located, against outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces.
Storozheve and Velyka Novosilka are close to the southern front line, which has remained largely static but where Ukraine says Russia is planning a fresh offensive.
Russia has looking to secure as much territory as possible before US President-elect Donald Trump comes to power in January.
The Republican has promised to bring a swift end to the nearly three-year conflict, without proposing any concrete terms for a ceasefire or peace deal.
Moscow’s army claims to have seized more than 190 Ukrainian settlements this year, with Kyiv struggling to hold the line in the face of manpower and ammunition shortages.
It comes as more than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Russia’s war with Ukraine, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The new figure follows a report by Seoul’s spy agency to MPs last week, which said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since entering combat in December.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.
“Through various sources of information and intelligence, we assess that North Korean troops who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces have suffered around 1,100 casualties,” the JCS said in a statement.
“We are particularly interested in the possibility of additional deployments” of North Korean soldiers to aid Russia’s war effort, it said.
Pyongyang is reportedly “preparing for the rotation or additional deployment of soldiers”, the JCS said.
Intelligence also suggests that the nuclear-armed North is “producing and providing self-destructible drones” to Russia to further assist Moscow in its fight against Ukraine, it added.
The North was also supplying “240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery” for the Russian army, the JCS said.
Seoul’s military noted that North Korea was aiming to modernise its conventional warfare capabilities based on combat experience in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“This could lead to an increase in the North’s military threat toward us,” it said.
The latest findings align with a report by the National Intelligence Service, which informed politicians that “Russia might offer reciprocal benefits” for North Korea’s military contributions, including “modernising North Korea’s conventional weaponry”.
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A landmark defence pact between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed in June, came into force this month.
It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico of wanting to “help” President Vladimir Putin by continuing to import Russian gas.
Zelensky said EU leaders had observed that Fico, who visited Moscow on Sunday, opposes reducing energy dependence on Russia “implying that he wants to help Putin earn money to fund the war and weaken Europe”.
“We believe that such assistance to Putin is immoral,” he wrote on X.
Slovakia relies heavily on Russian gas and has raised concerns about the prospect of losing supplies as a contract for gas transit through Ukraine expires on December 31.
Ukraine has made it clear it will not renew the contract with Russia.
“This is a very difficult situation which requires increased attention,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Fico is one of the few European leaders Putin has stayed friendly with Moscow since the 2022 eruption of hostilities with Ukraine.
The visit by Fico, whose country is a NATO and European Union member, had not been previously announced.
In a statement posted on his Facebook account after the talks, Fico said Putin had confirmed Russia’s “readiness... to continue to supply gas to the West and to Slovakia, which is practically impossible after 1 January 2025”, but did not elaborate.
Both leaders also exchanged views on the conflict in Ukraine, and “the possibility of an early peaceful end” to it, he said.
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