Russia-Ukraine war live: four killed in Russian attack on Sumy region school, says Ukraine
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Four educational workers killed and four others injured in attack on school, says Ukraine
Four educational workers were killed and four other people were hurt in a Russian attack on a school in the city of Romny in north-eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said.
Klymenko said the bodies of the school director, deputy director, secretary and a librarian had been pulled from the rubble by rescue workers, Reuters reports.
He said four local people were injured as they had been passing the school in Romny, which is part of the Sumy region.
Photos shared by Klymenko on the Telegram messaging app showed emergency workers carrying away a body on a stretcher. A photo released by police showed rescue workers standing in front of a devastated building and rubble. The regional military administration said a drone fired by Russia had hit the school at 10.05am. (0705 BST).
“The school building was destroyed, and this is just before the school year, which unfortunately will never start for some,” Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Key events
Emma Graham-Harrison in Kyiv and Pjotr Sauer report that a Russian military helicopter has landed in Ukraine, reportedly after the pilot was convinced to defect in a six-month intelligence operation.
A Russian military blogger said a helicopter had crossed the border with three people on board “a couple of weeks ago”, but claimed the aircraft had lost its way.
The twin-engine Mi-8 AMTSh was on a flight between two air bases, transporting parts for Su-27 and Su-30 fighter jets, Ukrainska Pravda newspaper reported, citing defence intelligence sources.
The pilot’s family had already been moved to Ukraine as part of the defection operation and he would join them, it said. Both crew members were killed, the Russian blogger and Ukrainian reports said.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence appeared to confirm the aircraft had landed in Ukraine, but in line with government reticence about intelligence operations, did not give any details.
“There will be official information. We need to wait a little bit – we are working on it, including with the crew,” said Andriy Yusov told state television.
You can read the full report below
Pjotr Sauer
Vladimir Putin has defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sought to rally leaders of the Brics nations meeting in South Africa to the Kremlin’s side.
In a prerecorded video message aired on Tuesday to the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa, Putin repeated his earlier unfounded claims that the west was responsible for the war in Ukraine.
“Our actions in Ukraine are dictated by only one thing – to end the war that was unleashed by the west and its satellites against the people who live in the Donbas,” Putin said, referring to the eastern part of Ukraine where Russian proxies have been fighting the Ukrainian army since 2014.
“I want to note that it was the desire to maintain their hegemony in the world, the desire of some countries to maintain this hegemony that led to the severe crisis in Ukraine,” he added.
You can read the rest of the report below:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, has posted the following update regarding the Third Crimea Platform Summit.
Delays have a price. Fear has a price. Appeasement of aggressor by ignoring annexations has a price. A catastrophic price.
It is time to pay this bill. All of Ukraine will be free.
I thank every participant of today’s Third Crimea Platform Summit for standing with Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/890BvO1SFN
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 23, 2023
The US has approved the possible $500m sale to Taiwan of infrared search and track systems for F-16 fighter jets, as well as other equipment, Reuters reports, citing the Pentagon.
“The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region,” it said in a statement.
Ukraine says it destroyed a Russian anti-aircraft system on Crimean peninsula
Ukraine said on Wednesday it destroyed a Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system on the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, Reuters reports.
“At about 10am (0700 GMT) an explosion occurred … destroying a Russian long- and medium-range S-400 Triumph air defence system,” the Ukrainian defence ministry said on social media.
The ministry published a video of a massive explosion with a huge column of smoke billowing into the sky.
It said the explosion took place near the village of Olenivka on the Tarkhankut peninsula and destroyed “the system, its missiles and personnel”. These claims are yet to be independently verified.
A Moscow court will decide on Thursday whether to extend the pre-trial detention of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a court spokesperson told AFP on Wednesday.
Gershkovich was detained in March during a reporting trip to the Urals and accused of spying – charges that he, his employer and the US government vehemently deny.
The detention is likely to be extended as Russia rarely releases prisoners before their trials.
His case marks the first time a western journalist has been arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Soviet era.
A Russian fighter jet intercepted a Norwegian military plane over the Barents Sea on Wednesday, the Russian defence ministry said, according to Reuters.
It said the Norwegian aircraft, a US-made P-8 poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance plane, was nearing the Russian border but turned back after being approached by the Russian MiG-29 fighter.
Four educational workers killed and four others injured in attack on school, says Ukraine
Four educational workers were killed and four other people were hurt in a Russian attack on a school in the city of Romny in north-eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said.
Klymenko said the bodies of the school director, deputy director, secretary and a librarian had been pulled from the rubble by rescue workers, Reuters reports.
He said four local people were injured as they had been passing the school in Romny, which is part of the Sumy region.
Photos shared by Klymenko on the Telegram messaging app showed emergency workers carrying away a body on a stretcher. A photo released by police showed rescue workers standing in front of a devastated building and rubble. The regional military administration said a drone fired by Russia had hit the school at 10.05am. (0705 BST).
“The school building was destroyed, and this is just before the school year, which unfortunately will never start for some,” Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Zelenskiy vows to end Russia’s occupation of the Crimean peninsula
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has promised to end Russia’s occupation of the Crimean peninsula and says all of Ukraine will be “de-occupied” in the process.
“Crimea will be de-occupied like all other parts of Ukraine that are unfortunately still under the occupier,” he told an international conference about Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed in 2014 in a move not recognised by most other countries.
Ukraine began a counteroffensive in early June to try to regain the territory occupied by Russia. Zelenskiy said his country’s forces were continuing to “move ahead”.
Ukraine said on Wednesday that Russian strikes on its sea and river ports had destroyed 270,000 tonnes of grain in the space of a month (see earlier post at 12.10).
AFP reports:
Since July’s collapse of the UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal, which aimed to ensure safe grain shipments from Ukraine, Moscow has bombarded Ukrainian ports on the sea and Danube river.
“Russia is systematically hitting grain tanks and warehouses to stop agricultural exports,” infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a post on social media.
“In total, 270,000 tonnes of grain have been destroyed in a month of attacks on ports,” he added.
Last night alone, an attack had reduced the port of Izmail’s export capacity by 15% and the port of Reni lost 35,000 tonnes of grain, he said.
“This is the eighth attack on port infrastructure since Russia withdrew from the (grain deal),” Kubrakov added.
Summary of the day so far…
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At least two education workers were killed and three other people injured in a Russian attack on a school in Romny, north-eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday, the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said.
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Brics leaders will debate admitting new members to their five-nation bloc as it pursues a bigger role in shaping world affairs it sees as dominated by western powers, AFP reports. China’s president, Xi Jinping, and India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, said on Wednesday that they supported the group’s expansion. During a virtual address on the second day of the summit, being held in Johannesburg, Vladimir Putin again blamed the west for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
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Russian general Sergei Surovikin, not seen in public since a mutiny by Wagner mercenaries in late June, has been replaced as head of the airforce, according to state news agency RIA.
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UK government support for Ukraine’s nuclear fuel supply will help to end the country’s reliance on Russian supplies, the energy secretary, Grant Shapps, said after a trip to a Ukrainian power station.
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The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Tuesday that three civilians had been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a sanatorium in the village of Lavy, close to the border between the two countries.
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Ukrainian air defences shot down 11 of 20 Russian drones launched in overnight attacks, the airforce said on Wednesday. The Ukrainian military and local officials said Russia had carried out attacks in the southern region of Odesa and in the Danube River area, which is important for grain exports, reportedly causing fires in grain facilities.
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A drone hit a building under construction in central Moscow early on Wednesday, the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said. The Russian military downed two more drones over the western part of the Moscow region, the mayor said on Telegram.
A Russian drone attack on the Danube River port of Izmail in southern Ukraine destroyed 13,000 tonnes of grain, Reuters cites the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, as saying (see earlier post at 07.22).
Kubrakov said on Telegram that the port’s export capacity had been reduced by 15% by the overnight strike, adding: “Russia is systematically hitting grain silos and warehouses to stop agricultural exports.”
Two killed in Russian attack on Ukrainian school, says interior minister
At least two educational workers were killed and three other people injured in a Russian attack on a school in Romny, north-eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday, the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said.
He said two other school workers were still under the rubble in Romny, a city in the Sumy region, Reuters reports.
Photos shared by Klymenko on Telegram showed emergency workers carrying away a body on a stretcher.
The regional military administration said a drone fired by Russia had hit the school at 10.05 am (07.05 BST). These claims are yet to be independently verified.
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