“In five minutes a river of fire was created. We had to escape from the house, just escape.” Oleskandr is lucky, he is among the 57 wounded who survived the latest Russian attack that hit the city of Kharkiv at night. Seven people, however, didn't make it. Among them, a family of mother, father and three children aged 7 and 6 and the youngest just seven months old. They were burned alive, innocent victims of yet another tragedy in the conflict in Ukraine which sees no hope of peace on the horizon. So much so that the general secretary of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, said that the Atlantic Alliance must prepare for the possibility of “a ten-year confrontation” with Russia, inviting them to accelerate the production of the defense industry of its member countries as in times of active war. Governor Oleh Syniehubov and Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that Kharkiv was hit by Russian Shaded drones launched from the Belgorod region, which hit a petrol station, causing a petrol spill and a huge fire that engulfed 15 houses and seven people were taken from their lives. “The temperature in one apartment was so high that the newborn's body was reduced to ashes”, reported the head of the police department Sergy Bolvinov who said that the mother died “hugging the children and pressing them to her chest”.
“This terrorism cannot go unpunished or remain without a just response,” Zelensky thundered, underlining that “Moscow must be held responsible for every life it has damaged and ruined.” The overnight raid is just the latest in a series of deadly attacks launched by Russian forces on Kharkiv, a north-eastern Ukrainian city that has been battered by bombs daily since it was reconquered by Kiev's forces in the autumn of 2022.
While the war is rapidly approaching the threshold of its third year, everything is still being played out on the ground, with diplomacy struggling between the firm positions of the two sides. Thus, Western support for Kiev remains crucial. “NATO does not want a war with Russia,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag, “but if Vladimir Putin wins in Ukraine, there is no guarantee that Russian aggression will not spread to other countries.” . So, the best defense now is to support Ukraine and invest in NATO's military capabilities. “We must rebuild and expand our industrial base faster, so that we can increase supplies to Ukraine and replenish our stockpiles,” the NATO secretary said, asking European defense companies for more and faster orders. Because “deterrence only works if it is credible”. Stoltenberg's words come ahead of the meeting of NATO defense ministers scheduled for Thursday in Brussels and as the West tries to find new unity in military aid to Kiev.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Joe Biden on Friday urged U.S. lawmakers to approve a long-delayed military aid package for Ukraine. A delay, that of the American Congress, “close to criminal negligence”, according to the US head of state. All to the advantage of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who looks to the future with optimism encouraged by the possibility that Donald Trump returns to the White House. Kiev's hope is that Washington's paralysis will be lifted as soon as possible. Because accelerating the arrival of Western munitions on the front line is one of the priorities of Oleksandr Syrsky, the new commander of the Ukrainian armed forces called by Zelensky to take up the heavy legacy of his predecessor Valery Zaluzhny.
The change also brought with it the renewal of the chief of staff – Anatoly Bargylevych takes the place of Serhii Shaptala – and of the deputy commanders. Stabilizing the front is certainly the most urgent task for Syrsky, who will have to lead the military in a difficult phase of fatigue of the brigades at the front – and of all the Ukrainian people.
To know more:
– Putin, global propaganda: the only way to end the war is “an agreement”
Ukraine, Russian attack in Kherson, the toll rises: a woman dies
A 63-year-old woman died and her 43-year-old son was injured in a Russian attack that hit the village of Tokarivka in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson last night. The local authorities made this known
Ukraine: Kuleba, interviewing Putin is like giving the floor to Hitler in '44
“Interviewing Putin in 2024 is like giving the floor to Hitler in 1944. He must be defeated, not helped to spread bloody lies.” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said this on social media, commenting on the interview of the American journalist Tucker Carlson with the Russian president. “Today you let Putin spread his crazy genocidal propaganda, and the next day he strikes Kharkiv, killing seven people,” adds Kuleba, “the Russians burned alive a paralyzed man and his wife, as well as an entire family of five : young parents, their children aged four and seven and a newborn.”
Ukraine, Moscow also cancels embassy rental contract
The Moscow municipality canceled the rental contract for the Ukrainian embassy – an eighteenth-century residence in the center of the city – after Kiev did the same with the Russian embassy. “The principle of reciprocity applies in diplomacy”, declared the spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Maria Zakharova. However, the embassy had been closed since February 24, 2022, the start of the war. And in the following weeks, Ukrainian consulates in several Russian cities were also closed. Last April, the Kiev municipality canceled the rental contract for the Russian embassy.
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