Russia-Ukraine war: nine killed in Russian missile strike on Zelensky's hometown – latest

Russian forces deliberately starved Ukrainians in Mariupol as a war tactic by targeting their water, food and medical facilities before taking the strategic port city in 2022, according to an investigation by an international human rights group.

Satellite images showing evidence of targeted attacks on the city's civilian infrastructure, including food distribution centers, were collected by Global Rights Compliance's Starvation Mobile Justice team and cover the first 85 days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine before the fall of Mariupol.

Leaders of the Group of Seven rich democracies agreed to provide a $50 billion loan to help Ukraine in its fight for survival, which would use interest earned on profits from frozen central bank assets as collateral Russian.

Details of the deal were still being discussed as G7 leaders met for a summit in Italy, but the money could reach Kiev before the end of the year. That's according to a French official who confirmed the deal on Wednesday ahead of an official announcement at the summit.

Here's how the plan would work:

Russia practiced electronic launching of missiles as part of the second stage of exercises on how to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry said.

“As part of the second stage of exercises of non-strategic nuclear forces, the personnel of a missile unit of the Leningrad Military District carried out combat training tasks to secretly advance to the designated position area and carried out launches of electronic missiles against conditional enemy targets, “the Ministry of Defense said.

“Navy crews involved in the exercise conducted sea sorties to the designated patrol area.”

At least nine people were killed and 29 others injured after Russian forces launched deadly new attacks on Ukraine, just a day before leaders of countries among Ukraine's biggest supporters are due to discuss the ways to slow down Moscow's offensive.

Among the victims were five children, authorities said. Several civilians were injured when Russian missiles hit a building in Kryvy Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky said the strike once again proved that “Ukraine, together with its partners, needs to strengthen its air defenses,” for which he repeatedly called on Ukraine's Western partners.

“Modern air defense systems are capable of providing maximum protection to people, our cities and positions,” Zelensky said. “And we need as many of them as possible.” »

The United States has agreed to send another Patriot missile system, two U.S. officials said earlier this week. “Modern air defense systems are capable of providing maximum protection to people, our cities and positions,” Zelensky said. “And we need as many of them as possible.” »

Below we have some of the latest photos from Ukraine.

The latest wide-ranging sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia constitute a “paradigm shift,” a former senior White House official said.

These sanctions put foreign banks at risk of being cut off from the U.S. financial system if they deal with large Russian banks, said Peter Harrell, who served as senior director for international economics at the White House in 2021 and 2022.

“For the first time, the United States is moving toward something that begins to resemble … an effort to establish a global financial embargo against Russia,” Mr. Harrell said.

“The message here is actually aimed at banks in China, Turkey, the UAE and elsewhere outside the G7, they face sanctions for continuing to engage in transactions with the big banks Russian banks and other sanctioned Russian banks,” he added, saying that would likely be the case. trigger a “major withdrawal” of these banks from Russia.

“This financial downturn, in turn, will likely … complicate the flow of goods from countries that continue to trade with Russia,” he said.

The Treasury did this by increasing the number of Russian companies and individuals that could trigger such sanctions to 4,500, from about 1,200, the senior Treasury official told reporters.

Russian forces deliberately starved Ukrainians in Mariupol as a war tactic by targeting their water, food and medical facilities before taking the strategic port city in 2022, according to an investigation by an international human rights group.

Satellite images showing evidence of targeted attacks on the city's civilian infrastructure, including food distribution centers, were collected by Global Rights Compliance's Starvation Mobile Justice team and cover the first 85 days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine before the fall of Mariupol.

In a report on “Russia's Siege, Famine and Capture of the City of Mariupol,” the rights group said its investigators analyzed numerous satellite images as well as images, videos, public statements and digital data to make this assessment. The investigation lasted about a year.

Civilians who were unable to escape “died silently inside Mariupol,” said Olha Matskiv, Ukrainian legal advisor to the Starvation Mobile Justice team. The Independent.

The United States has significantly expanded sanctions against Russia and is now also targeting China-based companies that sell semiconductors to Moscow, as part of its efforts to undermine the Russian military machine waging war in Ukraine.

Among these measures, the US Treasury said it raised “the risk of secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions that operate Russia's war economy”, effectively threatening them with loss of access to the financial system. American.

The US Treasury is also moving to restrict the ability of the Russian military-industrial base to exploit certain US software and IT services and, along with the State Department, to target more than 300 individuals and entities in Russia and beyond, particularly in Asia, Europe and Africa.

Separately, the Commerce Ministry said it was targeting front companies in Hong Kong for diverting semiconductors to Russia, taking steps that would affect nearly $100 million worth of high-priority items for Moscow, including including these chips.

It will also expand its list of products that Russia cannot import from other countries to cover not only U.S.-originated products, but also U.S.-branded products, that is, those made with intellectual property or American technology, a senior Commerce official told reporters on condition of anonymity.