Ukraine-Russia war latest: Deadly strike on city near Kyiv - as officials call for blood donations (2024)

Emergency services have been working to rescue people from the rubble after the city of Chernihiv was pounded in a missile attack.

At least 13 people are believed to have died in this morning's strike.

Footage showed at least one of the survivors being successfully freed from the remnants of a destroyed building

Over the past couple of weeks we've been asking for your questions on the war for our military analysts and international correspondents.

Every week we're picking one or two to answer - here is this week's...

Has the war turned in favour of Russia? Is it salvageable, and how could aid from the US be of any advantage to Ukraine? How long would any aid take to turn the tide militarily?

Roy

Defence analyst Professor Michael Clarkeanswers this one...

Yes, the Russians are starting a push all around the front and against the cities, especially Kharkiv.

They don't have the forces for a big, strategic offensive, but they seem to figure that Ukraine might crack politically if they can squeeze it enough during the summer. Since Ukraine is giving ground mainly because it is low on ammunition, they may be right.

For now, what Ukraine needs urgently is 155mm shells, 152mm shells, 120mm tank rounds, missiles for air defence batteries, a total of six or seven Patriot air defence batteries and small arms ammunition. Lots and lots of all of them.

If the West, particularly the US, would supply them, this sort of stuff could be on the frontline in less than 10 days. Then Ukraine will survive for the rest of this year.

Russian total casualties would go from 315,000 at present to maybe half a million or more.

That would create some new thinking on all sides that would be to Kyiv's advantage, even though the war will continue into next year.

The Ukrainian aim is to stay in the fight for another six months. After that, things might get better for them.

The Kremlin has said the Russian-born founder of Telegram must ensure the app is not used as a tool of terrorists.

Pavel Durov recently revealed he suspects the app will grow to more than a billion active users within a year.

Telegram is widely used in Russia and growing in popularityelsewhere, with Mr Durov describing the app a spreading like a "forest fire".

Last month, Moscow told Mr Durov to be more attentiveafter the application was allegedly used to help recruit thegunmen who attacked a concert hall outside Moscow.

Mr Durov saidmeasures had been taken immediately to stop unknown usersposting messages appearing to call for acts of violence.

The founder has previously said he left Russia because he could not accept ordersfrom any government, and dismissed claims thatthe app was controlled or influenced by the Kremlin as false rumours spread byhis competitors concerned about Telegram's growth.

"I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone," he said.

The death toll from the Russian missile attack on Chernihiv has risen to 13.

As Russia pounds Ukrainian cities starved forair defence, the country's top officials intensified pleas forinternational support, saying the devastation could have beenavoided.

Interior minister Ihor Klymenko said the attack killed atleast 13 people and injured more than 60.

The strike also damaged four multistorey buildings, ahospital, an educational facility and dozens of private cars, headded in a statement on Telegram.

Russia carried out the attack with three Iskander cruisemissiles, according to regional governorVyacheslav Chaus.

Rescue workers are still on the scene.

Airports in the cities of Kazan and Nizhnekamsk, located east of Moscow in Tatarstan, have lifted temporary restrictions on flights, which had beenintroduced earlier for security reasons, Russia's aviationwatchdog has said.

Russian state media said the airports had stopped flights taking off or landing earlier today over fears of drone attacks.

They have now resumed normal operations, according to the authorities.

A Ukrainian drone was shot down over Tatarstan, at 11:20 a.m. local time, the Defence Ministry said in a statement reported by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

Unconfirmed reports also said that a Ukrainian drone was shot down near a factory in Naberezhnye Chelny.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the deadly strike in Chernihiv wouldn't have happened "if Ukraine had received a sufficient number of air defence systems".

Taking to X, the Ukrainian president said the death toll had risen to 10, adding: "Terrorists can only destroy lives if they first intimidate those who can stop terror and save lives.

"Determination matters. Support matters.

"The Ukrainian determination is sufficient. There must be equally sufficient determination from our partners and, as a result, sufficient support."

These pictures show locals in Kyiv sheltering in metro stations during a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian capital.

Looking resigned and used to such instances after more than two years of war, the city's residents calmly scroll through their phones in groups as they wait for the danger to pass.

Earlier, we brought you news of a deadly Russian missile attack on the city of Chernihiv.

Now, local officials have said the death toll has risen to at least nine.

The city's acting mayor, Oleksandr Lomako, said three explosions rocked the city just after 9:00am local time, hitting a multistorey building.

"Unfortunately, Russia continues to engage in terrorist activity against the civilians and civilian infrastructure as confirmed by this strike on Chernihiv once again," Mr Lomako told Ukrainian TV.

He said several buildings, social infrastructure and many private cars were damaged.

The head of Chernihiv regional hospital said at least 18 people wounded in the attack were being treated there.

More injured civilians had been taken to other hospitals, he said, and urged locals to donate blood.

Telegram will likelycross one billion active monthly users within a year, according to the app's Russian-born founder.

PavelDurov said yesterday that the messaging service was spreading like a "forest fire".

Speaking on journalist Tucker Carlson's show broadcast on X, he said: "We'll probably cross one billion monthly active users within a year now."

Mr Durov, who is estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5bn, said some governments had sought to pressure him but the app, which has now 900 million active users, should remain a "neutral platform" and not a "player in geopolitics".

For context, WhatsApp has more than two billion monthly active users.

He founded Telegram in 2014 after he refused to comply with Russian government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.

It is particularly influential in former Soviet Union republics and, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has become a major source of unfiltered content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict.

The app ranked as one of the major social media platforms, after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat.

Croatians are heading to the polls after an election campaign in which battle lines were drawn on whether the country should lean more towards NATO or Moscow.

Today's vote pits the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), led by prime minister Andrej Plenkovic, against an alliance of centrist and left-wing parties informally led by populist president Zoran Milanovic and his Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The election comes as the country struggles with the highest inflation in the eurozone, a labour shortage, illegal migration and allegations of widespread corruption.

At stake in the race for the 151-seat parliament is not just the nation's future domestic policies, but also whether Croatia leans east or west in its international outlook.

If the HDZ stays in control, the country would continue a pro-Western course in supporting Ukraine.

But success for the SDP would shake the HDZ's long dominance of politics and potentially open space for stronger pro-Russian influence in the country, akin to Hungary and Slovakia.

Polls close tonight and official results are expected tomorrow.

Most pre-election polls predicted a victory for the HDZ, but without enough seats to rule alone.

The HDZ has largely held power since Croatia gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

The nation became the newest member of the European Union in 2013, and joined Europe's passport-free travel area and the eurozone last year.