Ukraine invasion live: Zelensky blasts Russia ‘terror’ attacks on hometown as child amongst dead in war

Vladimir Putin’s aide and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev threatened that Moscow “would be forced” to deploy a nuclear weapon if Ukraine’s counteroffensive was a success.

“Imagine if the offensive, which is backed by Nato, was a success and they tore off a part of our land, then we would be forced to use a nuclear weapon, according to the rules of a decree from the president of Russia,” he said.

Mr Medvedev said that “there would simply be no other option”.

“So our enemies should pray for our warriors’ (success). They are making sure that a global nuclear fire is not ignited,” he said.

Video shows the damage to the apartment complex in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, that was hit by a Russian missile on Monday.

Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, tweeted a video that shows the moment when a part of the building falls down.

He wrote on Twitter: “As of now, four people have been confirmed dead, including a 10 year old child. 53 people injured – regional military administration.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “the multi-billion-dollar resources that were transferred by NATO countries to the Kyiv regime are actually being spent inefficiently and aimlessly”.

He said this was why Kyiv was resorting to “acts of desperation” such as a drone attack against Moscow’s business district on Sunday.

Despite Peskov’s comments, the fact that hostile drones have reached the heart of the Russian capital in the past three months, albeit without causing major damage, is uncomfortable for authorities who have told the public that Russia is in full control of what it calls its “special military operation” against Ukraine.

Peskov told reporters that “all possible measures” were being taken in Moscow and elsewhere to protect against similar attacks.

Urainian forces have recaptured nearly 15 square km (5.8 square miles) of land from Russian troops in the east and south over the past week during their counteroffensive, a senior defence official said on Monday.

Kyiv’s forces have now retaken 204.7 sq km in the south since they launched a major push against Russian forces early last month, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian officials have reported slow, steady progress in the counteroffensive, retaking a string of villages and advancing on the flanks of the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces captured in May after months of battles.

Last week Kyiv said its forces had liberated the village of Staromaiorske in the southeast in a campaign that aims to cut Russia‘s land bridge from the east to the south and the occupied peninsula of Crimea on the Black Sea.

Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, holds vast swathes of territory and has built up a network of fortifications and minefields to make it hard for Ukrainian troops to advance.

Maliar said Kyiv’s troops had retaken two sq km in the past week on the Bakhmut front, bringing the total territory recaptured there to 37 sq km since the counteroffensive began.

In the south, where Ukrainian forces are trying to advance towards the cities of Berdyansk and Melitopol, she said that Kyiv’s troops had recaptured 12.6 sq km in the last week.

Russian troops tried to attack on two northern fronts near Kupiansk and Lyman, but failed to break through, she said.

“Our defence forces are powerfully holding back enemy troops,” she said.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine‘s counteroffensive is “not working out as planned” and that NATO resources supplied to Kyiv had been “wasted”.

Reuters could not verify the battlefield developments.

The deputy head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, Oleksiy Kuleba has called for revenge after at least four people were killed in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Monday.

Kuleba wrote on the Telegram messaging app: “Every day, Ukrainian cities are under fire from Russian terrorists. Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv. This is only for the last few days.

“Today also in Kherson – one dead, four injured. Employees of the utility company, who were cleaning the city at that time, were attacked by the enemy. Everyone gets help.

“The enemy is hitting settlements and cities. This is terror due to the despair and defeat of the Russian Federation at the front. This is terror to intimidate and break Ukrainians.

“Let’s take revenge for each and every one. We work and save our people.”

One woman and a 10-year-old child are among those killed after a Russian missile hit an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Monday.

The death toll has risen to four, with reports that 43 people were injured after the nine-storey residential complex was hit in president Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown.

The news was confirmed the governor of Dnipropetrovsk.

In a message on Telegram, Serhiy Lysak reportedly wrote: “Unfortunately, tragic news. Four people have already died in Kryvyi Rih. Among them is a 10-year-old child. There may be people under the rubble. Also, emergency workers have already rescued four people. One of them is a child. The search operation is ongoing.”

The Kremlin said on Monday it needed to find out the purpose of upcoming talks reportedly planned in Saudi Arabia about the war in Ukraine.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Saudi Arabia would invite Western states, Ukraine and major developing countries to the planned talks. The paper said Kyiv and Western countries hoped that the talks, which would exclude Russia, can lead to international backing for peace terms favoring Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked about the WSJ report, said Russia needed to understand what the aims of the planned talks were and what would be discussed

The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine‘s counteroffensive is “not working out as planned” and that NATO resources supplied to Kyiv had been “wasted”, during the course of a two month-long operation that has seen limited gains for Ukraine.

On a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said separately that Russia would take additional measures to defend against Ukrainian drone strikes, after drones hit Moscow’s financial district on Sunday.

Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska has expressed her condolences after at least two people were killed in the Ukrainian city of Kyryvi Rih on Monday.

“Kryvyi Rih, multi-storey buildings damaged by Russian shelling. There are wounded and dead. This is how the week begins in a Ukrainian city that just wants a quiet, normal life. Russia wants to take peace and life away. Condolences to the victims and their families. Let’s stay strong,” she wrote on Twitter.

The Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Monday that two people had been killed and four injured in Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk city, the regional capital.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Denis Pushilin said that the casualties had occurred when Ukrainian shells hit a civilian bus. Donetsk’s Russian-installed mayor separately published on Telegram pictures of a burnt-out bus.

The city of Donetsk has been under Russian control since 2014, but Ukrainian troops continue to hold positions on its outskirts and the city regularly comes under artillery fire.

Both sides reported casualties on Monday, as Ukraine’s head of the ministry of internal affairs confirmed two people had died after Russian missile strikes in the city of Kryvyi Rih.

“Two are dead and around five-seven people are under the rubble,” interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on television. The general prosecutor’s office said 25 people had been wounded, including four children.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, who grew up in the steel-producing city that had a pre-war population of more than 600,000, said the strikes had hit a university building and a residential building.

“This terror will not frighten us or break us. We are working and saving our people,” he said on the Telegram app.

The interior ministry said one missile had struck a nine-storey residential building and another had struck a four-storey building that was part of an educational institution.

“The emergency services are putting out the fire and going through the rubble,” its statement said.