Russia Ukraine war: Blood transfusion centre in Kharkiv hit by Russian attack as six killed

Russia launched a multi-wave overnight attack on Ukraine with 70 air-assault weapons including cruise and hypersonic missiles as well as Iranian-made drones, Kyiv’s Air Force said on Sunday, and at least 10 missiles appear to got through air defences.

Local media said a worker at a grain silo had been wounded in the overnight attack, which appeared to be focused on an area of western Ukraine, far from the front line.

“In total, in several waves of attacks, from the evening of Aug. 5 to the morning of Aug. 6, 2023, the enemy used 70 means of air assault weapons,” the Air Force said. “Information about Kinzhals is classified,” the Ukrainian military noted.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said people had been killed and wounded in an earlier hit to a blood transfusion centre in the town of Kupiansk, a railway hub fewer than 10 miles from the front in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Rescue workers were extinguishing a fire at the scene, he said on Saturday evening, describing the strike as a “war crime.” He did not say how many casualties there were.

Jeddah-hosted talks for peaceful settlement of the Russia-Ukraine war concluded yesterday with no concrete resolution to invasion as Moscow did not take part in the meeting.

The participants from at least 40 countries agreed on the importance of continuing consultations to pave the way for peace, according to a closing statement released by Saudi Arabia.

Countries, including China, India, the United States, and European countries, but not Russia, took part in the talks.

While a senior Ukrainian official called that talks productive Moscow called the meeting a doomed attempt to swing the Global South behind Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants a global summit to take place based on those principles later this year.

Speaking about the Jeddah talks, Mr Zelensky’s head of staff Andriy Yermak said in a statement: “We had very productive consultations on the key principles on which a just and lasting peace should be built.”

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by state media as saying the meeting was “a reflection of the West’s attempt to continue futile, doomed efforts” to mobilise the Global South behind Mr Zelensky’s position.

Volodymyr Zelensky said they are eager to see America’s F-16 fighter jets soaring in the skies as soon as possible as both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks.

The president added that he is seeing “significant results” from US and German air defence systems.

Russia reported it had shot down a drone heading for Moscow in the third such attack in a week, while officials on both sides said Ukraine had struck two bridges linking Crimea to the mainland.

In his nightly video address on Sunday, Mr Zelensky said advanced air defence systems, including the US-built Patriot and Germany’s IRIS-T, were proving “highly effective” and had “already yielded significant results.”

Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of committing another war crime against Ukraine after a blood transfusion centre was hit by missiles.

The president said there are fatalities and injuries after the strike in the town of Kupiansk. Kupiansk is a railway hub that is less than 10 miles from the frontline.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the country needs “complete protection against terror” as he calls on allies to supply air defence systems and missiles.

Speaking in a video posted on Twitter, he said: “The reponsible position of each partner in supplying air defence systems and missiles is very important. Complete protection against terror is needed here.”

China is reportedly in support of a third round of talks to find a framework for peace in Ukraine.

According to European officials, China has apparently signalled that it is willing to attend further international talks on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

The progress happened at a Saudia Arabian forum this weekend, which focused on a 10-point peace plan proposed by Kyiv.

Although no concrete developments were made at the talks, the presence of Chinese representatives was seen as a win for Ukraine.

One European diplomat told the Financial Times that the “mere presence of China shows Russia is more and more isolated”.

Dozens of countries, including Brazil, Turkey, the US and the EU, attended the forum.

Germany has delivered only around 10 per cent of the Leopard 1 tanks that it promised to Ukraine, German newspaper Die Welt has reported.

In May the country agreed to a 2.7 billion-euro military aid package with Ukraine.

Die Welt, who has tracked the delivery of the military aid, reported that in the last two months Germany has sent Ukraine just 10 out of the 110 promised Leopard 1 tanks and 12 of 18 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a celebration of the Day of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, amid Russia’s continued attack on the country.

A road bridge linking mainland Ukraine to Crimea was damaged by a Ukrainian missile strike, the Moscow-appointed head of Crimea has said.

Acting governor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, another Moscow-appointee, was reported by Russian media as saying that the strike on the bridge involved an Anglo-French Storm Shadow missile. He did not provide any evidence for his claim however.

In June Ukraine struck the same bridge, which lies on a route used by the Russian military to move between Crimea and other parts of Ukraine that are under Russian control.

Saldo also said that another road link to the region, a small bridge across the Tonky Strait, has been shelled.

A gas pipeline which serves the area has also been damaged, he said, leaving more than 20,000 people without gas.

The attacks are making it increasingly hard to get on and off the peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Three people have died during a night of air strikes and intense shelling across Ukraine, officials said Sunday, while Moscow‘s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital.

Two people were killed and four more were injured following a Russian air strike in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, said the head of the local regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a guided bomb had hit a blood transfusion center in the area’s Kupyan district late on August 5.

“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Defeating terrorists is a matter of honor for everyone who values life.”