Russia carried out a massive attack on Ukrainian cities, including the capital kyiv, on Monday, July 8, firing more than 40 missiles, killing at least 24 people and hitting a children’s hospital, local authorities said. These strikes come as the Russian army has been gaining ground on the front line in the East for months and trying to take advantage of the Ukrainian army’s difficulties in replenishing its ranks and obtaining more weapons and ammunition from the West.
Key information to remember
⇒ 10 dead and 35 injured in kyiv in Russian strikes
⇒ Massive strikes on Ukrainian cities
⇒ Xi Jinping calls for “creating conditions” for “direct dialogue” between kyiv and Moscow
10 dead and 35 injured in Russian strikes in kyiv
A new explosion was heard in kyiv by AFP journalists on Monday at 1:05 p.m. local time (10:05 a.m. GMT), just hours after several Russian strikes that killed at least nine people in the capital. Around the Okhmadyt children’s hospital, hit in the first strike, residents ran to take refuge in air raid shelters, an AFP journalist on the scene noted. People are trapped in the rubble of the damaged hospital, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
Russian strikes in kyiv: electrical installations hit
Russian strikes hit three power plants in kyiv on Monday, private utility DTEK said, in a new wave of massive shelling that has killed at least 20 people across Ukraine. “Three DTEK transformer substations were destroyed or damaged in the Golosiivskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts” of the Ukrainian capital, DTEK said on Telegram, adding that power lines had also been damaged.
Massive strikes on Ukrainian cities
“Russian terrorists have again launched a heavy missile attack on Ukraine. Various cities: kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rig, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk. More than 40 missiles of different types. Residential buildings, infrastructure, and a children’s hospital were damaged,” Volodymyr Zelenskyi responded on Telegram. The toll of these strikes in the Ukrainian depths was increasing in the morning.
In Kryvyi Rig, in the centre of the country, the mayor announced that at least 10 people had been killed and 31 injured in strikes that hit a factory. Near the front line, in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian authorities announced that “at least three people died in Pokrovsk”, after the morning strikes, which also hit a factory, according to the regional governor, Vadym Filachkin. Prime Minister Denys Shmygal specified that the Russians fired “cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, as well as Kinjal”, air-to-ground missiles.
Russia is biggest threat to Sweden, says Stockholm
Russia poses the greatest threat to Sweden and its allies until 2030, the Swedish government said in its new national security strategy on Monday. “An armed attack against Sweden or its allies cannot be ruled out,” the document insists, after the commander-in-chief of the Swedish armed forces said in January that his compatriots should “prepare themselves mentally for war.” The threat posed by Russia will depend on how the war in Ukraine develops, Defense Minister Pal Jonson stressed at a news conference.
Zelensky expected in Warsaw on Monday ahead of NATO summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected in Warsaw on Monday before heading to the NATO summit in Washington, the Polish Prime Minister’s office announced. NATO is meeting in a summit from Tuesday to Thursday in Washington, more than two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a country in the Alliance’s antechamber and awaiting weapons. In a brief speech on Monday, Polish President Andrzej Duda regretted that “everything indicates that it will not be possible (during the NATO summit) to obtain […] an official invitation for Ukraine to join the Alliance.”
Modi on his way to Moscow for first time since Ukraine attack
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins his first visit to Russia since the Kremlin’s full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022 on Monday, as India seeks to maintain its traditional alliance with Moscow and pursue its strategy of positioning itself on the world stage. “I look forward to reviewing our bilateral cooperation with my friend Vladimir Putin and sharing our views on several regional and global issues,” Modi was quoted as saying in a statement.
The leader of the Asian giant will come to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin “about the development of traditionally friendly Russian-Indian relations, as well as the international agenda,” according to the Kremlin. A supporter of a multipolar world, India continues at the same time to develop its relations in the field of security with the United States, a hated rival of Russia, which poses as the champion of multipolarity with the primary objective of weakening the West on the world stage.
Xi Jinping calls for “creating conditions” for “direct dialogue” between kyiv and Moscow
Chinese President Xi Jinping called Monday for “creating conditions” for “direct dialogue” between warring Ukraine and Russia, during a meeting in Beijing with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. His surprise trip to the Chinese capital comes after a controversial visit to Moscow on Friday, where the Hungarian leader held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine.
Viktor Orban, whose country holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union (EU), has raised the hackles of Budapest’s European partners, who have shown unwavering support for Kiev and have cut ties with Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “Only when the major powers show positive energy, instead of negative energy, can this conflict see the glimmer of hope of a ceasefire as soon as possible,” Xi Jinping stressed. China and Hungary “fundamentally share” the same ideas, the Chinese leader added.
Russia: FSB says it foiled kyiv’s attempt to steal strategic bomber
The Russian security service (FSB) said on Monday that it had foiled an attempt by Ukraine to recruit a Russian pilot and steal a strategic bomber from the Kremlin forces. In a statement, the FSB said that “special services of NATO countries” were involved in “the preparation and implementation” of this plan to steal “a TU-22M3 strategic bomber.” An aircraft capable of carrying out nuclear and conventional strikes over long distances.
“Ukrainian intelligence intended to recruit a Russian military pilot, in exchange for a financial reward and Italian citizenship, to induce him to transfer and land the strategic bomber in Ukraine,” the FSB continued. According to the source, Russian counterintelligence services also obtained information during this operation that helped the Kremlin’s military strike the “Ozernoye” airbase in Ukraine.