Monday, Jun 30th
Last update03:06:18 AM GMT
International Glance
Outrage grows after new footage of an Israeli attack that killed 15 medics in Gaza shows soldiers firing on emergency workers in reflective vests inside clearly marked vehicles.
Protesters rally in the United States ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, DC.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has expressed disappointment in the US embassy’s response to a Russian missile strike that killed 18 people, including nine children, in Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih. Zelenskyy, who has been cautious about openly criticising Washington since an uneasy White House meeting with Donald Trump in February, wrote on X that several embassies in Kyiv had condemned Friday’s attack and singled out Russia for carrying it out.
Zelenskyy noted that the message from the US embassy made no reference to Russia in condemning the attack. “Unfortunately, the response from the U.S. Embassy is surprisingly disappointing – such a strong country, such a strong people, and yet such a weak reaction,” Zelenskyy wrote in English. “They are afraid to even say the word ‘Russian’ when speaking about the missile that murdered children.”
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, wrote about the strike in a post on X: “Horrified that tonight a ballistic missile struck near a playground and restaurant in Kryvyi Rih. More than 50 people injured and 16 killed, including 6 children. This is why the war must end.” Under Trump, the US has moved to improve relations with Russia, a shift from the approach of his predecessor, Joe Biden. Zelenskyy has made efforts to smooth over relations with Trump since the Oval Office altercation and has praised US efforts to work towards a settlement of the three-year-old war with Russia.
A Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih has killed at least 18 people and left dozens wounded, Ukrainian officials have said.
Nine of the dead were children, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, who grew up in Kryvyi Rih. Local officials said a ballistic missile had hit a residential area.
Images showed at least one victim lying in a playground, while a video showed a large section of a 10-storey block of flats destroyed and victims lying on the road.
Russia's defence ministry later claimed a "high-precision missile strike" had targeted a meeting of "unit commanders and Western instructors" in a restaurant, and that up to 85 were killed. It provided no evidence.
At least 112 Palestinians reported killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past day, including mostly women and children among 33 slain in three separate attacks on schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City.
Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev said Thursday that some type of security guarantees for Ukraine “may be acceptable” following high-level talks at the White House in an attempt to revive stalled peace negotiations.
Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a close adviser to President Vladimir Putin, traveled to Washington this week in the first high-level Russian visit to the United States since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Dmitriev held two days of talks with American envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin in Moscow last month as part of President Donald Trump’s push for a ceasefire and peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Israel said Wednesday that it planned to seize large areas of the Gaza Strip and add them to its “security zones” as it launched a wave of strikes that killed more than 40 people, including several women and children, according to Palestinian health officials.
Israel has vowed to escalate the nearly 18-month war with Hamas until the militant group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel ended a ceasefire in March and has imposed a monthlong halt to all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the offensive is now aimed at “seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones,” without elaborating. Israel controls a buffer zone along Gaza’s entire border and recently ordered the full evacuation of the southern city of Rafah.
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