Russia’s military attacked the city of Dobropillya with missiles, rockets, and drones, damaging eight multi-storey buildings.
ADVERTISEMENTRussian forces attacked Dobropillya with missiles, rockets, and drones, damaging eight multi-storey buildings overnight on Friday, killing at least 11 people and injuring over 30.
According to city authorities, an administrative building and 30 cars were also damaged.
And as firefighters worked at the scene trying to put out two fires in two of the buildings the Russians attacked again, damaging a fire truck.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on Facebook: «After our emergency services arrived at the scene, they launched another strike, deliberately targeting the rescuers. This is a vile and inhumane intimidation tactic often used by the Russians.”
Another attack on the city of Bogodukhiv in the eastern Kharkiv region early on Saturday killed three people and injured seven others, the head of the region’s military Oleg Synegubov said.
Meanwhile Russia’s TASS state news agency claimed that soldiers had re-captured three villages, Viktorovka, Nikolaevka and Staraya Sorochina, from Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region.
US halts Ukraine’s access to satellite images
The U.S. government said on Friday it halted Ukrainian access to unclassified satellite images that had been used to help it fight back against Russia.
The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said the decision reflected “the Administration’s directive on support to Ukraine,” without elaborating. The satellite imagery provider Maxar Technologies confirmed the U.S. government decision to “temporarily suspend” Ukrainian access.
Air-defence systems supplied by the West are crucial for Ukraine, but further U.S. help is uncertain under President Donald Trump, who held a tempestuous — and televised — White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week in which he questioned Ukraine’s determination to end the war. Zelenskyy has since said the blowup with the Trump administration was “regrettable.”
Later, when asked by a reporter during an Oval Office exchange if Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking advantage of the U.S. pause on intelligence-sharing to attack Ukraine, Trump responded: “I think he’s doing what anybody else would.”
European Union leaders, mindful they may need to shoulder more of the burden for arming Ukraine and strengthen their own defences, agreed on a plan Thursday to significantly build up their military spending.
Ukraine is having a tough time on the battlefield. An onslaught by Russia’s bigger army is straining short-handed Ukrainian forces at places along the 1,000-kilometre front line.
Officials from the U.S. and Ukraine will meet in Saudi Arabia next week to discuss ending the war, which began more than three years ago when Russia launched a full-scale invasion. On Friday, President Trump said on social media he was “strongly considering” additional sanctions on Russia to force it into peace talks with Ukraine.
