???? Live: Russia launches attacks on cities across Ukraine, at least two killed

Issued on: 28/04/2023 – 05:40

05:30am: At least two killed in attack on Dnipro

“A young woman and a three-year-old child have been killed,” Borys Filatov, mayor of the central city of Dnipro, said on Telegram. Filatov gave no further details.

Pictures on social media showed an apartment building ablaze in the central town of Uman.

Kyiv was also rocked by explosions and air raid sirens and explosions were reported across the country, according to the Interfax Ukraine and reports on social media channels.

There were no details on what had been struck in Kyiv or of any damage and casualties. The city’s military administration said anti-aircraft units were in operation.

Interfax said explosions were also reported after midnight in Dnipro, Kremenchuk and Poltava in central Ukraine and in Mykolaiv in the south.

Interfax quoted accounts on the Telegram message service as saying unidentified airborne objects were also headed for the west of the country.

04:10am: Explosions reported in Kyiv – Interfax, Telegram channels

Explosions resounded in Kyiv and the region surrounding the capital early on Friday, Interfax Ukraine and local telegram channels reported.

There were no details on which targets had been struck after midnight or of damage and casualties. The city’s military administration said anti-aircraft units were in operation.

Earlier reports said cities stretching from central Ukraine to southern Mykolaiv Region had been hit by explosions after air raid alerts were declared throughout the country.

9:32pm: Russia’s forced transfer of Ukraine children ‘genocide’, Council of Europe says

Russia’s forced transfer of Ukrainian children amounts to genocide, the Council of Europe said Thursday in a resolution adopted by its parliamentary assembly.

Calling for the safe return of the children to Ukraine, the parliament said “the documented evidence of this practice matches with the international definition of genocide”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the resolution as an “important” decision that will help “hold Russia and its leaders to account”.

The deportation of Ukrainian children is one element of “Russia’s attempt to erase the identity of our people, to destroy the very essence of the Ukrainian people”, he said in his evening address.

7:25pm: Basketball star Griner urges US detainees in Russia to ‘stay strong’

WNBA superstar Brittney Griner urged US detainees in Russia to “stay strong, keep fighting, don’t give up” on Thursday in her first press conference since being released as part of a prisoner swap last year.

Speaking in Arizona as she prepares to resume her career with the Phoenix Mercury, Griner vowed to keep fighting on behalf of people wrongfully detained around the world.

Asked what her message would be for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and US citizen Paul Whelan, both held in Russia, Griner replied: “I would say to everyone that’s wrongfully detained right across the world: ‘Stay strong, keep fighting, don’t give up’.

“Just keep waking up. Find a little routine and stick to the routine as best as you can. That’s what helped me,” she said.

3:14pm: Ukraine ask Pope’s help in getting children back from Russia

Ukraine’s prime minister said he asked Pope Francis during a private Vatican audience Thursday to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken to Russia.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, briefing reporters on his half-hour audience with the pontiff, said he also invited Francis to come to Ukraine.

“I asked His Holiness to help us return home Ukrainians, Ukrainian children who are detained, arrested, and criminally deported to Russia,” Shmyhal said.

The Vatican’s brief statement on the audience did not go into particular points of the talks. It noted that Shmyhal met with the Holy See’s secretary of state and foreign minister after his meeting with Francis

2:54pm: Russia’s Prigozhin denies suspending artillery fire in Bakhmut

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said on Thursday he had been joking when he said his men would suspend artillery fire in Bakhmut to allow Ukrainian forces on the other side of the frontline to show the city to visiting US journalists.

Wagner has been spearheading Russia’s assault on Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukrainian forces have so far thwarted its attempts to take full control of the city.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s founder, said in an audio message published on Thursday by his press service: “A decision has been taken to suspend artillery fire so that American journalists can safely film Bakhmut and go home.”

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)