Kremlin claims Ukranian shelling killed 25 people as US says Russian advances have ‘stalled out’
Russian officials contend Ukrainian shelling killed at least 25 people Friday, including a 9-year-old child.
Vladimir Saldo, who was installed by Russia as the governor of the occupied southern Kherson region, confirmed 22 people were dead after missiles and bombs pummeled a crowded market in the small town of Sadove in Kherson.
It was unknown how many people had been wounded in the attack.
A second Ukrainian strike on Luhansk killed another three people and left 35 wounded.
Friday’s offensive followed a Russian drone attack overnight Thursday that destroyed a shopping mall.
No casualties were reported from that attack.
Late last week, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said long-delayed U.S. weapons are now helping Ukrainian forces change the trajectory of the ongoing fighting around Kharkiv on the country’s northeastern border with Russia.
“They have been able to thwart Russian advances,” Kirby said.
“The Russians really have kind of stalled out up there [and] … their advance on Kharkiv is all but over because they ran into the first line of defenses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and basically stopped, if not pulled back, some units.”
Meanwhile, a Russian military court has started to prosecute three Russian soldiers for abducting and murdering a woman from Luhansk in 2022.
Valentyna Davronova was murdered by four soldiers in early 2023.
One of the four soldiers died last summer.
The 23-year-old mother and former Ukrainian soldier was stabbed 20 times, according to reports.
Then, explosives were used to destroy her remains, all in an attempt to cover up any evidence of the crime.
In other news, Ukrainian soldiers detained a Slovak citizen who was fighting alongside Russian troops. Several reports suggest the detained man killed a girl years ago when he was just a teen.
Russia has in the past offered release for prisoners who were willing to fight.
And while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was in France this week, he met with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The two nations signed off on a grant agreement, allocating more than $200 million to help Ukraine restore its battered infrastructure.
More than $60 million of that money is earmarked for repairs needed to the country’s energy grid.
With Post wires
