STOCKHOLM — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Sweden on Saturday, his first go to to the nation since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine final 12 months, whereas at dwelling a missile strike within the heart of a northern metropolis killed 5 individuals and wounded dozens.
The Swedish authorities stated Zelenskyy will meet officers in Harpsund, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Stockholm. He can even meet Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at a palace within the space.
Sweden deserted its longstanding coverage of navy nonalignment to assist Ukraine with weapons and different assist within the struggle in opposition to Russia. It additionally utilized for NATO membership however remains to be ready to hitch the alliance.
A Russian missile strike killed 5 individuals and wounded 37 others on Saturday within the metropolis heart of Chernihiv, the regional capital of the northern province of the identical title, Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko stated.
Zelenskyy condemned the assault, which he stated hit buildings together with a theater and a college.
“That is what a neighborhood with a terrorist state is, that is what we unite the entire world in opposition to. A Russian missile hit proper within the heart of town, in our Chernihiv,” the Ukrainian president wrote on Telegram. “A sq., the polytechnic college, a theater. An atypical Saturday, which Russia changed into a day of ache and loss.”
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin visited high navy officers within the metropolis of Rostov-on-Don close to the Ukrainian border.
The Kremlin stated that Putin listened to studies from Valery Gerasimov, the commander in control of Moscow’s operations in Ukraine, and different high navy brass on the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Army District.
The precise timings of his go to weren’t confirmed, however state media printed video footage that seemed to be filmed at night time, exhibiting Gerasimov greeting Putin and main him right into a constructing. The assembly itself was held behind closed doorways.
Putin’s go to was the primary because the Wagner mercenary group ’s tried mutiny in June, which noticed the group’s fighters briefly take management of Rostov-on-Don.
Throughout June’s short-lived revolt, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin repeatedly denounced Gerasimov, who serves as chief of the final workers of the Russian armed forces, and Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu for denying provides to his fighters in Ukraine.
Prigozhin claimed that the rebellion was not geared toward Putin however at eradicating Gerasimov and different high brass who he claimed had been mismanaging the struggle in Ukraine.
Ukraine this week has claimed counteroffensive beneficial properties on the southeastern entrance, regaining management of the village of Urozhaine in Ukraine’s japanese Donetsk area on Wednesday.
The chief of the Russian battalion combating to keep up management of Urozhaine referred to as for “freezing the entrance” on Thursday, claiming his troops “can not win” in opposition to Ukraine.
“Can we convey down Ukraine militarily? Now and within the close to future, no,” Alexander Khodakovsky stated in a video posted to Telegram.
In a single day into Saturday, Ukraine’s air drive stated it shot down 15 out of 17 Russian drones concentrating on Ukraine’s northern, central and western areas.
The deputy governor of the western Khmelnytskyi area, Serhii Tiurin, stated two individuals had been wounded and dozens of buildings broken by an assault.
Within the northwestern Zhytomyr area, a Russian drone assault focused an infrastructure facility and prompted a hearth, however no casualties had been reported, stated Gov. Vitalii Bunechko.
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Comply with AP’s protection of the struggle in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine