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7 mins ago
Ukraine raises death toll after Russian missile strikes in Odessa
A building destroyed after the missile attack in Odessa, Ukraine, on July 1 (Photo: Maksym Voitenko/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Ukraine says one more person has died following Russian missile strikes overnight in Odessa, bringing the death toll to 19.
Three Russian missiles hit a nine-story building and two recreation centers in the town of Sergiivka, in the Odessa region of southern Ukraine.
Among the dead are two children and 38 people were injured, authorities said Friday.
According to the First Deputy Minister of the Interior, Yevhenii Yenin, there were no military targets or infrastructure in the vicinity of the areas hit by the Russian missiles.
Speaking at the scene, Jenin also said search and rescue operations were ongoing.
"We don't expect to find anyone alive, but there is a possibility," Jenin said.
"Based on preliminary information, there may have been two more people on the rec center premises."
12 mins ago
"We are watching Russia wither before our eyes," says the former US defense chief.
By Paula Hancocks
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a news conference after his meeting with his Indonesian counterpart at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 30, 2022. (Photo by ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Former US Defense Secretary James Mattis has slammed Russia's war in Ukraine, calling it "immoral" and "operationally stupid," while speaking at the 2022 Forum in Seoul on Friday.
"We have a saying in America, we say nations with allies prosper, nations without allies wither, and we're watching Russia wither before our eyes right now," Mattis said.
Asked what military lessons can be drawn from the war so far, the former US military officer said: "One is not to have incompetent generals in charge of your operations."
He also called Russia's military performance "pathetic" and denounced "the immoral, tactically incompetent, operationally stupid and strategically reckless effort" of its campaign in Ukraine.
Mattis referred to previous US efforts to try to bring Russia into the "community of nations" but said that was not possible with Vladimir Putin as leader.
"The tragedy of our time is that Putin is a creature out of Dostoevsky. He goes to bed every night angry, he goes to bed every night fearful, he goes to bed every night thinking that Russia is surrounded by nightmares and this has guided him," he said.
Putin removed anyone who disagreed with him from his circle, so "he probably thought the Ukrainian people would welcome him," Mattis added.
16 mins ago
The strategic territory of the Snake Island is "free again", says Zelensky
By AnneClaire Stapleton
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during his evening video message on Thursday, June 30.
(Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine)
Snake Island is "free again," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his late-night speech on Thursday.
"Zmiinyi [Snake] Island is a strategic point, and it significantly changes the situation in the Black Sea. It still does not guarantee security, it still does not guarantee that the enemy will not return. But it already significantly limits the actions of the occupants. Step by step, we will expel them from our sea, our land and our sky," Zelensky said.
The small but strategic territory was the scene of one of the initial battles of the war in Ukraine, with demands from a Russian warship calling on the Ukrainian defenders to surrender, who boldly responded with "Russian warship, go away!" to the ***".
Known as Zmiinyi Ostriv in Ukrainian, Snake Island is located about 30 miles off the coast of Ukraine and is close to the sea lanes leading to the Bosphorus and the Mediterranean.
Some background:
The Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian troops left the island on Thursday, after carrying out what they said was a "successful" operation.
Meanwhile, Russian army spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing that his forces had left the island "as a gesture of goodwill."
20 mins ago
At least 18 dead and 30 wounded in night attacks in the Odessa region
By Olga Voitovych, Victoria Butenko
Rescue workers work at the site of a missile attack in a town in Ukraine's Odessa region, in this distributed image from July 1. (Photo: State Emergency Services of Ukraine/Reuters)
At least 18 people were killed, including two children, when three Russian missiles hit a nine-story residential building and a recreation center in the town of Sergiivka in the southern Odessa region on Friday, Ukrainian authorities reported.
Another 30 people were injured in the attacks, according to Ukraine's president's deputy chief of staff, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
Officials said the numbers are likely to rise as search and rescue operations continue.
The Southern Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said the buildings were hit by Kh-22 air-to-surface anti-ship missiles, launched from Tu-22 strategic bombers flying over the Black Sea.
It is the same type of ammunition that Russian forces used during the attack that affected a shopping center in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, on Monday and caused at least 18 deaths.
war in ukraine
