“But what peace?”. The rhetorical question comes from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the renewed Russian attacks on his country after the meeting in the Kremlin between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, where the tsar praised the Chinese peace plan. On Twitter, the Kiev leader posted images of an explosion that destroyed a building in the city of Zaporizhia: an attack in broad daylight that left at least one casualty and 34 wounded, including two children, aged seven and nine. During the night, eight more people were killed in a raid in the Kiev region in Rzhyschiv that hit a student dormitory. The Ukrainians said they shot down 16 drones but missed five, bringing death and destruction to another day of the war, “not just another day,” Zelenskyi wrote again, railing against the “bestial ferocity” of the Russian attacks. “More than 20 Iranian killer drones, plus rockets and numerous bomb attacks. And that was just on the last night of Russian terror against Ukraine. Every time someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow, someone else there gets the order for these criminal raids,” he denounced. During the day, the Ukrainian president appeared at the front lines near Bakhmut, where he presented awards to the soldiers who for weeks defended what Kiev had declared its “fortress”: the strongest symbol of the Resistance determined not to yield even an inch of land, but also a choice that many observers and allies, given the scale of the casualties and the less-than-strategic value of the eastern city, which had a population of 70,000 before this stage of the conflict raised doubts, now fewer than 4,000 remain surrounded by ash and rubble while artillery shells echo.
Zelenskyi: “Zaporizhia bombarded with bestial ferocity”
Zelenskyi met the troops in what is believed to be an old industrial hall: a minute’s silence for the fallen, the presentation of medals, photos on social channels. “I am honored to be here today in the east of our country, in Donbass, and to reward our heroes. Thank you, shake your hand. Thank you for protecting the state, sovereignty and Eastern Ukraine,” he said. He was accompanied by his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, who tweeted, “Bakhmut stands, defense forces hold city.” Zelensky saw the military leaders in the Donbass and then moved to Kharkiv, another city torn apart under constant Russian beatings, to seek their mayor Bringing a tribute to Igor Terekhov. Moscow, on the other hand, is again pointing the finger at the United States: The United States is “playing with fire” by continuing its hostile actions against Russia, “not only in Ukraine,” thundered Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, again waving his ghost of a nuclear conflict as a probability today “higher than at any time in the last few decades”. It was echoed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who accused the UK of announced supplies of depleted uranium shells that “will cause further escalation of tensions”. On the ground, tension remains very high at Zaporizhizha, near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, now under Russian control: the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, has sounded the alarm over a possible shutdown of the power plant by the external power line, while the last 330-kilovolt reserve line, which has been in service since April 1.
Kishida on Bucha: “I am outraged by the brutality that took place here”
Faced with a devastated country, the World Bank begins calculating the cost of reconstruction, which it estimates will cost $411 billion. The United Nations, the European Union and the Ukrainian government also agree on the number. And this year, an immediate need of $14 billion for “crucial and priority investments” is expected to start work: Yesterday, the staff of the International Monetary Fund reached an agreement with Kiev on a $15.6 billion bailout plan. The deal now has to be approved by the IMF’s board of directors, which is expected to review it in the coming weeks.
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