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Russian missile attacks kill at least 41, hit children’s hospital, Ukraine says

Zelenskiy, addressing a news conference in Warsaw alongside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, called on Kyiv’s Western allies to give a firm response to the attack.

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Russia blasted the main children’s hospital in Kyiv with a missile in broad daylight on Monday and rained missiles down on other cities across Ukraine, killing at least 41 civilians in the deadliest wave of air strikes for months, Reuters reported.

Parents holding babies walked in the street outside the hospital, dazed and sobbing after the rare daylight aerial attack. Windows had been smashed and panels ripped off, and hundreds of Kyiv residents were helping to clear debris.

“It was scary. I couldn’t breathe, I was trying to cover (my baby). I was trying to cover him with this cloth so that he could breathe,” Svitlana Kravchenko, 33, told Reuters.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who stopped in Poland before heading off to Washington for a NATO summit, put the death toll at 37, including three children. More than 170 were injured.

But tallies of casualties from the sites of attacks in different regions totalled at least 41.

Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Zelenskiy said more than 100 buildings had been damaged, including the children’s hospital and a maternity centre in Kyiv, children’s nurseries and a business centre and homes.

“The Russian terrorists must answer for this,” he wrote. “Being concerned does not stop terror. Condolences are not a weapon.”

The Interior Ministry said there had also been damage in the central cities of Kryvyi Rih and Dnipro and two eastern cities.

The government proclaimed a day of mourning on Tuesday for one of the worst air attacks of the war, which it said demonstrated that Ukraine urgently needed an upgrade of its air defences from its Western allies, read the report.

Air defences shot down 30 of 38 missiles, the air force said.

An online video obtained by Reuters showed a missile falling towards the children’s hospital followed by a large explosion. The location of the video was verified from visible landmarks.

The Security Service of Ukraine identified the missile as a Kh-101 cruise missile.

Kyiv’s military authorities said 27 people had died in the capital, including three children, and 82 were wounded in the main missile volley and a strike that came two hours later.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was one of the largest of the war, causing damage in seven city districts. The Health Minister said five units of the children’s hospital were damaged and children were evacuated to other facilities, Reuters reported.

Eleven were confirmed dead in the Dnipropetrovsk region and 68 were wounded, regional officials said. Three people were killed in the eastern town of Pokrovsk where missiles hit an industrial facility, the governor said.

Zelenskiy, addressing a news conference in Warsaw alongside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, called on Kyiv’s Western allies to give a firm response to the attack.

“We will retaliate against these people, we will deliver a powerful response from our side to Russia, for sure. The question to our partners is: can they respond?” Zelenskiy said.

The attack came a day before leaders of NATO countries were due to begin a three-day summit, with the war in Ukraine one of the focuses, read the report.

U.S. President Joe Biden said that Moscow’s deadly missile strikes in Ukraine, including on the children’s hospital in Kyiv, were “a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality”.

In a statement released by the White House, Biden added that Washington and its NATO allies would be announcing new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences.

Diplomats said the United Nations Security Council would meet on Tuesday at the request of Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the United States.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, deplored the attacks, saying: “Among the victims were Ukraine’s sickest children.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had launched strikes on defence industry targets and aviation bases.

Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, although its attacks have killed thousands of civilians since it launched its invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General said he discussed the attacks with International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan, adding that his office would be sharing evidence with the ICC.

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said Ukraine still lacked enough air defences and urged Kyiv’s allies to supply more systems promptly to protect cities from Russian attacks.

Air Force representative Colonel Yuri Ignat said it became more difficult to repel Russian attacks as Moscow’s forces kept enhancing their bombardment tactics.

“Enemy missiles are equipped with additional means, including radar and thermal traps,” Ignat wrote on Facebook.

The missiles flew at extremely low altitudes during Monday’s attacks, he said.

DTEK, the largest private power producer, said three electricity substations and networks had been damaged in Kyiv.

The power system has already sustained so much damage from targeted Russian air strikes that began in March that electricity cuts have become widespread.

 

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Trump says he may go to Islamabad if Iran deal reached

Trump struck ⁠an optimistic tone about Iran ​as he spoke with reporters on the ​White House lawn on his way to a trip to Nevada and Arizona.

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U.S. President ​Donald Trump said on Thursday that ‌if a deal with Iran to conclude the war is reached and signed in Islamabad, ​he might go, and that Iran ​has agreed to almost everything, Reuters reported.

Trump struck ⁠an optimistic tone about Iran ​as he spoke with reporters on the ​White House lawn on his way to a trip to Nevada and Arizona. He said ​he could extend a U.S.-Iran ​ceasefire set to expire next week, but may ‌not ⁠need to do so.

“If a deal is signed in Islamabad I may go,” Trump said. “They want me.”

He also said ​without providing ​evidence ⁠that Iran has agreed to give up the enriched uranium ​believed buried from U.S.-Israeli airstrikes ​last ⁠year. Trump is pushing for a deal with Iran in which Tehran ⁠would ​give up its nuclear ​program.

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White House denies U.S. requested ceasefire, says new talks may happen in Pakistan

Speaking at a White ​House press briefing, Leavitt said any fresh talks ​would likely be in Pakistan again as it ⁠has emerged as the “only mediator” in the effort to ​end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

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Reports that the White House has requested a ceasefire in the Iran ​war are wrong, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told ‌reporters on Wednesday but added that discussions about a second round of talks with the Iranians were ongoing and productive, Reuters reported.

Speaking at a White ​House press briefing, Leavitt said any fresh talks ​would likely be in Pakistan again as it ⁠has emerged as the “only mediator” in the effort to ​end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

“These conversations are productive and ​ongoing, and that’s where we are right now. I’ve also seen some reporting about the potentiality for in-person discussions. Again, those discussions ​are being had, but nothing is official until you ​hear it from us here at the White House, but we feel ‌good ⁠about the prospects of a deal,” Leavitt said.

The talks last weekend broke down without an agreement to end the war, which President Donald Trump began alongside Israel on ​February 28, triggering ​Iranian attacks ⁠on Iran’s Gulf neighbors and reigniting a conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in ​Lebanon, read the report.

The war has led Iran to effectively shut ​the ⁠Strait of Hormuz – a vital artery for global crude and gas shipments – to ships other than its own, sharply reducing ⁠exports ​from the Gulf, particularly to Asia ​and Europe, and leaving energy importers scrambling for alternative supplies.

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US hosts rare Israel-Lebanon talks, progress unclear

The U.S. State Department released a statement after the meeting saying the two sides had “productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations.”

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades on ​Tuesday and both sides said they held positive discussions although it was not immediately clear if they agreed to a framework for peace, Reuters reported.

The meeting marked a rare encounter between representatives of governments ‌that have technically been in a state of war since Israel was established in 1948. They entered the talks with conflicting agendas, with Israel ruling out discussion of a ceasefire in Lebanon and demanding Beirut disarm Hezbollah.

The U.S. State Department released a statement after the meeting saying the two sides had “productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations.”

It set out each country’s positions but did not say they had reached any common ground. “All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue,” the statement ​said.

Speaking to reporters after the more than two-hour-long meeting in Washington, Yechiel Leiter, Israeli ambassador to the United States, said the Lebanese government made it clear during the talks that it will no longer ​be “occupied” by Iran-aligned Lebanese militia Hezbollah. He declined to say whether Israel would cease its attacks on Lebanon.

Lebanese ambassador Nada Moawad described the preliminary meeting as “constructive”. In a statement to ⁠Reuters, she said in the meeting she called for a ceasefire and the return of displaced people to their homes and measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon caused by the conflict.

The meeting comes at ​a critical juncture in the crisis in the Middle East, a week into a fragile ceasefire between the United States, Israel and Iran.

The wider conflict in the region began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Hezbollah opened fire ​in support of Tehran on March 2, sparking an Israeli offensive that has killed more than 2,000 people and forced 1.2 million from their homes, according to Lebanese authorities.

The presence of Rubio, President Donald Trump’s top diplomat and national security adviser, signalled Washington’s desire to see progress.

Trump has urged Israel to scale back attacks in Lebanon apparently to avoid undermining the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. The Middle East conflict has led to the largest oil supply disruption in history, piling pressure on Trump to find an off-ramp, read the report.

Iran says Israel’s ​campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon must be included in any agreement to end the wider war in the Middle East, complicating talks mediated by Pakistan aimed at averting further economic fallout. Washington has pushed back, saying there is no ​link between the two sets of talks.

Speaking at the start of the meeting, Rubio acknowledged that Tuesday’s talks would not solve “all of the complexities” but he hoped they would help form a framework for peace.

Israeli ‌ambassador Leiter later ⁠expressed hope but did not mention a concrete way forward.

“What gives me hope is the fact that the Lebanese Government made it very clear that they will no longer be occupied by Hezbollah… This is an opportunity. This is the first time our two countries are sitting together in over three decades,” Leiter said, adding that there may be further talks in the coming weeks.

The Lebanese government led by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has called for negotiations with Israel despite objections from Hezbollah, reflecting worsening tensions between the Shi’ite Muslim group and its opponents.

The Lebanese state has been seeking to disarm Hezbollah peacefully since a war between the militia and Israel in 2024. ​Any move by Lebanon to disarm it by force ​risks igniting conflict in a country shattered by ⁠civil war from 1975 to 1990. Moves against Hezbollah by a Western-backed government in 2008 prompted a short civil war.

The current government banned Hezbollah’s military wing after it opened fire on Israel last month.

Lebanese officials have said Moawad only has authority to discuss a ceasefire in Tuesday’s meeting while Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said Israel ​would not discuss a ceasefire, underscoring how at odds the two sides are.

In earlier remarks, Rubio said these talks were a process and not ​a one-off event. Leiter said ⁠there may be more talks soon but none of the participants mentioned a set time and a place.

“There were a few proposals, a few recommendations. We will of course bring these recommendations to our governments… and we will return in the next few weeks, we will continue to sit together. We will probably continue the talks in Washington,” Leiter said.

Rubio was hosting Tuesday’s talks amid questions over his lack of in-person participation in talks with Iran, with the Republican president sending ⁠Vice President ​JD Vance to Islamabad over the weekend to lead the U.S. negotiations, read the report.

Rubio was with Trump in Florida watching a mixed martial arts event ​as Vance announced in Pakistan that talks with the Iranians had concluded with no breakthrough.

State Department Counselor Michael Needham, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, and U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, a personal friend of Trump, were also participating in the talks on ​Tuesday.

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