Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles that struck a city in central Ukraine killed at least 20 people and wounded about 90 more Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said. The country’s president called the attack “an open act of terrorism” against civilians in locations without military value.

Ukraine’s national police said three missiles hit an office building and damaged nearby residential buildings in Vinnytsia, which is located 268 kilometers (167 miles) southwest of the capital, Kyiv.

DONETSK, July 13. /TASS/: North Korean Ambassador to Russia Sin Hong-chol has presented a document on Pyongyang’s recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to DPR Ambassador to Moscow Olga Makeyeva.

"North Korean Ambassador Sin Hong-chol has presented a document on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's decision to recognize the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic to DPR Ambassador Olga Makeyeva," the DPR embassy said in a statement on Telegram on Wednesday.

KYIV, July 13 (Reuters) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday ruled out ceding territory to Russia as part of any peace deal and said no peace talks were under way between Moscow and Kyiv.

"The objective of Ukraine in this war... is to liberate our territories, restore our territorial integrity, and full sovereignty in the east and south of Ukraine," he told a briefing. "This is the end point of our negotiating position."

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Renewed Russian artillery barrages across Ukraine killed at least five civilians and wounded another 18 in the past day, the office of Ukraine’s president reported Wednesday as Moscow attempted to expand and consolidate its gains in the country’s east.

Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian foreign minister says grain exports from his country’s ports won’t resume without security guarantees for ship owners, cargo owners and Ukraine as an independent nation.

Military officials from Russia and Ukraine were set to hold their governments’ first face-to-face talks in months Wednesday. They planned to meet in Istanbul to discuss a United Nations plan for getting blocked Ukrainian grain to world markets through the Black Sea.

KYIV, July 12 (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Tuesday it had carried out a long-range rocket strike against Russian forces and military equipment in southern Ukraine, territory it says it is planning to retake in a counter-offensive using hundreds of thousands of troops.

The strike hit an ammunition dump in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region and killed 52 Russians, Ukraine's military said. It came after Washington supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems which Kyiv says its forces are using with growing efficiency.

KIEV, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday met with visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to discuss financial and military support for Kiev, the presidential press service reported.

At the talks, Zelensky thanked Rutte for the Netherlands' allocation of 200 million euros (about 201.5 million U.S. dollars) of additional financial support for Ukraine, which will help ensure the financing of payments for Ukrainian teachers, doctors and pensioners.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday that their forces targeted a Russian ammunition depot in southern Ukraine overnight, resulting in a massive explosion captured on social media.

The Ukrainian military’s southern command said a rocket strike targeted the depot in Russian-held Nova Kakhovka, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east of the Black Sea port city of Kherson, which is also occupied by Russian forces.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ilona Khomenko was widowed nearly two months ago when her husband died in fighting in Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine. Now, she’s looking to make a difference on the battlefield.

Khomenko, 29, is helping to train soldiers and civilians in combat first aid to help save lives as Russia’s war in Ukraine is well into its fifth month.

The training is mostly based in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Up to 100 people attend each day. So far, Khomenko and others have taught more than 5,000 people simple rules that can save their lives.

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday expanding a fast-track procedure to receive Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians, in yet another effort to expand Moscow’s influence in war-torn Ukraine.

Until recently, only residents of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as residents of the southern Zaporizhzhia and the Kherson regions, large parts of which are under Russian control, were eligible for the simplified procedure.

Ukrainian officials haven’t yet reacted to Putin’s announcement.