A Russian drone attack on a residential block killed nine people including three elderly couples in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, officials said on Thursday. Images distributed by the emergency services showed a gaping hole in the facade of the long block of flats and rescue workers digging through debris for survivors. “This is a terrible tragedy, a terrible Russian crime. It is very important that the world does not pause in putting pressure on Russia for this terror,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media. National Police later said the search operation had been completed after 19 hours, with rescuers finding nine bodies in the ruins, while 13 people were wounded. Among the dead were three couples – men and women between the ages of 61 and 74 – Ukrainian prosecutors said. Those killed also included a 37-year-old woman, while her eight-year-old daughter was wounded, the Sumy prosecutor’s office said.
Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director, partially recanted her views that Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine, during a tense confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee. Colorado senator Michael Bennet attacked Gabbard for a tweet sent out just hours after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in which she said: “This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/Nato had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns.” While she did not explain those remarks, she did indicate that she had had a change of heart. Asked bluntly who she blamed for the war between Russia and Ukraine, she said: “Putin started the invasion of Ukraine.”
Sweden’s government on Thursday pledged an additional $1.2bn in military aid to Ukraine, saying Europe needed to prepare to shoulder a larger part in supporting Kyiv. Defence minister Pal Jonson said the package, the country’s 18th since Russia’s 2022 invasion, was the largest to date and was a sign that Sweden was ready to support Ukraine in the “long term”. “This is also a signal to our other allies that we need to prepare for Europe to take more responsibility for supporting Ukraine,” Jonson told a press conference.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry summoned Slovakia’s ambassador on Thursday to reject accusations that it is meddling in its neighbour’s internal affairs and to accuse Slovak prime minister Robert Fico of being a “mouthpiece” for Russia. Kyiv and Bratislava have been at odds for weeks over Ukraine’s decision not to extend a Russian gas transit deal that expired at the end of December. Kyiv’s move came a day after Slovakia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to protest against Ukrainian comments criticising Fico that it said amounted to interference in Slovak affairs.
A British man captured fighting on the Ukrainian side in Russia’s Kursk region will face terrorism and mercenary charges that could see him jailed for years, Russian state investigators said on Thursday. Moscow announced in November it had captured James Anderson, describing him as a former British soldier. Britain’s foreign minister, David Lammy, said at the time he was aware of the case and that London would do all it could to offer him assistance. Russia’s Investigative Committee released video on Thursday showing a handcuffed Anderson dressed in a prison uniform with a shaven head, being brought into a room for questioning and confirming his name. In a statement, it said he would face terrorism and mercenary charges on allegations he participated “in an armed conflict as a mercenary on the territory of the Russian Federation for financial remuneration”. It did not say how Anderson pleaded to the charges, some of which are punishable by up to 20 years in jail if he is found guilty.
