Ukraine war briefing: Day of mourning in Dnipro after Russian attack on schools and hospitals

A day of mourning has been announced for Thursday after a Russian missile and drone strike killed at least five people and wounded 53 in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Wednesday. Borys Filatov, the city’s mayor, said on Telegram that the attack damaged kindergartens, schools and hospitals and caused fires across the city. Commercial buildings were also damaged, officials said. As part of a plea for more air defences and long-range weapons, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy published footage on Telegram showing a large explosion in the sky followed by a fireball shooting down towards the ground. “This Russian terror can only be stopped by modern air defences and our long-ranged weapons,” Zelenskiy said. “The world can protect lives, and only the decisiveness of leaders is needed.” Olha, the manager of a cafe that was hit, told Reuters: “Inside, everything is damaged, outside everything is also damaged. I’ve got jitters on my body, my hands … it’s all very complicated and scary.”

Three young brothers have been sentenced in Russia to 17 years in prison for trying to cross into Ukraine to join a unit of Russians fighting on Kyiv’s side. Ioann Ashcheulov, 24, was sentenced to 17 and a half years by a Moscow military court while his brothers – Alexei, 20, and 19-year-old Timofey – were handed 17 years, Russian state media reported. “I believe the Russian leadership, in the name of the Russian state, has committed a huge crime, the biggest of the 21st century,” Ioann Ashcheulov said at the sentencing for treason, according to the Mediazona independent news site. “My actions … were an attempt to stop this crime,” he said. He stressed he did not believe himself to be a “traitor to Russia”, saying: “I am not obliged to support everything the government of the country in which I was born [is doing].” The trio are the sons of a Russian Orthodox priest – Igor Ashcheulov – who preaches in the western Lipetsk region. The head of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, has sanctified Moscow’s war.

The UN general assembly will keep standing up for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty whatever the outcome of national elections across the globe this year, its president, Dennis Franci, has told the Associated Press during his first visit to Ukraine. “I am convinced that the people of Ukraine will not give up,” he said, whatever the election outcomes. “They will not accept it and they will not allow foreign domination of their homeland.” Speaking in Kyiv at the end of a two-day visit, Francis called on Russia “to withdraw immediately all its military forces from the territory of Ukraine” – a reference to a general assembly resolution that was approved shortly after the outbreak of the war. Francis met Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and pledged support for Zelenskiy’s peace plan.

Turkish president Tayyip Erdoğan has told Vladimir Putin that Ankara could help end the Ukraine-Russia war, an offer dismissed by Putin’s spokesperson. Erdoğan, speaking to the Russian president on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, said he believed a fair peace suiting both sides was possible, the Turkish presidency said. However, Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, ruled out any role as a go-between for the Turkish leader. “No, it’s not possible,” said Peskov, according to the Russian Tass news agency, without giving further details. Turkey is a member of Nato, but unlike other Nato leaders, Erdoğan has tried to maintain good relations with both Russia and Ukraine throughout the conflict.