Russia-Ukraine war updates: Girl and mother killed in Kryvyi Rih attack

Following Russian attacks on Kryvyi Rih and Kherson, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said “sanctions and pressure against Russia deserves to be significantly increased”.

“We must act together. Significantly strengthen sanctions for terror,” Ukraine’s president said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “And we must respond with determination – determination to supply Ukraine with the necessary modern weapons.”

United States government officials will attend a Ukraine peace summit in Saudi Arabia, US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller has told a press briefing, adding he could not give more details.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Saudi Arabia would invite Western states, Ukraine and major developing countries to the talks.

Six people have been killed and 75 wounded in Kryvyi Rih following a Russian attack on the southern Ukrainian city, officials say.

Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian minister of internal affairs, said the search-and-rescue operations in the area had ended. On the social media platform X, he posted pictures of a mother and her 10-year-old daughter who were killed in the attack.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko also confirmed the toll on Telegram.

Ukraine’s defence ministry has signed an agreement with the Turkish company Baykar Makina to build a service centre for the repair and maintenance of drones.

“The creation of a service centre will be a significant contribution to strengthening Ukraine’s defence capabilities and will help bring our victory closer,” the ministry’s state secretary, Kostiantyn Vashchenko, was quoted by the ministry website as telling Turkish partners.

Ukraine is seeking to boost domestic production of drones for reconnaissance and assault purposes.

Britain has sanctioned Russian judges and officials involved in the trial of opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, calling a decision to reject his appeal against a jail sentence “unjustifiable”.

Kara-Murza, who holds Russian and British citizenship, lost an appeal against his 25-year jail sentence. Kara-Murza was jailed in April for treason and other offences.

“This is desperate and unfounded,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on X, the social media network previously known as Twitter. “Rejecting @vkaramurza’s appeal is unjustifiable. He should be released immediately.”

Moscow City Court Judges Vitaly Belitsky, Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dorokhina and Natalia Nikolaevna Dudar were among those added to the British sanctions list. Britain has previously sanctioned other people connected to the case.

Residents of Kryvyi Rih recount witnessing two missiles flying over their homes just before 9am [06:00 GMT].

Ievhenia said she rushed to the scene of the impact after a friend who lives nearby called her.

“What we saw was pure horror committed by the Russians. … They hit a residential building, and her block is just next to it, so everything in their flat was ruined,” she told Reuters.

Vasyl, a resident whose home was damaged in the strike, said he had moved to Kryvyi Rih from the front-line region of Kherson in the south.

“I don’t know how I’ll fix the windows. I’m an internally displaced person from the Kherson region, and I came here, and the same things are starting to happen,” he told the news agency.

Another resident, Lysak, said at least six children were wounded. “Think about it, how many people! And they launched a missile at them,” he said.

Ukraine and Croatia have agreed on the possibility of using Croatian ports on the Danube and the Adriatic Sea for the export of Ukrainian grain, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says after talks with his Croatian counterpart.

“Now we will work to establish the most efficient routes to these ports and make the most of this opportunity,” Kuleba said after meeting Grlic Radman in Kyiv.

“Every contribution to unblocking exports, every door opened is a real, effective contribution to the world’s food security,” he said.

Russia quit the UN-brokered Black Sea grain export deal this month, depriving Ukraine of a conduit to safely ship its agricultural products during the war.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador calls for an end to the “irrational” war in Ukraine and urges upcoming peace talks to include Russia.

Lopez Obrador said Mexico would only take part in the talks in Saudi Arabia if both sides were present.

“If there’s acceptance from both Ukraine and Russia to look for solutions to achieve peace, we’ll participate,” the president told reporters.

“We don’t want the Russia-Ukraine war to continue. It’s very irrational,” Lopez Obrador said, adding that the conflict has caused massive human suffering.

“The only thing that benefits from it is the war industry.”

The Wall Street Journal has reported that senior officials from up to 30 countries are expected to travel to Jeddah this coming weekend to participate in peace talks, but Russia has not been invited.

Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu says Moscow has intensified strikes on Ukrainian military infrastructure in retaliation for attacks on Russian-controlled territory.

“Against the background of the failure of the so-called ‘counteroffensive’, Kyiv … has focused on carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure,” Shoigu said.

“The intensity of our strikes against Ukrainian military facilities … has been considerably increased,” he added.

On Sunday, Russia said it shot down Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow and Crimea.

Zelenskyy said of Sunday’s attack: “War is returning to the territory of Russia. … This is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.”

The Russian RIA state news agency has reported that Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza lost an appeal against his 25-year jail sentence.

Kara-Murza, who holds Russian and British citizenship, was jailed for 25 years in April for treason and spreading “false information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine.

He was arrested two months after the war began after a CNN interview with him in which he said Russia was run by “a regime of murderers”.

He was later charged with treason over speeches about the war, including one to the Arizona House of Representatives in the United States, where he said Russian President Vladimir Putin was bombing Ukrainian homes, hospitals and schools.

He is one of a small number of prominent opposition figures who stayed in Russia and continued to speak out against Putin after the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry says Russian air strikes destroyed an estimated 180,000 metric tonnes of grain crops in the space of nine days this month.

Since quitting the Black Sea grain deal last week, Russia has conducted several air strikes on Ukrainian ports.

At least five people have been killed, including a mother and her child, in the Russian missile strike on a residential building in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy says.

“The [rescue] work is difficult – parts of the building’s structure were falling down,” the president said on Telegram. “The terrorists also targeted the university building and the administrative building. As of now, five people are reported dead, including a child and her mother.”

The president added that 350 people are involved in the rescue efforts.

Several countries and organisations have slammed Russia’s decision to quit the Black Sea grain export deal this month.

The deal, which was brokered last year by Turkey and the United Nations, aimed to help countries that depend on Ukrainian and Russian grain.

But what happens to those countries now that the deal no longer exists?

Al Jazeera’s The Take examines who, if anyone, gains from Russia’s withdrawal from the agreement.

Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 523 of the war.

KEEP READING

• Russia’s Wagner likely to need new recruits in future, says Prigozhin
• The Russia-Ukraine grain deal is over. Who gains?
• Saudi Arabia to host Ukraine peace talks, top official says
• China imposes drone export curbs amid US tech tensions

The head of Zelenskyy’s office called the attacks on Kryvyi Rih a “genocidal everyday reality” and asked for air defence systems.

Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on social media: “This is already a kind of genocidal everyday reality … Kryvyi Rih. A Russian missile destroys another residential building. 53 injured. Four killed. Among them are a 45-year-old woman and a 10-year-old daughter.

“International law will never work if the aggressor does not see a real power behind it. The power begins with closing the Ukrainian skies with missile defence and air defence systems.”

The Kremlin warns of a deteriorating security situation in Europe as negotiations continue on possible future Western security guarantees for Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said security guarantees for Ukraine would upset the principles of international relations.

“In our opinion, this will only lead to a further deterioration of the security situation on the European continent,” Peskov said.

Kyiv hopes to start security talks this week with the United States and join NATO at a later date.

Russia has repeatedly claimed that its security is threatened by Ukraine’s aspirations to join the European Union and NATO.

Analysts say export prices for Russian wheat maintained levels last week after spiking a week earlier due to Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal.

According to the IKAR agriculture consultancy, the price of 12.5 percent protein Russian wheat scheduled for free-on-board (FOB) delivery in the second half of August was $241 per tonne last week, down from $242 per tonne a week earlier.

Russian wheat exports have been at record highs in recent months due to a bumper 2022 crop and large stocks.

Russia-focused agricultural consultancy Sovecon estimates Russian wheat exports in July at 4.4 million tonnes, compared to 2.5 million tonnes in July 2022.