Russia Ukraine latest news today: Fighting in Putin’s government ‘destroying’ Russian state, Wagner chief warns

An explosion near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Saturday hit a two-story residence, injuring 20 people including five children, and rescuers pulled residents from the under the rubble, the regional governor said.

Serhiy Lysak, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said three of the children were in serious condition. A total of 17 people were treated at the hospital.

Media reports said emergency teams pulled four people from under the rubble in the town known as Pidhorodnenska community. Lysak said that another child may have been trapped.

Reports on social media said a Russian missile caused the blast and an emergency services building was also hit.

There was no confirmation of a missile strike from Ukrainian military officials.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, also writing in Telegram, said that the explosion occurred between two residences.

“Unfortunately, there are people under the rubble,” Mr Zelensky wrote. “Once again, Russia has proven that it is a terrorist state.”

Moscow denies its military forces target civilians.

Dr Ihor Zhovkva, the deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine and his chief foreign affairs adviser, says that the country needs more weapons to regain the land invaded by Russia.

“I’m not a military person,” he told The Sunday Times. “I work on the diplomatic front and my role is more weapons, more support, more ammunition.

“But if you want to launch a successful counter-offensive you need everything at your disposal, including artillery, armored vehicles and tanks, so maybe we don’t have enough.”

Volodymyr Zelensky shared a message of condolence after the train crash in Odisha.

He tweeted on Saturday: “On behalf of myself and the people of Ukraine, I express my deepest condolences to Prime Minister @narendramodi and all the relatives and friends of those who died in the train accident in Odisha state .

“We share the pain of your loss. We wish a speedy recovery for all those injured. “

Here are some of Saturday’s headlines:

First, the leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner said on Saturday that the fight between factions in the Kremlin has opened a Pandora’s Box of rifts. “Pandora’s Box is open – we did not open it,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a message posted by his press service. See above for more on this.

Concerns about the safety of civilians flared up in Ukraine on Saturday, as officials announced that an inspection had found nearly a quarter of the country’s air-raid shelters locked down. or unavailable, just days after a woman in Kyiv was said to have died waiting outside a closed shelter during a Russian missile strike. barrage. Full story here.

Leaders and negotiators from three countries with interests in Russia and Ukraine are scheduled for meetings and decisions this week. Here’s a short round-up:

First, Turkey’s longtime president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will be sworn in for his third term on Saturday. The country of 85 million controls NATO’s second-largest army, hosts millions of refugees and played a key role in brokering an agreement that allowed grain shipments to Ukraine, which avoided in a global food crisis.

Pope Francis is traveling to Mongolia at the end of the summer, a visit that is a first for a pope and one rich in geopolitical significance because of its proximity to Russia and China.

The Vatican confirmed on Saturday the August 31 to September 4 trip to the US-allied country sandwiched between Russia and China, two countries the pope has never visited.

The visit comes as Francis tries to draw a diplomatic line in his relationship with the two countries: With Moscow, Francis is looking for an opening for a messenger of peace to push Russia and Ukraine in negotiations to end the war.

Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday that Kremlin factions were destroying the state by trying to sow discord between him and Chechen fighters.

That line has been settled but the fight with the Kremlin has opened a Pandora’s Box of rifts, he said.

Prigozhin, a 62-year-old former restauranteur who founded the Wagner mercenary group and a member of President Vladimir Putin’s wider circle, gained widespread notoriety during the 15-month war in Ukraine.

His troops led the battles in the city of Bakhmut and elsewhere, but he also sparred with the Russian military on tactics, logistical support and other issues.

Prigozhin said a dispute between him and Chechen forces also fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine had been resolved. But he blamed the conflict on unknown factions in the Kremlin – which he called “Kremlin towers”.

Their plot had gone so far that Putin was forced to denounce them at a Security Council meeting, he said.

“Pandora’s Box is open – we did not open it,” Prigozhin said in a message posted by his press service. “Some Kremlin towers decided to play dangerous games.”

“Dangerous games have become commonplace in the Kremlin towers … it is simply destroying the Russian state.”

He did not identify the Kremlin faction but said it continued to try to sow discord, it had “hell to pay”. The Kremlin did not comment on his remarks.

France can hardly be a “moderator” of the Ukrainian conflict because of its active participation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov told Russian state television reporter Pavel Zarubin that, at the same time, President Vladimir Putin is open to any contacts to achieve Russia’s goals.

The United States and its allies clashed with Russia and China on Friday over North Korea’s failed launch of a military spy satellite this week that violated several UN Security Council resolutions, which Moscow and Beijing rejected. to be judged.

The confrontation is the latest in the North’s growing nuclear, ballistic missile and military programs, which US deputy ambassador Robert Wood has warned threatens international peace and security. The failed launch “not only disrupted maritime and air traffic in the region, but it also caused alarm among its neighbors in Japan and the Republic of Korea,” he said.

Pyongyang is threatening another launch soon.

Michael and Kristine Barnett, of Indiana, decided in 2010 to open their home to a disabled six-year-old boy from Ukraine – or so they thought.

What followed was a rapid escalation of suspicion and allegations that led to the demise of their marriage, criminal charges against each of them and an incredible story that questioned the innocence of all involved, wrote Sheila Flynn: