Russia Ukraine war latest news: Vladimir Putin’s missiles strike Dnipro hospital in deadly offensive

At least one person was killed and 15 wounded in a Russian missile strike on a clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

He denounced the attack as a crime against humanity, and the Ukrainian Defence Ministry called it a serious war crime under the Geneva Conventions, which set out how soldiers and civilians should be treated in war.

Video footage showed a devastated building with smoke pouring out of it and rescue workers looking on. Much of the upper floor of what appeared to be a three-storey building had been badly damaged, as had cars parked nearby.

“Another (Russian) missile attack, another crime against humanity,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter.

“The buildings of a psychological clinic and a veterinary clinic in the city of Dnipro were destroyed. As of now, one person was killed and 15 were wounded.”

Russia has denied repeated accusations that its soldiers have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said earlier on Friday that air defences had shot down 10 missiles and more than 20 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks on the capital Kyiv, Dnipro and eastern regions.

Reuters was unable to verify the reports.

Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 15 months ago, did not immediately comment on the reported air strikes but said Ukraine had struck two regions in southern Russia with a rocket and a drone.

Russia‘s Defence Ministry said on Friday that it carried out an overnight strike on Ukrainian ammunition depots, the RIA news agency reported.

“The target of the strike has been achieved. All designated facilities were hit,” the defence ministry was quoted as saying.

The UK ministry of defence has published a map which shows the latest Russian attacks and troop locations in the Ukraine war.

Ukraine will not be able to join Nato as long as Russia’s invasion continues, the head of the alliance has said.

“To become a member in the midst of a war is not on the agenda,” Jens Stoltenberg said. “The issue is what happens when the war ends.”

Last September, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky announced a bid for fast-track membership of Nato after Russia’s president Vladimir Putin proclaimed four partially-occupied regions of Ukraine as annexed Russian land as part of Moscow’s invasion.

Since then, there have been plenty of platitudes from Nato members about how Ukraine belongs in the alliance, but little concrete action, with some Western allies of Kyiv wary of moves that could push Nato towards an active war with Russia.

Our foreign editor Chris Stevenson reports:

A blast that damaged a residential and office building in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, east of Crimea, on Friday was caused by two drones, the region’s governor said.

“There is some damage to buildings, but critical infrastructure was not damaged. And most importantly, there were no casualties,” governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram.

The Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion were formed in Ukraine in the wake of Moscow’s invasion. Now, the militias are taking the fight to the Kremlin – and aiming to topple the president. Kim Sengupta reports:

At least one person was killed and 15 wounded in a Russian missile strike on a clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

In an online post under video footage of a badly damaged building with smoke pouring out of it, he said rescue efforts were under way.

“Russian terrorists once again confirm their status of fighters against everything humane and honest,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“A rocket attack on a clinic in the city of Dnipro. As of now, one person was killed and 15 were wounded. The shelling aftermath is being eliminated and the victims are being rescued.”

Ukrainian officials said earlier on Friday that air defences had shot down 10 missiles and more than 20 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks on the capital Kyiv, Dnipro and eastern regions.

Reuters was unable to verify the reports.

Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 15 months ago, did not immediately comment on the reported air strikes but said Ukraine had struck two regions in southern Russia with a rocket and a drone.

A hospital in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro was hit on Friday in a Russian missile attack, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said.

“Missile attack on Dnipro. ‘Rashist’ bastards attacked a medical facility. There are victims,” Lysak said on the Telegram messaging app, using a derogatory term for Russians.

China hopes the Black Sea grain deal can be implemented in a balanced and comprehensive manner, and wants to cooperate on global food security, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday.

Russia signaled on Thursday that if demands to improve its grain and fertilizer exports are not met then it will not extend the deal beyond July 17.

A senior ally of President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that the West was seriously underestimating the risk of a nuclear war over Ukraine, cautioning that Russia would launch a pre-emptive strike if Ukraine gets nuclear weapons.

Russia‘s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has triggered the deadliest European conflict since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Russia, which has more nuclear weapons than any other state, has repeatedly said the West is engaged in a proxy war with Russia over Ukraine that could escalate into a much bigger conflict.

“There are irreversible laws of war. If it comes to nuclear weapons, there will have to be a pre-emptive strike,” Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Allowing Ukraine nuclear weapons, a step no Western state has publicly proposed, would mean “a missile with a nuclear charge coming to them,” Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012, was quoted as saying.

“The Anglo-Saxons do not fully realise this and believe that it will not come to this,” Medvedev said. “It will under certain conditions.”

Medvedev, who once cast himself as a liberal moderniser, now presents himself as a fiercely anti-Western Kremlin hawk. Diplomats say his views give an indication of thinking at the top levels of the Kremlin elite.

The West says it wants to help Ukraine defeat Russia but U.S. President Joe Biden has cautioned that a direct confrontation between the U.S.-backed NATO military alliance and Russia would result in World War Three.

Russia says Washington would never allow Russia to arm a country bordering the United States, and the Kremlin says the West is already essentially fighting an undeclared war with Russia.

When Ukraine gained independence after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, it hosted thousands of nuclear weapons. It handed these to Russia under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in return for guarantees of its security and sovereignty from Russia, the United States and Britain.