Eight people were killed and dozens more injured in a Russian missile attack in the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, officials said.
The authorities said in the morning that three children were among the victims who were pulled from the rubble of the restaurant. Two of the children were born in 2008, one in 2011. The number of injured was given as 56. The night before, at least 3 dead and more than 40 injured had been mentioned. According to the authorities, emergency services continued to clear debris to look for possible victims.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired the head of the state-owned arms company Ukroboronprom. The US announced further military aid to Kiev.
Zelenskyy: Russia deserves only one thing: "defeat and tribunal"
Zelenskyy condemned the new attack on the city of Kramatorsk in his evening video address on Tuesday as another war crime. "Such terror proves to us and to the whole world again and again that Russia deserves only one thing for all its deeds: defeat and a tribunal." The Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko had previously announced that the Russian army had shelled Kramatorsk twice on Tuesday evening, hitting a bar, among other things.
Zelenskyy fires head of state-owned defense company Ukroboronprom
The presidential office in Kiev published a decree dismissing the head of the Ukroboronprom defense company, Yuriy Hussev. He has held the post since December 2020. According to reports, the 31-year-old boss of the tank plant in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, Herman Smetanin, will be his successor. There was initially no official confirmation.
All defense companies of Ukraine are concentrated in the holding Ukroboronprom. According to the Internet newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda, Zelenskyi had expected Hussev to produce more of the short-range Sapsan (Peregrine Falcon) missile.
US announces millions more in military aid to Ukraine
The US government is providing Ukraine with further military aid to ward off Russia's war of aggression. The Department of Defense in Washington announced a new package of military equipment worth 500 million US dollars (around 456 million euros). According to the Pentagon, this includes ammunition for Patriot air defense systems, Bradley armored personnel carriers, Stinger air defense systems, mine clearance equipment, thermal imaging systems and night vision devices.
Navalny on mercenary uprising: Nobody supported Putin
The imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexej Navalny attested to the Russian President Vladimir Putin's lack of support among the population with regard to the mercenary uprising a few days ago. "The moment military columns went to Moscow to occupy it, nobody stood up to defend Putin," Navalny said on Tuesday through his team on social networks. "There was no national unity around him." The Kremlin boss is apparently even more unpopular among the population than the insurgent leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Navalny.
NATO Secretary General warns against underestimating Russia
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned against taking the threat from Russia after the mercenary uprising less seriously. It is clear that Kremlin chief Putin's illegal war against Ukraine in Russia has deepened rifts and created new tensions, the Norwegian said in The Hague on the sidelines of preliminary talks for the NATO summit in July. At the same time, one should not underestimate Russia. It is now important to continue to support Ukraine. He expects a clear signal in this direction from the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
What is important today
In eastern and southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian army is continuing its counter-offensive and trying to liberate other occupied places.
