Russian airstrike kills 4, injures 14

A Russian airstrike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown killed a mother and her three children and left 14 people wounded, officials said Tuesday.

Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said rescue and recovery operations were complete after the residential building in Kryvyi Rig was hit a day earlier.

The office of the prosecutor general said a 32-year-old woman and children who were 10, 2 and 2 months old were killed.

In Russia’s Belgorod region, a Ukrainian drone attack started a fire at an oil depot, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov posted on the Telegram messaging app.

He said a tank caught fire and 10 fire crews responded in the Starkooskolsky District near the Ukrainian border.

The Russian defense ministry also said 13 Ukrainian drones were destroyed overnight, all in regions bordering Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 46 Russian drones overnight.

In addition, Ukrainian’s military was “holding back a fairly large grouping of Russian troops – 50,000 of the occupier’s army personnel,” in the Kursk region, Zelenskyy said in his address to the nation Monday.

“Our forces’ strikes on Russian arsenals have reduced the amount of artillery used by the occupier, and this is noticeable at the front. That is why we need decisions from our partners – America, Britain, Germany – on long-range capabilities,” Zelenskyy said. “This is vital. The further our missiles and drones can hit, the less real combat capability Russia will have.”

North Korea defense pact

The forces in Kursk include 11,000 North Korean troops deployed by Russia to Kursk, Zelenskyy has said, although Moscow will neither confirm nor deny their involvement.

State media in North Korea reported that country ratified a defense agreement with Russia on Tuesday, formalizing months of deepening security ties.

The deal “was ratified as a decree” of leader Kim Jong Un, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Tuesday.

The notice comes after Russian lawmakers voted unanimously last week to ratify the deal, which President Vladimir Putin later signed.

“The treaty will take effect from the day when both sides exchanged the ratification instruments,” KCNA said.

Putin and Kim signed the strategic pact in June, during Putin’s visit to North Korea. 

Material from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse was used in this report.
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