\n Moscow escalated its attacks in Ukraine on Saturday, with President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing a deadly strike on a blood transfusion centre as a \"war crime\".\n<\/p>\n
\n A separate strike struck a key factory, both attacks coming just hours after Kyiv hit a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait.\n<\/p>\n
\n The attacks were the latest since Moscow exited a deal last month that had ensured Ukrainian grain exports despite the ongoing conflict.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian forces struck the blood transfusion centre in the Kharkiv region of northeast Ukraine, Zelensky said, adding that \"dead and wounded are reported\".\n<\/p>\n
\n A \"guided air bomb\" hit the centre in Kupiansk, a city a few dozen kilometres from the Russian border, said Zelensky.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Rescuers are extinguishing the fire,\" he wrote on social media, adding: \"This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The strike came shortly after Zelensky said Russian missiles had hit a facility of the Ukrainian aeronautics group Motor Sich, a maker of plane and helicopter engines and other components.\n<\/p>\n
\n It is one of several companies requisitioned by the government since Moscow's invasion. The Motor Sich site is near Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine, around 300 kilometres (190 miles) southwest of Kyiv.\n<\/p>\n
\n The region, home to a major Ukrainian airbase, has been regularly targeted by Russian strikes in recent months.\n<\/p>\n
\n In his evening address, Zelensky remained defiant, insisting that \"no matter how many such Russian attacks there are, they will still do nothing for the enemy\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - Attack on fuel tanker -\n<\/p>\n
\n Earlier Saturday, Ukraine claimed it \"blew up\" a Russian tanker, the 'SIG', that was transporting fuel for Russian troops, a Ukrainian security source told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n The tanker was hit at around 11:20 pm (2020 GMT) on Friday south of the Kerch Strait, Russia's Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The ship was holed at the waterline in the area of the engine room but was still afloat, the agency said.\n<\/p>\n
\n In a video obtained by AFP purporting to show the attack, a vessel is seen approaching a large ship before the connection cuts off.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Ukrainian source said the \"successful special operation\", which involved a naval drone and explosives, was carried out jointly with the navy in Ukrainian territorial waters.\n<\/p>\n
\n The SIG oil and chemical tanker is under US sanctions for supplying jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria, who are supporting President Bashar al-Assad.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Crimea focus -\n<\/p>\n
\n The Russian foreign ministry condemned the attack on a \"civilian vessel\", adding that the crew had not been injured.\n<\/p>\n
\n Traffic on a key bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the Moscow-annexed Crimea peninsula to Russia's mainland resumed early on Saturday after a three-hour halt, according to the Russian highways information centre's Telegram channel.\n<\/p>\n
\n Crimea has been disrupted by several strikes throughout the war but it has seen more frequent attacks in recent weeks.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian forces on Saturday downed a drone over the sea near Sevastopol, city governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Tensions have risen on the Black Sea overall since Russia pulled out of the agreement protecting grain exports via the shipping hub during the conflict.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Friday, Ukraine struck the Olenegorsky Gornyak vessel at the Novorossiysk base in southern Russia, a Ukrainian security source told AFP, \"to show that Ukraine can attack any Russian warship in that zone\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia said it had repelled the attempted attack.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Frontline fighting -\n<\/p>\n
\n On the front line, Russia said Saturday it had captured the settlement of Novoselivske in northeastern Ukraine, where Kyiv said it was confronted with a growing number of attacks.\n<\/p>\n
\n Footage from the Russian army showed Novoselivske completely destroyed, with white smoke billowing over crumbling buildings.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukrainian army spokeswoman Ganna Malyar said Friday that Russian troops were aiming to draw Ukrainian resources to the east, as Ukraine pursues its counter-offensive in the south.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukraine began a fresh attempt in June to push back Russian troops but it has made only modest progress, its forces contending with well-entrenched Russian positions built up over several months.\n<\/p>\n
\n With both sides focused on winning on the battlefield, any chance to secure peace looks thin.\n<\/p>\n
\n Saudi Arabia is nevertheless hosting talks on the war with representatives from nearly 40 countries -- including China, India and South Africa -- but not Russia.\n<\/p>\n
\n The talks concluded Saturday and as expected, no final declaration was released.\n<\/p>\n
\n But a European source said there had been agreement that respect for Ukraine's \"territorial integrity and sovereignty\" should be \"at the heart of any peace settlement\".<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moscow escalated its attacks in Ukraine on Saturday, with President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing a deadly strike on a blood transfusion centre as a \"war crime\". A separate strike struck a key factory, both attacks coming just hours after Kyiv hit a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait. The attacks were the latest since Moscow exited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-120287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n