While we reported that the city of Kiev and the surrounding region shot down most of the missiles at a night checkpoint, other parts of Ukraine were not as successful.
Since then, it emerged that another 25 people sought medical assistance after the attacks in the Dnipro region, including Dnipropetrovsk, despite the destruction through air defenses of seven rockets.
The eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad was hit twice, damaging or destroying 19 apartment buildings and 25 personal buildings, Dnipro Regional Council leader Mykola Lukashuk said.
“There have been fires, rescue is working,” he added.
The pope said he was carrying out a secret project to end the fighting and offered to help repatriate Ukrainian children brought to Russia.
Pope Francis said he had spoken with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Russian Orthodox Church’s representative in Budapest, about his diplomatic efforts.
He met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and in the past said he wanted to make a stop in Kiev and Moscow as part of a peacekeeping mission.
“There’s a project going on right now, but it’s still public. When it is public, I will reveal it,” the pope said last night as he returned from Hungary.
“I believe that peace is made through the opening of channels. You can never achieve peace through closure. “
Referring to their meetings, he said: “We don’t just communicate about Little Red Riding Hood. We communicate about all those things. Everyone is interested in the path of peace.
Shmyhal asked the pope to repatriate the nearly 19,500 young people who, according to Ukraine, were illegally deported to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea.
During the flight, Pope Francis said the Vatican is “willing” to help “because it’s the right thing to do. “
“All human gestures help, but acts of cruelty don’t help. We will have to do everything humanly possible. “
According to the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a barrage of 18 missiles introduced into Ukraine was largely repelled overnight.
Air defense groups destroyed 15 of the 18 rockets, targets across the country, adding up to the Kiev region, which is home to the capital.
Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said “strategic aviation aircraft” were used to launch the strikes around 2:30 a. m. time, with air raid sirens sounding for more than 3 hours.
All missiles aimed at the capital were shot down and there were no civilian casualties or destroyed apartments or infrastructure, Kiev city officials said.
Ukrainian media reported explosions in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions.
Russia has stepped up its missile attacks on Ukraine in days.
Sky News cannot independently publish those battlefield reports.
Welcome to our war policy in Ukraine. Here are the five things you want to know this morning.
Family and friends buried children and others killed in a Russian missile strike in the central Ukrainian city of Uman.
Almost all of the 23 victims of Friday’s attack were killed when two missiles hit a building.
Six-year-old Mykhayl Shulha wept and kissed relatives next to the coffin of her 12-year-old sister, Sofia Shulha, at today’s funeral, while others paid their respects to a 17-year-old boy.
People also brought flowers and photos of the sick to the collapsed building.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed how to end his country’s war with Russia with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The presidents spoke by phone and discussed the needs of Ukraine’s military.
In a late-night video address, Zelenskyy said they were coordinating their positions on the war and thanked France for promising to send weapons to Ukraine.
The French Presidency stated that Mr Macron had reaffirmed France’s support for Ukraine for M. Zelenskyy and had made an inventory of European coordination to provide military aid to Ukraine.
Earlier this week, European Union foreign policy leader Josep Borrell expressed confidence that the bloc would finalize a plan within days to buy ammunition for Ukraine after Kiev expressed frustration over doubts among EU member states.
Five missiles hit Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region overnight, the region’s governor said.
In a message on Telegram, Kyrylenko said two rockets landed in a box outside the city, two in a commercial domain and one in a personal domain.
He went on to say that Russian forces also shelled the eastern town of Avdiivka five times.
No casualties were reported.
Footage shows dilapidated buildings in the central Ukrainian city of Uman after Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at the domain on Friday, killing at least 23 people.
Almost all of the victims were killed when two missiles hit an apartment building in the city.
Five young men were among the dead, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Saturday.
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) advice to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to foreign festivals as neutral is “excessive and discriminatory,” the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Athletes’ Commission said.
The IOC sanctioned Russia and its best friend Belarus after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but last month allowed its athletes to return to foreign festivals as neutrals.
Now, the Republic of China has the “excessive and discriminatory” measures.
“The proposed criteria for reinstatement and admission are exaggerated and discriminatory: by nationality and play, by field and play, and by association with certain entities that have been playing for decades in most post-Soviet states,” the commission said. in one sentence.
“From our point of view, a harmful precedent has been set when no athlete in the world can be sure that their human and civil rights will now be duly respected, that decisions will be made on the basis of the law and the Olympic Charter: exemptions. “
The IOC will decide separately whether Russian and Belarusian athletes will participate in the 2024 Games at a later date, while Ukraine has threatened to boycott the Games if Russians are allowed to participate.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive “will be almost a gradual approach,” army analyst Sean Bell told Sky News.
Bell, Ukraine’s first step regarding its spring counteroffensive would be to withdraw much of Russia’s logistical support.
He said it may be only in the domain of the land bridge near the south of the country.
“It turns out that Ukrainian arrangements are almost complete for this offensive,” he added.
Speaking about the latest attack on an oil tank in Crimea, Bell said Russia had claimed four tanks had been destroyed, but “it appears that ten” were destroyed.
“Today everything is under control, however, the Russians claimed that the Ukrainians introduced a drone attack,” he said.
“They said it was fixed from Odessa, which is 250 km away, that’s a long way. “
He noted that Russia claimed the Mugin-5 drone caused the damage and said that individually, the drones were “vulnerable” but that together they can be “dangerous. “