Lyiv - Russian forces continued their assaults on Ukrainian cities Friday, with early morning barrage of missiles on Lviv’s edge, the closest strike yet to the center of the city. New missile strikes and shelling on the capital Kyiv cotinued as world leaders pushed for an investigation of the Kremlin’s repeated attacks on civilian targets, including schools, hospitals and residential areas.
Ludmyla Denisova, Ukrainain parliament’s human rights commissioner, said Friday that 130 people had survived the theatre bombing and more than 1,300 people in these basements, in this bomb shelter.
Early morning barrages also hit a residential building in the Podil neighborhood of Kyiv, killing at least one person, according to emergency services, who said 98 people were evacuated from the building. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said 19 were wounded in the shelling.
The World Health Organization said it has verified 43 attacks on hospitals and health facilities, with 12 people killed and 34 injured.
The United Nations political chief, Undersecretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo, also called for an investigation into civilian casualties, reminding the U.N. Security Council that international humanitarian law bans direct attacks on civilians.
Bilateral talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said early Friday he was thankful to President Joe Biden for additional military aid, but he would not get into specifics about the new package, saying he did not want Russia to know what to expect.
Both Ukraine and Russia this week reported some progress in negotiations. Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s negotiating tactics cannot be revealed.
Putin spoke by phone Friday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who urged the Russian president to agree to an immediate cease-fire and called for an improvement to the humanitarian situation, a spokesman for Scholz said.
Collapsing Food Supply chain
The United Nations warned on Friday that Ukraine's food supply system is falling apart under Russia's invasion, with infrastructure destroyed and shops and warehouses growing empty.
Jakob Kern, emergency coordinator for the crisis at the U.N. World Food Programme, said Ukraine's "food supply chain is falling apart. Movements of goods have slowed down due to insecurity and the reluctance of drivers".
WFP, which feeds people in global crisis zones, also buys nearly half of its wheat from Ukraine. Kern said the war has already driven global food prices to all-time highs and could cause "collateral hunger" in poor countries worldwide.
The agency is paying $71 million a month extra for food this year due to both inflation and the Ukraine crisis, he said, adding that such an amount would cover the food supplies for 4 million people.
The fighting has led more than 3 million people to flee Ukraine, the U.N. estimates. The death toll remains unknown, though Ukraine has said thousands of civilians have died.
-Reuters/AP