7 killed in missile strike; Biden admin grants reprieve for Ukrainians in US: Updates
Missile and drone attacks overnight and on Saturday killed at least seven and injured scores more in Ukraine, including at least one child ‒ a 6-year-old child who died, officials said.
A missile attack during the day Saturday wounded over 100 people and killed seven in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, according to acting mayor Oleksandr Lomako. Elsewhere, Ukraine's air force said it shot down 15 out of 17 Russian drones targeting northern, central and western parts of the country.
After 18 months of fighting, assessments continue to suggest a Western-backed Ukrainian counteroffensive has had limited success at uprooting Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainians this week did have some counteroffensive success, regaining control of the village of Urozhaine on the edge of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. A leader of a Russian battalion fighting in Urozhaine said his troops "cannot win" and called for a "freezing the front."
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he wouldn't predict what the long-term prospects are for the Western-backed counter-offensive. "This war has been inherently unpredictable," Sullivan told reporters Friday. "I believe and have confidence in the capacity and especially the bravery of the Ukrainian fighters to continue to make progress on the battlefield."
In other developments, Ukraine is slated to get F16s from the Netherlands and Denmark after the United States gave its approval, a drone was shot down over Moscow, and in the United States, the Biden administration granted a reprieve to Ukrainians who fled to the US, allowing them to stay longer.
Latest developments:
∎ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Sweden, his first visit to the country since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
∎ In Russia, President Vladimir Putin visited top military officials in the city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border.
∎The deputy governor of the western Khmelnytskyi region, Serhii Tiurin, said two people were wounded and dozens of buildings damaged by an attack. In the northwestern Zhytomyr region, a Russian drone attack targeted an infrastructure facility and caused a fire, but no casualties were reported, said Gov. Vitalii Bunechko.
Estimates of war casualties have varied
The New York Times on Friday reported that U.S. intelligence estimates indicate the number of Russian and Ukrainian troops killed or injured since fighting began last year is nearing the grim milestone of 500,000, but the Pentagon declined to comment when asked by Paste BN about the figures.
Neither Moscow nor Kyiv releases timely and accurate data about its losses, though each side amplifies the other's casualties.
As of last month, Russia had acknowledged the deaths of just over 6,000 soldiers, and activists and independent journalists there say reporting on military losses is suppressed.
Russia’s wounded totaled about 200,000 troops, 40,000 of them killed, U.S. officials estimated this spring. U.S. classified documents allegedly leaked by a U.S. airman showed about 125,000 wounded Ukrainian troops, about 17,000 of them killed in action.
The United Nations has estimated civilian deaths at more than 9,400 Ukrainians and nearly 17,000 wounded.
Drone shot down over Moscow
Russian officials said air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone over central Moscow on Friday and some fragments fell on an exposition center, but no injuries were reported.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said some of the fragments fell on the grounds of the Expocentre, an exhibition complex adjacent to the Moscow City commercial and office complex that was hit twice by drones in the past month. It's about 2.5 miles west of the Kremlin.
Biden administration expands status for Ukrainians in US
President Joe Biden's administration announced expanded temporary legal status for Ukrainians who are already living in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security said it would extend status an additional 18 months, from October 20, 2023, through April 19, 2025. The department also said it would redesignate temporary protected status so that Ukrainian nationals living in the United States as of this week will be eligible.
“Russia’s ongoing military invasion of Ukraine and the resulting humanitarian crisis requires that the United States continue to offer safety and protection to Ukrainians who may not be able to return to their country,”Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. “We will continue to offer our support to Ukrainian nationals through this temporary form of humanitarian relief.”
The move is expected to make 166,700 Ukrainians eligible for Temporary Protected Status, up from about 26,000 currently, the Homeland Security Department said.
Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook, Paste BN; The Associated Press