INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Rescue workers were digging through debris Friday, a day after Russian missiles tore through Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, killing nearly
two dozen people, including children, in an attack President Volodymyr Zelensky said was an act of terrorism.Russia claimed Friday the
suppliers, without providing supporting evidence.But among those confirmed killed was four-year-old Liza Dmitrieva, who had Down's Syndrome
viral.The midday blast left smoke billowing from burnt-out shops and the charred remains of cars
On Friday hundreds of rescue workers were clearing debris from gutted buildings and searching for those still missing."No other state in the
world poses such a terrorist threat as Russia," a somber Zelensky said late Thursday, warning the death toll was likely to rise.United
Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "appalled" by the attack, while the European Union condemned it as an
More than 400 people were involved in clean up operations, the emergency services announced.Outpouring for slain toddlerThe missile strikes
on Vinnytsia are the latest Russian attacks with a high civilian toll and come less than a week after strikes on Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk
region left nearly 50 dead.Officials identified four-year-old Liza as among the victims and initially believed her mother had been killed
too, but announced Friday she was alive in a "critical" condition after surgery.First Lady Olena Zelenska said in early Friday she was
"horrified" by Liza's death and images of her overturned pushchair released by local authorities."I will not write all the words I want to,
to those who killed her," she wrote on Twitter.State Emergency Service of UkraineState Emergency Service of UkraineRussia said it had
targeted Ukraine military officials meeting to discuss arms supplies and aircraft repairs with foreign representatives."As a result of the
strike, the participants of the meeting were destroyed," the Russian Defense Ministry said.Moscow launched its invasion on Feb
24 and the conflict has killed thousands of people, destroyed cities and forced millions to flee their homes.Deadly strikes in central
Ukraine have become relatively rare, but the war has raged around southern cities like Mykolaiv, which has been under near-constant Russian
Mykolaiv" with "at least 10 missiles."He shared video of black smoke rising from a building in the city while Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych
said four people were wounded.The heaviest fighting recently however has focused recently on the industrial Donbas region in the
east.'Clearing' Donbas town SiverskMoscow-backed separatists said Friday they were closing in on their next target, Siversk, after wresting
control of sister cities Lysychansk and Severodonetsk two weeks ago."Ukraine has decided to gradually pull its units from the town of
Siversk," Andrey Marochko, a spokesman for the separatist forces, told Russian state news agency TASS.Donetsk separatist official Daniil
Versonov meanwhile said fighters were "clearing" eastern districts of Siversk in small groups.AFP could not independently verify the
claims.The pro-Moscow authorities also said Friday that British citizen Paul Urey had died in their captivity."He died on July 10," Darya
Morozova, a representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, which claims he was a combatant who took part in conflicts in
Afghanistan and the Middle East.Non-governmental organizations however describe Urey as a humanitarian who was volunteering in
Ukraine.Reports of Urey's death were "clearly alarming," a Downing Street spokesman said."Our thoughts are with his family and friends," the
spokesman added.Negotiations to end the conflict collapsed early in the war but Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Istanbul this week
to discuss unblocking Ukraine's grain exports.The countries at war are among the world's largest producers and the conflict has pushed up
to unblock grain exports from Ukrainian ports would be ready "soon."
