North Korean missiles strike Zaporizhzhia, killing steel plant workers
Russia used North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles in an attack on Zaporizhzhia that killed seven civilian workers at a Metinvest steel plant, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. He warned Moscow is preparing for escalation, including a new mobilisation drive, rather than peace.
Russian forces used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea in an attack on the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The Metinvest steel company reported that seven civilian workers at its plant were killed and 21 injured. In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, three more civilians, including a 15-year-old boy, died in a Russian drone and artillery attack.
On Tuesday, Russia struck Ukrainian cities with missiles, drones and glide bombs. One strike hit the grounds of a children's hospital, leaving two craters but causing no injuries, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.
Ukraine's military said it struck an oil refinery in Orsk, in Russia's Orenburg region roughly 1,500km from Ukraine, sparking a fire. The plant can process about 44 million barrels of crude annually. Russian online retailer Wildberries said its logistics facility in the Voronezh region also caught fire after an attack. Romania's navy said it destroyed two suspected Russian Gerbera-type drones found drifting in the Black Sea near Constanta.
Mobilisation warning
Zelenskyy said Russia is trying to exploit Ukraine's critical shortage of Patriot air defence interceptors and is preparing to bring in more troops for a new frontline push, including up to 50,000 additional North Korean soldiers. He said Ukrainian intelligence indicates Russia will use its September 'pseudo-election' as a pretext for a new mobilisation wave in autumn, followed by further mobilisations later this year and in 2026. Russia's supreme court on Monday barred the Yabloko party, the only registered party opposing the war, from the election.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine has submitted proposals to US negotiators for ending the war, without giving details. US envoys have not visited Kyiv since January.
The United Nations estimates more than 16,000 civilians detained by Russia during the war remain deprived of their liberty, with a UN official citing widespread torture and abuse of both civilian detainees and prisoners of war.
