Ukraine updates: Russian missiles strike hotel used by UN

The US government is imposing sanctions on "four prominent members of Russia's financial elite." 

They are all linked to Alfa Group Consortium, "one of the largest financial and investment conglomerates in Russia," the US State Department said.

"The United States will continue to take all appropriate action to hold accountable those who enable and profit from Russia's war against Ukraine," it added.

The oligarchs affected by the sanctions are Mikhail Fridman, co-founder of Alfa Group, German Khan, Alexey Kuzmichev and Petr Aven. 

As a result of the sanctions, possible assets of the named oligrachs in the United States are blocked. US citizens or people who are in the US are prohibited from doing business with the sanctioned companies and individuals.

Moscow has sentenced an environmental activist to six years in prison for criticizing Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, a rights group said.

Activist and musician Alexander Bakhtin was accused of spreading false information about the Ukraine conflict, a charge often used by Moscow against those who speak out against the conflict.

"Alexander was sentenced to six years in a penal colony," Andrey Shchetinin, a friend who attended the court session, told the French AFP news agency. He added that Bakhtin would be required to undergo regular psychiatric consultations. 

The charges against the activist were based on three social media posts from March and April 2022, in which he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the conflict.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has confirmed there were no updates to report regarding Kyiv's request for Berlin to send Taurus cruise missiles.

Speaking to the German newspaper the Thüringer Allgemeine on Friday, Scholz said there was "no new state of affairs to report."

"Our focus remains on sending weapons for air defense, heavy artillery and also tanks," he said. "That is the course we will continue on, in close consultation with our international partners."

The news comes amid growing media reports suggesting the German government is in talks with arms manufacturer MBDA regarding alterations to the programming of Taurus cruise missiles before their potential delivery to Ukraine.

The European Union has delivered 223,000 shells to Ukraine, under an earlier pledge to step up supplies of artillery shells to Kyiv amid shortfalls.

The delivery is the first part of the plan. The bloc had pledged to deliver a million artillery rounds in total.

"Member states have delivered around 223,800 artillery ammunition -- long-range self-propelled, precision-guided ammunitions as well as mortar ammunitions -- and 2,300 missiles of all types," EU spokesman Peter Stano said. 

Under the second part of the plan, the EU's defense agency is negotiating joint procurement contracts with European manufacturers for 155-mm howitzer shells and missiles. 

Ukraine has begun talks with the UK on security guarantees, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Friday in televised comments.

At the conclusion of last month's NATO summit in Lithuania, G7 countries pledged to begin consultations with Ukraine on providing Ukraine with "swift and sustained security assistance, modern military equipment across land, sea and air domains, and economic assistance." 

These commitments were made in lieu of setting a timeline for eventual NATO membership for Ukraine. 

Talks on security guarantees have already begun with the US. 

"Our goal is to have the first such agreements in place by the end of the year,"  Yermak said, 

"Our consultations with Britain have begun," he added.

At least 385 Ukrainian children who had been deported to Russia amid the conflict have been returned home, an Austria-based international charity that works with children said.

SOS Children's Villages said the figure was based on Ukrainian government statistics.

Eighty-four of the children were returned by the charity group and its partner organizations, it added.

"SOS Children's Villages supports the parents, by making financial resources available or by helping them plan the route," charity spokeswoman Anna Radl told the French AFP news agency on Friday.

Kyiv says over 19,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since Moscow invaded in February 2022. Many of them are allegedly placed in institutions and foster homes.

"Often it is the children themselves who seek help, for example via social networks. In other cases, [their] families, sometimes residents from occupied territories give indications," SOS Children's Villages said in the statement.

In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin with an arrest warrant over the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.

The heads of military recruitment across Ukraine are to be fired amid concerns that they have engaged in corruption, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on his Telegram channel on Friday.

"This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason," the Ukrainian president wrote.

Instead, he suggested employing soldiers who have fought already but can no longer for health reasons as they "do not have cynicism."

Zelenskyy said there were 112 criminal proceedings taking place against current recruitment officials.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said he had ordered his government to "contact" Poland, in a bid to ease tensions between the two neighbors.

"We need to talk to the Poles. I ordered the prime minister to contact them," Lukashenko said, according to state news agency Belta.

"We are neighbors and you don't choose your neighbors." 

Poland shares a 418-kilometer-long (260-mile) border with Belarus. Relations between the two nations have been rocky as Poland is a member of the European Union and the Western NATO military alliance, while Belarus is a staunch ally of Russia. 

Warsaw has already deployed some 5,000 border guards and 2,000 soldiers on Poland's eastern border with Belarus. 

The Polish government plans to station another 10,000 soldiers along the frontier as it worries about the presence of Russian-linked mercenaries in Belarus and migrants trying to cross the border.

Russia said it had struck a location where "foreign mercenaries" were quartered in Zaporizhzhia city. 

"In the area of the city of Zaporizhzhia, the point of temporary deployment of foreign mercenaries was hit," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The announcement came a day after Kyiv said Moscow targeted and destroyed a hotel frequently used by UN staff and NGOs. 

The missile strike killed one person and left 16 wounded. 

Despite previously getting a warm welcome from Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, there are now reports that the Wagner Group mercenaries have been kicked out of Belarus.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that it had jammed a drone that was flying toward Moscow, causing it to crash.

The Russian military said Ukraine was behind the attempted drone strike.

Earlier in the day, Russian news agencies reported that Moscow's Vnukovo airport had to be temporarily closed due to a suspected drone.

"For reasons beyond the control of the airport, temporary restrictions on the landing and take-offs of aircraft were introduced in Vnukovo," the airport said.

"For safety reasons, some of the flights were redirected to other airports of the Moscow aviation hub."

The Russian capital has been hit by several drone strikes in recent months. Russia has fired hundreds of drones and missiles at cities and towns across Ukraine since it launched its full-scale invasion in February last year.

The Ukrainian capital was again under attack on Friday as air raid sirens rang out and Mayor Vitali Klitschko told residents to seek shelter.

"Explosions in the city. Stay in shelters!" Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched hypersonic missiles at the Kyiv region. Officials also said the city's air defenses were in operation.

Klitschko said fragments from one of the Russian missiles that was shot down landed in the vicinity of a children's hospital but said there were no reports of injuries or damage.

A Russian missile struck a hotel in Zaporizhzhia on Thursday that is frequently used by UN staff.

One person was killed and 16 others were injured in the attack.

In his evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that "a fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile."

Local media reported the damaged building is Reikartz Hotel in the city center, which was frequently used by staff from the UN and various non-governmental organizations.

Photos showed heavy damage to the facade, a large crater in front of the building, and several burnt-out cars.

Denise Brown, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, condemned the strike in an email to Reuters.

"I am appalled by the news that a hotel frequently used by United Nations personnel and our colleagues from NGOs supporting people affected by the war has been hit by a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia shortly ago," she said.

"I have stayed in this hotel every single time I visited Zaporizhzhia." 

A warehouse in Odintsovo, west of Moscow, caught on fire on Thursday.

The warehouse is 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) from the official residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Officials did not say how the fire started.

It comes after Russia reported two drone strikes on Moscow this week — attacks for which Ukraine has not taken responsibility.

On the 15th anniversary of Russia taking control of two breakaway regions in Georgia — Abkhazia and South Ossetia — six Western countries on the UN Security Council have demanded Moscow return them to Tbilisi.

Russia fought a brief war with Georgia in 2008 when Georgia attempted to regain control over the two regions. After that, Moscow officially recognized them and set up military bases there.

In a joint statement, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Albania, Japan and Malta said the conflict should be resolved according to international law, which requires Georgia's territorial integrity to be respected, "also noting the context of Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine."

They also condemned "continuous provocations which go in parallel with the Russian Federation's unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine." 

Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, accused the "Russophobic West" of trying to "drive a wedge" between Russia and Georgia.

zc/lo (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)