KHERSON (Reuters): A dozen people were wounded, including a 27-year-old woman and her 9-month-old baby, in a Russian attack on the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, its governor said on Sunday.
“The Kherson region experienced another terrible night,” Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The woman and the infant were hospitalised with moderate wounds, he said, adding that a 33-year-old Red Cross medic was also wounded. Several houses and gas pipelines were damaged in the attack.
Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces carried out 59 attacks on Kherson, the region’s administration said on Telegram, including 19 instances of shelling of Kherson city, the region’s administrative centre. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Russia has frequently carried out air strikes and shelling on Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine says its counteroffensive in the south and east is gradually making progress.
Both sides deny targeting civilians, but thousands of civilians in Ukraine have been killed in attacks that have hit residential areas as well as energy, defence, port, grain and other facilities.
Russia to seek return to UN rights body despite Ukraine war: Russia, which was ousted from the UN Human Rights Council after its forces invaded Ukraine, will attempt a return to the body on Tuesday — an uncertain move that will provide a gauge of its international support. The UN General Assembly will vote that day to elect 15 new members to the Geneva-based UN body, for terms running from 2024 to 2026.
The council’s 47 members are allocated by region, and each large regional group usually pre-selects its own candidates, which the General Assembly then generally approves. But this year two groups have more candidates than available seats: Latin America (candidates from Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Peru will contest three seats), and Eastern Europe (Albania, Bulgaria and Russia will vie for two seats). Moscow’s candidacy has drawn skepticism, and the vote will come just days after a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian village of Groza killed more than 50 people in a scene of carnage. “We hope UN members will firmly reject (Russia’s) preposterous candidacy,” a State Department spokesperson told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Members of Russia’s forces have committed violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine,” the spokesperson added. Mariana Katzarova, a top UN expert, recently said repression inside Russia had intensified since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, reaching levels “unprecedented in recent history.” To be elected to the rights council, a country needs 97 votes of the UN’s 193 member countries.
In April 2022, 93 countries voted to suspend Russia from the council, while 24 opposed that move. That majority vote against Russia was less lopsided than other resolutions defending the territorial integrity of Ukraine, with around 140 countries approving. But the situation with the rights council is more complex, as some countries also seen as rights offenders fear they may face the same fate.
Dozen injured, including baby, in Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kherson
