Latest developments:
- Pope Francis’ peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, traveled to Moscow weeks after a visit to Kyiv, with the Vatican saying he seeks “a solution to the tragic current situation” of the war in Ukraine.
- U.S. President Joe Biden says Russian President Vladimir Putin is a diminished figure after the short-lived mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries.
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Ukraine’s counterintelligence service said Wednesday that it had arrested a man it accused of helping Russia direct a missile attack that hit a popular pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk, killing at least 11 people and wounding another 61.
The restaurant has been frequented by journalists, aid workers and soldiers as well as local residents. The Security Service of Ukraine provided no evidence for its claim that the arrested man had filmed the restaurant and had told the Russians about it.
On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated Russia’s claim that it does not target civilians.
The strike during dinnertime on Tuesday was one of several Russia launched on Ukrainian cities throughout the evening and into early Wednesday.
Emergency services posted photos of rescue teams searching through the rubble at the restaurant.
Kramatorsk is west of the front lines where fighting is taking place in Donetsk province in eastern Ukraine.
A Russian strike on the city's railway station in April 2022 killed 63 people.
Ukraine also reported a Russian missile strike Tuesday in Kremenchuk, which came exactly a year after a Russian attack there killed at least 20 people at a shopping mall.
"Each such manifestation of terror proves over and over again to us and to the whole world that Russia deserves only one thing as a result of everything it has done — defeat and a tribunal, fair and legal trials against all Russian murderers and terrorists," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Tuesday.
Air defense
Lithuania said Wednesday it was buying two Norwegian-made NASAMS air defense systems for Ukraine’s military.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda announced the deal as he visited Kyiv for talks with Zelenskyy.
“The NASAMS launchers will reach Ukraine in the near future,” Nauseda said on Facebook.
Zelenskyy welcomed the move, tweeting that he was grateful to the Lithuanian leader.
“This is an important and timely contribution to protecting Ukraine’s sky and saving lives of Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy said.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
