Ukraine updates: Deadly drones strike Kharkiv residents

 A court in Ukraine has handed down a life sentence to a resident of Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine after he was found guilty of helping Russia direct a missile strike on a pizzeria last June. 

The Russian ballistic missile hit the popular "Ria Pizza" restaurant on a late June evening in 2023. Thirteen people including novelist Victoria Amelina were killed. 

"A local resident was sentenced to life imprisonment for guiding the occupiers' missile attack on the pizzeria in Kramatorsk," the Ukraine's Prosecutor General's office said.

The man was said to have been recruited to carry out the task by an intelligence official in the Russian-controlled part of the eastern Donetsk region. He was asked to gather information about the restaurant. 

"The convict agreed to the offer. In the city center, he noticed cars with military license plates in the car park and military themselves in the restaurant," it said.

The man then secretly recorded two videos of the site and immediately sent them to his handler via Telegram. He was charged with high treason and will also have property confiscated as part of the sentence. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Ukraine will eventually join NATO with support for the country remaining "rock solid" among the alliance's member states.

"Ukraine will become a member of NATO. Our purpose at the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership," Washington's top diplomat told reporters in Brussels.

Kyiv says about a third of Ukraine is contaminated by Russian mines, which need to be detected and removed for civilian life to resume. Many of those taking on this task are women. On the UN International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, DW looks at their work. 

A backup power line at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has stopped functioning, the management for the plant in Russian-occupied Ukraine said.

This left the station leaving only the main power line which was recently restored by Ukrainian engineers. The backup line was used for cooling the plant's reactors, a job that the 750-kilovolt main line will also have to power. 

Ukraine's energy agency Energoatom said the backup line was disconnected as a result of Russian shelling.

If the main line of supply from the Ukrainian power grid is disconnected, the station will end up on the verge of another blackout, which Energoatom said would be a serious violation of the conditions of safe operation of the station.

The plant in Zaporizhzhia is the largest not only in Ukraine, but also in the whole of Europe. 

Over the last 19 months, the plant has experienced eight cases of total off-site power loss leading to its dependence on emergency diesel generators, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Around 350,000 residents of Kharkiv and the surrounding region were left without electricity following an overnight Russian drone attack that also killed four people, including rescue workers.

"In Kharkiv and areas of the region, around 350,000 consumers have been disconnected," the Ukrenergo grid operator said in a statement. 

Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine's electricity grid, cutting power to thousands of people in an attempt to damage its energy infrastructure. Last summer, Russian strikes blew up the Kakhova hydroelectric dam causing widespread flooding.

Commenting on Thursday's attack President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it "despicable and cynical". 

"When the rescuers arrived at the scene of the strike, the terrorists attacked again." he said.

Mass cases of cholera among children have been reported in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in the Donetsk region.

The outbreak was reported by Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol post on Telegram

"That's why they [the occupation government] are trying to quickly shut things up with an undeclared quarantine, but it won't work," Andryushchenko wrote. 

In his opinion, rapid warming in recent days contributed to the appearance and spread of the disease. "The people of Mariupol are under occupation. The main defense is yourself,"  he added, advising to boil water, wash hands and not swim in the sea.  

The reports could not be independently verified.

Four people were killed and 12 wounded following an overnight Russian attack on Ukrainian Kharkiv, a city close to Russia's border. Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleh Synehubov noted that three of the injured were in serious condition. 

Ukrainian soldiers brought down 11 of the 20 combat drones launched by Russia, according to the General Staff report. The drones were launched at Kharkiv in several waves.  

The drones hit residential buildings, with one strike killing a  69-year-old woman in a 14-story building.

Three rescuers were also killed during the Russian attack while attempting to rescue six people who had been injured in another building. 

Drones also targeted the Zmiivska thermal power plant in the area, Governor Synehubov said.

ac/ab (AP, Reuters, DPA, AFP)