Three people killed in Russian shelling of Kherson, says Ukraine

Russian shelling on Monday damaged a hospital and homes in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, killing three people and injuring at least 12, including a 2-month-old baby, officials said.

Russian troops abandoned Kherson and the western bank of the Dnipro River in the region late last year, but now regularly bombard those areas from positions on the eastern bank. Locals usually face rounds of air alerts during the day.

Two people were killed and 10 more injured in an afternoon combined attack in the central part of the city, local governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

“Eight vehicles, including one ambulance, an administrative building, a hospital, and at least fifteen houses were destroyed or damaged,” he added.

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Mr Prokudin shared a video, showing buildings with shell holes and shattered windows, piles of construction waste around the street, and a destroyed ambulance.

In a separate message, the governor said that earlier on Monday a car was shot at in a suburb of Kherson, killing one person and wounding a 2-month-old boy and his mother.

“This burnt-out pile of scrap metal just a few hours ago was the car that the family was returning from a medical examination,” he added, sharing a video of firefighters working at the site.

The reports could not be independently verified.

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European Union officials are finalising the “last details” of a proposed 12th package of sanctions on Russia that will include a diamond ban, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

Mr Borrell said the European Commission, the EU executive, could approve the proposed package on Wednesday. It would then go to the Council of the EU, comprising the 27 member countries, for discussion and approval.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has already applied 11 packages of sanctions against Moscow to diminish the Kremlin’s ability to finance the war. The measures span across sectors and include some 1,800 individuals and entities.

“This twelfth package will include ... new export bans, among them ... diamonds, actions to tighten the oil price cap, in order to decrease the revenue that Russia is getting from selling its oil - not to us but to others - (and) fighting against circumvention,” Mr Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

- Reuters