Russian Missiles Kill One, Wound Four in Air Strike on Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian service members cover a tank with a camouflage net at their position, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 23, 2022. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova./File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian service members cover a tank with a camouflage net at their position, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 23, 2022. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova./File Photo
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Russian Missiles Kill One, Wound Four in Air Strike on Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian service members cover a tank with a camouflage net at their position, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 23, 2022. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova./File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian service members cover a tank with a camouflage net at their position, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 23, 2022. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova./File Photo

Russian warplanes fired 19 long-range missiles at targets in Ukraine on Friday morning, killing one civilian in a central region, wounding four more and damaging an industrial facility, Kyiv officials said.
The strike was the first big salvo of missiles Russia has fired at targets, including the Ukrainian capital, in weeks. Russia has mainly been using drones for its overnight attacks in recent weeks, Reuters said.
"Unfortunately, one person is dead. Preliminarily, four people are wounded. They are all in hospital. Two people are in severe condition," Dnipropetrovsk's regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on the Telegram messaging app.
Air defenses shot down 14 incoming missiles over the region outside Kyiv and the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said in televised comments.
The strike damaged an unnamed industrial facility and more than a dozen homes in the towns of Pavlohrad and Ternivka and the village of Yuryivska, Lysak said.
Russia used seven Tu-95 bombers to launch missiles at different regions across the country, the air force said in a statement.
Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said the Ukrainian capital had been targeted in the attack but that all the missiles were downed by air defenses as they approached.
Missile debris damaged privately-held homes in several settlements in Kyiv region, smashing windows and destroying some walls, governor Ruslan Kravchenko said.
Air alerts were announced at about 0700 a.m. (0500 GMT) and lasted for over 2 hours.
Officials reported an earlier overnight missile attack that struck the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said rescuers and police were clearing rubble after the attack damaged a five-story residential building, at least seven residential homes and 20 cars.



Nuclear Watchdog Chief Says Room to Maneuver on Iran 'Shrinking'

Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP29 - AFP
Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP29 - AFP
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Nuclear Watchdog Chief Says Room to Maneuver on Iran 'Shrinking'

Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP29 - AFP
Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP29 - AFP

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned Tuesday that "the margins for maneuver are beginning to shrink" on Iran's nuclear program ahead of an important trip to Tehran.

"The Iranian administration must understand that the international situation is becoming increasingly tense and that the margins to maneuver are beginning to shrink, and that it is imperative to find ways to reach diplomatic solutions," Rafael Grossi, told AFP in an interview at the COP29 climate summit in Baku.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is allowed to carry out inspections in Iran, he said, but "we need to see more. Given the size, depth and ambition of Iran's program, we need to find ways of giving the agency more visibility."

His visit comes after Donald Trump -- who pulled out of a hard-won nuclear deal with Iran negotiated under Barack Obama -- has been voted back into the White House.

"I already worked with the first Trump administration and we worked well together," the IAEA chief insisted.

To the dismay of many of its allies, Washington pulled out of the agreement in 2018. The deal was supposed to dismantle much of Iran's nuclear program and open it up to greater inspection in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

- Tehran 'open' to talks -

All attempts to revive the 2015 accord -- signed with the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- have since failed.

"It's an empty shell," Grossi admitted.

Since then the Iranian nuclear program has continued to expand, even if Tehran denies it has a nuclear bomb.

The Islamic Republic has greatly increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, according to the IAEA, close to the 90 percent needed to make an atomic weapon.

But since the new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian took office in August, Tehran has indicated that it would be open to talks to resurrect the agreement.

Grossi's last visit to Iran was in May when he went to Isfahan province, home to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.

He then urged Iran's leaders to adopt "concrete" measures to address concerns over its nuclear program and to increase cooperation with inspectors.