🔴 Live: Deadly strike on Ukraine’s Odesa, missiles downed over Kyiv

Issued on: 18/05/2023 – 06:30

7:29am: China envoy says ‘no panacea’ to end war in Ukraine

China’s special envoy Li Hui told Ukraine “there is no panacea to resolve the crisis” as he repeated calls for Kyiv and Moscow to engage in talks to end the war, Beijing said on Thursday.

Li visited Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he held talks with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other officials. Li is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

“There is no panacea to resolve the crisis, and all parties need to start from themselves, build mutual trust and create conditions to stop the war and talk,” said Li, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, according to a statement by Beijing’s foreign ministry.

6:20am: One killed in Ukraine’s Odesa, missiles downed over Kyiv

At least one person was killed by a Russian missile strike on an industrial facility in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, while falling debris during an air raid triggered two fires in the eastern districts of Kyiv, officials said on Thursday.

Two more people were wounded in the Odesa attack, military administration spokesman Serhiy Bratchuk wrote on Telegram.

6:15am: China says it will continue aiding Ukraine ‘in its own way’

China and Ukraine agreed they should work together to continue their mutual respect and keep their mutually beneficial cooperation moving forward, the Chinese foreign ministry said in statement on Thursday.

The statement comes after China’s Special Envoy of Eurasian Affairs Li Hui met with the president of Ukraine.

“China has always played a constructive role in alleviating the humanitarian situation in Ukraine in its own way and will continue to provide assistance to Ukraine within its capacity,” the foreign ministry said.

6:00am: G7 to press Russia, weigh risk of China’s ‘economic coercion’

“There will be discussions about the state of play on the battlefield,” said US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan said leaders would focus on further deterring Russia off the battlefield – tightening a sanctions regime that, according to official statistics, caused Russia’s economy to contract a further 1.9 percent last quarter.

The G7 has already adopted price caps on Russian petroleum products, plunging revenues by about 43 percent, according to International Energy Agency figures.

But Sullivan indicated leaders may look to close loopholes that help President Vladimir Putin fund his struggling war effort.

“There’ll be discussions about the state of play on sanctions and the steps that the G7 will collectively commit to on enforcement,” he said.

5:06am: Loud explosions heard in Kyiv, debris causes fires

Loud explosions were heard in Kyiv early Thursday morning, and the city’s Military Administration said falling debris caused a fire in a non-residential building.

Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, writing on Telegram, said one fire had broken out in a garage facility in the Darnitsya region of the capital. He said there were no casualties.

The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said on Telegram that a fire had broken out in non-residential premises in the Desnyansky district, just east of the capital.

He provided no information on casualties.

4:44am: Air raid alerts sound across Ukraine, military warns of strikes in central regions

Ukraine’s army reported several explosions in Kyiv and other parts of the country early Thursday morning, urging people to stay in bomb shelters.

“According to preliminary information, the fall of debris was recorded in the Darnytskyi district of the capital. Data on victims and destruction are currently being verified,” Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s civil and military administration, wrote on Telegram.

Key developments from Wednesday, May 17:

Russia agreed to a two-month extension of a deal that has allowed Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea to parts of the world struggling with hunger, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday, a boost to global food security after the war drove up prices.

Ukraine’s foreign minister told a top Chinese envoy at talks in Kyiv on Wednesday that Kyiv would not accept any proposals to end the war with Russia that involved it losing territory.

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded. 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)