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Russian troops reportedly shelled Kherson 39 times as Putin's war rages on
Senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot reports the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war from Kyiv.
Russian forces on Saturday struck a maternity hospital in Kherson as Moscow continues to heavily shell civilian targets as both sides face off across the Dnieper River.
No casualties were reported by Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the President's Office, who confirmed the attack according to local news outlets.
The latest strike on a maternity hospital comes one day at 68 missiles reportedly rained down on Kherson and just weeks after Russian forces struck a maternity ward in Zaporizhzhia and killed a two-day-old infant.
Image grab from footage released by Ukraine Armed Forces on Thursday March 9, 2022 allegedly shows aftermath of Russia army bombardment on a children hospital in Mariupol, southeastern Ukraine, causing enormous destructions. (EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect)
STRIKES ON UKRAINE HOSPITAL KILL 2-DAY-OLD BABY, OFFICIALS SAY
Ukrainian police forces on Saturday said they some 47,000 war crime incidents had been reported since the invasion began over nine months ago.
Head of Ukraine’s National Police Ihor Klymenko said the accounts include reports of torture, rape, and the murder of civilians.
The figure is slightly lower than what Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported earlier this month when it said that over 51,000 incidents amounting to war crimes had been committed.
Kyiv this week called on the U.S. to back a tribunal that would hold Russia’s top leadership accountable for crimes committed in Ukraine, not merely the individual actors.
The EU has already backed such a proposal though the U.S. has yet to officially follow suit.
A Ukrainian serviceman patrols area near the Antonovsky Bridge which was destroyed by Russian forces after withdrawing from Kherson, Ukraine. The Biden administration announced Friday another $275 million in military aid to Ukraine. (WHD)
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A State Department spokesperson told WHD News Digital that it was "carefully reviewing proposals for a special tribunal" and said it looks to "remain in lockstep with Kyiv’s strongest partners."
"We are working with all of our international partners as we consider mechanisms to hold Russia to account," the spokesperson added. "Our careful review of proposals for a special tribunal includes collaboration with all stakeholders."
Ukraine has made advances in its eastern regions in recent months, including the recapture of the city of Kherson in November.
But Kyiv has warned that it anticipates Moscow is planning something in the south as Ukraine looks to keep Russia on the defensive and oust its troops from the region.
Anatoly Sikoza who buried the bodies stands Nov. 27, 2022, amid the rubble of a house where Russian forces killed seven men and one woman, hands bound, blindfolded and shot at close range. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
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On Saturday the U.K. defense ministry said that Ukraine has liberated roughly 54 percent of the territory Russia seized following its invasion.
Russia is now assessed to have control over just 18 percent of internationally recognized regions of Ukraine, including the Donbas and Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.