Russian missile and bomb attacks in Ukraine over the past week killed at least 16 people, injured more than 100 and hit a Latvian diplomatic site, the European Union said in a statement to the OSCE in Vienna on Wednesday.
Ballistic missiles struck the Kyiv region on 24 July, killing 11 people and injuring around 100, according to the EU’s statement at the OSCE Permanent Council, cited by the European External Action Service (EEAS) on Thursday.
Guided aerial bombs also hit Slovyansk the same day, killing at least five civilians and injuring at least nine others.
Latvia’s Honorary Consulate in Slovyansk was destroyed and two staff members were injured.
The EU said the attacks also targeted civilians, civilian infrastructure, humanitarian operations, commercial vessels and diplomatic missions.
The EU also reported disruption to humanitarian aid after attacks on warehouses used by UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization — UN agencies that provide support such as child welfare, food assistance and medical aid.
It said repeated strikes on civilian fuel stations in frontline regions had further complicated humanitarian logistics and access to essential services.
Calls for detainee releases and sanctions
The EU called on Russia to release “all unlawfully detained civilians”, including three OSCE staff members — Vadym Golda, Maksym Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov — and to ensure the return of Ukrainian children it said had been deported or forcibly transferred.
It also referred to the mass killing in Olenivka four years ago and called on Russia to comply with international humanitarian law in its treatment of prisoners of war, adding that the EU had recently adopted restrictive measures against people “directly involved in the torture” of Ukrainian POWs.
The EU said it had adopted a 21st package of restrictive measures last week, describing them as designed to weaken the “economic and financial foundations” of Russia’s war economy.
It urged countries to stop assisting Russia’s war effort, including through the supply of dual-use goods — items that can be used for both civilian and military purposes — and condemned what it described as military support for Russia from Iran, Belarus and the DPRK, as well as the deployment of DPRK forces in the war.
The EU also condemned what it called repeated violations of Romania’s airspace by drones in the context of intensified attacks against Ukraine, and expressed solidarity with Romania.
Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, San Marino and Ukraine aligned themselves with the EU statement.
