Ukraine strikes Siberia refinery as Kazakh leader tells Putin war should end
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MOSCOW: Ukrainian drones struck a Siberian oil refinery on Saturday (Jul 25) and disrupted a Urals athletics competition, as Kazakhstan's president told Russian President Vladimir Putin the Ukraine war should end, during a forum in Siberia's Omsk.
In occupied Ukraine, Russian-installed authorities said a Ukrainian strike had killed 12 people at a seaside "tourist camp", as well as one more in a Moscow-held town and two in Russian border villages.
Kyiv said Russian attacks killed five people in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The deaths come as the UN has warned of civilians dying in larger numbers recently in the almost 4.5-year war.
US-led talks on ending the fighting have stalled, and the Kremlin said it intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine.
Moscow said Ukraine, which has intensified its retaliatory strikes, launched more than 300 drones into Russia on Saturday, including on far-flung regions.
The governor of Siberia's Tyumen region said a local oil refinery was set ablaze, while Russia's athletics federation said an all-Russian competition in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg was halted over drone threats.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed the Siberia strike and said Kyiv had hit a military factory in the Kirov region for a second day in a row, a day after an attack there killed five people, according to local authorities.
Kyiv has said its retaliatory strikes are aimed at damaging Moscow's war effort and forcing the Kremlin to negotiate.
In Siberia's Omsk, hours after the strikes, Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told Mr Putin the Ukraine war should end, as the pair met for a Russia-Kazakhstan summit.
"It is a shame, young people are dying... All this has to be stopped," Mr Tokayev said, sitting next to Mr Putin in televised comments.
Mr Putin is rarely confronted with officials publicly telling him the fighting should stop.
Mr Tokayev said the conflict should be "frozen" and suggested a return to Istanbul talks before moving "to a long-awaited peace."
The Central Asian leader, who is a Moscow ally but has never condoned Russia's offensive, said the roots of the war are "not understandable".
Mr Putin responded that he would inform Mr Tokayev of "the details" of the war.
The Russian leader has repeatedly said Moscow intends to take the rest of eastern Ukraine by force.
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RUSSIA SAYS 12 DEAD IN OCCUPIED TOWN
Russian occupation authorities in southern Ukraine said a Ukrainian strike on an Azov Sea town left 12 people dead, including four children, on Saturday, accusing Kyiv of targeting a "tourist camp".
Mr Yevgeny Balitsky, the Kremlin-installed head of the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, said the strike hit the seaside town of Kyrylivka.
"The whereabouts of eight people is unknown and rescue operations are ongoing," Mr Balitsky said.
Another person was killed in the occupied part of the Kherson region, Moscow said.
Kyiv has not yet commented on the strike.
Ukraine has upped attacks in the Azov Sea, where it has targeted Russian shipping.
Mr Zelenskyy said a Russian strike on the north-eastern town of Sumy, which he said included a "double-tap" attack, killed three people at a site belonging to the Nova Poshta private courier service.
Two other people were also killed in southern and eastern Ukraine, Kyiv said.
URALS, SIBERIA HIT
Far from the battlefield, Ukrainian drones disrupted an all-Russian athletics competition in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
Also in Yekaterinburg, Russian online retail giant Wildberries said it evacuated its staff over a drone threat, but that its facility was not damaged.
Wildberries, Russia's version of Amazon, has been targeted by Kyiv's drones for a week, causing fires and business losses.
Ukrainian drones have caused nationwide fuel shortages and disrupted ordinary life in Russia more than at any point during more than four years of war.
Russia said on Saturday it would extend a fuel export ban until the end of the year.
Ukrainian strikes on oil depots and refineries have caused unprecedented shortages and queues at petrol stations.
Ukraine has said its strikes are aimed at damaging Russia's war effort and forcing the Kremlin to negotiate an end to its more than four-year offensive.
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