Three people killed in Kherson Oblast shelling, Zelenskyy slaps sanctions on Moscow Exchange: highlights of the day

Russia kills family in Kherson Oblast

On the morning of February 19, Russian troops carried out a massive artillery attack on a village. One of the shells hit the yard of a house with local residents. At the time of the shelling, a family was in the building, the regional authorities reported.

Seven people were injured in the family's home: the father, mother, and uncle were killed; the grandmother, an adult man, a 10-year-old girl, and an 8-year-old boy were injured. All the wounded were taken to a medical facility where doctors are providing them with the necessary assistance.

New sanctions against Russian Federation

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of February 19, 2023, to impose economic sanctions for 10 years against 333 Russian citizens and the Moscow Stock Exchange.

For example, among the Russians against whom sanctions have been imposed are Dmitry Khotimsky, co-owner of Sovcombank, and other employees of the bank. Employees of Uralsib Bank, Metallinvestbank, Zenit Bank, etc. were also sanctioned, according to the sanctions lists available on the NACP website.

Inspection into killed conscript

The Ternopil Military Recruitment Center will conduct an internal inspection of the training of conscript Bohdan Pokitko, who was sent to the combat zone in Donetsk Oblast a month after being drafted where he died after four days.

Before that, social media reported that the deceased Bohdan Pokitko was served a call-up notice at a bus stop in Ternopil in the second half of January and was forcibly taken to a military commissariat. As noted, the recruit had not previously served in the military, and after being drafted, he did not undergo training in a military unit or at a training ground.

Boycott of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

The delegation of the Verkhovna Rada will not participate in the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which will be held on February 23-24 in Vienna. The reason is that Russian representatives will be admitted to the session, announced a member of the delegation, MP from the Servant of the People party Yevheniya Kravchuk.

Other news

• The Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence initiated a meeting next week because of the high-profile cases that occurred during mobilization, said committee member Fedir Venislavskyi;
• British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that NATO allies should finalize the development of security guarantees for Ukraine before the upcoming meeting of alliance leaders at the summit in July;
• Russian occupation forces continued shelling Kharkiv Oblast on February 19. At least four people were reported wounded;
• on February 19, the Ukrainian Defense Forces shot down an enemy Su-25 aircraft, two Orlan-10 drones and a Lancet-3 kamikaze drone, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported;
• in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea, relatives of mobilized soldiers are massively appealing to the Russian Defense Ministry over violations of the rights of servicemen, according to the morning report of the General Staff.