<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Kyiv can expect more deliveries of heavy weapons from Western countries soon, NATO said Sunday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his forces after their claimed capture of a Ukraine town.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dramatic rescue efforts unfolded at a tower block in the eastern city of Dnipro, shattered by a Russian missile strike that left 30 people dead and an estimated 34 people missing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the Russian people's "cowardly silence" over the attack, noting that Ukraine had received messages of sympathy from around the world over "this terror."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine could expect more heavy weapons following Kyiv's requests to its allies for the vehicles, artillery and missiles it says are key to defending itself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The recent pledges for heavy warfare equipment are important -- and I expect more in the near future," Stoltenberg told Germany's Handelsblatt daily, ahead of a meeting this week of a group that coordinates arms supplies to Kyiv.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Days after Russia claimed to have taken Soledar in eastern Ukraine, a salt-mining outpost home to 10,000 before the conflict, Putin hailed it as a major success.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There is a positive dynamic, everything is developing according to plans," Putin said, in an interview broadcast Sunday. "I hope that our fighters will please us more than once again."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's defence ministry announced this week it had "completed the liberation" of Soledar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This could be a key gain as Russian forces push towards what has been their main target since October: the nearby transport crossroads of Bakhmut.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Rivalries in Soledar -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukraine has denied Moscow's claims, insisting that heavy fighting continues in Soledar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But on Sunday, the US-based Institute for the Study of War said "Ukrainian forces are highly unlikely to still hold positions within the settlement of Soledar itself".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's victory there, if that is what it proves to be, follows months of humiliating setbacks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both sides have conceded heavy losses in the battle for the town.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rescuers in Dnipro meanwhile continued their search for survivors of Saturday's missile strike on a tower block that has so far claimed 30 lives.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dozens of people were also wounded in the attack, said regional adviser Natalia Babachenko in televised comments.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A 15-year-old girl was among the dead, officials said, after dozens of people were pulled from the rubble, including a woman brought out by rescuers Sunday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Babachenko said that "between 30 an 40 people are still under the rubble."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Survivor Kateryna, 17, said she was at home with her father when the missile struck.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I fell into a stupor, I didn't even know what to do. I started crying and screaming a lot," recalled Kateryna, wrapped in a powder-blue puffer jacket and hat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the Ukrainian army, the block was hit by an X-22 Russian missile that it lacked the capacity to shoot down.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Only anti-aircraft missile systems, which in the future may be provided to Ukraine by Western partners... are capable of intercepting these air targets," it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Washington joined a growing chorus of condemnation for the attack.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Yesterday's strikes are another example of the brutal and barbaric war Russia is waging against the Ukrainian people," said a US National Security Council spokesperson.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Weapons promised -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Saturday, Zelensky pleaded for more Western weaponry, saying that Russian "terror" could be stopped only on the battlefield.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Earlier this month, France, Germany and the United States respectively promised French AMX-10 RC light tanks, 40 German Marder infantry vehicles, and 50 Bradley fighting vehicles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, pressure is growing on the allies to go further and agree to delivery of battle tanks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged Saturday to provide 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, making it the first Western country to supply the heavy tanks Kyiv has been calling for.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's embassy in Britain warned that "bringing tanks to the conflict zone... will only serve to intensify combat operations, generating more casualties, including among the civilian population".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Power cuts -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukraine on Sunday was still reeling from Saturday's barrage, the 12th wave of large-scale missile attacks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Energy operator Ukrenergo said infrastructure was "being restored" but that the attacks had meant power cuts might increase.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The head of the military administration in the southern Kherson region, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said it was again under "massive attack".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russian strikes had hit civilian and critical infrastructure, including Red Cross premises and a centre for disabled children, he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's army said it targeted "the military command and related energy facilities... all targets were reached". AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>