June 29, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Eleven body fragments have been found at the site of the Kremenchuk mall bombing, a local official has told CNN, as more than 50 people continue to be treated for their injuries. 

Anton Stoletniy, chief prosecutor of the Poltava region, said the body fragments would have be analysed to determine “how many different people they come from.”

Stoletniy said 54 people remain in hospital, 35 of whom are seriously injured. The number killed in the bombing stands at 18.

His update followed an address by the Poltava region military administration, Dmytro Lunin, to Ukrainian television earlier Wednesday in which Lunin said "eight body fragments" had so far been found, with "relatives doing DNA tests."

Stoletniy said that three-quarters of the shopping mall's structures had been “dismantled” so far, with 300 rescue workers employed in the task.

US President Joe Biden was meeting royalty in Spain on Tuesday when word arrived that an audacious plan he had hatched six months earlier was in the final stages of completion.

The leaders of Finland and Sweden were meeting across town in a conference room with the leader of Turkey, who for weeks had thrown up roadblocks to their accession to NATO. The group had reached a breakthrough. But they wanted a gut check to ensure Biden approved.

Leaving his meeting with King Felipe VI at the Royal Palace, Biden took the call from Finland's President Sauli Niinistö and Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. They walked him through what they'd agreed to with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey. And he gave the sign-off.

In the six-and-a-half months since Biden placed his first phone call to Niinistö suggesting he join NATO, the security situation in Europe has been altered drastically.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has thrown out long-standing assumptions about the security of nations along its borders.

And countries that had for decades upheld a strict neutrality policy are suddenly reconsidering their stance.

Read the full story here.

NATO leaders have reiterated their support for Ukraine and announced increased security deployments on the eastern edge of the military alliance, as Russian forces make progress in their campaign to encircle the city of Lysychansk.

Here are the latest headlines:

US President Joe Biden announced a significant strengthening of US force posture in Europe as he began a two-day NATO summit in Madrid. 

Speaking alongside the NATO secretary general, Biden listed new troop movements, equipment shipments and military installations meant to demonstrate the importance of security as Russia's war in Ukraine grinds on. 

He said the US would establish a permanent headquarters for the Fifth Army Corps in Poland, maintain an additional rotational brigade of 3,000 troops in Romania, enhance rotational deployments to the Baltic states, send two additional F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the United Kingdom and station additional air defense and other capabilities in Germany and Italy.

"Together with our allies, we are going to make sure that NATO is ready to meet threats from all directions across every domain, land, air, and sea," Biden said. 

He praised the breakthrough diplomacy with Turkey that has set the stage for Finland and Sweden – two longtime neutral countries – to join NATO, saying it sent a clear signal to Russia that the alliance was united and growing.

"Their decision to move away from neutrality and the tradition of neutrality to join the NATO alliance is going to make us stronger and more secure and NATO stronger," he said. "We are sending an unmistakable message in my view… that NATO is strong, united, and the steps we are taking during this summit are going to further augment our collective strength."

Biden said the two Scandinavian countries' expected accession was a sign Putin's aims had backfired.

"I said Putin was looking for the Finlandization of Europe. He's going to get the NATOization of Europe, and that is exactly what he did not want, that's exactly what needs to be done to guarantee security for Europe. And I think it’s necessary," he said.

Read the full story here.

A video has emerged showing what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says is the moment the missile strike hit the busy shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Ukraine on Monday.

CNN cannot independently verify the specific target of the strike shown in the video.

The explosion and fire that swept through the building, has sparked fears of mass casualties. At least 18 civilians have been killed, and over 50 injured.

Watch the video here:

Clearing the wreckage at the shopping mall in the center of the city hit by a Russian missile on Monday is undergoing, said Vitalii Maletskyi, the mayor of Kremenchuk.

Maletskyi told Ukrainian television Wednesday: "Rescuers from three regions of Ukraine are working at the scene. They have not yet reached the epicenter of the explosion. There is still a large area to work on where the ceiling collapsed, the supporting structures collapsed."

Dmytro Lunin, head of Poltava region military administration, said clearing the wreckage would continue for two to three days. 

Twenty-five people had been admitted to a hospital, he said. One person had died in hospital.

"Eighteen bodies and eight body fragments were found at the scene. Relatives are doing DNA tests now," Lunin told Ukrainian television, adding that three rescue officers had also been injured while dismantling the debris.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday that NATO allies would continue to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia for “as long and as intensively as it is necessary."

On Tuesday, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Berlin would provide a division of 15,000 troops, with 65 planes and 20 ships, to NATO's high-readiness force.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that the alliance would scale up the number of troops at high alert to more than 300,000 from 2023.

At least three people were killed after eight missiles hit the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv early Wednesday, according to regional officials.

A five-story apartment building was hit, according to the State Emergency Service (SES) in Mykolaiv region.

"It is currently known about three dead and one civilian injured. Also, one SES employee was injured," it said.

Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv regional military administration, said that five people had been injured in total.

Oleksandr Sienkevych, the mayor of Mykolaiv, said there had been a total of eight strikes and that the number of victims was not final. 

He said the Russians had used a modified KH-55 missile in the attacks and he was not sure whether the apartment building that was hit was the intended target.

 "We know that their weapons fire anywhere," said Sienkevych.

"In all the days after invasion, there were only 18 days when we were not fired upon," he added. "We used to be fired at several times a day with cluster shells... Now they have switched to missiles."

He said 114 local residents had died due to Russian attacks since the invasion began.

President Joe Biden arrived to a NATO summit in Madrid, where he plans to announce a significant strengthening of forces along the alliance's eastern flank as Russia's war in Ukraine shows no signs of slowing.

NATO leaders enter the talks propelled by a diplomatic victory after Turkey dropped its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the military alliance, setting the stage for the two longtime neutral countries to enter the defensive bloc.

In Madrid, leaders plan to agree on major new security commitments the likes of which haven't been seen since the Cold War.

On Tuesday, Biden said he was sending two additional destroyers to the Rota Naval Station in Spain, intended to bolster the American maritime presence in the region.

He'll make additional announcements Wednesday on force increases on "land, sea and air," according to his top national security aide, who said US forces along NATO's eastern edge would move "in a steady state" to the region.