AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Sunday that Moscow will hit new targets if the West supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles, hours after several explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

If Kyiv is provided with such missiles “we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our arms… to strike targets we haven’t hit before,” Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

He did not specify which targets he meant.

Putin’s comments came after the United States last week announced that it would supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems.

Ukrainian officials earlier on Sunday said Russian missiles hit railway infrastructure sites in the first such strikes on Kyiv since April 28.

Russia said that it had destroyed tanks supplied to Ukraine by eastern European countries during the strikes.

“High-precision, long-range missiles fired by the Russian Aerospace Forces on the outskirts of Kyiv destroyed T-72 tanks supplied by eastern European countries and other armoured vehicles that were in hangars,” Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

One person was wounded and AFP reporters saw several buildings with blown-out windows near one of the sites that was targeted.

Leonid, a 63-year-old local resident who used to work at the facility, said he heard three or four explosions.

“There is nothing military there but they are bombing everything,” he said.

Vasyl, 43, said he heard five blasts.

“People are afraid now,” he said, walking back to his damaged home with two loaves of bread.

Ukrainian authorities did not want to identify the precise locations of the explosions for security reasons.

– Severodonetsk ‘divided’ –

Meanwhile, in the east of the country, the battle for control of Severodonetsk raged on.

The city is the largest still in Ukrainian hands in the Lugansk region of the Donbas, where Russian forces have been advancing gradually after retreating or being beaten back from other parts of the country, including Kyiv.

Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said that Russian forces had lost ground in the city and it was now “divided in two”.

“The Russians were in control of about 70 percent of the city, but have been forced back over the past two days,” he said on Telegram.

“They are afraid to move freely around the city.”

Russia’s army on Saturday claimed some Ukrainian military units were withdrawing from Severodonetsk, but Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said Ukrainian forces were fighting to retake the city.

“We are currently doing everything necessary to re-establish total control” of the city, he said in an interview broadcast on Telegram.

– ‘Put Russia in its place’ –

Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions forced to flee and towns turned into rubble since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an all-out assault on his pro-Western neighbour on February 24.

Western powers have imposed increasingly stringent sanctions on Russia and supplied arms to Ukraine, but divisions have emerged on how to react.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday Putin had committed a “fundamental error” but that Russia should not be “humiliated” so that a diplomatic solution could be found.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reacted Saturday by saying such calls “only humiliate France” and any country taking a similar position.

“It is Russia that humiliates itself. We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place,” he said.

Despite diplomatic efforts, the conflict has raged in the south and east of the country.

The press service of the Ukrainian president’s office on Sunday reported nine civilians killed in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions from shelling.

– Fears over food –

Apart from the human toll, the conflict has caused widespread damage to Ukraine’s cultural heritage.

On Saturday, Ukrainian officials reported a large Orthodox wooden monastery, a popular pilgrim site, had burnt down and blamed Russia shelling.

Moscow continues to prove “its inability to be part of the civilised world,” Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said in a statement.

Russia’s defence ministry blamed “Ukrainian nationalists” for the blaze.

Russian troops now occupy a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, according to Kyiv, and Moscow has imposed a blockade on its Black Sea ports, sparking fears of a global food crisis. Ukraine and Russia are among the top wheat exporters in the world.

The United Nations said it was leading intense negotiations with Russia to allow Ukraine’s grain harvest to leave the country.

The UN has warned that African countries, which normally import over half of their wheat consumption from Ukraine and Russia, face an “unprecedented” crisis.

Food prices in Africa have already exceeded those in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and the 2008 food riots.

– ‘Game of survival’ –

Away from the battlefield, Ukraine will be fighting for victory over Wales in Sunday’s play-off final as the war-torn country aims to reach its first football World Cup since 2006.

“We all understand that the game with Wales will no longer be about physical condition or tactics, it will be a game of survival,” said Ukraine player Oleksandr Zinchenko.

“Everyone will fight to the end and give their all, because we will play for our country.”

burs-dt/ah

The battle for Ukraine’s eastern city of Severodonetsk was being waged street by street, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, while explosions rocked the capital Kyiv early Sunday.

“Several explosions in Darnytsky and Dniprovsky districts of the city. Services are extinguishing,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram shortly after air raid warnings sounded in Kyiv and several other cities.

“There are currently no dead from missile strikes on infrastructure. One wounded was hospitalised. The services are still working in the affected areas.”

Separately, at least 11 civilians were reported killed in the Lugansk region where Severodonetsk is located, the nearby Donetsk region and in the southern city of Mykolaiv.

“The situation in Severodonetsk, where street fighting continues, remains extremely difficult,” Zelensky said in his daily address Saturday evening.

Cities in the eastern Donbas area at the heart of the Russian offensive were under “constant air strikes, artillery and missile fire” but Ukrainian forces were holding their ground, he said.

Severodonetsk is the largest city still in Ukrainian hands in the Lugansk region of the Donbas, where Russian forces have been gradually advancing in recent weeks after retreating or being repelled from other areas, including around the capital Kyiv.

Russia’s army claimed some Ukrainian military units were withdrawing from Severodonetsk but Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said Ukrainian forces were fighting to retake the city.

“Our soldiers have managed to redeploy, build a line of defence,” he said in an interview broadcast on Telegram Saturday.

“We are currently doing everything necessary to re-establish total control” of the city. 

Earlier, Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said the Russians had captured most of Severodonetsk, but that Ukraine’s forces were pushing them back.

“The Russian army, as we understand, is throwing all its power, all its reserves in this direction,” said Gaiday.

“Russians are blowing up the bridges, so that we cannot supply reinforcements to our boys, who are in Severodonetsk,” he added.

For its part, Moscow claims to have destroyed two Ukrainian command centres and six ammunition depots in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

“Ukrainian forces are successfully slowing down Russian operations to encircle Ukrainian positions in Luhansk Oblast as well as Russian frontal assaults in Severodonetsk through prudent and effective local counterattacks in Severodonetsk”, the US-based Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment late Saturday.

– ‘Put Russia in its place’ –

Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions forced to flee and towns turned into rubble since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an all-out assault on his pro-Western neighbour on February 24.

Western powers have imposed increasingly stringent sanctions on Russia and supplied arms to Ukraine, but divisions have emerged on how to react.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday Putin had committed a “fundamental error” but that Russia should not be “humiliated” so that a diplomatic solution could be found.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reacted Saturday by saying such calls “only humiliate France” and any country taking a similar position.

“It is Russia that humiliates itself. We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place,” he said.

Despite diplomatic efforts, the conflict has raged in the south and east of the country.

Ukraine reported two victims from a Russian missile strike on Odessa in the southwest, without specifying if they were dead or wounded.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had struck a “deployment point for foreign mercenaries” in the village of Dachne in the Odessa region.

It also claimed a missile strike in the northeastern Sumy region on an artillery training centre with “foreign instructors”.

– Fears over food –

Apart from the human toll, the conflict has caused widespread damage to Ukraine’s cultural heritage.

On Saturday, Ukrainian officials reported a large Orthodox wooden church, a popular pilgrim site, was on fire and blamed Russia.

Moscow continues to prove “its inability to be part of the civilised world,” Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said in a statement.

Russia’s defence ministry blamed “Ukrainian nationalists” for the blaze and said its forces were not operating in the area.

Russian troops now occupy a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, according to Kyiv, and Moscow has imposed a blockade on its Black Sea ports, sparking fears of a global food crisis. Ukraine and Russia are among the top wheat exporters in the world.

The United Nations said it was leading intense negotiations with Russia to allow Ukraine’s grain harvest to leave the country.

Putin said Friday there was “no problem” to export grain from Ukraine, via Kyiv- or Moscow-controlled ports or even through Central Europe.

The UN has warned that African countries, which normally import over half of their wheat consumption from Ukraine and Russia, face an “unprecedented” crisis.

Food prices in Africa have already exceeded those in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and the 2008 food riots.

The head of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, said Saturday he intended to visit Ukraine after meeting with Putin the day before to discuss the wheat shortage.

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov repeated the government’s appeal for the swift delivery of heavy artillery in a telecast address to the Globsec-2022 forum on international security Saturday.

If Kyiv gets the equipment they had asked for, he said, “I cannot forecast definitely what month we will kick them out, but I hope — and it’s absolutely a realistic plan — to do it this year.”

Away from the battlefield, Ukraine will be fighting for victory over Wales in Sunday’s play-off final as they aim to reach their first football World Cup since 1958.

“We all understand that the game with Wales will no longer be about physical condition or tactics, it will be a game of survival,” said Ukraine player Oleksandr Zinchenko.

“Everyone will fight to the end and give their all, because we will play for our country.”

burs-to/mtp/lb

More than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, American businesses are still struggling to manage their inventories in a feast-or-famine cycle caused by fickle consumer demand.

“We have way too much inventory right now,” said Ginny Pasqualone, chief executive of Sparkledots, a children’s clothing manufacturer.

“It’s important that we have a large selection of merchandise that our clients can choose from,” she said, but store traffic has been hit by inflation concerns, with some customers “very scared that they’re not going to survive another recession.” 

For now, Sparkledots is holding more goods in inventory, but that ties up company capital and limits its ability to add to its 18-worker staff.

“It sucks our growth for the future,” Pasqualone said.

Such is the dilemma affecting businesses of all sizes. 

Large store chains like Walmart, Target and Macy’s have acknowledged in recent weeks that they misread consumer patterns, leaving them with excess supplies of appliances, casual clothing and bicycles.

Bicycles were a hot commodity early in the pandemic, prompting surprisingly large orders, said Wayne Sosin, owner of Worksman Cycles, a New York manufacturer best known for its tricycles. 

“Retailers bought whatever they could as if bike sales would continue to have unprecedented demand,” Sosin said. “It was so obvious to me that (this) would not last.”

Still, Sosin said demand remains strong in some parts of the business, placing stress on supplies of some key bicycle parts.

– Unexpected shift –

Torrid consumer demand since 2020 fueled by government pandemic relief programs has led to product shortages and backlogs in seaports.

“The business can no longer count on the idea that you’re going to have this easy, just-in-time inventory and that you can only keep stock on hand that you need,” said Phil Levy, an economist for logistics company Flexport. 

Companies are unsure how much the outsized buying during the pandemic will persist and for which goods.

“The way we tend to predict things is by looking at past patterns,” Levy said. “But we don’t have data on how the consumers behaved during the five recent major modern pandemics.”

In the most recent quarter, the big-box chain Target saw sales of appliances, clothing and other goods slow as consumers shifted spending to travel and other service-oriented consumption.

“We didn’t anticipate the magnitude of that shift,” Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said on an analyst conference call.

As a result, Target had bought too many televisions and too much outdoor furniture.

Similarly, department-store chain Macy’s was caught off guard by a 20 percent drop in sales of casual clothing and housewares in the most recent period, compared with the prior quarter.

At the same time, “supply chain constraints relaxed,” unexpectedly boosting deliveries of merchandise, said Macy’s Chief Executive Jeffrey Gennette.

– ‘Wildcards’ –

Retailers have adopted different strategies for dealing with a glut of goods.

Target has moved some of its goods outside of stores into temporary storage facilities, while liquidating seasonal merchandise no longer in demand.

Others plan to offer more discounted items. Apparel chain Urban Outfitters expects promotions to increase “not just in the second quarter, but throughout the year and into the holiday season,” said Chief Executive Richard Hayne.

The consumer remains the “wildcard,” said Brian Yarbrough, an analyst who follows consumer companies at Edward Jones.

Demand for goods has remained fairly robust even as consumers spend more on services and contend with inflation, Yarbrough said.

Among other unknowns is the state of ocean shipping between Asia and the United States. Will ports on the US West Coast again struggle with delays, or even a possible strike due to high-stakes labor negotiations this summer?

“How long will it take to ship freight from Asia to the US to have stuff on the shelves this fall?” wonders Levy. “You just don’t know.”