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.