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At least 17 dead in southern Ukraine strikes

(ANSA-AFP) - BELGRADE, JUL 1 - At least 17 people were killed and dozens wounded Friday in missile strikes on Ukraine's Odessa region, a day after Russian troops abandoned positions on a strategic island in a major setback to the Kremlin's invasion. The news came after NATO leaders wrapped up a summit in Madrid, with US President Joe Biden announcing $800 million in new weapons for Ukraine. "We are going to stick with Ukraine, and all of the alliance are going to stick with Ukraine, as long as it takes to make sure they are not defeated by Russia," he said. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov compared surging diplomatic tensions to the Cold War, telling reporters: "As far as an Iron Curtain is concerned, essentially it is already descending... The process has begun." There was a glimmer of hope however, when Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who visited Moscow on Thursday after a trip to Kyiv, said he had given Russian President Vladimir Putin a message from their Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. Neither side has revealed what was in the note. (ANSA-AFP).