Evening Update: Russian rocket strike kills at least 22 in Ukraine on Independence Day, Zelensky says

Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:

Russia strikes as Ukraine marks Independence Day, six months of war

At least 22 people were killed and dozens wounded in a Russian rocket strike on a railway station in Ukraine today, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as the country marked the 31st anniversary of its independence from Moscow-dominated Soviet rule.

Zelensky yesterday warned of the risk of “repugnant Russian provocations” on Independence Day, which also marked six months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, touching off Europe’s most devastating conflict since the Second World War.

In a video address to the United Nations Security Council, Zelensky said the rockets had hit a train in the town of Chaplyne, about 145 kilometres west of Russian-occupied Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Four cars were on fire, he said.

Earlier, in an emotional speech in front of Kyiv’s central monument to independence, Zelensky vowed to recapture Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Analysis: Russia’s war damaged Ukraine – but dashed Moscow’s boldest geopolitical aspirations

Related: U.S. President Joe Biden marks Ukraine Independence Day with $3-billion military aid package

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Tim Page, celebrated conflict photographer who captured the horrors of Vietnam War, dies at 78

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He was one of the Vietnam War’s most famous, respected and unbound photojournalists, Eric Reguly writes. His photos of savage violence and cruel death helped to turn Americans against a war that he knew from the start of his coverage could not be won by the U.S. military.

Tim Page died at his home in Bellingen, New South Wales, Australia, on Wednesday. His partner, Marianne Harris, said he succumbed quickly to the liver and lung cancer that had riddled his body. He was 78.

Page, who was a friend of Reguly, had no filter in his behaviour, his speech or his professional devotion. He is said to be the model of the crazed, motormouth photographer played by Dennis Hopper in Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning Apocalypse Now.

Read more: A generation removed from ‘Nam, Danger Close is a war movie that will look the part

Heavy fighting erupts again in northern Ethiopia, ending a five-month ceasefire

An outbreak of heavy fighting in northern Ethiopia has shattered a five-month ceasefire in the region, jeopardizing a fragile diplomatic process that had led to the first peace negotiations between the Ethiopian and Tigrayan governments.

Both sides confirmed that military clashes had erupted this morning, with the two governments blaming each other for launching the latest attacks. Tigrayan officials in recent days had reported Ethiopian troop movements in border areas, warning that Ethiopia was planning a military offensive.

Tigray’s government has been fighting for autonomy from the Ethiopian government for the past two years.

ALSO ON OUR RADAR

RCMP Commissioner apologizes: RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki has apologized for her force’s failure to meet public expectations during the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting, saying she hopes trust will return with time. The public inquiry is looking into how a man with a record of violence acquired a replica police vehicle, semi-automatic weapons and carried out 22 murders over 13 hours.

RBC reports: Royal Bank of Canada’s third-quarter profit fell 17 per cent as the bank started rebuilding reserves against possible loan defaults, with chief executive officer Dave McKay warning North America’s economy is getting closer to “the end of an economic cycle.” Its dividend remains unchanged. CIBC and TD release third-quarter results tomorrow.

MARKET WATCH

Canada’s main stock index managed to close higher today despite weakness in the financials sector as RBC became the latest lender to report disappointing earnings and a slew of analysts downgraded ratings and price targets on Bank of Nova Scotia. Wall Street also rose as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole conference this week.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index gained 36.03 points or 0.18 per cent at 20,021.38. The loonie traded at 77.07 U.S. cents

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 59.64 points or 0.18 per cent at 32,969.23, the S&P 500 advanced 12.04 points or 0.29 per cent at 4,140.77, and the Nasdaq Composite added 50.23 points or 0.41 per cent to end at 12,431.53.

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TALKING POINTS

L’Affaire LaFlamme: How was it imagined this would end well?

“Reversing the decision, then, would implicate not only the person who made the initial decision, but the whole executive food chain. And so it must be maintained, whatever the cost – to the program, the news division, or the company.” - Andrew Coyne

Is Pierre Poilievre really a freedom fighter?

“Freedom of speech, something Poilievre fumes about now in respect to the Trudeau government, was anything but a hallmark of the Harper years.” - Lawrence Martin

The next crisis in housing? People want someone to blame for the lack of affordability

“Canada’s housing affordability crisis can’t be explained by one party’s errors and omissions. The housing mess is a group failure.” - Rob Carrick

LIVING BETTER

You may have not given the trace mineral much thought, but a new study suggests that iodine deficiency may be on the rise in certain parts of Canada. Here’s what to know about iodine – and why salt iodization may not be as effective as it once was at ensuring adequate levels. One of the best food sources of iodine is seaweed but amounts vary widely between species. Other food sources include dairy, fish, seafood and eggs.

TODAY’S LONG READ

Donald Sobey’s sexual assault of a young man was an open secret. Now his victim is finally telling his story

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When Donald Sobey died last year at 86, he was remembered as a brilliant businessman who helped expand the Sobeys grocery chain and a philanthropist whose generosity would span generations. Newspaper obituaries tallied his accolades: the Order of Canada, the Canadian Business Hall of Fame and eight honorary degrees, to name a few.

Derek Power, however, remembered Donald Sobey differently. He remembered Sobey as the man who unzipped his pants and touched him in a hotel room when he was 20 years old, and as the man who never apologized to him for it.

In 2020, he learned that Sobey’s foundation had backed the creation of a lab at Dalhousie University focused on restorative justice, which looks at alternate forms of resolution between victim and perpetrator. “I couldn’t believe it,” says Power, who resolved then to speak out. Read Stephen Kimmer and Joe Castaldo’s full story here.

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