Russian strikes across Ukraine on Wednesday killed at least 28 people, including five children who perished when a missile struck an apartment complex in the north of the country as they slept.
The massive blast in Pryluky, in the Chernigiv district, smashed windows and reduced half the five-storey structure to a burning pile of burnt concrete and twisted metal, writes AFP.
One victim was eight years old, and another was just 12 months old, said President Volodymyr Zelensky. The bodies of another child were pulled from the rubble in the evening, the interior ministry said.
In Pryluky, 20 people were killed in the strike, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
Zelensky said dozens were wounded, including seven other children, accusing Russia of deliberately hitting “ordinary cities, ordinary life”.
“The ongoing use of missiles against Ukraine, against our people, our children, is an absolutely deliberate choice of terror,” he stated.
We were sleeping at home,” Olena Sayun, 40, a massage therapist, told our correspondent.
“Windows blew out. God knows we covered the infant with our bodies. My spouse suffered a few cuts on his back and I got a few on mine too.
“The child had a psychological breakdown and was quite frightened. ‘We raced straight in the bathroom and then we stayed in there while everything in the flat was falling apart.
The strike, residents said, occurred at 6:30 am (0330 GMT) after Zelensky warned on Tuesday of a “massive” Russian attack, especially on electricity facilities.
Two individuals perished when missiles struck a high-rise building in Kremenchuk in central Ukraine and two others in Oleksandriya, he said.
A strike in Kyiv’s heavily populated Darnytskyi area ignited a fire that killed two people, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
“We had two more folks killed in follow-on strikes,” he continued.
Air raid sirens
As winter approaches and air raid sirens blare almost constantly, the capital is under much more attack.
Some of the anxious inhabitants took refuge in the subway stations, with duffel bags, sleeping mats and blankets.
“We took our things and came here,” Iryna Rybalchenko, who works at a bank, told AFP, sitting on the platform in a dark hoodie surrounded by luggage.
Kyiv is in a state of total terror. “We were stuck at work today and everyone –- our group chats, our bosses –- were messaging us to be careful.”
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched at least 50 missiles and 130 drones overnight at districts including Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Poltava.
“It is one of the most vile strikes in the nearly five-year conflict,” Zelensky said. “Some were shot down, but ballistic missiles were ‘the greatest challenge’ and new air defences were essential.”
I don’t see any military importance in this at all’, said Yuliia Shamrai, 31, who works in online marketing and lives near the damaged building in Pryluky.
“Such fear.”
Last week, Kyiv mayor Klitschko warned that the capital should now be put on a war footing following multiple strikes on bridges and energy infrastructure.
Parts of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were plunged into darkness last nite, with power cuts disrupting traffic and water supplies on the right bank of the city.
Yesterday morning the air force reported it had shot down 5 ballistic missiles, 39 cruise missiles and more than 100 drones.
Ukraine has had trouble knocking out both the new, fast-moving jet-powered drones and the ballistic missiles, which are harder to intercept.
As Ukraine ratchets up its long-range strikes on Russian targets, the toll of civilian losses on both sides is growing.
Two persons including a teenage girl were killed in a drone strike in the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, the Moscow-backed head of the Russian-controlled zone said on Telegram.
Two more persons were murdered in a drone strike on a town near the Russia-annexed city of Donetsk, the Russian-installed mayor of the Ukraine city Alexei Kulemzin stated.
Zelensky said Ukraine’s “just responses” to Russian strikes targeted two oil facilities and a training site in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan areas, and the Black Sea.
About the Author
