Russia strikes residential building
KYIV: Rescuers searched for survivors in the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine yesterday after a Russian strike destroyed it, as Kyiv said it expected a major offensive on the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion.
At least three people were killed on Wednesday and 20 wounded when a Russian rocket struck a residential building in the centre of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s eastern industrial region of Donetsk.
Rescuers wearing torches on their heads worked to pull survivors from the debris, their faces covered in dust as they tried to find any signs of life under the cover of night.
After discovering the body of a resident who was crushed under the rubble, rescuers carried the victim away on a stretcher, as firefighters worked their way through the mangled building structure.
Donetsk police said paramedics, search-and-rescue dogs and explosive experts were combing the area as they believed that more people could be trapped.
“Peaceful people died and are under the rubble,” Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote after the rocket strike. “This is the daily reality of life in our country.”
The strike in Donetsk, where Moscow has claimed to have captured fresh ground recently, came as the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approached.
“Given that (the Russians) live through symbols, we think that they will try something around Feb 24,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said during an interview with French television, broadcast on Wednesday.
“They could try an offensive on two fronts. We need arms to counter the enemy. We do not underestimate our enemy. Their mobilisation has not stopped.”
Reznikov said Kyiv believes Moscow has deployed about half a million troops — far more than Russia’s claim of 300,000 personnel currently mobilised.
Ukraine expanded a clampdown on corruption on Wednesday, launching coordinated searches of residences linked to a divisive oligarch and former interior minister as well as tax offices in the capital.