Ukraine missile strike toll rises to 40
Russia denies attacking civilian infrastructure
DNIPRO, Ukraine (AFP) — The toll from a devastating strike on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro was expected to rise past 40 on Tuesday as rescuers searched the rubble for 25 people still missing after one of Russia’s deadliest attacks since its invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the missile strike as a war crime.
“There is no doubt: Every person guilty of this war crime will be identified and brought to justice,” Zelensky said in his nightly address late Monday.
Kyiv has called for more weapons to defend itself and at the weekend received pledges of British tanks, but Russian President Vladimir Putin warned more armaments would only intensify fighting and the Kremlin vowed to burn the gear.
With tensions high, a top United States official, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, on Monday visited Kyiv where she expressed Washington’s “steadfast commitment” to Ukraine and discussed ways to bolster the country’s security posture with Zelensky.
In Dnipro, residents gathered to get warm drinks and food next to the partially collapsed Soviet-style residential building that was ripped open by the strike on Saturday.
Emergency services gave the new toll specifying that three children were among those dead, with 25 people still unaccounted for. Seventy-seven were wounded in the strike.
“The rescue operation, the demolition of the rubble, will not end until the bodies of all the dead are found. So far, 40 people have died,” deputy head of the presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.
The Kremlin claimed its forces were not responsible and pointed to an unsubstantiated theory circulating on social media that Ukrainian air defense systems had caused the damage.
“The Russian armed forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure. They strike military targets,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov
told reporters.