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Death toll of apartments strike hits 23
THE death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment block in the south- eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 23, local government said. Emergency crews worked through the night amid freezing temperatures to pull survivors from the rubble at the multi- storey residential building.
The casualties were the worst from a barrage of Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities on Saturday.
The attacks also targeted the capital, Kyiv, and the north- eastern city of Kharkiv, ending a two- week lull in Moscow’s strikes on Ukraine’s power infrastructure and urban centres.
Russia fired 33 cruise missiles on Saturday, of which 21 were shot down, according to General Valeriy Zaluzhny, the commander- in- chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
In Dnipro, workers used a crane as they tried to rescue people trapped on upper floors of the apartment tower where about 1700 were living.
The Dnipro city government reported yesterday afternoon that at least 72 people were wounded and 43 people were reported missing. It said 39 people were rescued so far.
Dnipro residents joined rescue workers at the scene to help clear the rubble. Others brought food and warm clothes for those who had lost their homes.
“This is clearly terrorism and all this is simply not human,” said one local, Artem Myzychenko.
Claiming responsibility for the missile strikes across Ukraine,
Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement: “All designated targets have been hit. The goal of the attack has been achieved.”
Yesterday, Russian forces attacked a residential area in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
Russia’s renewed air attacks came as fierce fighting raged in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, where the Russian military has claimed it has control of the town of Soledar but Ukraine asserted its troops are still fighting.