Russian cruise missiles rain down on city in the southeast
VINNYTSIA, UKRAINE >> Cruise missiles fired by Russian strategic bombers struck a southeastern Ukrainian city late Friday, killing at least three people and wounding 15, as air raid sirens went off across the country, officials said.
The attack on Dnipro came a day after a Russian missile strike killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 200 in Vinnytsia, a city southwest of Kyiv, the capital.
Russia's military campaign has been focusing on the Donbas in Ukraine's east, but Russian forces also have been pounding other parts of the country in a relentless push to wrest territory from Ukraine and soften the morale of its leaders, civilians and troops as the war nears the fivemonth mark.
Ukraine's air force said several Kh-101 cruise missiles fired from Tu-95MS strategic bombers over the Caspian Sea hit a factory about 10 p.m. in Dnipro, a major city on the Dnieper River. Four incoming missiles were intercepted, it said. Videos posted on social media showed fiery explosions and towering plumes of dark smoke.
The regional governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, said the missiles hit the factory and nearby streets, killing at least three people and wounding 15.
Airstrikes also were reported in Kremenchuk, another city along the Dnieper River south of Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged everyone to heed air raid sirens and seek cover.
“The occupiers are realizing that we are gradually becoming stronger and the purpose of their terror is very simple — to put press on us, to put pressure on our society, to intimidate people, to cause maximum harm to Ukrainian cities, at least while the Russian terrorists are still capable of doing it,” he said in his nightly video address to the nation.
The attack on Vinnytsia by cruise missiles launched from a Russian submarine was the latest to fan international outrage since Russian President Vladimir Putin began the invasion on Feb. 24. The dead included three children: a 4-year-old girl, and two boys, 7 and 8.
“She was reaching for her daughter, and Liza was already dead,” the mother's aunt, Tetiana Dmytrysyna, said Friday. “The mother was robbed of the most precious thing she had.”
A video of Liza playing earlier in the day and a photo of her lifeless body have gone viral worldwide.
Ukraine's Interior Ministry said Friday that Russian forces had conducted more than 17,000 strikes on civilian targets during the war, killing thousands of fighters and civilians and driving millions from their homes.