Search ops continue after deadly Russian strikes
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian rescuers on Friday continued search operations in the central city of Vinnytsia, where Russian strikes killed at least 23 people, including children.
The charred remains of upturned cars surrounded by burnt debris were seen in images distributed by officials following the attack on Thursday on the city hundreds of kilometres from the front lines.
In his daily address to the nation late on Thursday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the toll was likely to rise. Dozens are still missing and many hospitalised in critical condition.
“No other state in the world poses such a terrorist threat as Russia,” a somber Zelensky said.
“No other state in the world allows itself to destroy peaceful cities and ordinary human life with cruise missiles and rocket artillery on a daily basis.”
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled” by the attack, while the European Union condemned it as an “atrocity.” Both called for accountability.
The president’s office said in its morning military update on Friday that 18 people were still missing following the Vinnytsia strikes and 73 were in hospital with injuries.
Ukrainian rescuers said they were continuing to clear debris on Friday and over four hundred people were involved in the operations. Ukrainian officials have identified one of the victims as a four-year-old girl called Liza, who was outside with her mother during the attack.
Liza’s mother is alive but in “critical” condition after surgery, Vinnytsia official Sergiy Borzov said.
On Thursday, Zelensky led a moment of silence during an address in The Hague before urging European and International Criminal Court (ICC) officials to open a “special tribunal” into Russia’s invasion.
“I believe it is inevitable that (the) International Criminal Court will bring accountability to those guilty of crimes under its jurisdiction – war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide.”
The ICC in The Hague opened an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine just days after Moscow’s forces invaded and it dispatched dozens of investigators to the country to gather evidence.
Russia invaded on Feb 24 and the conflict has killed thousands of people, destroyed cities and forced millions to flee their homes.