Miracle escape as Putin missile rips into block of flats
IT’S a picture that captures the utter horror of innocent civilians living through Russia’s merciless missile blitz.
A traumatised young Ukrainian woman crouches in the ruins of what was her family home after a strike reduced an apartment block to rubble.
Miraculously, Anastasia Shvetz, 23, survived with minor injuries despite being in the seventh-floor flat in Dnipro, eastern Ukraine, when a rocket packed with one ton of explosives blew up the building on Saturday.
Firefighters arrived to find Ms Shvetz in shock next to an upturned bath in what was left of her home. Her parents, who were in the kitchen, are among those missing as the death toll rose to 30 yesterday, with 73 injured. A 15year-old girl was among the dead, officials said. Thirty-nine people have been rescued but a further 43 are still missing.
Yesterday, Dnipro’s mayor, Borys Filatov, said: ‘I think the chances of saving people now are minimal. May God help us find several of them. I think the number of dead will be in the dozens.’
Rescuers managed to get a ladder up to Ms Shvetz and help her to safety. The young woman, whose boyfriend died fighting for Ukraine in September, suffered a head wound and was taken away for medical treatment as emergency services continued to pick through the rubble in search of other survivors. She later posted on social media: ‘I have no words, I have no emotions, I feel nothing but a great emptiness inside.’ The Russian Kh-22 missile, fired from a long-range bomber plane, was originally designed in the 1960s with the potential to sink aircraft carriers, a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman said. Last year, the same type of missile was used to destroy a shopping centre.
Mykola Lukashuk, head of the region’s council, wrote on the Telegram messaging app: ‘Burn in hell, Russian murderers.’
Emergency workers said they had heard victims screaming for help from underneath the debris.
Ukraine’s top military command said Russia had launched three air strikes, 57 missile strikes and carried out 69 attacks from heavy weapon rocket salvo systems on Saturday. Ukrainian forces shot down 26 rockets.
The attacks also hit critical power infrastructure in Kyiv and other locations across the country, restricting power supplies.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed its forces launched the missile strikes against Ukrainian military and infrastructure sites. It did not mention Dnipro as a specific target but said: ‘All assigned objects were hit. The targets of the strike have been achieved.’
In the country’s eastern Donbas region – the focal point of Russia’s drive to capture more territory – Ukraine’s forces were still battling to keep hold of the small salt-mining town of Soledar, which Russia claims to have captured.
Meanwhile, three Russian soldiers were killed at a military base in Belgorod, on the Russia-Ukraine border, after a sergeant in a dormitory accidentally detonated a grenade. Russian news agency TASS said ‘careless handling’ of the grenade caused it to explode. Nine soldiers are still missing.