Three children among the dead – Russian forces hit high-rise building
At least 20 civilians were killed and dozens injured today in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia by a Russian submarine-launched cruise missile in the Black Sea, Ukrainian officials said.
Video footage and photos from the city, which is far from the front lines, showed thick black smoke rising from a high-rise building after one of the deadliest strikes on a civilian target since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Three children are among the dead, officials said.
The Ukrainian military said Vinnytsia, a city 200 km southwest of Kiev, was hit by three Russian Kalibr missiles fired from an unnamed submarine and that Ukrainian forces shot down two others.
The police said that of the wounded, about 50 have serious injuries and that another 15 are missing.
“Cruise missiles hit two community facilities, houses were destroyed, a medical center was destroyed, cars and trams were engulfed in flames,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“This is an act of Russian terrorism … 20 people have died so far,” he said in a remote speech at an international conference aimed at prosecuting war crimes committed in Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet commented on the information from Vinnytsia. Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, denies targeting civilians and maintains its forces have committed no war crimes.
The Deputy Minister of Defense Hannah Maliar, at a press briefing in Kyiv, called the attack “another piece of evidence of genocide.” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia on Twitter of committing “a hell of a war crime”.
A missile hit the car park of the nine-storey “Yuvelirniy” office building around 10.50am. the State Emergency Situations Committee said. Nearby residential buildings were damaged by the impact and a large fire broke out, it said.
A senior official at the regional emergency service said there was little chance of finding more survivors under the rubble in Vinnytsia, a city with a population of about 370,000 before the Russian invasion.
RES-EMP
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