Ukraine war: Russian strike on Zelensky’s home city kills sixon July 31, 2023 at 10:32 pm

At least six people, including a 10-year-old girl and her mother, have been killed by a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.

Ukraine’s interior minister said 69 others were injured when missiles slammed into a high-rise building and a university on Monday.

Regional governor Serhiy Lysak declared a day of mourning for those lost.

The home city of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kryvyi Rih has been a consistent target for Russian strikes.

In June, 11 people died and 28 others were injured in the city after Russia launched a “massive missile attack” on civilian buildings.

The latest attack saw dozens of people hospitalised, including children aged from four to 17-years-old.

President Zelensky, who grew up in the city of 600,000 people, said a pair of missiles smashed into the residential apartment block and a university building early on Monday morning.

Locals told the Reuters news agency that the attack took place shortly after 09:00 local time (07:00 GMT).

A video posted by President Zelensky showed that much of the high-rise building had been completely demolished by the strike, with a large scar running up the structure. But officials said around 150 people managed to escape the blast unharmed.

Writing on Telegram, the Ukrainian leader said more than 350 people were involved in rescue operations and Mr Lysak said later that another 30 people were rescued from the building by the emergency workers.

President Zelensky added that “dozens of people” had been left traumatised and injured by the attack, but vowed that “this terror will not frighten us or break us”.

In recent weeks, Russia has again been stepping up attacks on civilian targets, and Mykhailo Podolyak – a top adviser to Mr Zelensky – accused Moscow of launching “genocidal” attacks on Ukrainians.

“International law will never work if the aggressor does not see a real power behind it. The power begins with closing the Ukrainian skies with missile defence and air defence systems,” he wrote on Twitter.

Moscow has consistently denied that it seeks out civilian targets. But Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have accused Russia of frequently bombarding areas with “no military purpose”.

Earlier this month, the UN said there have been some 25,671 civilian casualties since Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine last year, but the true figure is likely to be far higher.

There will be no forgiveness! Never!” Mr Lysak wrote in a Telegram post on Monday. Russia would pay, he said, for “every innocent person killed” and “the suffering of our people”.

Elsewhere, in the southern region of Kherson, the head of President Zelensky’s office, Andriy Yermak, said four people were killed in what local officials called merciless Russian shelling.

The Kherson military administration said one of those killed was a 60-year-old utilities worker whose team had come under fire. Several others were injured in the blast.

And a drone attack has been reported in Russia’s border region of Bryansk – with Governor Alexander Bogomaz saying a police station was hit.

On Saturday, Russian officials said three Ukrainian drones were downed in Moscow – the latest in a series of drone assaults on the Russian capital.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin blamed Ukraine for the attack, in which two office blocks were damaged, although there were no casualties.

President Zelensky warned that war was coming back to Russia, and that attacks on Russian territory were an “inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process” of the war between the two countries.