KRYVYRIH, Ukraine, June 13 (Portal) – Russia launched a “massive missile attack” on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih overnight, killing at least three people and wounding 25 and damaging civilian infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said early Tuesday .
Rescue operations are underway in a burning five-story apartment building and in a destroyed warehouse, Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Kryvyi Rih is located, said in the news app Telegram.
“There are still people lying under the rubble of a building. There was a fire there,” said Lysak, giving the preliminary number of victims and publishing a photo of the block of flats, with smoke pouring out of some of the blown windows.
The city’s mayor, Oleksandr Vilkul, said at least seven people are believed to be trapped under the rubble, without giving further details. Portal could not independently verify the report.
Kryvyi Rih-born Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi also condemned the attack on his hometown.
“Russian killers continue their war against apartment buildings, normal cities and people,” he said on the news app Telegram.
Air raid sirens wailed across Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday. Kiev military officials said air defense forces destroyed all Russian missiles aimed at the Ukrainian capital.
Ukraine’s top military command said air forces had destroyed 10 of 14 cruise missiles fired by Russia at Ukraine and one of four Iran-made drones.
It was not immediately clear how many missiles hit Kryvyi Rih and where the drones launched by Russia hit their targets.
Russia initially did not comment on the reported attacks. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war Russia began against its neighbor nearly 16 months ago.
The mayor of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine said on his Telegram channel that Russian drones struck civilian infrastructure there, hitting a warehouse and a utility building. There was no immediate information about casualties.
Reporting by Valentyn Origenko, Serhiy Karazy and Lidia Kelly; Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore
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