Russian airstrike hits residential buildings in central Ukraine – Al

Russian airstrike hits residential buildings in central Ukraine – Al Jazeera English

DEVELOPMENT OF HISTORY,

A five-story building in the city of Kryvyi Rih is said to have been among the civilian targets in Russia’s recent airstrike on Ukraine.

According to local officials, a “massive missile attack” by Russia has struck several civilian buildings, including a five-story apartment building, in the central Ukraine city of Kryvyi Rih, causing deaths, injuries and severe damage to infrastructure.

“There are dead and wounded,” Serhiy Lisak, governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region, where Kryvyi Rih is located, said early Tuesday morning on the news app Telegram.

“A massive missile attack on Kryvyi Rih,” he said.

Lisak posted a photo of a five-story apartment building with all windows broken and some showing smoke.

Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The city was hit by a Russian missile in December, killing three and injuring at least 13.

The city’s mayor, Oleksandr Vilkul, said earlier Tuesday that people were likely trapped under the rubble of the buildings hit in the latest attack.

Video footage shared on social media purporting to show the Kryvyi Rih attack showed damaged residential dwellings, as well as debris and fires in other areas.

The capital Kiev was also attacked by missiles and drones early Tuesday morning, but air defense systems destroyed all objects heading towards the city, military officials said.

“According to initial reports, the enemy used Kh-101/555 cruise missiles,” said the military administration of the city of Kyiv.

“All enemy targets in the airspace around Kiev were detected and successfully destroyed by the air defense forces and means,” the government said, adding that there was no immediate information about casualties or damage.

Ukraine’s top military command said air forces had destroyed 10 out of 14 cruise missiles fired by Russia against Ukraine on Tuesday and one out of four Iranian-made drones.

It was not immediately clear how many missiles hit Kryvyi Rih and where the drones launched by Russia hit their targets.

In Kharkiv, civilian infrastructure was hit by drones, said the mayor of the city of Ihor Terekhov.

“According to initial reports, a utility company in Kyiv district and a warehouse in Zalivskyi district were damaged. The explosion on the latter caused a fire,” he said.

The latest spate of airstrikes comes after Ukraine claimed to have recaptured several villages and made progress in its counter-offensive against Russian forces.

This is an evolving story: