Missiles rained down on Ukraine early Sunday morning killing many civilians and wounding dozens in built-up areas, a development which has prompted President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accuse Russia of state ‘terror’.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that strikes on a southern resort town had left no fewer than 21 dead and dozens wounded after missiles slammed into flats and a recreation centre in Sergiyvka, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Black Sea port Odessa.
Rockets hit residential properties in Solviansk in the heart of the embattled Donbas region, killing a woman in her garden and wounding her husband, a neighbour told reporters late Saturday, describing debris showered across the neighbourhood.
The witness said the strike on Friday was thought to use cluster munitions which spread over a large area before exploding, striking buildings and people who were outdoors.
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The attacks came after Moscow abandoned positions on a strategic island in a major setback to the Kremlin’s invasion.
Victims of the Sergiyvka attacks included a 12-year-old boy, Zelenskyy said in his daily address to the nation, adding that some 40 people have been injured and that the death toll could rise.
‘I emphasise: this is an act of deliberate, purposeful Russian terror — and not some kind of mistake or an accidental missile strike,’ Zelensky said.
‘Three missiles hit a regular nine-storey apartment building, in which nobody was hiding any weapons, any military equipment,” he added. “Regular people, civilians, lived there.’
‘The cruel manner in which the Russian aggressor takes the deaths of civilians in its stride and is again speaking of collateral damages is inhuman and cynical,’ said German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.
The attacks follow global outrage earlier this week when a Russian strike destroyed a shopping centre in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, killing at least 18 civilians.
President Vladimir Putin has denied his forces were responsible for that attack and Moscow made no immediate comment on the Odessa strikes.
On Friday, Zelensky hailed a new chapter in its relationship with the European Union, after Brussels recently granted Ukraine candidate status in Kyiv’s push to join the 27-member bloc, even if membership is likely years away.
