KYIV: Families of the missing wait outside the rubble of an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, hoping for good news as rescue workers continue to search for survivors of Russian missile strike on the nine-story apartment building.
“My mother hasn’t been found yet,” Roman Zhuravsky told Agence France-Presse. “But the likelihood, given that five floors collapsed above her…”
Natalia Babachenko, the regional governor’s adviser, said 30 people are confirmed dead and more than 30 are in the hospital, including 12 in serious condition, according to Reuters.
Between 30 to 40 people could still be trapped under the debris, Babachenko said.
“Search and rescue operations and the dismantling of dangerous structural elements continue around the clock. We continue to fight for every life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Gen. Valerii Zaluzhny, the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said Russia fired 33 cruise missiles Saturday, 21 of which were shot down.
The air force command said the missile that hit the apartment building was a Kh-22 launched from Russia’s Kursk region, but that Ukraine does not have a system capable of intercepting that type of weapon.
Russia’s defense ministry claimed responsibility for missile strikes across Ukraine but did not mention the attack on the Dnipro residential building. Some of the residents in the building said it had no strategic military value.
“All designated targets have been hit,” the ministry said on Telegram. “The goal of the attack has been achieved.” It said missiles were fired “on the military command and control system of Ukraine and related energy facilities.”
(VOA)
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