Kyiv: A Russian missile struck an apartment building in central Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing at least one person and injuring seven others in one of the main strongholds of the Ukrainian city in the eastern region of Donetsk as it struggles against invading Moscow, officials said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released a video showing gaping holes in the facade of the low-rise building that bore the brunt of the strike.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office and Regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko also reported on the attack, posting photos of the building with mounds of rubble in front.
The impact damaged nine buildings, a kindergarten, a local bank branch and two cars, Kyrylenko said.
The war, which broke out after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, has resulted in heavy civilian casualties.
Tuesday’s casualties were among at least seven civilians killed and 30 injured in 24 hours, Ukrainian authorities said.
Among them, a 55-year-old woman was killed when a Russian shell hit her car on Tuesday in a border town in northeast Ukraine.
“Russian troops are hitting residential buildings, schools and hospitals, leaving cities burning and in ruins,” Kyrylenko, the regional governor, told Ukrainian television.
“The Russians mark every meter (yard) of their advance in the region not only with their own blood, but also with the lives (lost) of civilians.”
Kramatorsk is home to the local Ukrainian army headquarters. Ukrainian authorities say it has been a regular target of Russian bombings and other attacks in the past.
A missile strike on the city’s train station last April, which kyiv and much of the international community have blamed on Moscow, killed several dozen people and injured more than 100.
Russia had welcomed a Chinese peace proposal aimed at ending the fighting, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that kyiv’s refusal to hold talks left Moscow with only military options.
Beijing has said it has “boundless friendship” with Russia and has refused to criticize the invasion of Moscow, or even call it an invasion.
“We have to achieve our goals,” Peskov told reporters.
“Given the current position of the kyiv regime, this is now only possible by military means.”
However, Moscow’s pursuit of its goals in Ukraine has been hampered by war mismanagement and limited resources after being repelled late last year in a Ukrainian counteroffensive, military analysts say. .
The British Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that shortages of Russian artillery ammunition “have probably worsened to the point that extremely punitive shell rationing is in force on many parts of the front.”
This shortcoming, he said, has “almost certainly been one of the main reasons why no Russian formation has recently been able to generate operationally significant offensive action.”
In other developments:
– Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Tuesday.
She laid flowers at a ceremony for Ukrainian volunteers who have been killed in fighting since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and Russian-backed separatists launched an insurgency in the eastern region of Donbass.
Jakobsdottir was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office and Regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko also reported on the attack, posting photos of the building with mounds of rubble in front.
The impact damaged nine buildings, a kindergarten, a local bank branch and two cars, Kyrylenko said.
The war, which broke out after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, has resulted in heavy civilian casualties.
Tuesday’s casualties were among at least seven civilians killed and 30 injured in 24 hours, Ukrainian authorities said.
Among them, a 55-year-old woman was killed when a Russian shell hit her car on Tuesday in a border town in northeast Ukraine.
“Russian troops are hitting residential buildings, schools and hospitals, leaving cities burning and in ruins,” Kyrylenko, the regional governor, told Ukrainian television.
“The Russians mark every meter (yard) of their advance in the region not only with their own blood, but also with the lives (lost) of civilians.”
Kramatorsk is home to the local Ukrainian army headquarters. Ukrainian authorities say it has been a regular target of Russian bombings and other attacks in the past.
A missile strike on the city’s train station last April, which kyiv and much of the international community have blamed on Moscow, killed several dozen people and injured more than 100.
Russia had welcomed a Chinese peace proposal aimed at ending the fighting, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that kyiv’s refusal to hold talks left Moscow with only military options.
Beijing has said it has “boundless friendship” with Russia and has refused to criticize the invasion of Moscow, or even call it an invasion.
“We have to achieve our goals,” Peskov told reporters.
“Given the current position of the kyiv regime, this is now only possible by military means.”
However, Moscow’s pursuit of its goals in Ukraine has been hampered by war mismanagement and limited resources after being repelled late last year in a Ukrainian counteroffensive, military analysts say. .
The British Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that shortages of Russian artillery ammunition “have probably worsened to the point that extremely punitive shell rationing is in force on many parts of the front.”
This shortcoming, he said, has “almost certainly been one of the main reasons why no Russian formation has recently been able to generate operationally significant offensive action.”
In other developments:
– Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Tuesday.
She laid flowers at a ceremony for Ukrainian volunteers who have been killed in fighting since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and Russian-backed separatists launched an insurgency in the eastern region of Donbass.
Jakobsdottir was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit.
