Shillong, April 29: At least 25 civilians were killed in Russia’s first widespread airstrikes in nearly two months on Friday as people slept across Ukraine, according to Kyiv, which said it was almost ready to begin a massive offensive to retake occupied territory.
Firefighters battled a fire at a home damaged by a Russian missile in the centre town of Uman, and rescuers waded through a mountain of burning wreckage looking for survivors and bodies as concerned bystanders watched in horror.
“My neighbours have moved out” Serhii Lubivskyi (58), who survived inside a unit on the seventh floor, claimed, “No one is left. The explosion blocked their front door, so he and his wife fled to the balcony where he was rescued by firefighters”.
An estimated 109 individuals lived in the area of the building that was attacked and 27 flats were entirely demolished, according to officials, who said that at least 23 civilians, including four children, were killed.
Looking up at the flaming spaces in the structure where nearby apartments had been destroyed, Lubivskyi cried.
According to regional governor Serhiy Lysak, a missile killed a 31-year-old mother and a 2-year-old kid in the city of Dnipro in the southeast. A blackened hole was visible in the video that the authorities made public where a missile had broken through an apartment window.
Moscow claimed to have successfully attacked the positions of Ukrainian reserve forces it had targeted, keeping them from reaching the front. It didn’t provide any supporting data for this.