Kremlin brags ‘goal achieved’ in deadly Ukraine missile strikes
The Kremlin celebrated bringing fresh hell to Ukraine Friday with a wave of early morning missile strikes that killed at least 22 civilians, including four young kids.
“The strike has achieved its goal,” Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov crowed of the first large-scale cruise missile bombardment in nearly two months.
“All the designated facilities have been hit,” the Kremlin official said, claiming without evidence that the struck buildings housed Ukrainian military reserve units awaiting deployment.
Images instead showed deadly devastation in a number of cities across Ukraine, including a nine-story apartment block in Uman with a huge chunk of its upper floors completely blown away.
At least 20 people died in that attack, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said — including two 10-year-old children and a toddler.
A 75-year-old woman in a neighboring building was also killed by internal bleeding from the huge blast’s shock wave. At least 18 others were wounded, including three kids pulled from the rubble.
In a separate blast in Dnipro, a 31-year-old mom was killed alongside her 2-year-old daughter, local officials said. Four people were also wounded.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it proof that the Kremlin has no interest in peace.
“Missile strikes killing innocent Ukrainians in their sleep, including a 2-year-old child, is Russia’s response to all peace initiatives,” he tweeted. “The way to peace is to kick Russia out of Ukraine.”
Harrowing videos and photos also made clear that kids and families were the people devastated by the blasts, not hiding troops, with body bags still in the street.
“Children were sleeping here!” one blood-soaked mom cried in a video, saying her family was lucky to survive in the devastated Uman apartment block.
“We are all covered in blood. All the windows were shattered,” she cried, touring her wrecked home — ending by showing further explosions and a huge fire raging outside her high-rise.
“I hate you!” she shouts of the Russian attackers.
Local reports said the dead included Olga Bilash, 31, and her two-year-old daughters. A woman named Halyna also recalled finding her neighbor dead on her apartment floor.
“I was calling, calling her [on the phone], but she didn’t pick up. I even rang the doorbell, but still no answer,” Halyna said, saying she found her friend’s body after using her spare key to get in.
The tally of dead and injured rose throughout the day, with some still missing. Olha Turina, whose husband is fighting on the front lines, said one of her child’s classmates was missing.
“I don’t know where they are, I don’t know if they are alive,” she said. “I don’t know why we have to go through all this. We never bothered anyone.”
Kyiv responded by saying it was nearly ready to launch a huge ground assault to retake occupied land, using hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles sent by the West.
“As soon as there is God’s will, the weather and a decision by commanders, we will do it,” Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleskii Reznikov told an online news briefing.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed that “This Russian terror must face a fair response from Ukraine and the world … And it will.”
With Post wires
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