Kiev (EFE).- The lifeless bodies of 25 civilians have so far been recovered from the scenes of two attacks with Russian cruise missiles that hit residential areas in the cities of Uman and Dnipro, in the center and eastern Ukraine.
It is the biggest Russian attack in months against Ukrainian cities that are not located on or near the front lines, although kyiv was also hit by some shells.
The Russian Ministry of Defense assured that the bombardment was directed against military objectives, before the expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, which is already in the last phase of preparation.
“Russian aerospace forces launched a salvo of long-range, high-precision missiles against temporary deployment points of reserve units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” military spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said in his daily war report. .
The department headed by Sergei Shoigu added that all the objectives of the launch were “achieved”.
More than 20 missiles against Ukraine
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian planes flying over the Caspian Sea fired more than twenty missiles at various parts of Ukraine.
In the city of Uman, the military authority of the Cherkasy province, in which the town is located, reported that a missile hit a nine-story block, partially destroying it, while ten apartment buildings were damaged.
“Uman. At 7:00 p.m. the body of a child was found. The death toll: 23”, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced on its Telegram account.
Five children killed in the attacks
With this there were already four minors found lifeless among the remains of the buildings hit, in which dozens of people were also injured.
In Dnipro, the city’s mayor, Boris Filatov, reported the death of a woman and her three-year-old son as a result of another Russian attack.
“They have killed a young woman and a three-year-old boy,” he wrote on his Facebook account.
“A private house has been destroyed in Dnipro,” the military authority writes on its official Instagram channel. According to this source, the victims are a 31-year-old woman and a 2-year-old baby. Three people were injured
Zelensky condemns attacks on civilians
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for more military aid and tougher sanctions against Russia to prevent further attacks like the one carried out on Friday.
“Only together can we defeat Russian terrorism, with weapons for Ukraine, tougher sanctions against the terrorist state and fair sentences for the murderers,” Zelensky said in a message posted on social media at the time the official death toll was released. raised to 13.
In previous messages, the Ukrainian leader asked the international community for “a fair response” to this Russian attack. “Every attack like this, every act of evil against our country and our people brings the terrorist state closer to failure and to being punished and not the other way around as they think,” Zelensky declared.
“We will not forget any crime, we will not let any invader evade his responsibility,” added the Ukrainian head of state, whose message was accompanied by photographs of several buildings burned down and partially destroyed by the Russian attack this morning.