Mykolaiv/Washington:
A Russian missile struck an apartment building in the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv early Tuesday, a Reuters witness said, the latest attack on a city, hours after the United States warned it would hold Russia responsible for war crimes.
The rocket, which triggered one of three explosions heard in the southern city on Tuesday, completely destroyed a wing of the downtown building, leaving a huge crater behind.
A firefighters rescued the dead body of a man from under the rubble, the witness said.
On Monday, Russian attacks on the capital Kiev and other cities that killed at least four people brought the second wave of airstrikes in a week.
The Russian attacks followed the advance of Ukrainian troops to the east and south and after an October 8 explosion on a bridge connecting mainland Russia to Crimea – the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
“At the moment there is another Russian drone strike,” Zelenskiy said in a video address on Monday evening. “There are (drones) that have been shot down.”
The Interfax Ukraine news agency said Telegram users had reported explosions in the city of Fastiv just outside Kiev, as well as in the southern port of Odessa.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press officer for US President Joe Biden, told reporters that the White House “strongly condemns Russia’s missile attacks” and said the attack “still demonstrates Putin’s brutality”.
Russian President Valdimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what he called a “special operation” to wipe out what it calls dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian armed forces have resisted fiercely, using weapons supplied by the United States and its allies, who have also imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an attempt to force the country to withdraw.
Jean-Pierre cited a $725 million military aid package announced last Friday for Ukraine and said the United States will support the people of Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.
“We will continue to charge Russia and hold them accountable for its war crimes,” she said.
One of the four people killed in an attack on a residential building in Kiev was a pregnant woman, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi said there were deaths in other cities, but did not name a full toll.
Black smoke poured from the windows of the Kiev apartment building and emergency personnel struggled to extinguish the flames.
“I’ve never been so scared… It’s murder, it’s just murder,” said Vitalii Dushevskiy, 29, a food delivery man who rents an apartment in the building.
Russia denies targeting civilians. The Defense Ministry said it carried out a “massive” attack on military targets and energy infrastructure across Ukraine using high-precision weapons.
SUICIDE DRONES
Ukraine said the attacks were carried out by Iran-made “suicide drones”, which fly towards their target and detonate. The United States, Britain and France agreed that Iran supplying drones to Russia would violate a UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six powers.
Iran on Monday stuck to its denial of supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented.
The White House accused Iran of lying when it said Iranian drones were not being used by Russia in Ukraine.
Asked for comment, Iran’s mission to the United Nations reiterated a statement issued by the government on Friday that it supports the enforcement of the UN Charter and the UN’s efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine. .
Several EU foreign ministers on Monday called for sanctions against Iran over the transfer of drones to Russia.
The Ukrainian army said it had destroyed 37 Russian drones, or about 85% of the drones used in attacks, as of Sunday evening. Reuters could not independently verify that count.
FIRED CRASH
In Russia itself, a Russian fighter plane crashed into a residential building in the southern city of Yeysk, burning apartments and killing up to 13 people, Interfax news agency reported.
The Su34 fighter-bomber crashed during a training flight after one of its engines caught fire, Tass reported, adding that the pilots were ejected.
The Russian state commission of inquiry said it had opened a criminal case. Yeysk is separated from occupied Russian territory in southern Ukraine by a narrow stretch of the Sea of Azov.
Russia and Ukraine, meanwhile, on Monday conducted one of the largest prisoner exchanges of the war, exchanging a total of 218 detainees, including 108 Ukrainian women, officials from both sides said.
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