KYIV, Ukraine — Russian missiles that struck a city in central Ukraine killed 17 people and wounding about 90 more Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said. The country’s president called the attack “an open act of terrorism” against civilians in locations without military value.
Ukraine’s national police said three missiles hit an office building and damaged nearby residential buildings in Vinnytsia, which is located 167 miles southwest of the capital, Kyiv.
The missile strike ignited a fire that expanded to engulf 50 cars in an adjacent parking lot. The governor of the Vinnytsia region, Serhiy Borzov, said Ukrainian air defense systems shot down another four missiles over the area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a child was among the dead. He suggested the attack was deliberately aimed at civilians. The strike happened as government officials from about 40 countries met in The Hague to discuss coordinating efforts to investigate and prosecute potential war crimes in Ukraine.
July 12, 202200:44
“Every day Russia is destroying the civilian population, killing Ukrainian children, directing missiles at civilian objects. Where there is no military (targets). What is it if not an open act of terrorism?” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Before the missiles hit Vinnytsia, the president’s office reported the deaths of five civilians and the wounding of another eight in Russian attacks over the past day.
One person was wounded when a missile damaged several buildings in the southern city of Mykolaiv early Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said. A missile attack on Wednesday killed at least five people in the city.
Russian forces also continued artillery and missile attacks in eastern Ukraine, primarily in Donetsk province after overtaking adjacent Luhansk. The city of Lysychansk, the last major stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk, fell to Russian forces at the beginning of the month.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
