Russia launched missiles at cities across Ukraine early Friday morning, April 28, killing at least 12 people. It was Russia’s first large-scale air attacks in nearly two months.
The attacks occurred as Kiev prepared to launch a counteroffensive in an attempt to recover Russian-occupied territory.
Firefighters in Uman’s central city battled a roaring inferno at a residential apartment complex that had been struck on an upper floor. According to regional governor Ihor Taburets, at least ten people were killed, including two children, and nine more were injured.
“At first the windows were blown out, then came the explosion,” a resident of the apartment building who gave her name only as Olga said to Reuters as rescue workers dug through the debris. “Everything flew out.”
In the southeastern city of Dnipro, a missile struck a house, killing a two-year-old child and a 31-year-old woman, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said. Three people were also wounded in the attack.
The capital Kyiv was also rocked by explosions, with officials reporting that air defence units had destroyed 11 missiles and two drones.
Two people were wounded in the town of Ukrayinka just south of Kyiv, officials said.
The Ukrainian military said it had shot down 21 out of 23 cruise missiles fired by Russia.
“This Russian terror must face a fair response from Ukraine and the world,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote in a Telegram post alongside images of the wreckage. “And it will.”
Russia has regularly struck civilian infrastructure, particularly energy facilities throughout the winter.
Although Moscow claims that it does not intentionally target civilians, its air strikes and shelling have killed thousands of people and devastated cities and towns across Ukraine. According to Kyiv, strikes on cities far from the battle lines serve no military purpose other than to injure civilians, which is a war crime.
After a months-long Russian winter onslaught, the battle between Russia and Ukraine has reached a standstill, with both sides making little or no progress. Kyiv is preparing a counter-offensive with the help of hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles supplied by the West.
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, saying that President Vladimir Putin wished to demilitarize and denazify the country.
Russia holds a swathe of territory across southern and southeastern Ukraine, and seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014.