The death toll from Saturday’s Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 40, as rescue workers continued to sift through the mountain of concrete in the hope of finding survivors.
At least 30 people are still reported missing and a further 75 injured according to local authorities, after the building was split into two with its middle reduced to rubble.
Ukraine says the mass civilian deaths, which it describes as terrorism, demonstrates why it needs more weapons to defeat Russian forces 11 months after they invaded. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the missile strike as a war crime.
“There is no doubt: every person guilty of this war crime will be identified and brought to justice,” Zelensky said in his nightly address late Monday.
Kyiv has called for more weapons to defend itself and at the weekend received pledges of British tanks, but Russian President Vladimir Putin warned more armaments would only intensify fighting and the Kremlin vowed to retaliate.
According to CNN report, the last rescue took place shortly after midnight on Saturday. It took nine hours to reach the people and they had severe hyperthermia.
German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned on Monday as her government came under rising pressure to let allies send Ukraine German heavy tanks, at the start of what looks like a pivotal week of Western plans to further arm Kyiv.
Officials acknowledged little hope of finding anyone else alive in the rubble of Saturday’s attack in the central city of Dnipro, but Zelensky said the rescue operation would go on “as long as there is even the slightest chance to save lives”.
Russia and Belarus began joint military aviation exercises on Monday. Minsk said the drills are defensive and it will not enter the war.
Source: The Guardian, Eyewitness News, Reuters, Daily Maverick, image from Twitter: @maria_avda