A Russian missile smashed into an apartment block in the sleepy eastern Ukrainian town of Selydove on Wednesday, killing one person and wounding at least three others, the national police said.
Rescuers at the site raced to clear rubble to find anyone buried beneath after the attack, which police said saw four S-300 missiles strike the town shortly after midnight, damaging six apartment buildings and 20 homes.
Local officials in one channel on Telegram messenger said that four people were believed to be trapped under the rubble.
There were no soldiers living there, only civilians,” Olha, a 64-year-old woman who lives next door to the ruined building, told Reuters.
Through tears, she said she knew the woman who had been killed.
“Of course I knew her… and her son. He was given medical help, he was recovering from an operation. But (she) died.”
“People have been left with nothing,” Olha said.
Her neighbour, 66-year-old Natalia, looked shocked by the night’s tragedy.
“Now I’m scared to be in my own flat.”
About half of the apartment block had been destroyed by the missile, which had torn out a gaping triangular hole that spanned at least ten metres at its top.
Rescuers cleared the debris and warned residents against approaching a surviving corner of the structure as it teetered, close to collapse.
A large crane assisted workers in clearing a mass of loose rubble from where the top floor once had been. Many onlookers were in shock, some cried.
Russia has carried out regular missile and drone strikes on population centres behind the front line of its 21-month-old invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow denies targeting civilians. Ukraine regularly reports that Russian missile and drone strikes have killed and hurt civilians and damaged civilian infrastructure during the full-scale war launched by Russia in February 2022.
(Reuters)