U.S. condemns ‘war crimes’ after Russia drone attack hits Kyiv apartment block
The White House announced on Monday that the United States would continue to hold Russia accountable for “warfare crimes,” hours after Russia bombed Ukrainian towns with drones during the morning rush hour, killing at least four people in a Kyiv apartment complex.
In his Monday night video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that there had been additional assaults. “There’s a brand new Russian drone attack going on right now, and (drones) have been shot down.”
According to the Interfax Ukraine news agency, Telegram users had recommended explosions in the southern port of Odesa as well as in the city of Fastiv, which lies just outside of Kiev.
In addition, Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure during the second round of airstrikes last week, which coincided with people leaving for work and school in the morning.
Following explosions that shook the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Monday morning, soldiers fired into the air in an effort to take down the drones. As everyone fled for cover, an anti-aircraft rocket was seen racing into the early sky, followed by an explosion and orange flames.
U.S. The White House “strongly condemns” Russia’s missile strikes these days, according to President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, who added that the attack “continues to illustrate (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s cruelty.”
She said, in reference to a fresh $725 million military aid package announced for Ukraine last Friday: “We will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine for however long it takes.”
We’ll continue to penalise Russia and hold them liable for their war crimes.”
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi said there were deaths in several locations but did not provide a total toll, and Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said a pregnant girl was one of four people murdered in the assault on the residential building.
U.S. condemns ‘war crimes’ after Russia drone attack hits Kyiv apartment block.
Employees of the emergency services laboured to put out the fires as black smoke streamed out of the windows of the rental building in Kyiv.
“I’ve never before been so terrified.” It is murder, by all accounts, according to Vitalii Dushevskiy, a 29-year-old food delivery courier who rents a unit in the complex.
They tried to leave, but couldn’t find the stairway because it was “all long gone,” according to his roommate, who only provided his name as Nazar.
Elena Mazur, 52, who was nearby, shifted to looking for her mother after she was told she was trapped under rubble.
Mazur said, “She isn’t picking up the phone,” hoping that her mother had been found and sent to a hospital.
The United States, Britain, and France agreed that Iran’s providing drones to Russia could violate a U.N. The Security Council resolution that recommended Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers.Iran on Monday stuck to its denial that it was presenting the drones to Russia, even as the Kremlin has now not commented. Ukraine said that the attacks were done by “suicide drones” made in Iran that fly to their target and blow up there.
In Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 17, 2022, firefighters help a local woman flee a residential building that was demolished by a Russian drone strike that authorities believe to have been carried out by Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Shahed-136.
When Iran claimed that Russia was no longer using Iranian drones in Ukraine, the White House accused Iran of lying.
When prompted for comment, the Iranian mission to the UN reiterated a statement released by the government on Friday that stated that it supports upholding the U.N. The Charter and the U.N.’s efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine.
On Monday, a number of EU foreign ministers called for penalties against Iran over the shipment of drones to Russia.
According to the Russian defence ministry, high-precision weapons were used in a “huge” attack on military targets and electrical infrastructure throughout Ukraine.
They observed fragments of a drone that was used in the attack and was inscribed with the words “For Belgorod”—an apparent reference to Ukrainian shelling of a Russian border region.
Alla Voloshko, a 47-year-old lawyer who hid in the basement of her apartment building, said, “Waking up Ukrainians on Mondays with missiles is already a tradition.”
Since Sunday night, the Ukrainian military said it had destroyed 37 Russian drones, or about 85% of those used in attacks, but it could not independently verify that number.
Officials say that a drone hit the Everi maritime terminal in the southern port of Mykolaiv on Sunday night, breaking sunflower storage tanks and setting oil that was leaking on fire.
Russia denies that its “unique navy operation” in Ukraine, which started on February 24 and coincided with the largest acquisition of territory in Europe since World War Two, focused on civilians.
According to the regional governor, a Russian fighter jet crashed into a residential structure in the southern city of Yeysk, engulfing apartments in flames and killing at least four people, according to Interfax.
The incident happened during a training flight, according to the RIA news agency. The pilots, who jumped out of the plane, said that one engine caught fire on takeoff and that the plane’s fuel caught fire when it hit the building.
The Yeysk is located in southern Ukraine, across a narrow length of the Sea of Azov from the occupied Russian territory, and the Russian Investigative Committee announced that it has initiated a criminal case.
According to the Ukrainian national power company Energoatom, Russian shelling in another area caused the largest nuclear power plant in Europe to be disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid for a short time. However, the plant was quickly reconnected to a backup system, which was run by the International Atomic Energy Agency (AEA).
Russian forces are occupying the plant, which has been shelled throughout the conflict but is run by Ukrainian employees. The plant’s reactors require power to keep the fuel inside cool and prevent a meltdown.
Russia has long accused Kiev of firing shells against the plant.
In the meantime, on Monday, officials from Moscow and Kyiv swapped 218 prisoners, including 108 Ukrainian girls, in one of the largest prisoner swaps of the conflict so far.
