Vladimir Putin’s forces have launched horrific Good Friday terror strikes on Ukraine using “shrapnel missiles” to cause as much death as possible. A man was killed in his flat in Kharkiv as Russia attacked a residential tower block with an Iskander-M ballistic missile unleashing cluster munitions.
Five children, one aged two-and-a-half and another four, were among the 60 wounded in the onslaught from hell as Easter began amid apocalyptic scenes of devastation. A man with a mood-drenched head bandage was also seen helped to waiting ambulances while search dogs were deployed to hunt for bodies under the rubble.
In Sumy, an Easter cake confectionery plant – initially labelled an industrial facility – was destroyed by the Russians in the latest onslaught, killing a businessman who had come to collect supplies of the traditional ‘paska’ sweet bread treat served at family gatherings.
A female worker at the plant was wounded and needed medical assistance as the roof was blown off the building from a three-done attack. A total of 20 apartment buildings and more than 30 private homes were destroyed or damaged in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city which is close to the Russian border.
Shrapnel marks from the Putin missiles scarred the apartment buildings. A Ukrainian source said: “The Russians are deliberately launching shrapnel missiles to cause as many casualties and injuries as possible. Terrorism in its purest form.”
And Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky said after the attacks: “This is how Russia began this Good Friday – with ballistics, cruise missiles, ‘Shaheds’ [Iranian-designed drones] – torturing our people and cities.
“A missile strike on Kharkiv, just on the city. Dozens of ordinary houses, an enterprise, cars were damaged. About 70 people were injured, including five children, the youngest, Valeria, only two years old. All the wounded received the necessary assistance. Unfortunately, one person died.
“Sumy. Russian strike drones. One of the targets was an ordinary bread production, an ordinary enterprise that has been working for the city for decades. Unfortunately, one person was killed in this strike.
“My condolences to all who lost their relatives and friends. There were also Russian strikes on the Dnipro, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Donetsk regions.” He also pleaded with the West for more air defences.
Sumy tower block resident Inna Mazurova said: “We woke up to explosions. I can’t say anything right now, because I’m so emotional. I don’t have a room on this side of the building any more, everything was blown out
“The ceiling was blown off, and the door. I had a glass door, and it was shattered. The blast wave shattered the aquarium, the whole apartment was in the water.”
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said: “The explosion of this missile happened in the air. It had cluster ammunition. They flew far and wide, that’s why such a big damage, sadly. There’s one person killed, it’s a man.
“It was a morning in a residential district, when people were waking up, going to work. You understand how terrible are the things they [the Russians] are doing?” Orthodox believers in both Russia and Ukraine unusually this year mark Easter on the same dates as in the West – but this has not stopped Putin’s latest bloody strikes.
In Ukrainian city Dnipro, a hotel, fitness centre and office complex was hit in Russian rocket strikes. In Kupiansk, Russian forces dropped a 1.5-tonne bomb on a multi-storey building, injuring a 72 year old woman.
Putin’s forces also sought to advance by crossing the Oskil River. In Mykolaiv, the city was ablaze with fires after Russian drone strikes evidently aimed at civilian infrastructure. Warehouses with household goods of a private enterprise caught fire, according to reports.
Drones also hit Kyiv region and elsewhere in Ukraine. A missile victim in Kharkiv said: “There was an explosion and that’s it.” A woman victim said: “I remember just the dust and the rubble. Of course, we understood that it was an explosion.
“Because the shock wave knocked out the balcony door on the other side. The glass was everywhere, water. My aquarium fish were thrown out on the tiles.” Footage also showed earlier horrific Russian bombing of frontline Ukrainian city Kherson. A 15-year-old was wounded, and two men also sought medical help.
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