PoliticsDeaths after Moscow's attacks in Ukraine and Russia
SDA
2.2.2025 - 05:03
HANDOUT - In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters extinguish the fire in a destroyed apartment building after a Russian missile attack in Poltava. Photo: Uncredited/Ukrainian Emergency Service/AP/dpa - ATTENTION: For editorial use only and only with full attribution of the above credit
Keystone
More than a dozen people have been killed by new bomb and missile attacks in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Keystone-SDA
02.02.2025, 05:03
SDA
After a rocket hit a residential building in Poltava in central Ukraine, the death toll rose to at least eleven. Russian air strikes also killed people in other parts of the country, including two in Sumy in the north-east and one in Kharkiv in the east.
According to the General Staff in Kiev, at least four people died in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Sudzha in the Russian region of Kursk when a glide bomb hit a boarding school used as emergency accommodation. Four other residents of the Russian region were injured and the condition of a further 84 people is satisfactory. All of them were Russian civilians.
The Russian Ministry of Defense rejected the claim from Kiev and stated that the Ukrainian armed forces had targeted Sudzha with rockets from neighboring Sumy. The building had been hit by a Ukrainian missile. Moscow accused Kiev of a "war crime".
The Ukrainian air force rejected the accusations and refuted Moscow's claims during the night with sketches showing calculations of the trajectory of the projectile that hit the building. From the angle of impact, it could therefore only have been a guided bomb dropped from an aircraft east of Sudja. "Bombing civilians is a trademark of Russian criminals, even if the civilians are locals, i.e. Russians," reads the statement posted on Telegram.
The information provided by the warring parties cannot be independently verified.
Ukrainian troops invaded the Russian region of Kursk at the beginning of August and have controlled dozens of villages there since then, including Sudzha. Many Russians were unable to flee in time and are therefore still in the embattled city.
Ukrainian military reports rescue of injured Russians
Earlier, the spokesman for the Ukrainian military command in the Kursk region, Olexij Dmytraschkowskyj, had spoken of 95 people buried under the rubble and of moans and screams. Many of them are elderly and many are unable to walk themselves. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, work on the building is continuing. Those who need further medical assistance are being taken to neighboring Ukrainian territory.
According to Ukrainian reports, a Russian glide bomb fell on the building. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the residents were being prepared for evacuation. The Russian side had been informed that only civilians, including women and children, were in the building.
The region is heavily contested. Recently, there have been repeated reports of civilian deaths in the region during Russian counter-attacks. Moscow's military has repeatedly announced the recapture of the Kursk region.
Selenskyj: Russia has no regard for its own civilians
Following the airstrike against the boarding school in Sudzha, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published a video on Platform X showing a badly damaged building and people in distress. The Russian army has no regard for its own civilians either, he said.
"This is a state that has lost all decency," said Selenskyj. "And this is an evil that will not stop on its own. But if we act strongly and decisively, even Russia can be forced to stop. And this must be done so that the world is safe from Russian bombs."
In his evening video address broadcast earlier in Kiev, he once again condemned the recent Russian air strikes against the cities of Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Odessa, among others. In the old town of the port city of Odessa, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, several historic buildings were damaged by Russian missile strikes. Several people were injured there and in other regions.
Zelensky calls for Russia's helpers to be punished
In his video address, Zelensky once again criticized the fact that by circumventing sanctions, Russia could continue to manufacture its missiles, cruise missiles and drones using components from other countries. Hundreds or even thousands of components come from countries in the European Union, China and even America, he said.
"Without these critical components, Russia would have no way of destroying the lives of other nations," said Selenskyj. The sanctions must therefore be effective and must not be circumvented under any circumstances. At the same time, he called for penalties for those states that supplied Russia with such components. "The violation of sanctions must be treated as complicity in war, and those who help to destroy lives must be held accountable," he said.
Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression with Western help for almost three years.