Brittney Griner back in court,10-year sentence looms; ‘cruel’ Russian rocket attack kills 22: Live Ukraine updates
Russian missiles smashed through the heart of the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday, killing at least 22 people, wounding 100 more and destroying residential and commercial buildings, Ukraine authorities said.
Ihor Klymenko, head of the National Police, said authorities blocked off the area to conduct rescues, collect evidence of Russian war crimes and keep out looters. The strikes damaged more than 50 buildings, including a hospital, and over 40 vehicles, he said.
“A cynical, cruel and insidious crime that has no excuse,” Klymenko said in a Facebook post.
The missiles were launched from a submarine in the Black Sea, he said. Vinnytsia, home to 370,000 people, is about 100 miles southwest of the capital Kyiv and far from the eastern Donbas region that has been the primary target of Russian military advances.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least one small child was among the victims.
“Every day Russia destroys civilians, kills Ukrainian children and directs missiles at civilian targets where there is nothing military,” he said. “What is this, if not an open terrorist act? Inhuman. Killer country. A terrorist country.”
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Other developments
►The Russian-occupied Zaporizhia province will hold a referendum on joining the Russian Federation in early autumn, the head of the military administration said.
Contributing: The Associated Press