Seven dead in attack on Russian apartments – World

MOSCOW: At least seven people were killed and 17 injured when an entire section of an apartment building in Belgorod collapsed after being hit by a missile fired by Ukraine, Russian officials said.

In one of the deadliest attacks to date in the Belgorod region, Ukraine launched a massive missile attack using Tochka ballistic missiles and the Adler and RM-70 Vampire multiple rocket systems (MLRS), according to Russian officials.

Footage from the scene showed at least ten floors of the building collapsing. Later, as rescuers searched the rubble for survivors, the roof collapsed and people ran for their lives, dust and debris falling behind them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the “barbaric” rocket attack by the acting emergency minister and governor of the Belgorod region, the TASS news agency quoted Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, as saying on Sunday.

Troops push back Ukrainian forces by capturing several villages in the Kharkiv region

The Russian Defense Ministry had previously spoken of a terrorist attack on residential areas. “Fragments of one of the Tochka-U missiles fired damaged a residential building in the city of Belgorod,” it said.

According to Russian news agencies, at least seven people were killed and 17 injured, including two children. Others were still trapped under the rubble.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the attack was a targeted attack on civilians, showing the criminality of both Ukraine and its supporters – primarily the United States and its European allies.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the attack.

Kharkiv front

On the other hand, after heavy shelling of the Kharkiv region, Russian forces broke through the border and pushed Ukrainian forces out of many villages in the area. Russian troops said on Sunday they had captured four more villages – Hatyshche, Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove – in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.

The move has forced Ukraine to send additional troops to the area as Russian forces advance at key points along the front in the south and east.

Russian military bloggers said Russia was exploiting its numerical superiority on the battlefield to push hard into relatively undefended areas with highly mobile small troop units that then surrounded Ukrainian positions.

Ukraine’s military chief said his country’s armed forces were facing a difficult situation in fighting in the Kharkiv region but were doing everything they could to hold the line.

“Units of the Defense Forces are engaged in fierce defensive battles, the attempts of the Russian invaders to break through our defenses have been stopped,” Oleksandr Syrskyi said.

Published in Dawn, May 13, 2024