Attack has been considered one of the largest since the beginning of the year
(Folhapress) – The Ukraine army said on Saturday that Russia used a cluster ammunition to bombard Krivii Rih, the hometown of President Volodimir Zelenski the day before.
The attack, one of the largest since the beginning of the year, killed 19 people, including nine children, according to Kiev, while Moscow speaks of 85 dead in a military meeting.
Also called fragmentation pumps, cluster ammunition separates in tens of other smaller ones when released, spreading through an extensive area-which may have a devastating effect in a region with large concentration of people.
Moreover, many of these projectiles are not instantly detonated. This makes, like the land mines, this type of weapon poses a risk to the lives of civilians who pass through places that have been the scene of battles years or even decades earlier.
In the case of Friday’s attack, the bomb fell into a residential area, according to Ukrainian authorities. According to the mayor of Krivii Rih, Oleksandr Vilkul, the offensive damaged dozens of buildings and six educational institutes. Among the 72 injured are a three -month -old baby, according to the politician.
“The missile exploded in the air … to hurt more people,” he said. “Children were killed in a playground or near him.” Several unqualified and shared videos on social networks show bodies in the city, including one fallen in front of balance sheets.
Russia maintains that the attack killed 85 people who were in an alleged military gathering – including foreign officials. The country, however, has not evidenced, and Kiev says Moscow is spreading false information to “cover up his cynical crime.”
The American Ambassador in Ukraine, Bridget Brink, said on Friday night that she was “shocked” with the “bombing of ballistic missiles”, not to mention her origin – which generated controversy in Ukraine.
The return of Donald Trump, a critic of Washington’s military aid to Kiev, to the White House, made the relationship between the two countries shudder.
“The reaction of the American embassy is unpleasantly surprising. A country and such strong people, and such a weak reaction,” criticized Zelenski on Saturday on his social networks. “They are even afraid to say the word ‘Russian’ when they talk about the missile that killed the children.”
Also on Saturday, Moscow said that Ukraine has increased its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, reaching targets 14 times in the last 24 hours, although a US intermediate ceasefire-another statement that the Ukrainian army has called false.
According to Russia, the attacks caused damage to the regions of Briansk, Belgorod, Smolensk, Lipetsk and Voronezh, as well as the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Kherson, which Moscow controls.
The Ukrainian army said his forces were attacking only military targets. It was not possible to verify the reports independently.
In addition, the governor of Mordovia, Russia, said Ukrainian drones reached an industrial installation, and local press reports said the target was a fiber optic factory in the region’s capital, Saransk.
The governor of the Samara region said a factory in the city of Tchapaevsk was attacked by Ukrainian drones. A source in the Ukrainian security service told Reuters news agency that the target was a factory that produces industrial explosives and that the attack caused multiple explosions and fires.
Russia and Ukraine agreed last month with a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire compared to each other’s energy infrastructure. Since then, both sides have accused themselves to violate the agreement.
