Photo: Collected –
Metropolis Desk-
A total of 26 people, including five children, have been killed as Russian missile strikes battered cities across Ukraine on Friday (April 28). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the latest strikes and vowed a response.
“Only absolute evil can unleash such terror against Ukraine,” he said in his evening address on Friday, the news agency AFP reported on Saturday.
Friday’s attacks included a strike on a residential block in Ukraine’s Uman city, where rescue workers were seen extracting victims’ remains from a destroyed residential building. According to authorities, 23 people, including four children, were killed in the block, reports WION.
Russian missiles also targeted the central city of Dnipro, killing a 31-year-old woman and her two-year-old daughter in their sleep. AFP reported that the woman’s parents were hospitalised. Dnipro is already grief-stricken after over 40 people were killed in a missile strike on a tower block in January.
Separately, authorities in Kherson said on Friday that Russian forces shelled the village of Bilozerka, killing a 57-year-old woman and wounding three others. Meanwhile, there were no casualties reported in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv which was one of the targeted cities.
The fresh attacks by Russian forces were the first large-scale air strikes in nearly two months.
Condemning the attacks, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak demanded “lots of weapons” and more sanctions on Russia. Tweeting visuals of the destruction caused by Russian strikes, Podolyak said, “The absolute and only possible “Russian peace”… Take a careful look. And look again. If you don’t want THIS spread around the world, then give us weapons. Lots of weapons. And add sanctions. And begin, finally, the expulsion of “Russian political witches” from international organizations…”
Earlier on Friday, Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that the government’s preparations to push back against entrenched Russian positions were almost complete.
“Equipment has been promised, prepared and partially delivered. In a global sense, we’re ready. Preparations are coming to an end,” Defence Minister Reznikov said.
