Rescuers search for survivors in Vinnytsia after deadly attack

First modification: 07/15/2022 – 19:34

The search for the missing by rescuers in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, following one of the deadliest attacks on a civilian target since Russia invaded Ukraine, continues unabated. At least 18 citizens remain unaccounted for, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

Rescuers, with the help of 400 civilians and trained dogs, have been combing through the rubble since Thursday, July 14, the day of the attack, trying to find people alive.

The missiles, which hit an office building and damaged apartment blocks and administrative infrastructure, as well as a medical center, left at least 23 people dead, including two boys and a girl, and more than 100 were injured, many in critical condition, so the toll is likely to increase.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday night that the cruise missile attacks launched from a submarine in the Black Sea on this city demonstrate “once again that Russia should be officially recognized as a terrorist state.”

“No other state in the world poses such a great terrorist threat as Russia. No other state in the world is allowed to destroy peaceful cities and civilian human lives day after day with cruise missiles and rocket artillery,” Zelensky said in his usual late-night video message. collects the Ukrinform agency. The leader added that after this attack no one can doubt the urgent need to create a special court on Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Likewise, the Ukrainian president asked to launch, as soon as possible, a special compensation mechanism by which all Russian assets and funds in all countries of the world are confiscated and destined to “compensate the victims of Russian terror,” he said. .

“Can you think of any other terrorist organization that has indulged in such audacity (in connection with the attacks in Vinnytsia)? To kill precisely when its previous crimes are the subject of international discussion? Russia has thus shown its attitude towards international law, towards Europe and to the entire civilized world,” Zelensky said.

Vinnytsia is the capital of the region that has the same name, it has a population of more than 300,000 inhabitants and is an area that until now had not suffered the inclemencies of the conflict.

The Russian version of the attack in Vinnytsia does not agree with the Ukrainian

From the Kremlin it is maintained that his country hit a military facility in Vinnytsia and not an office and apartment building as Ukraine claims. The Russian Army points out that at that facility there was “a meeting of the command of the Ukrainian Air Force with representatives of foreign arms suppliers on the transfer of the next batch of aircraft and weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov noted that “on July 13, high-precision Kalibr missiles emplaced in the sea hit the officers’ house of the Vinnytsia garrison. As a result of the impact (of the missiles), the participants in the meeting were eliminated.”

According to the Russian version, “repair of the Ukrainian aviation fleet” was also organized at that meeting.

This attack has provoked international outrage because while it was happening there were signs of progress in talks on a possible agreement to allow Ukraine to export around 22 million tons of grain that it has stuck due to the war.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “horrified” by the bombing and the European Union called it an “atrocity.” Both called for accountability.

With AFP, EFE and AP