At least three children and 17 others are dead after Russian forces targeted a central Ukrainian city with airstrikes Thursday, Ukrainian officials say.
The country’s State Emergency Service said the death toll in Vinnytsia stood at 20 people just after 2 p.m. local time. Another 52 people were injured in the strike.
“We appeal to the whole world! Immediately recognize Russia as a terrorist country with all the political consequences of such a decision!” the agency said in a statement, adding that the “killer country” had targeted an area full of civilians.
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Local media reports said between three and four explosions rocked the city at around 10:45 a.m. Yuriy Ignat, a spokesperson for the Air Force Command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, said Russia used Kalibr cruise missiles for the attack.
The missiles struck a building in the very center of the city hosting several offices, and residential buildings were also hit, according to Ihor Klymenko, the chief of the National Police.
Footage from the scene showed rescuers flocking to the area to treat the injured as black smoke filled the sky, flames still visible in a nearby park. A photo shared by the news outlet NEXTA TV showed a toppled baby stroller among the wreckage, with a pool of blood nearby. The news outlet said a “torn leg” lie on the ground behind the stroller but was not shown for ethical reasons.
“That was a child. There is the mother,” a bystander can be heard saying while filming the stroller and what appeared to be a covered body in footage shared by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Kuleba noted that the midday attack—on a residential area far from the territory Russia claims it is seeking to “liberate” in the east—coincided with talks at The Hague on holding Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine.
“While Accountability Conference in The Hague is underway... Russia commits another war crime. At least one child killed, among other victims of a missile strike on Vinnytsia. We will put Russian war criminals on trial for every drop of Ukrainian blood and tears,” Kuleba tweeted.
“Every day Russia destroys the civilian population, kills Ukrainian children, and aims missiles at civilian structures. Where there’s nothing [related to the] military. What is this, if not an open terrorist act? Inhumans. Killer country. Terrorist country,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a statement on Telegram.
