Distressing footage shows the destruction caused by a Russian missile strike on a building that Ukrainian authorities say they killed at least 30 people.
A striking image taken by photographer Arsen Dzodzaev for Ukrainian media Hromadske shows a distraught young woman perched on the seventh floor of a building in the city of Dnipro, surrounded by destruction.
Journalist Yelyzaveta Belmas told the publication that the aftermath had been “utter hell”, with people screaming and pleading with loved ones. Some of the agonizing cries for help came from deep within the rubble, emergency services said.
The woman in the photo has been identified as Anastasia Shvets, 23, who was having lunch with her parents when the missile struck on Saturday (local time).
“I don’t know where my parents are,” she said, The Telegraph reported. His parents are feared to be dead, with up to 40 people still to be found.
“I have no words, I have no emotions, I just feel a big emptiness inside,” Ms Shvets said from the hospital.
Authorities’ hopes of removing survivors from the wreckage quickly dwindled on Sunday due to freezing temperatures.
Rescuers toiled all night searching for survivors. On Sunday morning, they could be seen punching and kicking through piled mounds of shattered concrete and twisted metal.
“The chances of saving people are now slim,” Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov told Reuters.
Zelensky calls for an end to ‘Russian terror’
The Ukrainian Air Force said the building was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which is known to be inaccurate, and which Ukraine lacked the air defenses to shoot down. The Soviet-era missile was developed during the Cold War to destroy warships.
Russia fired two waves of missiles at Ukraine on Saturday, hitting targets across the country as fighting raged on the battlefield in the eastern cities of Soledar and Bakhmut.
Moscow, which invaded Ukraine last February, has been bombarding Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, causing power outages and disruptions to central heating and running water.
In a statement on Sunday about its previous day of strikes, the Russian Defense Ministry did not mention Dnipro as a specific target.
“All assigned objects have been hit. The objectives of the strike have been achieved,” he added.
In his overnight address after the strike, President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Western allies to provide more weapons to end “Russian terror” and attacks on civilian targets.
with Reuters
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