Five children were among at least 44 people killed when a “notoriously inaccurate” Russian missile slammed into a central Ukraine apartment building last week, authorities said Tuesday.
National Police Chief Igor Klymenko said search and rescue operations have been completed at the site of the nine-story building that housed about 1,700 people in Dnipro. Sixteen children were among the 79 people injured – 28 of them hospitalized, 10 in serious condition, Klymenko said in a Facebook update.
Twenty people remain missing, including four children. Some people were trapped on upper floors, and some signalled for help with lights on their cellphones.
“There is no doubt: Every person guilty of this war crime will be identified and brought to justice,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The Kremlin denied responsibility, claiming Ukrainian air defense systems caused the damage.
“The Russian armed forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “They strike military targets.”
Other developments:
►Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that his country’s military would increase its forces from the current 1.15 million servicemembers to 1.5 million by 2026. He also pledged to increase the number of training grounds – including “in the new territories of Russia,” apparently Ukraine.
►U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and other U.S. officials met in Kyiv with Zelenskyy on Monday. They reiterated Washington’s “strong and steadfast commitment to Ukraine,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS begin for Russians behind missile strike; Ukraine soldiers arrive at Fort Sill: Live updates
Russian missile that hit apartment building ‘notoriously inaccurate’
The missile that hit the Dnipro apartment building Saturday was one of dozens fired by Russia targeting Ukraine infrastructure and probably hit the apartment building by accident, the British Defense Ministry said Tuesday in its latest assessment of the war. An AS-4 KITCHEN large anti-ship missile, launched from a Russian bomber, was the likely culprit, the assessment said.
“Russia falsely implied a Ukrainian air defense missile was responsible,” the assessment says. “KITCHEN is notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas.”
Similar weapons have been responsible for other civilian mass-casualties, including a strike on a Kremenchuk shopping center in June that killed at least 20 people.
“While some missiles such as KITCHEN are unsuitable for precision strike, evidence from the Ukraine war suggests that dysfunction of Russia’s long-range strike capability is more profound,” the assessment says.
Contributing: The Associated Press