KYIV: Kyiv said Thursday that Russian shelling on a central Ukraine town had left at least 12 people dead including one child and sparked a large blaze being fought by dozens of rescue workers.
The emergency services said there are “12 dead, including one baby, and 25 wounded,“ following the strikes in Vinnytsia.
It said that 90 emergency service personnel were on the scene working to put out a fire sparked by the attack.
Images distributed by officials showed the burnt skeletons of several upturned cars next to a gutted building held up by charred metal frames, with brown smoke billowing from the impact site.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out at Moscow in the aftermath describing Russia as “a killer country. A terrorist country.”
“Every day, Russia kills civilians, kills Ukrainian children, carries out missile attack on civilian facilities where there is no military target. What is this if not an open act of terrorism?” the Ukraine leader said in a statement on social media.
Rescue workers in overalls and red and yellow helmets were shown carrying hoses to extinguish the flames.
One of the damaged buildings was a shop that offers household services, like clothing and shoe repairs.
Central Ukraine in recent months has been seen as a relative safe haven compared to the eastern Donbas region, where fierce fighting between Moscow and Kyiv has seen Russia capture several industrial cities.
Vinnytsia, with an estimated population of 660,000 people, lies around 250 kilometres (155 miles) southeast of the capital Kyiv.-AFP
