Monitoring Desk
DNIPRO, UKRAINE: The death toll from Russia’s devastating strike on a residential block in Dnipro city rose on Monday to 36, as fears increased more bodies would be pulled from the remains and rubble whereas Moscow denied responsibility.
Emergency and rescue service workers with rescue dogs dug for any possible survivors till late-night Sunday amid one of the deadliest recent attacks of Russia’s nearly year-long invasion.
A rescue worker Larysa Borysenko told the media that they were working for about 20 hours without sleep and rest adding that they found bodies but unfortunately no survivors.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s national police service releases the recent death toll in a statement while the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko remarked two children were among the dead. However, he added that the “fate of another 35 residents of the building is unknown,” while confirming that the rescue operations were ongoing in the area.
Moscow denies the attack
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday told the reporters that Kremlin’s forces were not responsible for the said attack and pointed to an unsubstantiated theory propagating on social media that Ukrainian air defence systems had caused the damage adding that the Russian armed forces do not target residential buildings or social infrastructure but only military targets.
Ukraine President condemns Moscow’s cowardly silence
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Sunday that search operations for the possible survivors would go on as long as required and condemned Russia’s “cowardly silence” over the attack.
On late Sunday, the EU’s most senior diplomat Josep Borrell termed the strike as “inhumane aggression” and reiterated “there will be no impunity for these crimes adding that the EU will continue supporting Ukraine, for as long as it can.
The rising cost of the deadly strike that ripped open one of the sides of a housing block happened as Russia and its close supporter Belarus announced the beginning of new joint military exercises.
Belarus, which has been a key supporter of Russia from the very first day since the conflict began, allowed Moscow’s troops to use its territory as a launching pad for the attack in February 2022.
Since Ukrainian troops pushed back Russian forces in Kyiv (north of the country), its Western supporters have been assessing the threat of another possible assault from Belarusian territory.
Western Support to Ukraine
Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi the UN atomic watchdog chief was expected to arrive in Ukraine on Monday to deploy observer missions at nuclear power plants in different parts of Ukraine that have been a key concern throughout Russia’s invasion.
Taking to his Twitter handle he said “I’m proud to head the mission to Ukraine, where we’re deploying in all of the country’s NPPs (nuclear power plants) to provide support in nuclear safety and security.
Ukraine in recent weeks has been continuing sly pressing Western backers to assist its forces with advanced tanks, in particular the German-designed Leopard model.
The UK this weekend promised 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, becoming the first Western country to provide the heavy tanks Kyiv has been calling for.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Peskov told reporters on Monday that fighting in Ukraine would be continued with or without the deliveries adding that these tanks were burning and will be burnt.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg while talking to German media on Sunday said that “recent initiates for heavy warfare equipment were important and he expected more in the near future”.
Besides, on Monday, officials in Ukraine said that Russian troops had continued shelling to target the southern city of Kherson, once, recaptured by Kyiv’s troops in the last quarter of 2022.
