“Another air alert across the country. Every time it feels like we’re all tricked into getting shot. But each time they only shoot one of us. Today is not you. Take a break for a while. It is an excerpt from one of the poems that reflects the daily reality of millions of Ukrainians. It was written by Victoria Amelina, the author who by then was collecting evidence of Russian war crimes killed in a rocket attack on a popular pizzeria in Kramatorsk End of June.
On Monday, another popular venue, a hotel in an apartment building in Pokrovsk, another city in the Donetsk region, was damaged by a Russian double-barrelled missile attack. Several multi-storey buildings were also badly damaged. At least seven people died and 88 were injuredincluding several police officers and firefighters who arrived at the scene after the initial attack.
“It’s a standard Russian tactic. They strike once, then wait for the fire department to arrive, and then strike a second time.said the head of the regional administration Pavlo Kyrylenko. Fearing that the civilians would be buried under the rubble of their home in the initial attack, firefighters had to do everything they could to rescue them.
The first attack took place at 19:15. The second at 7:52 p.m., after dozens of rescuers were already there. The deputy chief of the regional fire brigade, Colonel Andriy OmelchenkoHe died in the attack. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, Russia used Iskander missiles to attack the city, several dozen kilometers from the front lines.
Since the invasion began 78 Ukrainian firefighters died and 280 were injuredsaid the spokesman for the service, Oleksandr Jorunzhyi. He said that rescuers are protected by international conventions as they do not engage in combat operations but work to rescue and provide assistance to the wounded.
The Russian Defense Ministry, as always, denied killing civilians and rescuers and said the missiles hit a Ukrainian army command post. A military spokesman Sergiy Cherevatyidismissed this claim, noting that Moscow claims it has destroyed this particular command post for the “third or fourth time”. “Russian terrorists continue to fight civilians”he stressed.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejicnovic BuricHe condemned the Russian attack “in the strongest terms”. “These crimes must not go unpunished,” he said.
According to Cherevatyi, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hold the initiative near Bakhmut. “The enemy is putting up desperate resistance,” he stated and betrayed it 65 Russian soldiers died there in the last 24 hours and 120 were injured.
In total, More than 250,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine according to Ukrainian army estimates, since the beginning of the invasion. Recently, Russia’s daily casualties have been kept below 700 as Ukraine targeted enemy artillery to weaken its defenses.