Death Toll Rises After Saturday Strike In Dnipro, Ukraine – The death toll from Russia’s missile strike on the city of Dnipro on Saturday has risen to 40, with emergency workers still searching through piles of rubble and concrete to find survivors.
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The Saturday strike on Dnipro, a brutal attack on an apartment building, was one of the first attacks conducted under the leadership of the new Ukraine war commander, Valery Gerasimov.
What Happened On Saturday in Ukraine?
Russia launched a Kh-22 anti-ship missile at an apartment building in the city of Dnipro on Saturday, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Ukrainian forces were unable to stop the incoming missile as the air defense systems Ukrainian troops currently use are not designed to take down missiles intended to take out ships.
While the Kh-22, a Soviet-era missile, is known for being wildly inaccurate in comparison to modern missiles.
It means that the Russians have some level of plausible deniability in the sense that the missile may technically have been intended to strike a different target.
Still, Ukrainian authorities noted that there are no legitimate military or energy infrastructure targets in the vicinity of the residential building.
It suggests that the attack was just another example of Russia launching missiles at residential targets as part of an ongoing campaign of terror.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy compared the strike to the atrocities committed by the Nazis during the Second World War.
Speaking about the apartment building, which stood on the Zaberezhna Peremohy, which translates to the “Embankment of Victory,” Zelenskyy said that the street was named to celebrate the victory over the Nazis.
“When they gave this name to this street, they had in mind the victory over the Nazis in the Second World War,” Zelenskyy said on the day of the strike. “And we must do everything we can to stop Ruscism, just as the free world once stopped Nazism.”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov also accused Russia of deliberately violating international laws.
“Today, rus seriously violated one of the core Int.Humanitarian Law principles, distrinction, destroyed an apartment building in Dnipro, killed at least 5 people & injured min 39,” Reznikov wrote.
The Ukrainian official also said that Russian soldiers won’t be protected by claiming that they were “just following orders,” likely referencing international investigations into war crimes committed by Russian forces over the last 11 months.
The strike caused so much damage that it effectively split in half.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.