After a Russian attack in a suburb of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, rescue workers have found the body of a two-year-old girl under the rubble of a house. Authorities also reported 22 injured early Sunday morning, including five children.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had said in Kyiv on Saturday evening: "Once again, Russia has shown that it is a terrorist state." The head of state published a video showing a completely destroyed two-story building. Emergency services were still looking for survivors. According to authorities on Sunday, ten private houses, a car, a shop and gas pipelines were also damaged in the town.
"The Russians will bear the responsibility"
Russian missile and drone attacks repeatedly hit civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. According to Zelensky, a bullet hit between two two-story apartment buildings. Earlier, there had been an air alert in the region. It was unclear what exactly had hit there. Dnipro is located in the south-east of Ukraine.
"The Russians will bear responsibility for everything they have done to our state and the people," Zelensky said. In his evening video message, he thanked rescue workers, fighters and all those who contributed to the fight against the Russian invasion, which has been going on for more than 15 months. Zelensky called on people to express their personal gratitude to the soldiers and all those who fought for the existence of Ukraine.
In an interview, Zelensky said that he sees the country ready for the long-announced counteroffensive to liberate its territories from Russian occupation. "I think we're ready for that today," he told the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. newspaper also published the interview on Saturday as a video on its website. Zelensky stressed that Ukraine would have liked to have some more weapons for the offensive against the Russian invasion, but could not wait months for them to be delivered.
"We believe a lot in success, I don't know how long we need time," he said. At the same time, he pointed out that it could take time and that the price for success would be high. For months, there has been speculation about the start of the offensive, at times it was said in Kiev that the operation was already underway.
At the same time, Zelensky once again called for significantly more US Patriot anti-aircraft systems, in the interview he mentioned the number 50. The Patriot missiles offer the best protection against Russia's terror. "Today, Patriot is the only weapon capable of stopping some of the types of missiles that the Russian Federation is using against our civilian population, schools, infrastructure and energy systems," he told the WSJ. "50 Patriot batteries - and the majority of people do not die." According to the US television channel CNN, Ukraine is currently likely to have two Patriot systems in use.
In its war of aggression, Russia had fired more missiles and drones at Ukraine and especially at Kyiv in recent days than at any time since the beginning of the invasion. Ukrainian air defense repeatedly reported that all or almost all of these flying objects had been shot down thanks to Western defense systems. Nevertheless, there were deaths and injuries. Debris from downed missiles and drones also leaves behind massive damage to buildings, cars and roads.