Two Killed, 10 Wounded As Russian Forces Hit Ukrainian Museum
Tricia
At least two people have reportedly died in Ukraine while ten others were wounded, as a Russian missile hit a museum building in the north of the country, officials have said. The hit is said to be part of a relentless barrage that comes as Ukraine is readying its forces for an expected spring counteroffensive.
Ukrainian officials said the Russian military used S-300 air defence missiles to attack Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, hitting the museum of local history in the center of the city on Tuesday. Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, posted a video from the site that shows emergency responders examining the damage.
He said that “the terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely … killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods. “The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely,” Zelenskyy said. “Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.”
Zelenskyy said that a museum worker was killed, and Kharkiv regional Governor, Oleh Syniehubov, later reported that the body of another victim was pulled from under the rubble. Syniehubov who said that three people were hospitalised and seven received minor injuries, was captured by Russian forces in the earlier stages of the Russian invasion but was reclaimed by Ukrainian forces in a surprise counteroffensive in September that saw the Russians driven out of broad swaths of the Kharkiv region.
According to the report, woman also died in Russian shelling of the town of Dvorichna, near Kupiansk, and two civilians were killed in the eastern Donetsk region, according to the Ukrainian presidential office. The Ukrainian military is now preparing for a new massive counteroffensive, relying on the latest supplies of Western battle tanks and other weapons and fresh troops that were trained in the West.
Zelenskyy on Tuesday met with the top military brass to discuss the battlefield situation as well as prospects for new weapons supplies and the preparation of troops. We have to accelerate the pace of weapons supply because every day of delay is the lives of our soldiers, Zelenskyy said on social media.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine released Monday, described the planned counteroffensive as a “landmark battle in Ukraine’s modern history” that would see the country “reclaim significant areas.”
The Kremlin, meanwhile, has regularly reminded the West about Russia’s nuclear arsenal in a bid to discourage the U.S. and its allies from ramping up weapons supplies to Ukraine.
