Russia-Ukraine crisis: 44 dead found from March building collapse in Kharkiv

Agencies | Kyiv

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A Ukrainian official says authorities have found the bodies of 44 civilians in the rubble of a building destroyed by Russia in March. Oleh Synehubov, the head of Kharkiv’s regional administration, made the announcement Tuesday via a message on social media. Izyum is in the Kharkiv region.

He said the five-story building had collapsed with the civilians inside. He said: “This is another horrible war crime of the Russian occupiers against the civilian population!” Izyum is an eastern Ukrainian city that Russia has been holding as a key front-line node. Synehubov did not identify specifically where the building was.

With no major new battlefield successes to boast about, Russian President Vladimir Putin marked his country’s biggest patriotic holiday without even uttering the word “Ukraine.” The Russian leader oversaw a Victory Day parade Monday on Moscow’s Red Square, watching as troops marched in formation and military hardware rolled past in a celebration of the Soviet Union’s role in the 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the vital Black Sea port of Odesa came under repeated missile attack, including from some hypersonic missiles. The Ukrainian military said Russian forces fired seven missiles from the air at Odesa on Monday night, hitting a shopping center and a warehouse. One person was killed and five were wounded, the military said.

As part of the barrage, a Russian supersonic bomber fired three hypersonic missiles, according to the Center for Defense Strategies, a Ukrainian think tank tracking the war. The center identified the weapons used as Kinzhal, or “Dagger,” hypersonic air-to-surface missiles.

Hypersonic missiles travel at five times the speed of sound.