Russian rocket attack kills 15 in Ukraine, and leaves others trapped
Cranes and excavators worked alongside the rescue teams to clear away the ruins of one building, its sides completely shorn off by the impact of the strike. The rescuers kept on working in the rain despite the dangerous conditions. The thud of artillery on the nearby front line resonated just a few miles away, making some workers flinch and others run for cover when it got too close.
“There was an explosion, all the windows blew out and I was thrown to the ground. I called my children to tell them I was alive. My kitchen walls and balcony have completely vanished,” said one resident, 45-year-old Oksana, who did not wish to provide her last name. Front doors and balconies were torn apart in the blast, heaps of twisted metal and brick lay on the ground, and crushed summer cherries lay among shattered window panes.
Dima, another resident, had lived for more than 20 years on the ground floor of one of the buildings that were hollowed out in the attack. He walked back and forth across the rubble.Twenty-one people were killed earlier this month when an apartment building and recreation area came under rocket fire in the southern Odesa region. In addition, at least 19 people died when a Russian missile hit a shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk in late June.