Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – A Russian drone slammed into a residential house in central Ukraine overnight Thursday, killing three members of one family, including a one-year-old baby, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
He accused Moscow of trying to "buy time for itself to continue killing" and called for the West to put "maximum sanctions" and "pressure" on Moscow, after Russia has repeatedly rejected calls for a full and unconditional ceasefire.
A total of five people were killed in Pryluky, a city in central Ukraine, including victims from three generations of the same family.
A local firefighting chief was responding to an earlier attack when his own house was hit by a Russian drone, officials said.
"His wife, daughter and one-year-old grandson were killed," Zelensky said.
Photos showed houses on fire, billowing grey smoke into the pitch black sky as rescuers battled the blaze.
A picture at dawn, published by the emergency services, showed a firefighter standing in the burned-out carcass of a residential home, the roof gone, surrounded by charred ashes and debris.
"Russia is constantly trying to buy time for itself to continue killing. When it does not feel strong enough condemnation and pressure from the world, it kills again," Zelensky said.
"This is yet another reason to impose maximum sanctions and put pressure together. We expect action from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who can really help change these terrible circumstances," he added.
Fighting and aerial attacks have escalated in recent weeks, even as the sides have held two rounds of talks in Istanbul that they say are aimed at finding an end to the three-year war.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday told US President Donald Trump that Moscow would respond to an audacious Ukranian drone attack that destroyed several Russian nuclear-capable military jets over the weekend, Trump said after a call between the pair.
Another attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv wounded 18 people, including four children, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in a post on social media.
I think it's important to note that Russia, the State, uses the Crimean bridge just as often as the local Russian People, possibly even more so due to the current situation. I would be extremely surprised if an ordinary citizen didn't have to go through at least 1 security checkpoint to get anywhere close to that bridge. Whereas a residential building is...well, just that: a place where ordinary people live their ordinary lives. Ukraine "does not get a pass just because they are the ones who have been invaded." Ukraine gets a pass because they are not actively aiming at civilian targets.
Ukraine is making the war more difficult for themselves to avoid wasting innocent lives; Russia doesn't value their own innocents, much less those on the other side of the border
This is what western media makes us believe.
Look, buddy, I'm no fan of western journalism either, but there's a big difference between being skeptical/aware of its biases (me) and deciding that everything they say is the exact opposite of truth (you).
No, Ukraine is not made up of only the "Good Guys" and Russia is not only the "Bad Guys" like some CoD game from 2005. But just take a step back and look at the goals of each participant: one is trying to defend their homes and people while the other is trying to gobble up more territory simply because they think they deserve it more than the current owners
But.... but.... both sides! Have you considered both sides!?!