Russian drone attack kills four at Ukrainian school
Efrem Lukatsky Associated Press The drone strike hit a vocational high school in Rzhyshchiv, south of Kiev.
Four people were killed in a Russian drone attack in the Kiev region, as Chinese President Xi Jinping left Russia on Wednesday following a summit with his counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The attack occurred overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday and hit a vocational high school in the Kyiv region, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“More than twenty deadly Iranian drones” launched against Ukraine, “as well as missiles, many bombardments. This is all just the last night of Russian terror,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced on Twitter, condemning “criminal strikes”.
In total, Russia launched 21 drones against Ukraine in an attack that began shortly before midnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said, adding that it shot down 16. Russia attacked Ukraine with drones Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 fighter jets from the Russian region of Bryansk, located in northern Ukraine, according to the same source.
The strike hit a vocational high school in Rzhyshchiv, a town about 80 kilometers south of Kiev, said the State Emergency Service (DSNS), which released images of heavily damaged buildings.
The DSNS had initially provided a balance sheet of three dead and two wounded. Hours later, Kyiv region police chief Andriy Nebytov reported on Telegram that the body of a fourth victim, a 40-year-old man, was discovered at the scene.
Among the dead is the driver of an ambulance that arrived on the spot after the attack, the prosecution said in a statement on Facebook, reporting for its part seven injured including an 11-year-old child.
Three people could still be under the debris, according to the prosecution.
The attack “partially destroyed” two floors of two residences for high school students and a building where they were studying, according to the DSNS. The fire that broke out at the site, affecting more than 300 square meters, was extinguished shortly before 7 a.m. local time.
Zelensky on the forehead
The Ukrainian presidency announced at midday that Volodymyr Zelensky had visited the front line in the Bakhmout area on Wednesday, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine. “Honored to be here today and to decorate our heroes,” Mr. Zelensky said on Telegram.
On the diplomatic front, Chinese President Xi Jinping left Moscow on Wednesday morning at from a two-day trip to strengthen ties between China and Mr. Putin's Russia.
Xi's plane left Moscow's Vnukovo airport after being greeted by an honor guard who played Russian and Chinese national anthems, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
< p>During this visit, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping praised on Tuesday the entry into a “new era” of their “special” relationship with the West, the Russian president cautiously supporting the Chinese plan to settle the conflict in Ukraine, while accusing Kiev of rejecting it.
The summit aimed above all to demonstrate the solidity of relations between Russia and China, in a context of high tensions between these countries and the West.
In a joint statement with Cold War overtones, the two leaders have sharply attacked the West, accusing the United States of “undermining” international security to maintain its “military edge”, and expressing “concern” over NATO's growing presence in Asia.
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Faced with critical comments from Western countries regarding the summit between MM. Putin and Xi in the middle of the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said Wednesday not to be surprised. “As for the reaction of the countries of the collective West, the fact that their reaction on all issues was unfriendly and hostile in nature is not news to anyone,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. .
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