For Serhii Shvets, the morning began like any other in his apartment in Vinnytsia. He was in the kitchen, his six-year-old son was eating breakfast and his wife was in the bathroom. Then, he saw a rocket outside. As he grabbed his son, covering him with his body, the windows in their apartment exploded. Mr Shvets, 32, and his family live near two community buildings that were hit by Russian missiles on Thursday morning. The attack in the residential center of the city in west-central Ukraine killed at least 23 people, including three children, and injured more than 100. An overturned cart covered in blood in front of the buildings. Ukraine sees progress on grain exports in stalled Istanbul quadrilateral talks Ukraine says it is hitting a Russian ammunition depot in the south Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack deliberately targeted civilians in locations of no military value. “What is this if not an open act of terrorism?” he wrote on Telegram. Appearing essentially at an international conference in The Hague on the issue of prosecuting war crimes in Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said Thursday’s attack took place in “an ordinary, peaceful city” where there was no apparent military target. “Cruise missiles hit two community facilities, houses were destroyed, a medical center was destroyed, cars and trams were burned,” he said. War crimes prosecutors at the site of the rocket attack in Vinnytsia to gather evidence.Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail One targeted building is called the House of Services, which contained a medical clinic, shops and offices. The building next door is a cultural center called the House of Officers, where concerts were held. Before the attack, Roxolana, Ukrainian singer, was to hold a charity concert on Thursday night. Ukrainian officials said the attack was carried out by Kalibre cruise missiles fired from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denis Monastirsky said four rockets were fired and two of them were intercepted. Mr Monastyrskyi called it “another war crime”. He stressed that Vinnytsia is far from the front lines where the war is raging in southern and eastern Ukraine. An air raid alert was sounded shortly after 10am and half an hour later, the explosion occurred. The Russian Defense Ministry, which denies that it deliberately targeted civilians, did not immediately comment on the strike. Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia Today, a state-run media outlet, wrote on her official Telegram channel that she asked the Russian Defense Ministry where it hit Vinnytsia, and its response was that one of the buildings was a makeshift station for the Nazis. Rescuers at the scene after the attack. Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was alarmed by the missile attack and condemns any attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure, a spokesman said. In the late afternoon, rescuers cleared the wreckage from the wreckage of the buildings. Cars that had caught fire were blackened and burnt. Residents spent the day sweeping glass from their broken windows. Back at Mr. Swetz’s apartment, his son’s half-eaten breakfast lay on the table where he had sat a few hours earlier. Mr Shvets, who had white bandages wrapped around his hands, said it was a miracle he only had minor cuts. In Mr. Shvets’ apartment, his son’s half-eaten breakfast sits on the table where he left it a few hours earlier when a rocket fell. Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail He said that after the first blast, while he, his wife and their son were huddled away from the window, a shock wave from the second rocket hit them toward the door. “Nothing has changed with my thoughts, because I hated the Russians before. Their people have no mercy and no soul. I wish they burn in hell for such actions because three children died,” he said, adding that he is urging Canada to join the fight against Russia. As people moved his belongings out of his home, he said he doesn’t know what will happen to his home or if it’s possible for him to stay. In the hall, Oleksandr Navrotski gestured towards his apartment, went up the stairs. He pointed to where his 15-year-old son was resting in his room, texting on his phone at the time of the attack. He said the soft bed frame protected him and if he had sat at his computer where he usually sits in the morning, he would not have survived. He said Russian propaganda claims that nationalists were hiding there is a silly excuse, saying many in the region speak Russian and it is not a problem. Oleksandr Navrotski shows the bed where his son was during the rocket attack. He says the soft bed frame protected him. Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail The State Emergency Service of Ukraine posted a photo on its Telegram channel of a toy kitten, a toy dog and flowers on the grass. “Little girl Lisa, killed by the Russians today, has become a ray of sunshine,” it said, above a second image of a sun setting over damaged rooftops. “Forgive us, little one, for not saving you.” Residents of apartments around the site of the attack were left with their homes in ruins, glass everywhere and, in some cases, furniture destroyed and wooden frames blown entirely from where they had previously secured. Oleksandr Snigur, 66, stood in the doorway of his apartment, the outer wooden door completely detached and torn. He said he was at work and heard the explosion. While he was trying to find out what happened, his neighbors called to say he was at their house. “There are no doors and windows,” his neighbor told him. “I felt lost when I saw what happened,” he said. Mr. Snigur had lived in the apartment for 60 years, since his family took it over during the Soviet era. He was six years old and he’s not gone. His wife died two years ago, he said, so he was there alone. “I’m speechless,” he said, saying he was moved at the sight of the two community buildings. But seeing his own part motivated him to clean up and do it. “All my life, I believed that the Russians are reasonable and say that we are brothers, as brother nations will not attack … but we were wrong because we trusted those words,” he said. “They were also wrong to attack us. Because we will not give up the war.” In his kitchen, his sister wiped the glass that blew through the window. He said his boss offered to go through with plastic later to cover them. “And my second door is fine, so I’ll lock it and we’ll survive, somehow.” With reports from Reuters The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
