(Kherson) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced an act of Russian “terror” on Saturday, after a strike in the center of Kherson which left at least eight dead and 17 wounded, ten months to the day after the start of the invasion troops from Moscow.
“In the morning, on Saturday, on Christmas Eve, in the city center. These are not military installations. This is not a war by the set rules. It’s terror, it’s killing to intimidate and [prendre] fun, ”he blasted on social media.
According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office on social networks, the strike “killed eight civilians and injured 17”, some of whom “were hospitalized with serious injuries”.
PHOTO DIMITAR DILKOFF, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
This man was injured during the strike.
“The world must see and understand what absolute evil we are fighting against,” Volodymyr Zelensky lamented again, once again calling the Russian army a “terrorist”.
“This is the real life of Ukraine and Ukrainians” for ten months of war, supported the Ukrainian president, accompanying his message with pictures showing the extent of the damage.
An AFP team on the spot heard a series of bombardments which hit the central market and the adjacent streets, before seeing the body of at least one dead person in his car.
PHOTO DIMITAR DILKOFF, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A man was killed while driving his vehicle.
Near the market, a man was seriously injured in the head and his car had been blown up by the power of the explosion. Several other wounded were nearby.
An elderly woman, dressed in a red coat, lay lifeless a few meters away, her arms outstretched. Two men were inert at a pedestrian crossing.
flames
Sounds of shelling were still audible in the middle of the day, according to the AFP team.
Flames also rose from the market, a place frequented on Saturday morning and located in the heart of Kherson, a city liberated on November 11 by the Ukrainian army after eight months of Russian occupation.
Troops from Kyiv had succeeded in driving the Russians out of the city following a months-long counter-offensive.
Now under Ukrainian control, Kherson is however the regular target of Russian bombardments, particularly on its energy installations.
On Friday, Kherson had been the target of 74 Russian strikes according to regional authorities, leaving a total of five dead and 22 injured, according to a bulletin from the regional administration.
In the east, Russian strikes are still “regular” on Bakhmout, which the Russians have been trying to take since the summer, the Ukrainian presidency lamented on Saturday, indicating that “the city center was bombed several times” the day before. .