Kiev [Ukraine], June 19: The death toll from heavy Russian missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kiev has risen to 28, officials said on Wednesday.
Ukraine's civil defence authority said more bodies were recovered overnight from the rubble of a partially destroyed nine-storey residential building, raising the death toll from Tuesday's strike on that building alone to 23.
"Twenty-three of those killed were residents of a destroyed building entrance," the public prosecutor's office announced after search operations in Kiev were completed.
In total, 28 people were killed and at least 140 people were injured across the capital, it said. Rescue efforts were ongoing.
On Tuesday, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile had directly hit the high-rise building.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack "pure terrorism."
Meanwhile, the chief of the Russian general staff, Valery Gerasimov, has paid a visit to troops on the front line in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, a video published by the Defence Ministry showed on Wednesday.
The video shows Gerasimov being flown in by helicopter to a command point where he participated in a discussion near the strategic eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, the ministry said.
Observers believe the visit could indicate dissatisfaction in Moscow on progress in the region.
Pokrovsk is a strategically important transport hub in the west of the Donetsk region that has been at the focus of fighting for months and is almost completed destroyed.
Ukrainian forces have managed to hold back the Russian advance. The Russians have advanced to the north and especially to the south of the city, threatening its encirclement.
Ukraine has been warding off the full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022 with support from its Western allies. US President Donald Trump has cast doubt on whether US support will continue.
Russia is boosting its military presence along the border with Finland two years after its neighbour joined NATO, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported on Wednesday on the basis of recent satellite images.
The images show construction work on a garrison for an artillery brigade in Kandalaksha in the Murmansk region, according to the broadcaster, which said it formed the first definite sign of a permanent increase in the number of troops near the border.
Local authorities in Murmansk said a new military city was being built and old residential blocks renovated in the town some 150 kilometres from the border.
Source: Qatar Tribune
