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Devastating detail in photo after missile strike on Ukrainian apartments kills 30

Distressing images show the destruction caused by a Russian missile strike on an apartment block which Ukrainian authorities say has killed at least 30 people.

One striking image taken by photographer Arsen Dzodzaev for Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske shows a distraught young woman perched on the seventh floor of the building in the city of Dnipro, surrounded by destruction.

Journalist Yelyzaveta Belmas told the publication the aftermath was "a real hell", with screams and residents crying out for loved ones. Some of the distressing calls for help came from deep within the rubble, emergency services said.

The woman could be seen perched on the edge of the wreckage. Source: Arsen Dzodzaev /Hromadske
The woman could be seen perched on the edge of the wreckage in Dnipro. Source: Arsen Dzodzaev /Hromadske

The woman in the photo has been identified as 23-year-old Anastasia Shvets, who was eating lunch with her parents when the missile struck on Saturday (local time).

“I don’t know where my parents are,” she said, The Telegraph reported. Her parents are feared dead, with up to 40 people not yet accounted for.

“I have no words, I have no emotions, I feel nothing but a great emptiness inside,” Ms Shvets said from hospital.

Ms Shvets holds her hand to her face in horror. Source: Arsen Dzodzaev/ Hromadske
Suck on the seventh floor Ms Shvets holds her hand to her face in horror after the missile attack. Source: Arsen Dzodzaev/ Hromadske

Authorities' hopes of pulling survivors from the wreckage quickly diminished on Sunday due to freezing temperatures.

Rescuers toiled through the night searching for survivors. On Sunday morning, they could be seen punching and kicking through heaped mounds of smashed concrete and twisted metal.

"The chances of saving people now are minimal," Dnipro's Mayor Borys Filatov told Reuters.

In this photo released by the Dnipro Regional Administration, smoke rises after a Russian rocket hit a multistory building leaving many people under debris in Dnipro, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. (Dnipro Regional Administration via AP)
The devastation caused in Dnipro. Source: AP

Zelensky calls for end to 'Russian terror'

Ukraine's Air Force said the apartment block was struck by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which is known to be inaccurate, and that Ukraine lacks the air defences to shoot down. The Soviet-era missile was developed during the Cold War to destroy warships.

Russia fired two waves of missiles at Ukraine on Saturday, striking targets across the country as fighting raged on the battlefield in the eastern towns of Soledar and Bakhmut.

Moscow, which invaded last February, has been pounding Ukraine's energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, causing sweeping blackouts and disruptions to central heating and running water.

In a statement on Sunday about its previous day of strikes, the Russian defence ministry did not mention Dnipro as a specific target.

"All assigned objects were hit. The targets of the strike have been achieved," it said.

In his nightly address after the strike, President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Western allies to supply more weapons to end "Russian terror" and attacks on civilian targets.

with Reuters

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