CNN
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At least two people were killed and dozens injured by Russian forces A medical facility was attacked Friday morning in the city of Dnipro, after heavy shelling over central Ukraine overnight.
A 69-year-old man was killed “while passing by when a rocket hit the city,” and the body of another was “pulled out of the rubble,” said Serhiy Lizak, head of the regional military administration.
CNN reported that Dnipropetrovsk city hospital no. 14 and moved the geographical location of the attack to a veterinary clinic in an industrial district north of the Dnipro River in the central Ukrainian city. The explosions in Dnipro occurred around 10:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET) on Friday, according to CCTV.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that it carried out airstrikes in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions between 10pm on Thursday and 5am on Friday.
The Air Force Command reported 17 cruise missiles and 31 “attack drones” and noted that the attacks took place in the Dnipro and Kharkiv regions using S-300/S-400 missile systems.
According to the head of the city’s military administration, Serhiy Babkov, Kiev saw some airstrikes across the city. He added that there was no loss of life.
Serhii Lysak via Telegram/Reuters
Russian strikes hit a medical facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on May 26, 2023.
State Emergency Service of Ukraine via AP
Firefighters carry a body after at least two people died in a Russian attack in Dnipro.
Mykola Lukashuk, head of Dnipro’s regional council, said 31 people, including eight doctors and two children, were injured in the blast in Dnipro. Of the wounded, 16 were taken to hospitals, while others were being treated as outpatients, Lukashuk said in a Telegram post.
Rescue operations continued Friday afternoon, with workers searching for survivors under the rubble. 3 people are missing following this attack.
Footage of the fire spreading to one of the hospital’s buildings. A video released by Lysack shows smoke billowing from windows and a completely collapsed roof.
A CNN crew on the ground saw emergency workers standing on cranes lowering water hoses over the wreckage while diggers removed the debris from the scene.
Dnipro Mayor Boris Filatov said the shift change for doctors meant fewer people than usual were working at the facility during the attack.
“Changes happened the moment the rocket hit. We hope there will be no victims,” Filatov told reporters at the hospital site.
“It was a miracle that the rocket hit at the moment of the doctors’ shift change.” He also said that outpatient consultations were taking place when the attack took place.
The hospital is used to treat mentally ill patients and also has an inpatient treatment facility, the mayor said.
The rocket attack also affected a veterinary clinic, where animals being treated had to be dug out of the rubble, the owner of the clinic said.
“All the staff are in shock,” clinic owner Dr Andriy Malyshko told Ukrainian television. “All the animals were saved from the burning building.”
The rocket hit the clinic around 10:30 am local time, causing a fire. According to Malishko, the clinic had a large number of dogs and a few cats, all of which were transferred to nearby clinics.
Kyiv and its Western allies strongly condemned the Kremlin’s attack on central Ukraine and called for accountability for the Russian strikes.
France called them “war crimes,” according to a statement from the French foreign ministry.
Missile and drone attacks on Kiev and Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions “again deliberately targeted civilian targets,” the ministry said, “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday: “Russian terrorists have reaffirmed their position as militants against everything humane and honest.”
“The aftermath of the missile attack is being cleared and the victims are being rescued. All necessary services have been engaged,” he added.
