A little girl, her mother and another woman were killed during a Russian missile attack on Kiev on Thursday after the air raid shelter they rushed into failed to open, witnesses said, prompting local authorities to opens an investigation, while the case in the capital made the mayor of Lviv order inspections at all air shelters of the largest city in the west of the country, reports Reuters and The Guardian, according to News.ro.
Ukraine’s air force says its air defenses shot down all 10 Iskander cruise and ballistic missiles fired by Russia on Thursday in the 18th attack on the capital since early May. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Kliciko, announced that three school buildings, a kindergarten, six residential buildings and a police station were damaged. He did not specify which were the main targets of the attack, but the Ministry of Energy stated that no energy installation was hit.
Police said three people were killed, including a nine-year-old girl and her mother, and opened a criminal investigation into the events near a medical clinic in the Desnîanski district. “Three people, including a child, died near the clinic last night,” Kliciko said. “A rocket fragment fell near the entrance to the clinic four minutes after the air alert was announced, and people were heading for shelter,” he said.
Local residents stated that people could not enter the shelter because it was closed. “The air raid alert sounded. My wife took our daughter and they ran away at the entrance here,” Iaroslav Riabciuk, who lives in the Desnîanski district, told Reuters. “The entrance was closed, there were already maybe five or ten women with children. No one opened them. They hit pretty hard. They tried to enter the shelter, no one opened for them. My wife died”, said the man.
The mayor of Kyiv requested the suspension of a district administrator and the head of the medical unit, while the investigations into the circumstances of the death of the three people continue. “I appealed to the office of the president and the government, which agree on the appointment and dismissal of district heads in the capital, regarding the suspension of the head of the Desnian district, Dmitro Ratnikov, from his duties, while the investigation continues to find out if the shelter in the polyclinic, near which three people died, was open at night. The head of the medical unit, who was appointed by the Desnîan district administration, should also be suspended,” Kliciko wrote on Telegram.
For his part, Andrii Sadovi, the mayor of the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, announced that an inspection of the air shelters will take place this evening. This measure was taken following the Kiev case.
“This evening should be dedicated to your own safety. An evening of open shelters, talks, meetings – call it what you want, but that’s how it should be. Today, from 18:00 to 20:00, all shelters located in residential and non-residential premises must be open. This is an opportunity for residents to meet, check the condition of their shelters and renegotiate their operation during an air alert. This applies to all shelters in the city. If your house has no basement or parking, you can find the nearest place on the map. If the shelter is closed between 18.00 and 20.00, or if there are other problems with it, contact the city’s emergency telephone line at number 1580. A commission will be organized for all the problems raised, and the result will be made public. Today, during the day, neighborhoods inspect common property shelters. The administrators of these units must monitor the condition and availability, but also check the signs informing how to reach this shelter from the street, if you are not a local. All the information stands must be updated, visible and easy to understand”, indicated the mayor from Lviv.
Moreover, two days ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Ukrainians, in his evening message, that it is very important to take air raid alerts into account and not look at them superficially. In addition, Zelenski assigned the local authorities the task of making air raid shelters as accessible as possible. “People need to understand when and how the number and availability of shelters will increase. This is the responsibility of specific officials and a specific responsibility,” Zelenski pointed out.
Editor : R.K.
