Russian Kalibr Cruise Missile Launched From Submarine Hits Building And Kills 20 Civilians, President Zelensky: This Is Terror

The firing of a Kalibr cruise missile from a Russian submarine. (Source: Russian Ministry of Defense via TASS)

JAKARTA - At least 20 civilians were killed and dozens injured, after a cruise missile launched by a Russian submarine in the Black Sea, hit a building in the city of Vinnytsia, central Ukraine, Thursday.

Video footage and photos from the city, far from the front lines, show thick black smoke billowing from high-rise buildings, after one of the deadliest single attacks on civilian targets since Russia invaded on February 24.

Three children were among the dead, officials said. One photo posted online showed an overturned stroller lying on the pavement, covering the body beside it. The remains of burning cars and smoldering debris lay on the road.

The Ukrainian military said Vinnytsia, a normally quiet town 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Kyiv, was hit by three Russian Kalibr cruise missiles fired from an unnamed submarine, and that Ukrainian forces had shot down two others.

A missile hit the car park of the nine-story "Yuvelirniy" office block at around 10.50 am local time, the State Emergency Service said. Residential buildings nearby were damaged in the attack, and a large fire started, he said.

Police said the injured included around 50 people who were seriously injured and 15 others had not been found.

"The cruise missiles hit two community facilities, houses were destroyed, medical centers were destroyed, cars and trams caught fire," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

"This is an act of Russian terror, 20 people have died so far," he said in a televised address at an international conference aimed at prosecuting war crimes committed in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, at a briefing in Kyiv, described the attack as "more evidence of genocide". Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of "another war crime" on Twitter.

A senior regional emergency services official said there may be no chance of finding more survivors under the rubble in Vinnytsia, which had a population of about 370,000 before the Russian invasion.

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately comment on the report from Vinnytsia. Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, denies deliberately targeting civilians and says its forces have committed no war crimes.