Russian Cruise Missile Hits Civilian Settlement, Kills Four Including One Child

Illustration of a building in Ukraine that was hit by a Russian attack. (Wikimedia Commons/dsns.gov.ua/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Four people died when houses in the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr were hit by a Russian cruise missile apparently aimed at a nearby airbase Tuesday, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Telegram channel.

He said the residential building located near the base of the 95th Airborne Brigade in Zhytomyr, 120 km (75 miles) west of the capital Kyiv, had been set on fire,

"So far, four people have died. Including a child," he said.

Moscow warned residents of the capital Kyiv on Tuesday to leave their homes and rain down on Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, as Russian commanders intensified their bombardment of urban areas in a change of tactics after their six-day offensive stalled.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko wrote on his Facebook page, Russian troops have killed a pediatric anesthesiologist, shooting at his car as he was taking his injured nephew to the hospital from Kukhari Village, in the Kyiv region.

Separately, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense said a total of 16 high-precision missiles had been fired on Monday, between 7:07 p.m. and 7:51 p.m. (1707 GMT and 1751 GMT), in the Kharkiv Settlement area from strategic bombers flying over Russia's Belgorod region.

"Tall buildings, schools, kindergartens, and other urban infrastructure were destroyed," the ministry said on its Facebook page.

"According to preliminary data, dozens of Kharkiv residents, including children, died as a result of this airstrike," he added.

"Unfortunately, in the current situation, it is very difficult for the Air Force to cover the skies in this region, as part of the country's air defense systems were destroyed by Russian ballistic and cruise missile attacks."

In the mostly Russian-speaking city of Donetsk, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists, local authorities said three civilians had been killed by Ukrainian shelling.

To note, the self-declared People's Republic of Donetsk, which Moscow recognized as independent last week, was one of the transit points used by Russian forces that invaded Ukraine on February 24.