Russian Missile Attack Victims Soaring on Dnipro, UN Secretary General: Violating International Humanitarian Law

The impact of the Russian attack on Dnipro. (Wikimedia Commons/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Ukraine expects weapons shipments from the West to be expedited, as Russian attacks continue to claim civilian lives, drawing condemnation from high-ranking UN officials.

The death toll from a missile strike on an apartment in Dnipro Saturday rose to 40, including three children, Ukrainian officials said. They said 25 people were missing or not found, but 39 people, including six children, were rescued from the rubble.

"What happened on the Dnipro, the fact that Russia is preparing new efforts to take the initiative in the war, the fact that the nature of military actions at the front requires new decisions regarding the supply of weapons, underscores how important it is to coordinate all the efforts of the coalition to defend Ukraine and freedom," the president said. Volodymyr Zelensky in his video address Monday night, cited from Reuters, January 17.

He expects a landmark decision by Ukraine's allies when they meet in Germany later this week.

Russia, which since October has been carrying out massive attacks on Ukrainian cities primarily targeting power-generating infrastructure, said it was not to blame for the destruction on the Dnipro, as it was caused by Ukrainian air defenses. Meanwhile, Kyiv said the apartment building was hit by a Russian anti-ship missile, the kind that Ukraine was unable to shoot down.

In this regard, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemns the Dnipro attack, said a UN spokesperson.

"Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law. It must end immediately," the spokesperson said.

In late Monday's update, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said Russian artillery was pounding around 25 towns and villages around Bakhmut and Avdiika, two focal points of Russian efforts to advance in the strategic eastern industrial region of Donbas.

It said Russia was also continuing shelling of more than 30 settlements in the northeastern region of Kharkiv and Sumy near the Russian border. In the south, Russian mortar and artillery fire hit several cities, including the regional capital Kherson, which Russian troops abandoned in November.

Moscow denies knowingly targeting civilians, even though the war has displaced millions, killed thousands of civilians, and left Ukrainian towns and villages in ruins.

Russia calls its actions a "special military operation" to protect its security as its neighbors draw ever closer to the West. Meanwhile, Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of waging a senseless war to seize territory, erasing the independence of its fellow former Soviet republics.