Ukrainian civilians die in Russian attacks on residential areas of Ukrainian cities every day. Russia uses missiles, air bombs, and artillery to ruin homes, hospitals, schools, supermarkets, factories, and facilities of critical civilian infrastructure, gradually leveling entire cities to the ground in this way. Mariupol, Volnovakha, Rubizhne, Sievierodonetsk, Popasna, and many other Ukrainian cities basically don’t exist anymore.
However, some Russian attacks stand out with their exceptional heinousness amid the Kremlin’s “routine” destruction of Ukraine. Such were the bombings of the Mariupol maternity ward and theater, many missile and cluster munition attacks on Kharkiv, the attack on Kremenchuk mall, the missile strike of the residential house in Chasiv Yar, and many others. Such is the July 14 morning attack on central Vinnytsia.
On the morning of 14 July at about 10:50, the residents of Vinnytsia heard three of four massive explosions. Vinnytsia is a central-Ukrainian capital of a region bordering Moldova and Ukraine’s western oblasts. The explosions turned out to be a Russian missile strike on the very center of Vinnytsia.
Ukraine’s Air Force Command said that a Russian submarine launched Kalibr ballistic missiles from the Black Sea. Ukrainian air defense units shot down two of those, but the rest of the missiles reached their target, the center of Vinnytsia.
One of the Russian missiles hit a parking lot near the nine-storey business and trade center Yuvilenyi in central Vinnytsia, 25 cars burned out.
The “Officers’ House” was another target, a concert hall that back in the Soviet times was an educational and entertainment center for the Soviet Army’s officers.
Ukrainian singer Roxolana who was going to perform in the Officers’ House tonight reported that part of her concert team was in central Vinnytsia at the moment of the attack and “all were injured.” One of her teammates was killed, and another was undergoing surgery in a life-threatening condition, according to her.
Also, the Russian missile attack damaged a medical diagnostic center in Vinnytsia, according to the State Emergency Service.
Number of people killed in Russia's missile strike on Vinnytsia has increased to 21, Head of Reg Mil Adm of Odesa Serhiy Bratchuk informs
This little girl & her mother are among victims of attack. The girl was killed & her mother is left without her leg https://t.co/4PLe6RI7K4 pic.twitter.com/tRpPJctyKw
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) July 14, 2022
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar called the Russian attack on Vinnytsia “another proof of genocide against the Ukrainian people,”
“Russia continues to fight against Ukrainian civilians, continues to kill our children. Today’s attack on Vinnytsia is another proof of genocide against the Ukrainian people. In the eyes of the whole world, Russia has finally turned into a killer country. And such a state has no place in our world in the 21st century,” she said.
Ukraine’s previous President Petro Poroshenko, originally from Vinnytsia, called on the world to designate the Russian Federation a state sponsor of terrorism::
“Russia is a terrorist state, which is committing the genocide of Ukrainians. The world must recognize it and punish Putin and his gang.”
Parliament’s First Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Korniyenko backed this proposal:
“There are no military facilities nearby, even the railway station is 1.5 km away. Missiles hit the very center of Vinnytsia today… Russia should be recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also called the Russian attack on Vinnytsia an act of terrorism:
“Every day, Russia destroys the civilian population, kills Ukrainian children, directs rockets at civilian facilities with nothing military being there. What’s this if not an open act of terrorism? Inhumans. A murderer country. A terrorist country,” he said.
Dmytro Kuleba, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, stressed that the Russian missile strike on Vinnytsia took place during a ministerial conference on accountability for war crimes in Ukraine at the World Forum in The Hague:
While Accountability Conference in The Hague is underway led by @WBHoekstra, Russia commits another war crime. At least one child killed, among other victims of a missile strike on Vinnytsia. We will put Russian war criminals on trial for every drop of Ukrainian blood and tears. pic.twitter.com/hvjNt0U5OM
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) July 14, 2022
