20 Jul 2024

Russian missile hits playground, kills three in Ukraine's Mykolaiv

7:40 am on 20 July 2024
This handout picture taken and released by the press service of the Ukrainian Presidency on 18 June, 2022 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) walking past a partially destroyed building during his visit to the position of Ukrainian troops in Mykolaiv region. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINE PRESIDENCY / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/ PRESS SERVICE OF THE UKRAINIAN PRESIDENCY" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on a visit to Mykolaiv in 2022. Photo: Handout / UKRAINE PRESIDENCY / AFP

A Russian missile hit a children's playground in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv on Friday (local time), killing a child and two adults, and injuring five others, officials said.

"A playground near an ordinary house... Every day Russia proves with its terror that pressure on it is not enough," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.

He posted images from the site that showed two bodies lying on the ground. One was the badly mutilated body of a child, covered in blood, dust and debris. Part of a missile lay alongside.

The port city of Mykolaiv and the surrounding region regularly come under Russian attacks.

Vitaliy Kim, the regional governor, hailed residents of the city who rushed to the site to help before medics arrived.

Writing on Telegram, he said another missile had landed elsewhere in the region.

Moscow denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure in its invasion of Ukraine. Thousands of people have been killed and injured in its attacks.

- Reuters

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