No one could say for sure how many people were still under the rubble, let alone whether many of them were still alive.
Ukrainian rescuers searched what remained of the five-storey residential block destroyed by Russian missiles yesterday in the Donbas city of Chasiv Yar, with estimates of the death toll ranging from 15 to 40.
What was also unclear was who had been on the block at the time. Ukrainian officials said the victims were all civilians.
According to some residents, the block housed Ukrainian soldiers fighting the advancing Russian army, whose closest positions are now just 25 km to the east.
“They’ve been here since the beginning of the war, and lately they’re coming in greater numbers,” said one resident, whose own adjacent block of flats was damaged.
“We were afraid they would be here because it makes us a target too.”
At the site of the attack yesterday afternoon, Ukrainian rescuers attempted to use a crane and bulldozer to clear the wreckage and remove giant chunks of masonry.
A Ukrainian military spokesman on the ground said the attack involved four Russian Iskander missiles, with a range of more than 500 km.
In theory, this means they could have been launched from within Russia’s own borders, rather than by Kremlin forces already inside. Ukraine†
She insisted the building had only been used by civilians, saying rescuers had previously heard the sound of a woman or child trapped in the wreckage. “Why would a woman or a child be in the building if it was being used by soldiers?” she added.
But not long after she spoke, the body of a man in military uniform was dragged from the wreckage.
Local residents also said a drone had been seen flying over the city in the hours before the rocket attack.
“We know that if there are soldiers here, it’s not a safe place for us,” one said.
There was also unconfirmed speculation that a local resident might have passed information about troop movements to Russian troops.
Last night, rescuers were able to remove enough rocks and concrete to retrieve a man who had been trapped for nearly 24 hours. Rescuers put him on a stretcher and he was rushed to hospital.
Ukrainian emergency services said the latest rescue has brought the number of people dug under the rubble to six.
Earlier in the day, they made contact with three others who were still trapped alive beneath the ruins. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region that also includes Chasiv Yar, said he believed dozens of people were still detained, including a nine-year-old child.
Cranes and excavators worked with rescue teams to clear the ruins of a building whose walls had been completely demolished by the impact of the strike.
Despite the dangerous conditions, rescuers continued to work in the rain. Residents said they heard at least three explosions and many people were seriously injured in the blast. A group of neighbors sat quietly in a courtyard yesterday discussing who was injured and who was still missing.
“There was an explosion, all the windows were blown out and I was thrown to the ground,” said Oksana, 45, who only gave her first name. She was in her apartment on the third floor when the rockets hit.
“My kitchen walls and balcony are completely gone,” she added, holding back her tears.
Chasiv Yar is located 50 km southeast of Slovyansk – the next city in the Kremlin’s sights after the capture of nearby Severodonetsk after a dragging seven-week battle.
Russian troops have been accused of using their huge artillery arsenal as a rough blunderbuss in Donbas, shelling indiscriminately to clear a path for their ground forces.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said in a Telegram post that the attack in Chasiv Yar was “another terrorist attack” and that Russia should be classified as a “state sponsor of terrorism”.
It is not the first time in the four-month war that Russia has used missile strikes to target what it claims are civilian buildings used by the Ukrainian military.
Military analysts also point out that with the war now raging across the Donbas region, there is a limit to how many Ukrainian troops can break away from the civilian population, especially when defending cities. (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2022)
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]