SRINAGAR: At least 10 people were killed and nearly 100 injured after a Russian ballistic missile struck a defence industry event in Ukraine’s Kyiv region on Friday, prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to question the decision to hold such a gathering close to residential areas during wartime.
Ukraine’s Emergency Services said rescue operations at the site, located north of Kyiv, had been completed. Images released by the agency showed emergency workers searching through the rubble of damaged residential buildings.
Addressing the nation, Zelenskyy blamed Russia for the attack, describing it as “Russian terror”, but also criticised the organisation of the defence-related exhibition.
“We have said a thousand times that under these wartime conditions, with such an enemy, it is absolutely unacceptable to hold any weapons exhibitions with large crowds of people, especially near residential buildings,” he said, according to Reuters.
The event, organised by a drone manufacturers’ association, was held near the outskirts of Kyiv. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s General Staff said the venue was not under military jurisdiction but stressed that any such event should have been conducted with maximum security measures.
Kyiv regional acting governor Ruslan Oliynyk declared Saturday a day of mourning following the strike.
The Ukrainian Council of Defence Industry said representatives of the country’s defence sector had attended the event but clarified that it had not organised the exhibition.
Valerii Borovyk, founder of the Ukrainian drone company First Contact, told local media that the missile struck a training ground where the exhibition was taking place.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said a criminal investigation had been launched to determine whether officials were negligent in planning and conducting the event.
Russian attacks were also reported elsewhere in Ukraine on Friday. In the eastern city of Sloviansk, a Russian aerial bomb killed five people and injured nine, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said. He later reported that another evening strike on the city injured 16 more people and damaged residential buildings.
In the northern Sumy region, a Russian drone attack killed two people, according to regional governor Oleh Hryhorov.
In the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian strike set a shopping centre on fire and injured several people.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of targeting civilians since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Both sides deny deliberately attacking civilian populations.
