Dozens of Ukrainian emergency workers worked Sunday to remove people from the rubble after a Russian rocket attack crashed apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 15 people. It was believed more than 20 people were still trapped.
Saturday evening’s strike destroyed three buildings in a residential neighborhood in the town of Chasiv Yar, inhabited mostly by people working in nearby factories.
On Sunday evening, lifeguards were able to remove enough bricks and concrete to retrieve a man who had been trapped for nearly 24 hours. Rescuers put him on a stretcher and rushed him to the hospital.
Ukraine’s emergency services said the latest rescue increased to six the number of people excavated among the rubble. In the early hours of the day, they came in contact with three other people still trapped alive under the ruins.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region that includes Chasiv Yar, said it is believed 24 people are still trapped, including a nine-year-old boy.
PHOTOS | Rescuers are looking for survivors in Chasiv Yar:
Cranes and excavators worked together with rescue teams to clean up the ruins of a building, its sides completely torn apart by the impact of the strike. Lifeguards continued to work in the rain despite the dangerous conditions. The noise of artillery at the nearby front line resounded a few miles away, causing some workers to sink and others to flee to find shelter.
Kyrylenko said the city of about 12,000 people was hit by Hurricane rockets, which are fired from systems transported by trucks. Chasiv Yar is located 20 kilometers southeast of Kramatorsk, a city that is a major target of Russian forces as they move west.
However, on Sunday, Viacheslav Boitsov, deputy head of the emergency service in the Donetsk region, told The Associated Press that four shells hit the neighborhood and were probably Iskander missiles.
Residents told The Associated Press that they had heard at least three explosions and that, in addition to the deaths, many people were seriously injured in the blasts. A group of neighbors sat in the courtyard quietly discussing who was injured and who was still missing.
Saturday’s attack was the latest in a series of attacks on civilian areas in the east, though Russia has repeatedly said it is only hitting targets of military value in the war.
Twenty-one people were killed earlier this month when an apartment building and a recreation area were rocket-propelled in the southern Odessa region. In addition, at least 19 people were killed when a Russian missile struck a shopping center in the city of Kremenchuk in late June.
There were no comments on Chasiv Yar at a Russian Defense Ministry briefing on Sunday.
The Donetsk region is one of the two provinces along with Luhansk that make up the Donbas region, where separatist rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014. Last week, Russia captured the city of Lysychansk, the last stronghold. important part of the Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk.
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Russia declares victory in Luhansk and moves south to win the rest of the Donbas. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promises to regain lost territory and Canada becomes the first country to ratify Sweden and Finland’s accession protocols to NATO.
Russian forces are raising “a real hell” in the Donbas, despite assessments that they were taking an operational break, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said on Saturday.
After the capture of Lysychansk, some analysts predicted that Moscow’s troops would probably take some time to rearm and regroup.
But “so far there has been no operational pause announced by the enemy. It is still attacking and bombing our lands with the same intensity as before,” Haidai said. He later said that Ukrainian forces had destroyed some ammunition depots and barracks used by the Russians.
Moscow says expelling the Ukrainian army from the Donbas is crucial to what it calls its “special military operation” to ensure its own security, an offensive that has lasted more than four months and that the West calls an unprovoked war.
Kyiv criticizes Ottawa for the return of the turbine
The Ukrainian government is calling on Canada to reconsider its decision to allow the delivery of turbines from a Russia-Europe natural gas pipeline to Germany, saying it sets a “dangerous precedent” when it comes to sanctions against the Russian regime.
Canada’s Minister of Natural Services Jonathan Wilkinson announced on Saturday on social media that the turbines of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which supplies natural gas from Russia to Germany, would be allowed to be returned, which had been sent to Montreal for the scheduled repairs.
In June, Siemens Energy said Canadian sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine meant the company could not return the turbines.
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Ottawa introduces new sanctions but returns key turbine for Russian pipeline
Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced new sanctions against Russian agents and organizations, focusing on Russian disinformation efforts and industrial manufacturing. But the federal government also said it would grant “a limited and revocable time permit” to Siemens Canada to allow the return of a turbine to Germany.
In his recent announcement, Wilkinson said turbine maker Siemens Canada would receive a “revocable and time-limited permit” to return the equipment, essentially giving it an exemption.
He said the delivery was necessary to support “Europe’s ability to access reliable and affordable energy” as it tries to abandon dependence on Russian oil and gas. The government says it plans to return six turbines.
Germany, which is Europe’s largest economy, warned last month that it was in crisis over Russia’s decision to reduce the amount of gas flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 60%.
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Europe is turning to coal because of concerns that Russia will stop gas supplies
Several European countries, including Germany, are facing a shortage of natural gas supply due to the Ukrainian war and are increasing their coal production to cover energy needs in the event that Russia stops all gas exports.
In a statement on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy expressed their “deep disappointment” at Canada’s decision.
“This dangerous precedent violates international solidarity, goes against the rule of law and will only have one consequence: it will reinforce Moscow’s sense of impunity,” he says.
Three Conservative MPs also issued a statement on Sunday saying allowing the team’s return undermines the sanctions Canada has imposed on Russia at a time when it should intensify as an alternative gas supplier to Europe.
“Allowing the return of the gas turbine sets a dangerous precedent for bending [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s blackmail in Europe and will negatively affect Canada’s position on the world stage, “said a joint statement by MPs Michael Chong, James Bezan and Pierre Paul-Hus.