KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine on Monday launched a prison investigation into navy officers who organized a troop-honoring ceremony that was hit by a Russian missile strike, killing 19 troopers in one of many deadliest single assaults reported by Ukrainian forces.
The State Bureau of Investigation mentioned it goals to carry navy officers accountable for the Rocket Forces and Artillery Day occasion held Friday close to the entrance line in Zaporizhzhia, the place Russian reconnaissance drones may simply spot the crowded gathering.
The carnage sparked a wave of criticism amongst Ukrainians who questioned on social media the planning of an occasion so near the battlefield. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented the deaths of the boys of the 128th Separate Mountain-Assault Brigade of Zakarpattia as a “tragedy that would’ve been prevented.”
The investigation announcement got here as officers mentioned Russian drone and missile strikes within the metropolis of Odesa wounded eight folks and broken an artwork museum that’s a part of a UNESCO World Heritage website, and satellite tv for pc pictures confirmed injury achieved by a Ukrainian missile strike to a Russian naval ship.
Odesa’s Nationwide Artwork Museum mentioned seven exhibitions, most that includes the work of latest Ukrainian artists, have been broken by a strike that left a big crater outdoors the museum, which was celebrating its 124th anniversary.
Images and video confirmed shattered home windows, doorways, and a few work mendacity on the ground amid particles strewn throughout the galleries.
The assault adopted reviews by the Russian Protection Ministry that Ukrainian cruise missiles aimed on the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, a metropolis within the east of the Moscow-held Crimean Peninsula, had struck one among its vessels.
Satellite tv for pc pictures analyzed by The Related Press confirmed injury to a Russian navy corvette moored off Kerch.
The satellite tv for pc footage Sunday from Planet Labs PBC present what seemed to be a firefighting vessel, in addition to booms within the water to cease oil leaks from the broken ship. What seemed to be burn marks may be seen on the vessel, which was nonetheless afloat. These marks weren’t seen on different satellite tv for pc pictures captured of the vessel at port.
The measurements of the vessel and its form correspond with a Karakurt-class corvette. In Russian, “karakurt” means “Black Widow spider.”
The ships are designed to hold Kalibr cruise missiles, the identical sort of missiles that Moscow has used repeatedly towards Ukrainian targets since launching the all-out conflict on the neighboring nation in February 2022.
The Russian Protection Ministry mentioned late Saturday that Ukrainian forces fired 15 cruise missiles on the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, with at the least two putting a ship and the shipyard.
Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s air power, later wrote in a web-based message that he believed the strike focused a vessel carrying Kalibrs. He additionally urged Kyiv used long-range French Scalp cruise missiles within the assault.
Andriy Ryzhenko, a captain within the Ukrainian naval reserve, had instructed Ukrainian media he believed the vessel struck by the missile was the Askold. That Karakurt-class corvette was being constructed on the port when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kerch and the shipyard in July 2020.
The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent goal since Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Crimea has served as the important thing hub supporting the invasion.
Between Sunday and Monday, a 77-year-old man was killed and at the least 16 folks have been injured by Russian shelling and airstrikes in southeastern Ukraine, the nation’s presidential workplace mentioned.
The assaults on Odesa additionally broken grain warehouses and houses. The bomb blast in entrance of the superb arts museum brought on injury to the constructing and collections however there was no quick evaluation of the dimensions of destruction, a spokesperson for the U.N. cultural company mentioned.
UNESCO “strongly” condemned the assault on the museum, saying on X, previously Twitter, that: “Cultural websites should be protected in accordance with worldwide legislation.”
It was the second time the museum has been broken through the ongoing conflict. In July 2022, a blast destroyed the historic glass roof and home windows of the museum.
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Related Press author Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, and Brian Melley in London contributed to this report.
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Observe AP’s protection of the conflict in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine