A Russian missile hit a museum building in a Ukrainian city on Tuesday, killing one of its workers and wounding 10 other people. The attack comes as Ukraine is readying its forces for an expected spring counteroffensive.
Ukrainian officials said the Russian military used S-300 air defence missiles to attack Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, hitting the museum of local history in the centre of the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video from the site that shows the ruined building and emergency responders examining the damage.
“The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely,” Zelenskyy said on Twitter. “Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.”
Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said that three people were hospitalised, seven received minor injuries and two others were still believed to be under the debris. Emergency responders were working to recover them.
Kupiansk was captured by Russian forces in the earlier stages of the Russian invasion and was reclaimed by Ukrainian forces in a surprise counteroffensive in September.
A woman also died in Russian shelling of the town of Dvorichna, near Kupiansk, and two civilians were killed in the eastern Donetsk region, according to the Ukrainian presidential office.
The Ukrainian military is now preparing for a new massive counteroffensive, relying on the latest supplies of Western battle tanks and other weapons and fresh troops that were trained in the West.
