More than 60 people may have been killed when the school they were sheltering in was bombed by a Russian war planes late Saturday afternoon in the village of Bilohorivka, near the front line in eastern Ukraine.
“The explosion happened inside the building. Rescue force [are] Let’s dismantle the debris as quickly as possible,” Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk military force, wrote on Telegram, according to CNN. “Chance to find” [anyone still] alive is very small. There were 90 people inside the school; 27 survived, 60 most likely died.”
He later added that what was left of “the entire village” was hiding in the attacked basement.
The bomb hit the school shortly after 4:30 p.m. Saturday as villagers were taking shelter amid an increase in bombardment. The initial fire caused by the bombing took more than four hours to extinguish. Rescuers had to abort efforts to find victims and survivors overnight due to intense fighting.
Many of those sheltering in the school escaped the bombing of a local social club that was destroyed in a rocket attack. It is unclear how many children, if any, were in the school bunker at the time it was attacked.
As the battle raged in the east, US First Lady Jill Biden made a surprise visit across the border to meet Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska on Sunday.
The two met at a school that was supposed to be a bomb shelter for refugees from other parts of the country. “I want to come on Mother’s Day,” Biden told pool reporters. “I think it’s important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to be stopped, and this war is brutal, and that the American people are on the side of the Ukrainian people.”
Zelenska thanked the First Lady for “a very courageous act” while visiting the war zone.
Near Odessa, fierce sea battles have raged since Saturday with both Russia and Ukraine claiming sporadic victories. Several Russian warships are believed to have been damaged, along with Ukraine’s defenses. Both sides claimed Sunday that they have control over the highly disputed Snake Island in the Black Sea.
In remarks prepared to mark the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation to mark the end of World War II, Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky could not help but highlight the hypocrisy when it comes to war and peace. . “Every year, on May 8, together with the civilized world, we honor all those who defended the planet from Nazism during World War II. Millions of lives lost, crippled fates, tortured souls, and millions of reasons to tell evil: never again! ” Guardians.
“This year we say, ‘Never again’ differently. We hear ‘Never again’ differently. It sounds painful and cruel. There is no exclamation mark, there is a question mark. You say: never again? Tell Ukraine about it”.
