July 8 Attack On Ukraine: Russian govt refutes alleged attack on civilian facility

Says Ukrainian missiles veered off course, hit residential buildings, social facilities

The Russian Embassy in Nigeria has refuted the position of Ukrainian government that July 8 missile attacks on Ukraine hit Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, bringing it under rubbles and trapping unidentified number of children.

The Embassy through its Press Secretary, Mr. Yuri Parominov, Tuesday, debunked the allegation, noting that the combined strike involving long-range high-precision weapons system fired against Ukraine in retaliation for repeated attacks by the country’s armed forces were professionally targeted against military facilities and not residential facilities as reported by Ukraine government.

Yuri who was reacting to the publication in The Guardian Newspaper, where Ukrainian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ivan Kholostenko, described the attack on children hospital as a prove of Russia’s ruthlessness and determination to achieve the goal of destroying Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Ambassador Kholostenko added that “terror, intimidation and attacks aimed at civilians are classic terrorist techniques that Russian President, Vladimir Putin does not hesitate to use.”

Paraminov however maintained that July 8 missiles were fired at military facilities including the Artyom and Antonov plants and the Luch Design Bureau in Kiev; the Dnepr and Yuzhmash plants in Dnepropetrovsk; the Heavy-Duty Machine-Building Plant Kramatorsk; warehouse holding Western weaponry and military equipment at the ArcelorMittal Iron and Steel Works in Krivoy Rog, and they were precisely and professionally destroyed in retaliation for regular attacks by Armed Forces of Ukraine aimed at damaging Russia’s economic enterprises.

“No strikes were made on civilian infrastructure. As has often been the case with the Ukrainian air defence system, its missiles veered off course and hit residential buildings and social facilities. The same happened this time when a Western-made NASAMS missile hit a building at the Okhnatdet Hospital for children in Kiev.

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“Nevertheless, Ukrainian officials, including the Ukrainian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Kholostenko, immediately started blaming Russia for deliberately killing children.”

Adding: “Mr. Kholostenko’s reluctance to tell the truth does not surprise us at all but it is crucial to convey the truth to the public in Nigeria. Therefore, we will once again remind everyone who is truly responsible for the deaths of innocent children and who directly and indirectly contributes to it.”

Parominov also accused Ukraine for conniving with the United States to commit “another” heinous terrorist crime against civilians in Russia by firing missiles Sevastopol on June 23 – a Holy Trinity Sunday.

“They specifically chose a very important holy day of the Russian Orthodox Church. More than 150 people were wounded or killed, including children.

“Once again, we strongly condemn such inhumane and cynical manipulations of facts by Ukrainian diplomats as well as the encouraging position of those who undoubtedly set the agenda for the Ukrainian Embassy in Nigeria and its embassies all over the world”, he added.