KYIV, Ukraine (AP) ā The death toll from a weekend Russian missile strike on an apartment building in southeastern Ukraine climbed to 41 on Tuesday after the body of a child was pulled from the rubble, officials said.
Another 25 residents of the building city of Dnipro were still missing, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, whose capital is Dnipro.
Emergency crews have cleared about 90% of the rubble during a 63-hour search since Saturdayās strike, he said.
There are 79 wounded people, he said, with 28 of them hospitalized and 10 in serious condition.
The latest deadly Russian strike on a civilian target in the almost 11-month war triggered outrage.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to bring those responsible to justice, saying itās āa fundamental taskā for Ukraine and its Western allies.
āThis strike at Dnipro, as well as other similar strikes, falls, in particular, under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,ā he said in a video address late Monday.
āAnd we will use all available opportunities ā both national and international ā to ensure that all Russian murderers, everyone who gives and executes orders on missile terror against our people, face legal sentences. And to ensure that they serve their punishment,ā he said.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the weekend barrage of long-range missiles, the first of its kind in two weeks, targeted Ukraineās power grid.
But the ministry identified the missile that slammed into the Dnipro apartment building as an anti-ship missile that āis notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas.ā
Similar missiles were used in other incidents that caused high civilian casualties, it said, including a strike on a shopping mall in Ukraineās central city of Kremenchuk last June.
Such incidents have helped stiffen international support for Ukraine as it battles to fend off the Kremlinās invasion. The winter has brought a slowdown in fighting, but military analysts say a new push by both sides is likely once the weather improves.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and other U.S. officials met in Kyiv with Zelenskyy on Monday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. They reiterated Washingtonās āstrong and steadfast commitment to Ukraine,ā he said.
U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Monday visited Ukraine troops who are training at a military base in Germany under U.S. commanders.
More than 600 Ukrainian troops began the expanded training program at the camp the previous day.
āThis is not a run of the mill rotation,ā Milley told commanders. āThis is one of those moments in time where if you want to make a difference, this is it.ā
Ukraineās first lady was also helping to cement Western support and acquire more foreign weapons, as she was scheduled to give a rare international address at the World Economic Forumās annual gathering in the Swiss town of Davos.
Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency on Monday visited the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant and announced the organizationās permanent presence there to oversee operations and ensure safety.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, tweeted late Monday that the agencyās flag was flying over the power plant.
āWe are here to stay to help ensure nuclear safety (and) security during ongoing conflict,ā Grossi said, adding that āsoon, IAEA will be permanently presentā at all of Ukraineās nuclear power plants.
Ukraine has a total of four nuclear power plants with 16 reactors. One of them, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was taken over by Russian forces in the first months of the war and remains under their control.
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