Around 70% of Russian missile strikes deliberately targetted civilian objects, Ukraine claims

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

In the aftermath of the deadly missile attack on Vinnytsia, the Ukrainian defence ministry has said up to 70 per cent of Russian missile attacks are specifically targetting civilian objects. As per the defence ministry, the attacks are inflicted on "peaceful" Ukrainian cities.

On Thursday (July 14), a missile strike in Vinnytsia killed at least 23 people, including three children. Search and rescue operations are still on as some are missing. More than 60 people are wounded, getting treatment in hospital.

As quoted by Ukrinform, Oleksandr Motuzianyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's ministry of defence, said: "Yesterday’s insidious criminal missile attack on the centre of a peaceful city in Ukraine is yet another fact of Russia's absolutely proven genocide against Ukraine."

Motuzianyk added, "This is the extermination of Ukrainians as a nation, this is an attempt to break the spirit of Ukrainians and lower the level of their resistance."

He further added that only 30 per cent of the total attacks by Russian forces engaged military targets. He claimed that the remaining were targeted at peaceful cities such as Mariupol, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv. He also urged that Russia must be recognised as a "terrorist state".

However, there's no official confirmation ofMotuzianyk's claims.

Meanwhile, the Russiandefence ministry said that the strike on Vinnytsia was a military target.

The ministry claimed that the strike was directed at a building where top officials from Ukraine's armed forces were meeting foreign arms suppliers.

Zelensky slammed Russia for the attack

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Russia for the attack andtermed it "an open act of terrorism".The Ukraine president said in a statement on social media: "Every day, Russia kills civilians, kills Ukrainian children, carries out missile attacks on civilian facilities where there is no military target. What is this if not an open act of terrorism?"

WATCH WION LIVE HERE