‘A War Crime of Beasts’: Zelensky Condemns Deadly Russian Strike on Blood Transfusion Center

President Zelensky has condemned a deadly Russian missile strike on a blood transfusion centre as a “war crime,” calling those responsible “beasts that destroy everything that simply allows life.”

Moscow’s forces struck the facility in Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region of northeast Ukraine on Saturday evening, Zelensky said, adding that “dead and wounded are reported.”

“Rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” he wrote on social media, adding: “This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression.”

Exact numbers of those killed and injured are not currently known.

It was just one of several Russian strikes on Saturday evening – a separate attack hit a facility of the Ukrainian aeronautics group Motor Sich, a maker of plane and helicopter engines and other components.

It is one of  the companies requisitioned by the government since Moscow's invasion. The Motor Sich site is near Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine, around 300 kilometres (190 miles) southwest of Kyiv. 

Zelensky said the strike included Russia's hypersonic Kinzhal weapons, which are designed to elude air-defence systems, though he added that “some of the missiles were shot down.”

The Khmelnytskyi region, hundreds of kilometres from the front lines of the fighting and home to a major Ukrainian airbase, has been regularly targeted by Russian strikes in recent months.

Russia also launched waves of kamikaze drones at Ukrainian cities overnight. 

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Ukraine’s Air Force said it intercepted 30 missiles and 17 drones in total: “During the first attack wave, on the evening of August 5, 2023, the enemy used 14 Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles and three Kh-47 Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles. 

“The air defense units destroyed 12 out of 14 Kalibr missiles. Information about Kinzhal missiles is not to be disclosed.”