An eight-year-old boy was killed in a Russian missile strike in Western Ukraine, the governor of the Ivano-Frankivsk region Svitlana Onyshchuk said on Friday.
According to her, the boy had been outside during the strike and received multiple shrapnel wounds. He was subsequently hospitalised in a critical condition. “For over two hours, our doctors fought for his life, but unfortunately, without success,” she wrote in a Telegram post.
The Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yury Ihnat said that young pilots who will soon start their Western aircraft training were the target of the shelling.
According to him, the young pilots, who are about to leave for F-16 training, were under attack. “They wanted to strike our youths and deprive us of potentially switching to Western equipment,” Ihnat stated during a national TV marathon, as quoted by Ukrainian media outlet Strana.
He added that this was not the first time the Russian army has attacked this airfield.
Last week, Politico reported, citing sources, that the first group of “Ukrainian pilots that will take part in F-16 training” had been identified. The group will include eight Ukrainian pilots who are fluent in English.
Onyshchuk added that the authorities had documented the missile hitting a civilian facility.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement that the Russian army had attacked Ukraine with four hypersonic Kinzhal missiles launched from MiG-31K planes. One of the missiles was shot down over the Kyiv region, while the other three landed near an airfield in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
In Kyiv, debris from the missile landed on the grounds of a children’s hospital and on the roof of a private house, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital Vitali Klitschko said on Friday morning.
On Thursday evening, Russian troops attacked the city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one woman and injuring at least another 16 people. The Reikartz Zaporizhzhia Hotel, which houses a camp for children between the ages of 6 and 13, was also damaged in the attack.
