Ukraine leader accuses Russia of ’terror’ in missile strike

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 1 accused Russia of engaging in state "terror" as he blamed Moscow for missile strikes on a southern resort town that left 21 dead and dozens wounded.

Missiles slammed into an apartment building and a recreation centre in the town of Sergiyvka about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the Black Sea port of Odessa, which has become a strategic flashpoint in the now more than four-month-old war.
The attacks took place a day after Moscow abandoned positions on a strategic island in a major setback to the Kremlin's invasion.
The dead included a 12-year-old boy, Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation, adding that some 40 people have been injured and that the death toll could rise.
"I emphasize: this is an act of deliberate, purposeful Russian terror -- and not some kind of mistake or an accidental missile strike," Zelensky said.
"Three missiles hit a regular nine-storey apartment building, in which nobody was hiding any weapons, any military equipment," he added. "Regular people, civilians, lived there."
Sergiy Bratchuk, Odessa deputy chief of district, said on Ukrainian television the strikes were launched by aircraft that flew in from the Black Sea and fired "very heavy and very powerful" missiles.

Germany swiftly condemned the violence.
"The cruel manner in which the Russian aggressor takes the deaths of civilians in its stride and is again speaking of collateral damages is inhuman and cynical," said German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.
The attacks follow global outrage earlier this week when a Russian strike destroyed a shopping centre in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, killing at least 18 civilians.
President Vladimir Putin has denied his forces...