New Delhi: A 23-day old baby, her 12-year-old brother and five others were killed by Russian shelling in southern Ukraine on Sunday, news agency AFP reported. The two children and three others were killed in Shyroka Balka village, while two others were killed in Stanislav in Kherson, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on messaging app Telegram.
"A husband, wife and their 23-day-old daughter were killed by enemy artillery fire," Klymenko wrote. Their 12-year-old son later succumbed to the injury, the minister added.
Condemning the incident, the minister said, "Terrorists must be stopped. They must be stopped by force. They don't understand anything else."
According to the report, Klymenko shared photographs of the aftermath of the aerial attack on Shyroka Balka. The images showed black columns of smoke rising from buildings, and the digitally obscured bodies of some of the victims.
It is to be noted that Kherson was one of the Ukrainian regions that Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed last year.
The shelling came a day after Moscow accused Ukraine of an attempted missile attack on the Kerch Bridge connecting mainland Russia with the Crimean Peninsula.
Although Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the attack, President Volodymr Zelensky said that the bridge holds logistical significance as it is used as a military supply route for Moscow and is a legitimate target.
Meanwhile, Moscow said it fired warning shots at a cargo ship in southwestern Black Sea as it made its way to the Ukrainian port of Izmail, BBC reported.
Moscow said in a statement that its Vasily Bykov patrol ship fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan ship after its captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection.
"After the inspection group completed its work on board, the Sukru Okan continued on its way to the port of Izmail," the Defence Ministry said.