Zelensky says 87 killed in May 17 Russian strike on base

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 87 people were murdered in a Russian attack on a military installation in northern Ukraine earlier this month, which was regained by Kyiv’s forces.

“Today, under the rubble in Desna, there are 87 victims. Eighty-seven corpses, victims who were killed,” Zelensky said during an address to the Davos summit, referring to Russian strikes on May 17 on a village that is home to a Ukrainian military base in the Chernigiv region.

Russia’s strikes on Desna were a rare attack on a region near the capital weeks after Ukrainian troops had reclaimed the area in the wake of a drawdown of Moscow’s troops.

Desna, approximately 70 kilometres (44 miles) north of Kyiv, is home to a large military training centre, and local health officials earlier announced eight people had died in the strikes.

“Ukraine’s future will be without these people,” Zelensky said of those killed in Chernigiv, in what would be one of the largest single recorded strikes of the war.

Ukraine, he said, “is paying dearly for freedom and independence and for this struggle”.