KYIV: Russia struck an arms show near Kyiv on Friday (Jul 24), killing at least 10 people and wounding a hundred, Ukrainian officials said, raising questions around the safety of such events.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko announced a criminal inquiry to establish “who made the decision to hold the event … and whether the risks were properly assessed under martial law”.
An AFP reporter saw at least five bodies covered in black sheets near the shooting range that hosted the event.
Promotional tents still stood inside the courtyard of the shooting range, with drones displayed beneath them, while a screen kept playing a weapon company’s promotional video.
Behind a vehicle, a dead man lay on the ground, his face bloodied, while people gathered around him.
Russia, which has targeted Ukrainian training grounds and military events throughout the war, said it had struck an arms exposition showcasing “Ukrainian and foreign-made unmanned aerial vehicles”.
Among the models on display were drones “used to strike civilian targets within Russian territory”, it said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address that Russia used a ballistic missile, adding that the arms event “certainly should not have been taking place there”.
“In such wartime conditions and against such an enemy, it is absolutely impossible to hold any arms exhibitions – with large crowds of people, and certainly not near residential buildings,” he said.