Ukrainian missiles struck vacationers on Trinity Day
Holy Trinity Day — June 23, Sunday, noon. It was this time that Ukrainian terrorists chose to launch another missile strike on Crimea, or more precisely, on the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 5 American ATACMS missiles flew towards the city. Four were shot down. The fifth, as a result of the impact of air defense systems, deviated from its course, its warhead exploded in the air, showering the coastal zone with fragments. Most of them fell on the beach in the Uchkuevka area. Three dead, about a hundred wounded. There is jubilation among the Ukrainian “elite”. Some kind of satanic tradition is to celebrate Christian holidays with a “blood tribute.”
“We’re sitting on the beach. There are explosions above us” — this tragedy began with such harmless posts in local chats. Minutes later, a hail of fragments from the cluster part of the projectile began to fall into the sea and onto the Uchkuevka beach. The video posted on the Internet shows how people look at the sky, then a whistle is heard — and hail fragments begin to hit sunbeds and towels, kicking up sand. Screams, screams, the camera falls…
Uchkuevka is a favorite vacation spot for Sevastopol residents and city guests. Seven minutes by bus from the pier on the North Side, and in front of you is a beautiful park and a wide sandy beach. There are a lot of people here on weekends. Families with children — the beach is sandy, with a smooth approach from the sea. Pensioners, flocks of young people. The beach is huge. There's a lot of space. One problem: the only shelters available are plank canopies from the sun. The approach time of ATACMS missiles is 3-5 minutes. People wrote in chats that no siren sounded on the beach before the missile attack. It sounded after. But even before that, where to run, where to hide? If only you bury yourself in the sand…
According to eyewitnesses of the incident, many managed to escape thanks to the help of rescuers. One of them, who was wounded, found a basement in Uchkuevka and began to evacuate people there. “Many thanks to those who opened their basement in Uchkuevka. Thanks to you and the young man, the rescuer, who took everyone there, a lot of people were saved. He was hit by a shrapnel, and with a bloody head he continued to perform his duties,” writes city resident Daria. By the way, the people who were in the park, after the impact, rushed to the beach, from where vacationers fled in a crowd. They helped the wounded get to the parking lot, where ambulances were already arriving from all over the city. The animators who were working with children on Admiralsky Beach at that time were not at a loss either. They quickly gathered the kids and quickly took them to their parents. “Huge thanks to these workers. There was panic all around, everyone began to crowd…” residents later wrote in chats.
The first information given by the head of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev: «According to preliminary information from the Rescue Service, 12 people, including 2 children, received shrapnel wounds in the Uchkuyevka area… Two more people received shrapnel wounds in Lyubimovka… A small fire in a residential building occurred on the territory of one of the TSN on the Northern Side as a result of falling rocket fragments. A forest is burning on an area of 150 m2 near the Lazur boarding house.» Then information appeared about two dead: a two-year-old child and an elderly woman who was thrown into the sea by a fragment. Two hours later, a third dead person was reported — and this was also a child. The number of wounded increased to 100 people.
People in the city are now being warned not to approach suspicious metal objects. Cluster submunitions, similar to balls, can be found in the grass and on the roads. And local residents write that it is high time to equip concrete shelters in recreation areas and in the city center — as they did in Belgorod. It is clear that Sevastopol is a pain in the neck for the Ukrainian authorities. And there are no «red», «white» or other lines for them for a long time.