The Dutch government assured that Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra and the rest of the Dutch delegation that visited Ukraine on Tuesday are safe in an anti-aircraft shelter in the center of Kiev after a rocket attack on the capital. .
A spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the entire delegation is safe following a rocket attack on Kiev, which apparently targeted power plants, according to the Dutch news agency ANP.
The sirens went off at the end of Hoekstra’s press conference in Kiev, where he announced that the Netherlands will invest more money in war crimes investigations from 2023. Shortly afterwards, several explosions were heard and the delegation was immediately transferred. to a nearby bomb shelter.
Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko later confirmed that there had been several explosions in the Ukrainian capital that had triggered anti-aircraft alerts, and that “according to preliminary information, two residential buildings in the Pechersk district had been hit and several missiles had been shot down by air defenses over Kiev “.
Since 14:45 local time (13:45 in Lisbon), anti-aircraft alerts have been activated throughout Ukraine due to possible missile strikes. The Ukrainian cities of Lviv (west) and Kharkiv (northeast) were also targets of Russian bombing, the respective mayors reported, without providing data on casualties.
Earlier, the heads of the regional administrations of Kryvyi Rih (center), Oleksandr Vilkul and Mykolaiv (south), Vitaly Kim, also referred to a massive launch of missiles from Russian territory.
“Dmitro’s resilience, determination and courage [Kuleba, ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros ucraniano] and her Ukrainian compatriots are very impressive and inspiring. It underlines our strong and continued commitment to Ukraine”Hoekstra’s team wrote in a short message on Twitter, minutes after the attacks but without mentioning the situation.
The delegation had scheduled a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky for this afternoon, still without confirmation after the attacks.
This was Hoekstra’s second visit to Kiev since the start of the Russian invasion in February. During his trip last May, the Dutch minister also had to seek refuge in an air-raid shelter after an anti-aircraft alarm went off during his visit.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24 has already led to the flight of more than 13 million people – more than six million internally displaced people and more than 7.8 million to European countries – according to the latest UN data. to land. which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending arms to Ukraine and to impose on Russia political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented 6,557 civilian deaths and 10,074 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, emphasizing that these numbers are far below the real ones.
Source: DN
