Russian TV Pundits Take Encouragement From Deadly Dnipro Strike

News Reporter

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Pundits on Russian state television have taken encouragement from the deadly missile attack on a residential apartment building in Dnipro, with some calling for more strikes on other Ukraine cities.

Ukrainian officials reported a new death toll on Tuesday for the strike on the nine-story apartment building on Saturday: at least 44 people dead and dozens are still left unaccounted for. It is one of the deadliest single incidents since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

An aerial view of firefighters conducting search and rescue operations at residential building hit by a missile on January 15, 2023 in Dnipro, Ukraine. On January 14, Russia launched a new massive attack on Ukrainian... Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images

Russia has denied responsibility for the attack, while Ukraine officials have said Russia's 52nd Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment was behind the strike.

Igor Markov, a Russian businessman and politician, declared on the Russia 1 channel that he is "very glad that we have finally begun to use the types of weapons that the Ukrainian air defense forces can't shoot down, according to them."

"I don't know what Kyiv was hit with, I think a military expert can help us figure it out, but it was hit with something it can't shoot down," Markov said in an excerpt of the broadcast that was tweeted on Monday by Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko.

"It seems to me that we need to strike massively and get in and finish what we started in February of last year," he added. "Otherwise the number of casualties will only increase, we don't have much time."

"Look at pictures of Mariupol, this is what Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kyiv will look like when we attack them."

They are openly saying they want to turn Ukrainian cities to ruins, killing thousands, tens of thousands. They are talking about genocide. pic.twitter.com/OWjnDRLzyh
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) January 16, 2023

Russian propagandist Sergei Mardan also appeared to praise the attack on state television.

"They are openly saying they want to turn Ukrainian cities to ruins, killing thousands, tens of thousands. They are talking about genocide," Gerashchenko tweeted, sharing a clip of his remarks.

"Even if it was our rocket that hit this building, for me personally, it doesn't change anything at all," he said. "The destruction of a residential building in Dnipro is a tragic cost of the military conflict.

"The fact that residents of Ukrainian cities feel normal is not the merit of their air defense, but our shortcomings."

Mardan, a former journalist with Russian outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda, suggested that other Ukrainian cities will suffer the same fate as Dnipro.

"Well, look at the photos of Mariupol—that's what will happen to Kharkiv. Yes, it will. And with Dnipro, as well as with Kyiv," Mardan added.

It would be nice to see "the Dnipro bridge demolished into trash," he added.

In a separate state TV segment, State Duma member Vyacheslav Nikonov described Ukrainians as mostly "non-human."

Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov said in a statement on Facebook on Tuesday that the death toll had risen.

"I am here. Already 44 dead," Filatov wrote.

Earlier on Tuesday, regional authorities said a child's body was pulled from the rubble.

Newsweek has reached out to the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia for comment.

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