The Ukrainian army has said they ‘avenged’ the slaughter of a toddler who was executed by Vladimir Putin’s troops.
One-year-old Dmytryk was killed in an alleged game of ‘human safari’ by Russian drone pilots in the Kherson region.
The boy, just 14 months old, had been playing in the yard of his home when the UAV crashed, piercing his heart with shrapnel on July 9.
Dmytryk had been playing with his grandmother, Halyna, 64, when he was killed.
She recalled: ‘I just jumped out and ran at full speed… I was sitting nearby, not far away, [seven or ten feet] from him. I heard the wind whistling, and then I heard a loud bang.
‘When I turned my head, it was flying straight towards us. I was sitting here and heard the noise, turned my head, and saw it flying. I quickly jumped out of there. My husband picked him up – but he was already dead.’
Ukrainian senior military official Oleksandr Prokudin said the boy, raised by his father and grandmother, was killed by Russia – mercilessly and deliberately.
Now, Ukraine has said they ‘avenged’ his death, killing the drone operators who attacked the small village of Pravdyne where the tot lived.
This attack with a Molniya drone had been launched from Hola Prystan, a Russian-occupied settlement.
‘The location of the Russian war criminals’ unit was also identified – a five-story non-residential building,’ a statement from the general staff in Ukraine said.
Five FPV drones were launched through the windows of the floor where the Russian personnel had been located, they said.
‘After that, no further launches of Russian drones were observed from the building. Our soldiers will avenge every Russian bast**d who came here to spread death,’ they added.
Residents near the frontline often face ‘human safari” hunts by Putin’s forces. Volodymyr Zelensky’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, said: ‘This wasn’t an accident. This was a manhunt.
‘The operator watched a child playing through his drone camera, and he attacked in cold blood.’
The attack came in the same week as the Russians hit a maternity hospital and a hospice for terminally ill orphans.
In new weekend attacks, the Russians hit and damaged a hospital and kindergarten in Sloviansk with an Iranian-designed Shahed drone.
Today, Donald Trump said he would punish Russia with tariffs if there is no deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The US president announced it during an Oval Office meeting with Nato secretary General Mark Rutte.
‘We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,’ Trump said.
He did not provide specifics on how the tariffs would be implemented.
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