Russia Says Khorly Attack Death Toll Rises to 28, Condemns "Terrorist Act"

Citing a statement by the Crimean Ministry of Health, RIA Novosti, the state-owned domestic news agency of Russia, reported that a woman hospitalised in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital in Dzhankoy died on Friday.

"Unfortunately, it was not possible to save the woman, who had previously been hospitalized at the Dzhankoy Central District Hospital," the Crimean Ministry of Health's Telegram channel stated.

The Russian Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko told RIA Novosti that 27 people, including two minors, were killed in a terrorist attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the village of Khorly in the Kherson region.

"On Thursday, Kherson Oblast Governor Volodymyr Saldo announced that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had targetted a drone strike where civilians were celebrating the New Year - a cafe and hotel on the Black Sea coast in Khorly. Friday and Saturday have been declared days of mourning in the region," the report detailed.

The hospital statement mentioned that there are 14 people in medical facilities in the Republic of Crimea who were injured in the Ukrainian Armed Forces strike in the village of Khorly in the Kherson region.

"Five children are currently being treated at the Republican Children's Clinical Hospital. Seven adults are hospitalized at Simferopol Clinical Emergency Hospital No. 6, and two more patients are being treated at the N.A. Semashko Republican Clinical Hospital," read the statement.

"Doctors assess the condition of two patients, including one child, as serious. The remaining injured are in moderate condition and are receiving all necessary medical care," it added further.

Earlier, Gennady Gatilov, the Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva, urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and the OHCHR to promptly condemn "the terrorist act of the Ukrainian army" in the Kherson Region.

"On New Year's Eve, the Kyiv regime led by Zelensky carried out another monstrous attack using UAVs armed with munitions which took aim at civilians in the village of Khorly, Kherson Region," Gatilov said. "While the exact number of those killed and injured in the course of this barbaric attack is still being established, it is already clear that several dozens of people died, including young children," he stressed.

"We demand that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Volker Turk and his Office (OHCHR), as well as respective special procedures of the Human Rights Council, condemn publicly and as soon as possible the Kyiv regime's monstrous terrorist attack in the Kherson Region," the diplomat said in his statement posted on the Telegram channel of the mission.

- IANS