Ukraine War: Scores feared dead after Russia attack on Mykolaiv barracks

Scores of Ukrainian soldiers are feared to have been killed after an attack on a military barracks on Friday.

About 200 soldiers were sleeping in the barracks when three Russian missiles hit the base on the northern edge of Mykolaiv, a source told the BBC. Some 57 injured people were being treated in hospitals, another source said.

There are no official casualty figures.

Rescue workers crawling over giant piles of rubble found a survivor on Saturday – 30 hours after the attack.

The man was carried down the steep mountain of rubble in a stretcher and taken away by ambulance towards the city centre.

Vitaly Kim, head of the regional administration, blamed Russians for hitting “sleeping soldiers with a rocket in a cowardly manner”.

“At least 50 bodies have been recovered, but we do not know how many others are in the rubble,” a soldier named Maxim was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Only by chance were Andre and his family away when the bomb hit.

“This isn’t a war between armies,” he said. “The Russians are trying to destroy us all.”

Mykolaiv has been blocking Russia’s advance west along the Black Sea coast for weeks. Overnight there was more heavy shelling in the south of the city.

There are also reports that Russian reconnaissance teams, sent in to locate military targets for attack, have been found there.