Zelensky vows ‘punishment’ for Russian commanders, forces after missile strike at apartment building

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pledging that “punishment is inevitable” for the Russians responsible for a strike on a residential building that killed at least 30, saying those involved “will all be found.”

The strike took out two high-rise apartment buildings in the Donetsk region, and a rescue operation has so far only been able to save six of the dozens of Ukrainians trapped in the rubble, Zelensky said in his nightly address to Ukrainians on Sunday amid the months-long war.

“You know, Nazi murderers are found and brought to justice even when they are 90 or 100 years old. They are caught all over the world. Of course, we don’t want to wait that long. But I give this example to show that punishment is inevitable for every Russian murderer.”

When that happens, Zelensky said, Russians shouldn’t expect to turn to their government for backing.

“Russia will be the first to abandon them when political circumstances change,” he said.

Zelensky’s message comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new passport decree expanding a fast track to Russian citizenship for Ukrainians. He’s also introduced the Russian ruble as currency in occupied areas, part of ongoing moves to delegitimize Ukraine.

Attacks in Ukraine’s east, such as the one in the Donetsk region this weekend, underscore the challenges as Zelensky presses Ukraine toward reconstruction. 

He returned from a conference in Lugano, Switzerland, last week with a $750 billion recovery plan and the Lugano Declaration, a document calling for increased government transparency and a crackdown on corruption in order to facilitate postwar recovery.

“We have to hold on, we have to fight together on all fronts now — on the political, information and economic fronts, without showing weakness anywhere,” Zelensky said Sunday.