Russia denied on Wednesday a claim by Ukraine that it had struck the town of Uman, visited by tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews each year, and showed pictures of what it said were Ukrainian forces loading arms near a synagogue there.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Israeli lawmakers on March 20 that Russia had struck Uman on the first day of the invasion in February, according to a transcript of the speech.
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Hasidic pilgrims descending on the gravesite of Rabbi Nachman Breslover, in Uman, Ukraine
(Photo: Shutterstock)
"I want to underscore that the Russian armed forces do not strike civilian targets as part of the special military operation," Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said of Zelensky's remark.
Russia, Konashenkov said, had not hit any religious buildings or other places of public worship.
Tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews descend on Uman every Jewish New Year to visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who revived the Hasidic movement and died in 1810.
Konashenkov also showed March 21 pictures of what appeared to be Ukrainian forces loading arms near a synagogue in the town. Reuters was unable to independently verify the photographs.
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A Ukrainian soldier in the town of Uman prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month
(Photo: GettyImages)
Russia, he said, had struck fuel depots in eastern Ukraine with air-launched missiles and used tactical missiles to destroy two large rocket arsenals in eastern Ukraine.
"High-precision air-launched missiles destroyed large fuel depots in the Starokonstantinov and Khmelnytskyi districts that supplied fuel for the armored vehicles of Ukrainian troops in the Donbas," Konashenkov said.
Ukrainian authorities have falsely accused Russia of targeting and damaging the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial in Kyiv, an accusation disproved by Ynet reporter in Kyiv Ron Ben-Yishai.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated the claim during his address to members of the Israeli Knesset earlier in March.