Seconds from death: Ukrainian cyclist is lucky to be alive as Russian missile strikes courtyard just moments after she has pedalled away

• Footage shows woman cycling down deserted residential street in Donetsk 
• 10 seconds later a cataclysmic explosion is heard before shower of debris falls 
• Clouds of smoke covers the courtyard and windows from above are flung down  

This is the heartstopping moment a woman cheated death when she cycled down a road in Ukraine just seconds before a missile struck the same pathway. 

Footage shows a woman peacefully cycling down a deserted residential road outside Leninsky Prospekt apartment block in Donetsk. 

Just 10 seconds later a cataclysmic explosion is heard before a shower of debris rains down from the building. 

Windows from above are flung into the street from the impact of the explosion and a cloud of smoke covers the courtyard, which appears to contain what once was a children’s playground. 

Footage shows a woman peacefully cycling down a deserted residential road outside Leninsky Prospekt apartment block in Donetsk

Just 10 seconds later a cataclysmic explosion is heard before a shower of debris rains down from the building

Footage from miles away shows the magnitude of the explosion as plumes of its smoke billow across the city. 

It comes as Russian forces today accused Kyiv of targeting the Olenivka prison in Donesk overnight using US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems in a strike which injured 75.

But Ukraine said Putin’s men carried out ‘targeted artillery shelling’ in a bid to both accuse Ukraine of war crimes and hide any evidence of their torture and mass executions in the prison.

The Kremlin’s defence ministry said this morning that eight employees at the detention centre were also injured.

Windows from above are flung into the street from the impact of the explosion and a cloud of smoke covers the courtyard, which appears to contain what once was a children’s playground

Denis Pushilin, leader of the Donetsk separatists, put the death toll at 47 people. Territorial defence forces of the separatist statelet said that 53 people died.

A total of 193 people were held in the jail at the time of the strike, Pushilin said in comments broadcast on Russian state television.

Pushilin, the Donetsk leader, claimed Kyiv forces struck the jail because Ukrainian prisoners of war had begun to testify.

Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement: ‘The armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out targeted artillery shelling of a correctional institution in the settlement of Olenivka, Donetsk oblast, where Ukrainian prisoners were also held.

‘In this way, the Russian occupiers pursued their criminal goals – to accuse Ukraine of committing ‘war crimes’, as well as to hide the torture of prisoners and executions…’

Footage from miles away shows the magnitude of the explosion as plumes of its smoke billow across the city

Ukrainian authorities in the Donetsk region also said today that Russia has pressed on with the shelling of civilian targets in Ukrainian-held areas.

‘The fighting in the region has been intensifying by the day, and civilians must evacuate while it’s still possible,’ said Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

‘The Russian army doesn’t worry about civilian casualties. They are pummelling cities and villages in the region.’ 

Scores of Ukrainian soldiers were taken to prisons in Russian-controlled areas such as the Donetsk region, a breakaway area in eastern Ukraine which is run by Russian-backed separatist authorities.

Some have returned to Ukraine as part of prisoner exchanges with Russia, but families of others have no idea whether their loved ones are alive or if they will ever come home.

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