Russia unleashed a major missile attack on Ukraine on Saturday, smashing a nine-storey apartment block in the city of Dnipro, killing at least five people and striking vital energy facilities, officials said.
Ukraine’s energy minister said the coming days would be “difficult” as months of Russian bombardment of the power grid threaten the supply of electricity, running water and central heating at the height of winter.
In the east-central city of Dnipro, 20 people were rescued from an apartment block where an entire section of the building had been reduced to rubble, sending smoke billowing into the sky, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office said.
“Tragedy. I’ve gone to the site…. We will be going through the rubble all night,” said Borys Filatov, mayor of the rocket-making city on the Dnipro River.
Five people were killed and at least 60 people, including 12 children, were also wounded in the attack, with more people were still trapped under the rubble, the regional governor said.
Another person was killed and one wounded in the steel-making city of Kryviy Rih where six houses were damaged in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said.
In his nightly speech, Zelensky appealed to the West to supply more weapons to prevent further deaths from what he described as “Russian terror”.
“What’s needed for this? The kind of weapons that our partners have in stockpiles and that our warriors have come to expect. The whole world knows what and how to stop those who are sowing death,” he said.
Saturday’s attack comes as Western powers consider sending battle tanks to Kyiv and ahead of a meeting of Ukraine’s allies in Ramstein in Germany next Friday where governments will announce their latest pledges of military support.
On the front lines in the east, Ukraine said its forces were battling to hold onto control of the small town of Soledar where Russia has sacrificed large numbers of troops and resources to try to secure some kind of advance after months of setbacks.
In Dnipro, pictures showed firefighters putting out a blaze around the carcasses of some cars. A broad chunk of the apartment block was missing. The exterior of the rest of the building was badly damaged. Wounded people were carried away on stretchers.
Russia has been pounding its energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, causing sweeping blackouts and disruptions to central heating and running water.
Ukraine shot down 25 of 38 Russian missiles of different types, the Air Force said.
Missiles struck critical infrastructure facilities in the eastern region of Kharkiv and the western region of Lviv, officials said. Kharkiv region lost power completely and disruptions to electricity and water supplies in Lviv were also possible, officials said.
Moldova’s interior ministry said missile debris had been found in the north of the country near the Ukraine border following the air strikes.
