Deaths reported after Dnipro apartment attack as Russia launches missiles across Ukraine

Russia launched a major missile attack in Ukraine on Friday, smashing a nine-storey apartment block in the city of Dnipro, killing at least five people and striking a vital energy facility, officials said.

Ukraine’s energy minister said the coming days would be “difficult” as months of Russian bombing of the power grid threatened electricity supplies, running water and central heating during the winter.

In the east-central city of Dnipro, 20 people were rescued from an apartment block where entire parts of the building had been reduced to rubble, sending smoke into the sky, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office said.

“Tragedy. I have gone to the site …. We will walk through the rubble all night,” said Borys Filatov, the mayor of the city where the rocket was built on the Dnipro River.

Five people were killed and at least 60 people, including 12 children, were injured in the attack, with more people still trapped in the rubble, the regional governor said.

Another person was killed and one injured in the steel-making city of Kryvyi Rih, where six houses were destroyed in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said.

In a nightly speech, Zelenskyy called on the West to provide more weapons to prevent more deaths from what he described as “Russian terror.”

“What is needed for this? The kind of weapons that our partners provide in stockpiles and that our fighters want. The whole world knows what and how to prevent those who spread death,” he said.

England to supply tanks

With the Russian invasion in its 11th month, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday confirmed plans to send some Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, along with additional artillery support, his office said.

During the phone call with Zelenskyy, the two leaders “agreed on the need to seize this moment by accelerating global military and diplomatic support to Ukraine,” Sunak’s spokesman said.

A statement from Sunak’s Downing Street office did not say how many tanks were involved or when they would be delivered.

Saturday’s attack also comes ahead of a meeting of Ukraine’s allies in Ramstein, Germany, on Friday, when the government will announce its latest pledge of military support.

On the front line in the east, Ukraine says its forces are struggling to take control of the small town of Soledar, where Russia has sacrificed a lot of troops and resources to try to secure some progress after months of setbacks.

In Dnipro, pictures show firefighters surrounding the wreckage of several cars. A large part of the apartment block was lost, while the exterior of the building was badly damaged. The wounded man was carried away on a stretcher.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has been attacking energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, causing blackouts and disruptions to central heating and running water.

Ukraine shot down 25 of 38 Russian missiles of various types, the air force said.

Missiles hit 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 are also possible, officials said.

Moldova’s Interior Ministry said missile debris was found in the north of the country near the Ukrainian border after an airstrike.

Emergency blackout

The attack came hours after a small-scale missile attack hit critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the city of Kharkiv.

The first strike was unusual in that the missile struck the target before the air raid siren sounded. No one was reported hurt, but missile debris caused a fire in one area and destroyed homes outside the capital, officials said.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private electricity company, introduced emergency blackouts in several areas.

Housing infrastructure was also affected in the village of Kopyliv, outside the capital. The windows and roofs of 18 privately owned houses were shattered or damaged by the blast, said Oleksiy Kuleba, the regional governor.

Commenting on the first attack, the spokesman of the air force Yuriy Ihnat said that the Russian missile has likely been fired at a height, looping ballistic trajectory from the north, which would explain why the air raid siren did not sound.

Ukraine cannot identify and shoot down ballistic missiles, he told online outlet Ukrainska Pravda.

In northeastern Ukraine, two S-300 missiles struck the city of Kharkiv near the Russian border on Saturday, according to regional governor Oleg Synehubov.

The strikes hit critical energy and industrial targets in the Kharkiv and Chuhuiv districts of the region, he said.

The status of the city of salt is disputed

The attack comes amid conflicting reports about the fate of the salt mining town of Soledar, in eastern Ukraine. Russia claims that its forces have captured the city, a development that would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

Ukrainian authorities and Zelenskyy insist the fight for Soledar continues.

Moscow has framed the battle for the city and the nearby city of Bakhmut as key to recapturing the eastern Donbas region, which includes the partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and as a way to weaken Ukraine’s best-performing forces and prevent them from attacking. launch counterattacks elsewhere.

But that cuts both ways, as Ukraine says its strong defenses in its eastern bastion have helped tie up Russian forces. Western officials and analysts say the importance of the two cities is more symbolic than strategic.