Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday that the death toll from a Russian missile attack on an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 25, a day after missiles and explosions were reported across the nation.
One of the victims was a youngster. The attack on the nine-story apartment complex injured at least 73 people, including 13 children. So far, 39 people have been rescued, including six children, but 43 are still missing, according to Zelensky. Search and rescue efforts have been ongoing “around the clock.”
“We will keep fighting for every life,” Zelensky stated.
The president went on to say that 72 apartments were destroyed and another 230 were damaged.
Despite the fact that most of the floors were “smashed” during the attack, Zelensky earlier stated that “dozens” of people, including a 3-year-old girl, were evacuated from the building.
The Russian missile fired into the apartment building in Dnipro was a Kh-22, the same type that attacked a major shopping centre in central Ukraine last summer, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
The Ukrainian air force’s spokesman, Yurii Ihnat, claimed the Kh-22 “was shot from a Tu-22M3 long-range bomber launched from the region of Kursk and the Sea of Azov.”
“These rockets have launched a total of five times,” Ihnat stated.
The Kh-22 cruise missile is an older model that is less precise than most current missiles.
Attainment of the capital
Officials stated rockets and explosions could be heard from Lviv in the west to Kharkiv in the northeast, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro in the southeast, Myokaliv in the south, and Kharkiv in the northeast.
Kyiv authorities declared a “attack on the capital.” According to the chief of the Kyiv area military administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, blasts were heard as early as 6 a.m. local time. Strikes affected the city’s east bank, where major power plants are situated, according to Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko. CNN was unable to confirm the exact locations of the explosions. Much of the city was shrouded in fog.
However, Oleksandr Pavliuk, a Ukrainian army commander located in Kyiv, stated that the explosions in Kyiv were not the result of Russian assault.
“The explosions are unrelated to any danger from the air or air defence, nor to any military activity,” Pavliuk stated on the encrypted social media app Telegram. “If there had been a threat, you would have heard the alert. The explosions’ cause will be reported independently.”
Russia’s newest statewide assault seems to target crucial infrastructure across Ukraine, as the Kremlin works to impair the country’s capacity to heat and power itself in the dead of winter.
‘Rough fighting’ in Soledar
On the battlefield, all eyes are on Soledar, a town with limited strategic significance that Russia is aiming to seize in the hopes of providing a symbolic win to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to several Ukrainian military forces, Soledar is still the scene of a “fierce battle.” The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that their soldiers had taken control of the town, although Kyiv has rejected this.
Following a wide evaluation of the situation in Ukraine, numerous Western nations have chosen to respond to Zelensky’s long-standing proposal to send modern combat tanks to Kyiv.
France, Poland, and the United Kingdom have offered to supply tanks to Ukraine’s military to help it defend itself against Russia. Finland is contemplating doing the same. Britain has stated that it will send a dozen Challenger 2 tanks as well as additional artillery systems. Poland is to contribute a company of Leopard tanks made in Germany, while France will provide AMX 10-RCs built in France.