Kyiv (Reuters) – Russia launched a major missile attack on Ukraine on Saturday, destroying a nine-storey apartment building in the city of Dnipro, killing at least five people and hitting vital energy facilities across the country, officials said.
And German Energy Minister Galushenko warned that the strikes that targeted most areas will make the coming days “difficult”.
The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office said 15 people were rescued after being buried under a section of an apartment building reduced to rubble in the eastern city of Dnipro, as smoke billowed into the sky.
“Tragedy,” said Boris Filatov, the mayor of the city that builds the missiles on the Dnipro River.
The district governor said at least 27 people, including six children, were injured in the attack, and many more people are still trapped under the rubble.
Pictures showed firefighters putting out a fire around the bodies of some cars. A large part of the residential building is missing. The exterior of the rest of the building was severely damaged.
The injured were carried out on stretchers in footage broadcast by Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine last February, has been bombing energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, causing power outages and disrupting central heating and running water as winter approaches.
On Saturday, missiles hit critical infrastructure facilities in the eastern region of Kharkiv, which borders Russia, and the western region of Lviv, which borders Poland, officials said.
The entire Kharkiv region lost power after officials were forced to order an emergency blackout. The governor of the Lviv region, Maxim Kozitsky, said electricity and water outages were also possible.
“Thanks to the effective work of Kyiv’s air defense, damage to critical infrastructure targets has been avoided,” said Serhiy Popko, head of the city’s military department.
Moldova’s interior ministry said missile wreckage had been found in the north of the country, near the Ukrainian border, following the air strikes.
morning attack
Saturday’s attack came hours after smaller missile strikes hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv and the eastern city of Kharkiv. The first attack was unusual because the missiles hit their targets before the sirens sounded. Officials said no one was reported injured at the time, but missile debris caused a fire in an area and damaged homes outside the capital.
Ukrenergo, which operates Ukraine’s power grid, said its workers were racing to repair damage and that the grid was experiencing power shortfalls due to previous attacks. Although it was -2C (28F) in Kyiv, it was still cold. moderate.
Cold weather generally puts more stress on the system because power consumption goes up.
DTEK, the largest private electricity company, announced emergency power outages in several regions.
Residential infrastructure in the village of Kobelev, located outside the capital, was also damaged. The district’s governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, said the windows and roofs of 18 privately owned homes were blown out or damaged by the blast.
Commenting on the first attack, Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said the Russian missiles were most likely launched along a high, zigzag ballistic trajectory from the north, which explains why the sirens were not heard.
He told the Ukrainska Pravda website that Ukraine is unable to identify and shoot down ballistic missiles.
Missiles hit Kharkiv
In northeastern Ukraine, two S-300 missiles struck the city of Kharkiv near the Russian border early Saturday, according to the region’s governor, Oleg Sinyhopov.
He added that the attacks hit vital targets for energy and industries in the Kharkiv and Chuhiv regions of the region.
Saturday’s strikes came as Ukrainian and Russian forces battled for control of Soledar, a small salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine that has for days been the focus of a relentless Russian offensive.
Russia said on Friday its forces had captured the town, in what would be a rare success for Moscow after months of battlefield setbacks, but Kyiv said its forces were still fighting there.
Reuters could not immediately verify the situation in Solidar.
Writing by Tom Palmforth Editing by Angus McSwan, Mark Heinrichs, Francis Kerry and Thomas Janowski
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