Russia Carries Out Two Mass Rocket Attacks In Ukraine, Killing At Least Five People | Ukraine

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Russia carried out two missile attacks in Ukraine on Saturday, destroying an apartment building in the south-central city of Dnipro, killing at least five people and wounding 39 others. Rescue workers are still clearing debris at the accident site.

Ukrainian authorities said earlier on Saturday that the target of the attack was Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, a continuation of their strategy to leave the country without electricity and limit its ability to fight.

During the second attack in the afternoon, a missile hit a nine-storey apartment in Dnipro, destroying an entire part of the building. Rescue workers have so far pulled 15 bodies from the rubble and are working to pull out others, according to the deputy head of the presidential administration, Kirillo Tymoshenko. He posted a picture of a crane, saying people still in their apartments were using their phones to get the attention of rescue workers.

Tymoshenko added on Telegram that he knows the bloc well because he was born and lives nearby. “We will spend the whole night clearing the rubble,” said Tymoshenko, who was at the scene.

The head of the Dnipro regional administration, Valentin Reznichenko, said five people were killed and 39 people were wounded, including six children.

One video, purportedly from near the scene of the attack, showed people fleeing, while another showed the immediate aftermath – a courtyard covered in a thick layer of gray dust and a cloud of smoke and a woman’s voice could be heard. yelling in the background.

A residential house in the village of Kobelev, Kyiv region, was also destroyed in the first attack on Saturday morning, but there were no reports of injuries.

Energy facilities were hit during the attack. A power outage was reported in Kharkiv after the first attack. Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushenko, said that emergency shutdowns had been introduced in many cities to stabilize the grid and “the next few days will be difficult”.

A building in Dnipro destroyed by a Russian missile strike. Photo: Vitali Matuca/AFP/Getty Images

The morning attack in Kyiv took the population by surprise. For the first time since Russia began launching regular attacks on the capital, no sirens sounded, indicating that the missiles evaded Ukrainian radar detection systems.

Yuriy Ignat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces, told Ukraine’s United News television program that Russia may have used ballistic missiles in that case and that Ukraine did not have the means to destroy or detect them.

A village was hit during a missile attack on the Odessa district of the Odessa region, and shrapnel from a dropped missile hit the transport infrastructure within the grain agreement, according to the authorities.

Moldova’s Interior Ministry said missile debris has landed in Moldova for the second time in recent months.

The latest wave of attacks came when the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced that the UK would supply around 12 Challenger tanks to Ukraine as well as artillery systems.

The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, thanked Sunak, saying that it would “not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but also send the right signal to our other partners”.

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The tanks will be the latest at Ukraine’s disposal. So far, Ukraine’s allies have been reluctant to offer the tanks, fearing that Russia will see it as an escalation.

On Friday, during a visit to Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda promised to deliver 14 German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine. But Poland needs re-export approval from Germany first.

In early January, France, Germany and the United States committed themselves to provide armored fighting vehicles, also a first, but so far it has deferred orders for tanks.

Meanwhile, the battle for the Ukrainian Donetsk region continues. Russia has claimed to have captured the town of Solidar, which could make it difficult for Ukraine to control the neighboring town of Bakhmut, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting in recent months.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War estimated that Russia probably controlled almost all of the city, but did not believe that a victory at Solidar would result in Russia taking control of Bakhmut.

However, the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Hanna Malar, denied these allegations, stating that fierce battles continued “day and night”. It said that the Ukrainian forces are “repelling the continuous attacks of the Russian army, which is suffering heavy losses.”

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