At least 15 people were killed in Russian strikes across Ukraine on Wednesday, including nine people who died after a missile destroyed a five-storey apartment building in Pryluky, Chernihiv region.
Emergency workers searched through the rubble of the building for survivors after the attack. Police said the death toll had risen to nine by late morning, with three children among those killed.
The attacks came after Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Tuesday night that Russia was preparing “massive” strikes, particularly against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Zelensky said Russia had sought to inflict heavy damage with the attacks, describing them as among the most serious strikes of the nearly five-year conflict.
Two people were killed after missiles struck high-rise buildings in Dnipro and Kremenchuk, while two others died in Oleksandriya, according to Zelensky. Two more people were killed in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched at least 50 missiles and 130 drones overnight against several regions, including Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Poltava.
The air force said it intercepted five ballistic missiles, 39 cruise missiles and more than 100 drones, although ballistic missiles and newer jet-powered drones remained difficult to intercept.
In Kyiv, residents took shelter in subway stations as air raid sirens sounded repeatedly. The attacks also triggered power cuts in parts of the capital amid pressure on Ukraine’s energy grid.
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Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the two people killed in the capital died in a fire in the densely populated Darnytskyi neighbourhood.
Zelensky said Ukraine responded by striking two oil facilities and a training ground in Russia’s Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions, as well as targets in the Black Sea.
