At least 32 people, including children, have been killed in Russian missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy described Wednesday’s attacks as one of Russia’s most “vile strikes”, saying 100 people were also injured.
The heaviest casualties were reported in Pryluky in northern Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, where a Russian missile destroyed a five-storey residential building.
Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi earlier put the nationwide death toll at 28, including 20 people killed in Pryluky. Five of those killed there were children.
Kyiv prosecutors later said two people were killed in a suburb by falling drone debris.
Zelenskiy said civilians were also killed in Kyiv and the central cities of Oleksandria and Kremenchuk.
“This is the kind of birthday present that Putin gave himself: the killing of children, the killing of people,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s birthday.
Zelenskiy said Russia had launched 70 missiles overnight, including high-velocity ballistic missiles, along with dozens of Shahed attack drones.
“The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively. This was one of the most vile strikes.”
In Pryluky, rescuers searched through the rubble of the collapsed apartment building as emergency workers used ladders to reach the upper floors.
Fifteen survivors were brought out of the damaged building. Regional officials said about 55 people were wounded in the town.
“There’s a lot of destruction, especially in the town centre,” said Danylo Savenko, Pryluky’s deputy mayor.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out a “massive strike” on military-industrial facilities in Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions using high-precision weapons and drones.
Ukraine’s air force said it had intercepted more than 80% of 46 jet-powered drones launched by Russia.
The interception rate was higher than in recent weeks, when Ukrainian air defences had brought down between 50% and 60% of such drones. The air force did not explain the increase.
Zelenskiy said ballistic missiles remained Ukraine’s biggest challenge and called for more Patriot air defence systems.
“I and my team are every day looking for Patriot systems that can and must protect people’s lives.”
Ukraine received a new €1.2bn ($1.34bn) tranche from the European Union on Wednesday, which Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said would be used for defence needs.
The US-made Patriot system is the only weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of intercepting high-velocity ballistic missiles, while global supplies have been strained by the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
Russia said its targets included sites linked to Ukrainian defence company Fire Point, which it accused of manufacturing and storing Flamingo cruise missiles and medium- and long-range drones.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine had also carried out strikes against four targets in Russia over the previous 24 hours, including two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions.
He has previously said Ukraine would target Russian energy facilities in response to Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
Warnings of the latest Russian strikes were issued ahead of time, prompting many residents in Kyiv to spend the night in underground metro stations.
Several explosions were heard across the capital overnight.
In Russian-controlled parts of southern Kherson region, a Russian-installed regional official said a Ukrainian drone killed two civilians in a car.
Russian-installed officials in Moscow-controlled parts of eastern Donetsk region also said three people were killed in Ukrainian attacks.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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