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Russia destroyed a building in northern Ukraine as a birthday “gift” to Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, after overnight missile and drone strikes killed at least 14 people across the country, according to Ukrainian officials.
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“Today, as a birthday ‘gift’ to Putin, the Russian army destroyed a residential building in Pryluky, Chernihiv region,” the Ukrainian president wrote on social media. Putin turned 74 on Wednesday.
Ten people, including four children, were killed, emergency services said.
“Fifty people were injured, including seven children. Rescuers rescued 15 people, including a child,” they wrote in a message on Telegram after the attack in Pryluky, in the northern Chernigiv region.
“There may still be people under the rubble,” Zelensky said. “First responders are working non-stop at the site, doing everything they can to find each person.”
He added that the strikes also killed people in Kremenchuk and Oleksandriya and damaged apartment buildings in Dnipro.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that it carried out a massive nighttime strike against industrial facilities involved in the production and storage of missiles and drones, as well as port and ship repair facilities in the Odessa region. It makes no mention of civilian casualties.
In kyiv, two people died in a fire caused by the attack in the densely populated Darnytskyi district, according to Mayor Vitaly Klitschko.
Zelenskyy described the assault as “one of the most despicable strikes” in the nearly five-year conflict. “The Russians wanted to strike in a painful and demonstrative way,” he said.
“State of fear”
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched at least 50 missiles and 130 drones overnight in regions including Dnipropetrovsk, kyiv, Kharkiv and Poltava. It said it had intercepted five ballistic missiles, 39 cruise missiles and more than 100 drones.
Zelenskyy said ballistic missiles posed “the biggest challenge” and new air defenses were “a vital necessity.”
He warned Tuesday evening that Russia was preparing a “massive” strike, particularly on energy infrastructure. Kyiv residents spent the night in metro stations with mattresses and blankets.
“All of kyiv is in fear,” Iryna Rybalchenko, a bank employee taking refuge on a platform, told AFP.
Attacks on the capital have intensified in recent weeks as winter approaches. Scheduled power cuts were introduced on Tuesday to ease pressure on the struggling grid, and Klitschko warned last week that the enemy was “tearing kyiv apart” with strikes on bridges and energy infrastructure.
Additional sources • AFP, AP
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