At least 11 people were killed in Russian strikes on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including five when a missile destroyed an apartment block in the north of the country.
Emergency services picked through the rubble of the destroyed five-story building in Pryluky, in the Chernigiv region, with fears that the death toll could rise.
“There may still be people under the rubble,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post.
“First responders are doing everything possible to find every person.”
Two people were killed when missiles slammed into high-rise buildings in Dnipro and Kremenchuk in central Ukraine, while two others lost their lives in Oleksandriya, he added.
In the capital, Kyiv, strikes killed two people.
Zelenskyy had warned the public on Tuesday night that Russia was planning “massive” strikes, particularly against the country’s energy infrastructure.
“The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively,” he said on Wednesday, calling it “one of the most vile strikes” in the nearly five-year conflict.
Kyiv has come under increased attack in recent weeks as winter approaches, with air raid sirens wailing nearly constantly to warn of incoming Russian strikes.
Residents hunkered down in subway stations overnight, hauling duffel bags, sleeping mats and blankets, after air alerts sounded warning of attacks.
“We grabbed our things and came here, we live right next door,” Iryna Rybalchenko, who works in a bank, told AFP, sitting on the platform wrapped in a dark hoodie and surrounded by bags.
“The whole of Kyiv is in a state of fear. We were stuck at work today and everyone – our group chats, our bosses – were messaging us to be careful.”
Russia launched at least 50 missiles and 130 drones overnight against several regions including Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Poltava, Ukraine’s air force said.
Zelenskyy said that although some were shot down, ballistic missiles were “the greatest challenge”, and new air defenses were “a vital necessity” to help Ukraine defend itself.
