Zelensky Condemns 'Vile' Large-Scale Russian Attacks That Killed 24
At least 24 people have died in overnight strikes across central and eastern Ukraine, in what Volodymyr Zelensky has described as one of Russia's "most vile" attacks. Ukraine's president said a residential building in Pryluky in the Chernihiv region was destroyed as a "birthday 'gift' to Putin," who turns 74 on Wednesday. Strikes also hit Kyiv, Dnipro, Kremenchuk, Zaporizhzhia, and Oleksandriya.
Zelensky said Ukraine had struck targets in attacks on Russia's Perm, Samara, and Astrakhan regions in the past 24 hours, adding there was "also a response in the Black Sea," without providing further details. Moscow is yet to comment on the latest strikes.
"The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively," Zelensky said, adding that 70 missiles were fired in total.
In a social media post on Wednesday afternoon, Zelensky said 18 people, including four children, had been killed in one strike on a five-storey apartment building in Pryluky. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported 50 injured, including seven children.
Elsewhere, two people were also killed and eight injured after Russian missile strikes damaged five apartment buildings in Dnipro and four high-rise buildings in Kremenchuk. Two people were also killed in Kyiv and two others in Oleksandriya, Zelensky added.
Ukraine's national police shared images online of what they said is an unexploded Russian Iskander missile in a Kyiv district. BBC Verify has confirmed the authenticity of the images. A video shows people digging through collapsed remains of a residential building in Pryluky and another appears to show damage to cars and rubble in Kremenchuk.
Zelensky renewed his call for allies to provide air defence support packages to Ukraine, stating that its military only managed to shoot down "some" of the missiles launched by Russia overnight. According to Zelensky, one of the "key targets" of the attack was Ukraine's energy infrastructure.