The number of dead has risen to 25 after a Russian missile attack that hit a high-rise apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Saturday, according to official figures.
By Sunday afternoon, 73 injured people had been rescued from the rubble of the partially collapsed building, including 13 children, the Ukrainian Civil Defence announced on Telegram.
More than 40 people are still missing. The search for them is continuing.
Cries for help from trapped residents could still be heard from the rubble hours after the impact.
The attack on Dnipro was the most serious of several attacks on Saturday. An air alert was temporarily in effect throughout the country.
According to the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform, at least 26 civilians were killed and more than 80 injured across the country.
The leadership in Kiev strongly condemned the attacks against the civilian population and once again spoke of “Russian terror.”
Besides Dnipro, other areas hit on Saturday included Odessa in the south, Kharkiv in the east, Lviv in the west and the capital Kiev. Civilian infrastructure, including electricity sites, were once again damaged and power outages were reported.
The Ukrainian military said that 25 of 38 Russian missiles were shot down.
Ukraine prepared its citizens for increased problems with the electricity supply following the attacks.
The state electricity grid operator Ukrenerho announced on Facebook that the already significantly reduced amount of electricity per household would have to be throttled even further in order to avoid major bottlenecks.
Emergency shutdowns could not be ruled out.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, has urged the government in Berlin to quickly provide his country with Leopard 2 battle tanks, ahead of negotiations by western allies on further weapons deliveries.
“German weapons, German tanks are essential for survival,” he told dpa in an interview. “We have very little time for discussions. And we expect our allies to understand that and act appropriately.”
On January 20, defence ministers from Ukraine’s Western allies will meet at the U.S. Ramstein air base in western Germany to discuss further military support for the fight against Russia.
Britain was the first country to announce that it would provide the Ukrainian armed forces with Western-made tanks. Poland and Finland are prepared to supply German-made Leopard 2 tanks as part of a European alliance.
The German government has not yet taken a position on this.
