Kyiv, Ukraine CNN —
The death toll in a Russian rocket attack on an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 20 on Sunday, a day after rockets and explosions were heard across the country.
At least 73 people were injured in the attack on the nine-story apartment building, including four in critical condition, said Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration. In a post on his official Telegram page on Sunday, he said 72 homes had been destroyed and 230 damaged as a result of the strike.
The rescue operation continues, more than 40 people are still missing.
“We are fighting for every person, every life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.
In his late night address on Saturday, Zelenskyy said “dozens” of people, including a three-year-old girl, were rescued from the building, although most of the floors were “shattered” in the strike.
Ukraine’s Air Force said the Russian missile fired at the Dnipro apartment block was a Kh-22 – the same type that struck a busy shopping mall in central Ukraine last summer.
Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said the Kh-22 “was shot down by a long-range Tu-22M3 bomber launched from the area near Kursk and the Sea of Azov.”
“There were a total of five launches of these missiles,” Ihnat said.
The Kh-22 is an older cruise missile that is less accurate than most modern missiles.
Elsewhere, rockets and explosions from Lviv to the west could be heard everywhere; Kharkiv in the northeast; Zaporizhia and Dnipro in the southeast; Myokaliv to the south; and Kharkiv to the northeast, officials said.
Authorities in Kyiv said there had been an “attack on the capital”. According to the head of the military administration of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, the explosions could be heard as early as 6 a.m. local time. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said strikes had hit the city’s east bank, where several power plants were located. The exact locations of the explosions could not be immediately verified by CNN. A dense fog covered much of the city.
However, Oleksandr Pavliuk, a Kyiv-based commander of the Ukrainian army, said the blasts in Kyiv were not caused by Russian attacks.
“The blasts are not related to the threat from the air or air defenses or any military actions,” Pavliuk wrote on the encrypted social media app Telegram. “If there had been a threat – you would have heard the alarm. The cause of the explosions will be reported separately.”
Russia’s latest nationwide salvo appeared to target critical infrastructure across Ukraine as the Kremlin continues efforts to limit the country’s ability to self-heat and self-power in the dead of winter.
On the battlefield, all eyes are on Soledar, a city of little strategic value that Russia is trying to retake in hopes of bringing a symbolic victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Various units of Ukraine’s military said Soledar remains the scene of “bitter fighting”. The Russian Defense Ministry has claimed that its forces took control of the city, although Kyiv denies this.
After a comprehensive assessment of the situation on the ground in Ukraine, several Western governments have decided to heed Zelenskyy’s longstanding call to supply modern main battle tanks to Kyiv.
France, Poland and the UK have pledged to soon send tanks to Ukraine’s military to help in its efforts to protect itself from Russia. Finland is considering following this example. Britain said it plans to send a dozen Challenger 2 tanks and additional artillery systems. Poland plans to send a company of German-built Leopard tanks, while France will supply its domestic-built AMX 10 RCs.