At least 24 people were killed in overnight strikes across central and eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday. He called the barrage “one of Russia’s most vile” attacks and said 70 missiles were fired in total. Moscow had yet to comment on the latest strikes at the time of reporting.
Pryluky apartment block collapse
Zelensky said a five‑storey residential building in Pryluky (Chernihiv region) was destroyed, calling it a “birthday ‘gift’ to Putin.” According to Zelensky, 18 people, including four children, were killed in that strike. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said 50 people were injured, including seven children. BBC photos showed emergency workers searching the rubble on Wednesday morning.
Casualties across multiple cities
Zelensky reported additional strikes in Kyiv, Dnipro, Kremenchuk, Zaporizhzhia and Oleksandriya. He said two people were killed in Kyiv and two in Oleksandriya. In Dnipro, he said two people were killed and eight injured after missile strikes damaged five apartment buildings; four high‑rises were damaged in Kremenchuk.
BBC Verify confirms Kyiv missile images
Ukraine’s national police posted photos of what it said was an unexploded Russian Iskander missile in a Kyiv district. BBC Verify confirmed the images are genuine and that apparent missile fragments fell on open land surrounded by high‑rise buildings.
Energy grid targeted, according to Zelensky
Zelensky renewed his call for allied air‑defence support, saying Ukraine’s forces shot down only “some” of the missiles. He said one of the attack’s key targets was Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Moscow had earlier said it would intensify strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities following Ukrainian strikes on energy targets in Moscow.
Ukraine says it struck inside Russia—and at sea
In a separate statement, Zelensky said Ukraine hit four targets in Russia over the last 24 hours, including two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions. “There is also a response in the Black Sea,” he wrote, without providing details.
Oil tanker off Sochi and ships in Bulgaria’s zone
On Tuesday evening, video showed a plume of smoke near an oil tanker off Sochi in the Black Sea. Russia’s transport ministry said unmanned boats attacked the Liberian‑flagged Aframax Rio and that the crew was rescued.
Separately, Bulgaria halted a search for the missing crew of a ship that sank after being hit by a drone on Tuesday, Vice‑Admiral Rumen Nikolov of Bulgaria’s Maritime Administration said, according to the BTA news agency. Bulgarian outlet Maritime.bg reported the Alfa Watan was attacked by a drone and sank about 70 nautical miles (130 km) east of Byala. Bulgaria’s prime minister, Rumen Radev, said a second vessel carrying grain was also hit and that all 18 crew were rescued. Bulgaria has not said who it believes carried out the attacks. In an evening address on Tuesday, Zelensky claimed Russia was responsible. Moscow has not commented on these incidents.
