Emergency crews pulled the body of a toddler from the rubble in a search for survivors of a Russian missile strike that tore through an apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.
The missile was one of what Ukrainian authorities said were 16 that eluded air defences among the 76 missiles fired on Friday in the latest Russian attack targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure; part of Moscow’s strategy to leave Ukrainian civilians and soldiers in the dark and cold this winter.
However, there was an emotional moment when a young girl was rescued from the debris holding a teddy bear.
The Kremlin on Saturday confirmed Russian President Vladimir Putin held a conference with armed forces commanders, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov the previous day.
He also spoke with commanders from different branches.
In Ukraine, Governor Valentyn Reznichenko of the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Kryvyi Rih is located, wrote on the Telegram social media app that “rescuers retrieved the body of a one-and-a-half-year-old boy from under the rubble of a house destroyed by a Russian rocket.”
In all, four people were killed in the strike, and 13 injured — four of them children — authorities said.
Reznichenko said the pounding from Russian forces continued on Friday night, damaging power lines and houses in the cities and towns of Nikopol, Marhanets and Chervonohryhorivka, which are across the Dnieper River from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
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By Saturday morning, Ukraine’s military leadership said Russian forces had fired more than a score of further missiles since the barrage a day earlier. It did not say how many of those might have been stopped by the air defences.
Friday’s onslaught, which pummeled many parts of central, eastern and southern Ukraine, constituted one of the biggest assaults on the capital, Kyiv, since Russia began the war by attacking Ukraine on February 24.
Kyiv came under fire from about 40 missiles on Friday, authorities said, nearly all intercepted by air defences.
In Kherson, where Ukraine regained control last month in a significant setback for Russia, a 36-year-old man was killed and a 70-year-old woman was wounded in a Russian attack on Saturday, said regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych.
Yet again, Ukrainian utility crews have had to scramble to patch up damaged power and water systems as Russia targets vital services for civilians as winter’s hardships set in.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported on Saturday that two-thirds of homes in the country’s capital had been reconnected to electricity and all had regained access to water. The subway system also resumed service, after serving as a shelter the day before.
Putin visits bridge damaged during bomb attack
