Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Emergency crews pulled the body of a child from the rubble during a pre-dawn search Saturday for survivors of a Russian missile that tore through an apartment building in the central city of Kryvyi Rih Ukraine.
The missile was one of what Ukrainian authorities said were 16 that escaped air defenses out of 76 missiles fired Friday in the latest Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, part of Moscow’s strategy to keep Ukrainian civilians and soldiers at bay. .
Governor Valentyn Reznichenko of the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Kryvyi Rih is located, wrote on the social networking app Telegram that “rescuers recovered the body of a 1.5-year-old boy from under the rubble of a house destroyed by a Russian missile.” In total, four people were killed in the strike and 13 were injured – four of them children – authorities said.
Reznichenko said attacks by Russian forces continued into the night, destroying power lines and homes in the towns of Nikopol, Marhanets and Chervonohryhorivka, which are across the Dnieper River from the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
On Saturday morning, Ukraine’s military leadership said Russian forces had fired more than a dozen additional missiles from the barrage the day before. He did not say how many of these could have been stopped by anti-aircraft defenses.
via the Associated Press
Friday’s attack, which hit many parts of central, eastern and southern Ukraine, was one of the biggest attacks on the capital, Kyiv, since Russia began the war by invading Ukraine on February 24. Kiev was attacked by about 40 rockets on Friday. , authorities said, almost all intercepted by anti-aircraft defenses.
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, he governor regional Yaroslav Ianusevic.
Once again, Ukrainian utility crews have been forced to repair damaged electricity and water systems as Russia targets vital civil services as the harshness of winter sets in.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Saturday that two-thirds of homes in the country’s capital had been reconnected to electricity and all had regained access to water. And the subway system resumed service, serving as a refuge the day before.
Half of Kyiv province, which surrounds but does not include the Ukrainian capital, was still without power a day after Friday’s attack, regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said, adding that rain and snow freezing power lines were complicating efforts to restore power . .
The head of Kharkiv province in northeastern Ukraine, Oleh Syniehubov, said on Saturday that electricity had been restored throughout the region, including in the city of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest metropolis. The supply was disrupted on Friday in attacks involving 10 S-300 missiles.
In Kryvyi Rih, 596 miners were trapped underground by rocket attacks, but all were eventually rescued, Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said on Friday.
via the Associated Press
On Saturday, in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry criticized a new European Union sanctions package approved the day before. Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the ninth round of EU sanctions in response to the war “illegitimate unilateral restrictive measures” and criticized the ban on broadcasts by four major Russian TV channels as “authoritarian”.
By allowing EU member states to “provide certain exemptions” for Russian food and fertilizer exporters, Zakharova argued that the EU recognizes that its “restrictive measures have undermined global food security”. Targets of the latest round of sanctions include divisions of the Russian military and all of Russia’s parliamentary parties. The package also includes a ban on the export of aircraft engines to Russia and sanctions against the energy and mining sectors.
The Kremlin confirmed on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin met with military commanders the day before, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov. He also spoke to the commanders of the various branches.
Meanwhile, installation of a protective dome over the spent fuel storage area at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has begun, a Moscow-based authority official said on Saturday in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia province. Vladimir Rogov said the dome would protect against shell fragments and improvised explosive devices carried by drones. The Russian-owned plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, has been bombed repeatedly; its six reactors have been shut down for months.
The International Atomic Energy Agency recently announced plans to place nuclear safety and security experts at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to prevent any nuclear accidents. The UN nuclear watchdog has already sent a permanent mission to the Zaporizhzhia facility.
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