The attack on a five-story building in Pryluky, about 150 kilometers east of Kyiv, took place overnight Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, rescue workers and neighbors searched frantically through concrete, bricks and rubble for survivors and the dead.
At least 28 people were confirmed dead by Wednesday evening. The number of injured also rose sharply, with more than 110 people injured across Ukraine.
The death toll rose steadily throughout the day. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that, in addition to a one-year-old, an eight-year-old child had been killed. Three more children were confirmed dead late Wednesday night, the Kyiv Independent reported.
The apartment building was torn apart on one side, and entire floors were blown away in places. The attack was carried out with cruise missiles, according to Ukrainian authorities quoted by Suspilne.
Thunder in Kyiv
In the capital, loud explosions were heard at around 3 a.m. and again a couple of hours later, The Kyiv Independent reported. At least two people were killed in residential areas there, according to an official statement on Wednesday morning.
There were also reports of attacks on several high-rise residential buildings in the larger cities of Dnipro, Kremenchuk and Zaporizhzhia, along the Dnieper River. Further inland, two deaths were reported in Oleksandriia.
"Gift" to Putin
Zelensky said on Tuesday evening that a major Russian attack was expected. The following day, reports said Russia had attacked with around 50 missiles of various types and around 100 attack drones.
"Russia wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively," Zelensky wrote on social media, describing the attack on Pryluky as the Russian army's birthday present to Vladimir Putin on his 74th birthday.
A large part of the attacks, as in many previous attacks, were reportedly directed at Ukraine's electricity grid to disrupt power supplies as temperatures began to drop.
Ukraine said it had retaliated with new attacks on oil facilities in Russia. A tanker loaded with crude oil was also set on fire in the Black Sea off Sochi in a suspected Ukrainian attack.
