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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned overnight Russian strikes that killed at least 15 people as one of the most vile attacks of the war according to his social media posts on Wednesday. A five-storey apartment building in Pryluky in the Chernihiv region was completely destroyed in what the president described as a birthday gift to Vladimir Putin who turns 74 on Wednesday. Emergency workers continued to search for residents under the rubble throughout the morning with five people confirmed dead and 26 others injured including five children in that location alone.
Strikes also hit the capital Kyiv along with Dnipro Kremenchuk Zaporizhzhia and Oleksandriya where two additional people were killed and eight more injured after damage to multiple apartment buildings a Ukrainian presidential assessment found. Zelensky stated that Russia launched a total of 70 missiles in what appeared to be a deliberate effort to strike civilian areas and infrastructure as painfully as possible. The scale of the barrage reflected an attempt to inflict both immediate harm and longer-term disruption across several regions simultaneously.
Energy infrastructure represented one of the main targets in the Russian operation according to Zelensky who linked the strikes to Moscow’s stated intention to intensify such attacks following Ukrainian operations against Russian energy facilities. The assault forms part of a sustained pattern in which Russian forces have escalated aerial campaigns against both military and civilian sites a trend documented in regular updates from Ukrainian military officials. A United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission review of a recent month recorded 183 civilian deaths and 903 injuries from similar Russian attacks with the majority occurring in eastern frontline areas.
In retaliation Ukraine conducted strikes on four targets in Russia’s Perm Samara and Astrakhan regions over the previous 24 hours Zelensky reported including two oil facilities and a training ground. The president added that Ukrainian forces also carried out an operation in the Black Sea without disclosing further specifics in his public statement. Moscow has not yet issued any comment on either the Ukrainian counterstrikes or the latest wave of attacks on Ukrainian territory according to international wire service monitoring.
Zelensky has repeatedly emphasised the need for additional air defence systems and long-range capabilities from international partners to counter the daily threat of such barrages a position reiterated in multiple recent addresses. Ukrainian air force data shows Russia has deployed thousands of attack drones and missiles in recent months targeting cities and critical infrastructure in what the president has termed deliberate terror against civilians. The latest incident comes amid ongoing efforts to shield energy networks that have already faced repeated disruptions forcing widespread reliance on emergency measures and backup power supplies.
The strikes underscore the continued toll on civilian populations more than four years into the full-scale invasion with children and the elderly disproportionately affected in many documented cases according to Ukrainian health authorities. Rescue operations remained underway in affected areas on Wednesday as officials assessed the full extent of damage to residential and industrial sites. Zelensky urged a unified international response to impose greater pressure on Russia including through sanctions and enhanced military support to deter further escalation.
