Ukraine war: Body of toddler pulled from rubble after latest Russian strikes
Emergency crews pulled the body of a toddler from the rubble in a pre-dawn search for survivors on Saturday, after a Russian missile strike tore through an apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.
The missile was one of 16 that Ukrainian authorities say got through air defenses, among 76 missiles fired on Friday in the latest Russian attack targeting energy infrastructure, part of Moscow’s strategy to leave Ukrainian civilians and soldiers in the dark and cold this winter.
The regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk, where Kryvyi Rih is located, wrote on social media that “rescuers retrieved the body of a 1-1/2-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.
The victims were “a 64-year-old woman and a young family with a small son,” the governor wrote.
Authorities said the pounding from Russian forces continued overnight, 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.
By Saturday morning, Ukraine’s military leadership said Russian forces had updated the number of missiles fired in the latest attack to 98. It did not say how many in total had been stopped by the air defenses.
The onslaught Friday, which pummeled many parts of central, eastern and southern Ukraine, involved one of the biggest attacks yet on the capital, Kyiv, in the war started when Russian forces invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
Kyiv came under fire from about 40 missiles on Friday, authorities said, though air defenses intercepted 37 of them.
Utility crews were scrambling to patch up damaged power and water systems.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported Saturday that two-thirds of homes 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.
In Kryvyi Rih, 596 miners stuck underground because of missile strikes were all rescued, local officials said.