The death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro will most likely rise further, the mayor of Dnipro has warned.
At least 29 people have already been confirmed dead following the devastating attack on Saturday, while a further 44 people remain missing, city officials said.
Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov has said there is "minimal" chance of finding anyone else alive following a painstaking search throughout Saturday night and Sunday.
“The chances of saving people now are minimal,” Mr Filatov told Reuters. "I think the number of dead will be in the dozens.”
Latest information published by Dnipro city government states among the dead was a 15-year-old girl. A total of 74 people were injured in the blast, with 12 of those in a serious condition in hospital.
Missiles rained down on Lviv, Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Dnipro and KhmeInytskyi on Saturday as Ukrainians were driven into underground stations to seek shelter.
The attacks also targeted the capital, Kyiv, and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, ending a two-week lull in Moscow’s strikes on Ukraine’s power infrastructure and urban centres.
Russia fired 33 cruise missiles on Saturday, of which 21 were shot down, according to General Valeriy Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
The missile that hit the multi-storey residential building in Dnipro was a Kh-22 launched from Russia’s Kursk region, according to the military’s air force command.
Workers used a crane as they tried to rescue people trapped on upper floors of the apartment tower where about 1,700 were living. Some residents signalled for help with lights on their mobile phones.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Search and rescue operations and the dismantling of dangerous structural elements continues. Around the clock. We continue to fight for every life."
Ivan Garnuk was in his apartment when the building was hit and said he felt lucky to have survived. He described his shock that the Russians would strike a residential building with no strategic value.
“There are no military facilities here. There is nothing here,” he said. “There is no air defence, there are no military bases here. It just hit civilians, innocent people.”
On Sunday, Russian forces attacked a residential area in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said in a Telegram post. According to preliminary information, two people were wounded.
Russia’s renewed air attacks came as fierce fighting raged in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, where the Russian military has claimed it has control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar but Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting.
If the Russian forces win full control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut. The battle for Bakhmut has raged for months, causing substantial casualties on both sides.
With the grinding war nearing the 11-month mark, Britain announced it will deliver 14 tanks to Ukraine, the first donation of such heavy-duty weaponry
“Sending Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine is the start of a gear change in the UK’s support,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ’s office said in a statement.
“A squadron of 14 tanks will go into the country in the coming weeks after the Prime Minister told President (Volodymyr) Zelensky that the UK would provide additional support to aid Ukraine’s land war. Around 30 AS90s, which are large, self-propelled guns, operated by five gunners, are expected to follow.”
