Dead boy pulled from rubble of latest Russian attack in Ukraine

Kyiv – Emergency workers searching for survivors before dawn pulled the body of an infant from the rubble Saturday after a Russian missile strike tore apart an apartment building in the central Ukraine city of Kriviri.

The missile is one of 76 missiles launched on Friday in the latest Russian strike targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said, 16 of which breached air defenses. It is part of Moscow’s strategy to expose Ukrainian civilians and soldiers to darkness and cold in the winter.

Valentin Reznichenko, Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Region, where Kryvyi Rih is located, wrote on the Telegram social media app: Russian rocket. A total of four people were killed and 13 injured in the strike, four of them children, officials said.

The victims were “a 64-year-old woman and a young family with a young son.”

Leznichenko said that attacks from Russian troops continued overnight, hitting power lines and houses in the cities and towns of Nikopol, Markhanets and Cherbonov-Hrikholivka, across the Dnieper from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. said to have caused damage.

By Saturday morning, Ukraine’s military leadership said the Russian military had updated the number of missiles fired in the latest strike to 98.

Friday’s onslaught hit many parts of central, eastern and southern Ukraine, including one of the largest attacks ever on the capital Kyiv in the war sparked by Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine. board. Missiles were launched on Friday, officials said, but air defense systems intercepted 37 of them.

The Institute for War Studies, a think tank, said in its latest assessment that the Russian military “is likely stepping up its attacks on Kyiv to stir up social discontent in the capital, but these missile strikes will undermine Ukraine’s will.” “It’s unlikely to break,” he said.

“Russian aggression continues to pose a grave threat to Ukrainian civilians, but has not improved the ability of Russian forces to conduct offensive operations in Ukraine,” it said.

Across Ukraine, utility crews scrambled to repair damaged power and water systems.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported on Saturday that two-thirds of the houses had been reconnected to electricity and all households had restored access to water. The subway, which had been evacuated the day before, resumed operation.

Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of northeastern Kharkiv, said power had been restored to the entire region.

In Kryvyi Rih, all 596 miners trapped underground due to a missile attack have been rescued, Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said late Friday.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine