The death toll from a Russian missile attack on an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 21 on Sunday as rescuers dug through an enormous pile of rubble on the lookout for survivors.
A minimum of 35 individuals are still missing and 73 injured, Mykola Lukashuk, head of the regional council, wrote in the messaging app.
“Burn in hell, Russian murderers,” he wrote.
A building in Dnipro, a city in central eastern Ukraine, was partially destroyed in a series of attacks on Saturday, the biggest wave of strikes in Russia in two weeks. There was no immediate comment from Moscow regarding the attacks.
Rescuers searched all night for survivors. On a Sunday morning they may very well be seen punching and kicking piles of broken concrete and twisted metal.
![Damage to a residential building after a rocket hit.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/2023-01-15T072116Z_1423749402_RC2UQY9507WM_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-DNIPRO-STRIKE.jpg?w=1024)
Rescuers said they heard people screaming for help from under piles of rubble and were using moments of silence to help direct their efforts.
“Two rooms on the second floor are practically intact, but buried,” Oleh Kushniruk, deputy director of the regional branch of the State Rescue Service of Ukraine, told Ukrainian television.
Lukaszuk, head of the regional council, said that 38 people, including six children, had been rescued by Sunday morning.
Ukraine’s top military command said on Sunday that Russia carried out three airstrikes, 57 missile attacks and carried out 69 attacks with heavy-arms missile salvo systems on Saturday. Ukrainian forces shot down 26 rockets.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s southern command also told local television on Sunday that Russia had only fired half of the cruise missiles it deployed in the Black Sea during Saturday’s attacks.
“This means that they still have some plans,” spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk said. “We want to understand that they will still be used.”
![Rescue personnel at the Dnipro site search for survivors, January 15, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/2023-01-15T065029Z_55897404_RC2OQY99GS00_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-DNIPRO-STRIKE.jpg?w=1024)
Saturday’s strikes also hit critical infrastructure in Kiev and elsewhere. Officials warned that this could limit charger for the capital and huge areas of the country in the next few days.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine last February, has been bombarding the country’s energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, causing severe power outages and disruption to central heating and running water.
(*21*)A CALL FOR MORE WEAPONS
In his evening video address on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky again appealed to his Western allies for more weapons to end “Russian terror” and attacks on civilian targets.
Saturday’s attack comes as Western powers are considering deploying combat tanks to Kiev and ahead of a gathering of Ukraine’s allies in Ramstein, Germany next Friday, where governments will announce their latest pledges of military support.
On Saturday, Britain followed France and Poland with the promise of further weapons, saying it will send 14 Challenger 2 major battle tanks in addition to other advanced artillery support in the coming weeks.
The first shipment of Western tanks to Ukraine will probably be perceived by Moscow as an escalation of the conflict. The Russian embassy in London said the tanks would drag out the confrontation.
![Rescuers search for survivors in a damaged apartment building.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/2023-01-15T084304Z_271808988_RC2WQY9C07IO_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-DNIPRO-STRIKE.jpg?w=1024)
Now Germany is predicted to succumb emphasis follow suit as Kyiv continues to call for advanced military equipment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on February 24, saying that Kiev’s ties to the West threatened Russia’s security. Ukraine and its allies call it an unprovoked war over territory.
The conflict has killed 1000’s, displaced tens of millions and reduced many cities to rubble.
(*21*)BATTLE FOR SOLEDAR
In Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region – the point of interest of Russia’s quest for more territory – Ukrainian forces struggled to maintain control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar.
Russia said on Friday that its forces had taken control of the city, which had a population of 10,000 before the war.
Ukraine insisted on Saturday that its forces were fighting to hold the city, but officials admitted the situation was difficult as street fighting raged and Russian forces advanced from different directions.
![Smoke rises from where the Russian missile hit.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/2023-01-15T064016Z_2025030974_RC2PQY9G5CDR_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-DNIPRO-STRIKE.jpg?w=1024)
“Our soldiers are continually repelling enemy attacks, day and night,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Saturday. “The enemy suffers heavy losses, but continues to perform the criminal orders of his command.”
Reuters didn’t immediately confirm the situation in Soledar.