Deaths from Russian strike on Dnipro apartments climb to 40, many missing

(Update 2: Upgrades death toll, adds info)

Lviv, Ukraine, Jan 16 (EFE).- The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a multi-story apartment block has risen to 40, including three children, Ukrainian emergency services said Monday, with the number of fatalities expected to rise further.

According to the State Emergency Service, 39 survivors, including six children, have been rescued from the rubble of the building, while 75 people, including 14 children, were injured in Saturday’s blast.

“Forty-six are reported as missing,” the statement added.

Russia allegedly hit the residential building with a long-range Raduga Kh-22 missile, a Soviet-era weapon designed to target aircraft carriers or battleships and that can be equipped with either a conventional or nuclear warhead.

Dnipro authorities have declared three days of mourning for the victims of the missile strike.

The United Nations has previously warned that Russia’s targeting of civilian infrastructure could amount to war crimes.

In his nightly address Sunday, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged an exhaustive rescue operation at the devastated Dnipro apartment complex.

“We are fighting for every person! The rescue operation will last as long as there is even the slightest chance to save lives,” he said.

Meanwhile, three people, including two children, were injured in another Russian missile attack in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region early Monday.

“Three people were transported to hospitals. Among them are two children aged nine and fifteen,” Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia city council, said on Telegram, adding that emergency medical care was being administered to all of the victims.

“Rescuers of the State Emergency Service, medics and utility workers are working at the scene of the impact,” he added.

A short while earlier, Oleksandr Starukh, the head of the regional military administration, said that “the enemy launched a rocket attack on the regional center and suburbs.”

“There is destruction of civil, residential and industrial infrastructure. Information was received about several lightly wounded. All relevant services are on site,” he said in a Telegram post.EFE

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