The death toll from a Russian missile strike that destroyed an apartment building in Dnipro has climbed to 18, in what was the Kremlin’s biggest attack on Ukraine so far this year.
Rescuers scoured through rubble for survivors throughout the night, the regional governor said early on Sunday.
"The search operation is ongoing," Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, wrote on Telegram.
"The fate of more than 40 people remains unknown." He said the attack had destroyed 72 apartments and damaged more than 230.
Some 38 people have been rescued, but about two dozen remained missing and an unknown number of residents were trapped under a massive pile of debris.
Western intelligence had flagged up a potential strike three days ago when Russian submarines capable of firing ballistic missiles slipped out of their Black Sea harbour, possibly to take up attack positions.
The Russian ministry of defence has not commented on the strikes, but reports from Kyiv and regional cities suggested that cutting-edge cruise or ballistic missiles were used in the attacks to dodge Ukraine’s missile defence systems.
In Dnipro, central Ukraine, photos and video showed a gaping hole in a nine-storey residential tower block. Smoke billowed out of the ruins as firemen dashed across a destroyed urban park carrying equipment to douse flames. Rubble was strewn across the ground. Balconies attached to apartments had collapsed on top of one another like a deck of cards.
Kyrylo Timoshenko, the Dnipro region head, said dozens had been injured, including at least seven children.
“The youngest is three years old,” he said, adding that a nine-year-old had been seriously wounded.
“Russians are terrorists who will be punished for everything,” he said. “There are still people under the ruins of the destroyed building. The rescue operation is ongoing.”
“At least one stairwell is gone. Under the rubble there are people who were at home for the holiday.”
Ukrainians were celebrating the Old New Year on Saturday, a popular holiday on the eve of which children traditionally are given sweets.
Russian missiles hit Ukraine in two waves, also striking energy infrastructure targets in Kyiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia and Kharkiv.
German Galushchenko, Ukraine’s energy minister, said that there would be power cuts across several regions after the attacks.
“Due to the shelling in the majority of the regions, emergency (power) cut-offs are being introduced. The coming days will be difficult,” he wrote on Facebook.
The Russian military has targeted Ukrainian civilian infrastructure since October, a strategy promoted by General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon”, after he took over as commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. The aim has been to destroy heat and electricity sources to undermine civilian morale.
But Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, demoted Gen Surovikin this week, setting off speculation that the strategy may be dropped.
Instead, it appears that General Valery Gerasimov, his replacement, is prepared to intensify attacks against civilian targets in Ukraine using ballistic or cruise missiles rather than drones.
Dara Massicot, a defence analyst with the US-based Rand Corporation, said that Russia was still experimenting with the effectiveness of its missiles, especially against Kyiv where its air defence systems are concentrated.
“Today’s strikes on Ukraine feature something new: missiles fired on a looping ballistic trajectory from the north,” she said. “Likely a tactic to defeat air defences.”
In further evidence that ballistic missiles may have been used in the attacks, on Jan 11, H I Sutton, a naval defence analyst, reported that three Project 636.6 Improved Kilo-class submarines had slipped out of the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
“The last time we reported an unusual spike in Russian Navy activity it preceded extensive missile strikes on Ukraine,” he wrote on the Naval News website.
Diesel-powered Kilo-class submarines can carry up to four Kalibr supersonic ballistic missiles. In his analysis, Mr Sutton said the Russian submarines may have been taking up positions to fire their missiles at Ukraine, although he said that it would be “unique” if all three were used in a single attack.
The British Ministry of Defence also noted the submarine manoeuvres but said it was more likely that they were dispersing because of intelligence of a potential Ukrainian attack on Novorossiysk.
Ukrainian officials in Mykolayiv, southern Ukraine, also reported that 17 Russian Tupolev warplanes, which can carry cruise missiles, had taken off shortly before the attacks.
The United States is sending Ukraine a Patriot missile system designed to shoot down ballistic and cruise missiles.