Children killed while they slept as Russian missile kills 19 in block of flats — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Russia fired roughly 70 missiles at Ukraine overnight, with an Iskander strike on the Pryluky apartment block killing 19 including one-year-olds Oleksandr, Kyrylo, and Serhii and eight-year-old Maxsym; rescue teams pulled a fifth child's body from the rubble.
- Zelensky called the Pryluky strike one of Russia's "most vile" and suggested it was timed for Putin's 74th birthday; nationwide the day's toll reached 25 dead, with two killed each in Kyiv, Kremenchuk, and Oleksandriya and more than 430 apartments damaged in Kremenchuk.
- Ukraine's air force said it downed 5 ballistic missiles, 39 cruise missiles, and over 100 drones — yet up to 26 cruise or ballistic missiles still penetrated, prompting Zelensky to renew calls for allied air-defence packages.
- Moscow said the strikes targeted military industries and energy infrastructure, with Zelensky confirming energy facilities were a "key target" — retaliation for Ukraine's recent strikes on Russian energy sites.
- Ukraine struck back at four targets in Russia's Perm, Samara, and Astrakhan regions in 24 hours, including two oil facilities and a training ground, plus an unspecified target in the Black Sea.
- Black Sea drone attacks hit a Liberian-flagged oil tanker off Sochi and sank the cargo ship Alfa Watan in Bulgaria's waters, killing an unconfirmed number of Syrian crew members; Bulgaria has not attributed blame but Zelensky said Russia was responsible.
- Kyiv residents sheltered overnight in underground stations, and an unexploded Iskander missile was recovered in the capital, its images verified by BBC Verify.
Why it matters: Even with 44 missiles and drones intercepted, roughly 26 cruise and ballistic missiles penetrated Ukrainian defences in a single night — exposing the air-defence gap Zelensky publicly pressed allies to close as Russia shifts to systematically degrading the energy grid before winter, a retaliation cycle now spreading to Black Sea shipping with civilian tankers struck off Sochi and Bulgaria.
Ask SkimNews
