Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Russian Strike on Ukraine Apartment Building Kills at Least 40
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
January 16, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

DNIPRO, Ukraine — Ukrainian emergency crews on Monday sifted through what was left of a Dnipro apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile, placing bodies from one of the war’s deadliest single attacks in months in black bags and gingerly carrying them across steep piles of rubble.

Authorities said the death toll from Saturday’s strike rose to 40 and that 30 people remained missing Monday. Tall cranes swung across the jagged gaps in a row of residential towers, the engines growling as residents of one of Ukraine’s largest cities watched largely in silence under a gray sky.

About 1,700 people lived in the multistory building, and search and rescue crews have worked nonstop since the missile strike to locate victims and survivors in the wreckage. The regional administration said 39 people have been rescued and at least 75 were wounded.

The reported death toll put it among the deadliest attacks on Ukrainian civilians since before the summer, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project. Residents said the apartment tower did not house any military facilities.

Witnesses Describe Missile Attack

“Boom — and that’s it. We saw that we were alive and that’s all,” Oleksander Anyskevych said Monday as he went to the site to see his wrecked apartment.

He told The Associated Press that he knew people who died under the rubble. One of his son’s classmates lost her parents.

Dnipro residents took flowers, candles, and toys to the ruins.

“All of us could be in that place,” local resident Iryna Skrypnyk said.

EU Foreign Policy Chief: ‘Inhumane Aggression’

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called the strike, and others like it, “inhumane aggression” because it directly targeted civilians. “There will be no impunity for these crimes,” he said in a tweet Sunday.

Asked about the strike Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military doesn’t target residential buildings and suggested the Dnipro building was hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense actions.

The strike on the building came amid a wider barrage of Russian cruise missiles across Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that it did not have the means to intercept the type of Russian missile that hit the residential building in Dnipro.

Fierce fighting continued to rage Monday in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, where military analysts have said both sides are likely suffering heavy troop casualties. No independent verification of developments was possible.

Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province make up the Donbas, an expansive industrial region bordering Russia that Russian President Vladimir Putin identified as a focus from the war’s outset. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Kyiv’s forces there since 2014.

The Russian and Belarusian air forces began a joint exercise Monday in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and served as a staging ground for Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.The drills are set to run through Feb. 1, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said. Russia has sent its warplanes to Belarus for the drills.

Kremlin Prepares for a Major Conventional War: US Think Tank

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, reported signs of the Kremlin taking steps to turn its Ukraine invasion into “a major conventional war” after months of embarrassing military reversals.

What Moscow calls “a special military operation” aimed to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, within weeks and to install a Kremlin-friendly regime there, but Russian forces ultimately withdrew from around Kyiv, the think tank said. Then came a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent months before the onset of winter slowed military advances.

“The Kremlin is likely preparing to conduct a decisive strategic action in the next six months intended to regain the initiative and end Ukraine’s current string of operational successes,” the Institute for the Study of War said in a report late Sunday.

It noted reports indicating the Russian military command was in “serious preparations” for an expanded mobilization effort, conserving mobilized personnel for future use, while seeking to boost military industrial production and reshuffling its command structure.

That means Ukraine’s Western allies “will need to continue supporting Ukraine in the long run,” the think tank said.

 

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Man Faces Life in Prison After Conviction for 2019 Visalia Murder

DON'T MISS

What Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ Tariffs Could Mean for Americans: Fareed Zakaria

DON'T MISS

A Look at Fresno City College’s New $87 Million Science Building

DON'T MISS

California Gov. Newsom Says the Democratic Brand Is ‘Toxic’

DON'T MISS

‘Trump Slump’ Looms as Foreign Visitors Rethink Travel to US

DON'T MISS

White House Weighs Helping Farmers as Trump Escalates Trade War

DON'T MISS

Torpedo-Shaped Bats Draw Attention After Yankees Hit Team-Record 9 Homers

DON'T MISS

Silver Fire Grows to 1,250 Acres, Threatens Homes in Inyo County

DON'T MISS

3 Kids Killed in Michigan When Tree Hits Vehicle During Weekend Storm

DON'T MISS

March Madness Guide: All No. 1 Seeds in Final Four After Houston and Auburn Win

UP NEXT

Earthquake Compounds Humanitarian Crisis in Myanmar as Death Toll Passes 1,700

UP NEXT

Myanmar’s Earthquake Death Toll Jumps to 1,644 as More Bodies Are Recovered From the Rubble

UP NEXT

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

UP NEXT

Trump Pledges US Aid for Asia Quake Despite Former Official Saying System in ‘Shambles’

UP NEXT

Israel Strikes Beirut for the First Time Since a Ceasefire Ended the Latest Israel-Hezbollah War

UP NEXT

Utah Becomes the First State to Ban Fluoride in Public Drinking Water

UP NEXT

At Least 20 Dead in Myanmar After Strong Earthquake

UP NEXT

Wilmer Flores’ 3-Run Homer in the 9th Inning Propels Giants to Victory Over Reds

UP NEXT

Germany and France Say Europe Must Respond to Trump’s Auto Tariffs

UP NEXT

Gaza Residents Demand End to 18 Years of Hamas Rule

California Gov. Newsom Says the Democratic Brand Is ‘Toxic’

2 hours ago

‘Trump Slump’ Looms as Foreign Visitors Rethink Travel to US

2 hours ago

White House Weighs Helping Farmers as Trump Escalates Trade War

2 hours ago

Torpedo-Shaped Bats Draw Attention After Yankees Hit Team-Record 9 Homers

2 hours ago

Silver Fire Grows to 1,250 Acres, Threatens Homes in Inyo County

3 hours ago

3 Kids Killed in Michigan When Tree Hits Vehicle During Weekend Storm

3 hours ago

March Madness Guide: All No. 1 Seeds in Final Four After Houston and Auburn Win

3 hours ago

Trump Family Pushes Further Into Crypto, Starting Another Venture

3 hours ago

Justice Department Instructed to Dismiss Legal Challenge to Georgia Election Law

4 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest 12 for DUI, Plan More Enforcement Operations

4 hours ago

Man Faces Life in Prison After Conviction for 2019 Visalia Murder

A Tulare County jury on Friday convicted a 25-year-old man of second-degree murder for the fatal stabbing of another man during a fight at a...

1 hour ago

A Tulare County jury convicted Isaiah Elias Garcia, 25, on Friday, March 28, 2025, of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing a man during a 2019 fight in Visalia. (Tulare County DA)
1 hour ago

Man Faces Life in Prison After Conviction for 2019 Visalia Murder

Michael Froman discusses the potential impact of Trump's proposed "Liberation Day" tariffs in an interview with Fareed Zakaria. (Video Screenshot)
1 hour ago

What Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ Tariffs Could Mean for Americans: Fareed Zakaria

Fresno City College students at the new Science Building
2 hours ago

A Look at Fresno City College’s New $87 Million Science Building

2 hours ago

California Gov. Newsom Says the Democratic Brand Is ‘Toxic’

A view of downtown San Diego, July 13, 2024. California is among the U.S. destinations that are ramping up marketing efforts to reassure international tourists that they are welcome. (John Francis Peters/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

‘Trump Slump’ Looms as Foreign Visitors Rethink Travel to US

Soybeans are harvested near Stuttgart, Ark., Oct. 25, 2023. The Trump administration has discussed providing financial aid for farmers who may be subject to retaliation by America’s trading partners. (Rory Doyle/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

White House Weighs Helping Farmers as Trump Escalates Trade War

New York Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. prepares to bat during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in New York. (AP/Pamela Smith)
2 hours ago

Torpedo-Shaped Bats Draw Attention After Yankees Hit Team-Record 9 Homers

The Silver Fire has burned 1,250 acres near Bishop with 0% containment, prompting evacuations as strong winds hamper firefighting efforts. (CalFire)
3 hours ago

Silver Fire Grows to 1,250 Acres, Threatens Homes in Inyo County

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend