Pryluky death toll rises to 22 as Russia sends 142 more drones
Ukraine's emergency service says 22 people, including five children, died when a Russian missile hit an apartment building in Pryluky on Wednesday. Reuters puts the day's nationwide toll at 32 or more. Overnight, Russia launched 142 more drones, and Ukraine's air force says it downed or jammed 126.
The death toll from Wednesday's Russian missile strike on a five-story apartment building in Pryluky has risen to 22, including five children, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said Thursday morning. Another 54 people were hurt, seven of them children, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Rescuers pulled 15 people from the rubble, including one child, and kept clearing debris overnight.
Pryluky is in the northern Chernihiv region. By Wednesday evening the city's toll had stood at 20.
Across Ukraine, Wednesday's waves of missiles and drones killed at least 32 people, Reuters reported in a story carried by The Japan Times. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it one of Russia's most "vile strikes." In Kyiv, two more bodies were found at a bombed apartment building, raising the toll there to four, the emergency service said. The attack also hit industrial sites and energy facilities.
The strikes landed on Oct. 7, Vladimir Putin's birthday.
Russia kept up the pressure overnight. From 6 p.m. Wednesday, Russia launched 142 attack and decoy drones, 82 of them jet-powered Shaheds, Ukraine's air force said, as reported by UNN. By 9:30 a.m. local time, air defenses had shot down or jammed 126. The air force recorded hits at seven locations and falling debris at four more, and said the attack was still going on.
The drones were launched from Oryol, Kursk and Shatalovo in Russia, from occupied parts of Donetsk, and from Hvardiiske in occupied Crimea, the air force said. Fighter jets, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare teams and mobile fire groups worked to stop them.
What we know: At least 22 died in Pryluky, and at least 32 across Ukraine on Wednesday.
What we don't: Whether the toll will rise further as rubble is cleared, and what the overnight drones hit.
Where outlets agree Ukrainska Pravda and Reuters both cite Ukraine's emergency service putting the Pryluky death toll at 22 as of Thursday morning.
Where they differ Ukrainska Pravda's 22 covers Pryluky alone, while Reuters' count of at least 32 covers all of Ukraine, and rescuers say both could still rise.