Priluky: Russian missile hits apartment block, 14 dead

A Russian missile struck a five-story apartment building in the city of Priluky, in the Chernihiv region, overnight between October 6 and 7, and the toll from that single building climbed through the day from five dead to 14. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia fired 70 missiles, many of them ballistic, along with Shahed drones, in the same attack on Kyiv and 12 regions. Adding up figures from Ukrainian authorities, at least 20 people were killed across the country.

How did the toll in Priluky rise?

The first figures, which Zelensky also cited, were five dead and 26 injured. Police in the Chernihiv region reported that by 11:30 the number of dead in Priluky had risen to nine, with the bodies of three children pulled from the rubble. At 12:45 the regional National Police directorate said 13 people had died, four of them children, and that 50 were injured, seven of them children. The regional governor then told state television the death toll was 14, a figure Kyiv Post also reports, citing the State Emergency Service.

Rescuers pulled 15 people out of the building alive, one of them a child. The service did not release the ages of the dead children or the condition of the injured, and police say the search under the rubble continues.

Zelensky wrote about the building in a social media post in which he tied the attack to the date, since October 7 is Vladimir Putin’s birthday:

“Today the Russian military, as a birthday ‘gift’ to Putin, destroyed a residential building in Priluky, in the Chernihiv region. It was an ordinary five-story building. Tragically, five dead and 26 injured have been reported so far, among them five children. There may still be people under the rubble. Rescuers are working around the clock at the scene and doing everything to find every person.”

What is known about the victims?

Interior Minister Ivan Vyhovsky wrote on Telegram that one policewoman was wounded in Priluky. Her husband, a police officer who had recently been serving at the front, and her mother were killed. “May all the victims rest in peace, and we extend our condolences to the families,” he added.

The minister stressed that Russia had attacked civilians asleep in their homes. Listing the effects of the attack, he mentioned residential buildings, a warehouse with plumbing equipment, a garage cooperative and shops, and then said:

“There was no military justification whatsoever for targeting one of the cemeteries in the capital.”

In his words, rescue operations are under way at eight locations in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, as well as in the Kirovohrad, Chernihiv and Poltava regions.

What was hit in Kyiv and other cities?

In Kyiv, the first hit was recorded at 3:35 a.m., on a non-residential development site in the Obolon district. Eight minutes later a warehouse in the Podil district was damaged. A fire broke out at a garage cooperative in the Darnytsia district, and Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that two people were rescued while the fire was being put out and that the bodies of two dead were found. The city military administration confirmed two deaths at 6:13 a.m. Damage was also reported in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

Many Kyiv residents took shelter in deep metro stations. “The metro is better, because we live on the ninth floor of the building and it is terrifying when you are on the ninth floor and missiles are flying toward you,” said Lesya, a Kyiv resident. Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada’s human rights commissioner, wrote on Telegram:

“Ukraine was once again targeted by Russian missiles all night. Another sleepless night, another act of terror, after which people, despite everything, have to plan their working day.”

Outside Kyiv, Zelensky says five apartment buildings were damaged in Dnipro and four in Kremenchuk. Two people died and eight were injured; Kyiv Post ties those figures to the attacks on both cities together, while Ukrinform, relaying Zelensky, places them in Kremenchuk. Two people were killed in Oleksandriya in the Kirovohrad region, and a drone damaged an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia. Regional officials also reported a damaged industrial facility in Dnipro and transport infrastructure damage in Zaporizhzhia.

What were the targets, and how many were intercepted?

Zelensky described the attack as a strike on the energy system:

“One of the key targets was our energy infrastructure. The Russians wanted to hit painfully and demonstratively. It was one of the most despicable strikes: 70 missiles in total, many of them ballistic, as well as Shaheds. Unfortunately, only some of them were shot down. Russian ballistic missiles remain the biggest challenge.”

The Ukrainian air force said 161 targets were shot down. Ukrinform reports that since the evening of October 6, air defenses neutralized five ballistic missiles, 39 cruise missiles and 117 drones. Zelensky did not specify how many of the 70 missiles were intercepted.

The president then repeated his call for air defense: “Air defense packages are a matter of life and death for us right now. That is why we ask every day for missiles for Patriot systems, which can and must truly protect people’s lives here, in Ukrainian skies.” Kyiv Post notes that Kyiv has been warning for months that it lacks enough launchers and interceptors.

What does Moscow claim, and how did Ukraine respond?

The Russian Defense Ministry said it carried out a “massive strike” on military-industrial facilities in Kyiv and in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Kharkiv regions, using high-precision ground-, sea- and air-launched weapons as well as drones. Among the targets, the ministry says, were plants in Kyiv where the Ukrainian defense company Fire Point produces and stores Flamingo cruise missiles and medium- and long-range drones.

Last week Zelensky said Ukraine had fired a domestically produced ballistic missile in combat for the first time, built by that very company. He expects the longer-range FP-9, which the company says can reach Moscow, to be ready by autumn.

Zelensky announced that Ukraine had hit two Russian oil facilities and one training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions. “These are justified Ukrainian responses to every Russian attack on our people,” he said on Telegram.

Russia kept attacking later in the day. Cruise missiles hit Chernihiv: one warehouse was damaged and a fire broke out in a three-story administrative building, with no casualties, according to emergency services.