“For more than 20 frightening hours, the Russians attacked Dnipro in waves,” regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha wrote on Telegram on April 25. “They hit with missiles and drones. They hit deliberately. They hit residential areas.”
By Hanzha’s count, eight people died in the city and 49 were hurt. Across Ukraine, Russian strikes that Saturday killed 10, Reuters reported, with Chernihiv region in the north losing two more people and seven wounded.
Three strikes on one city
Dnipro came under fire three times, once overnight and twice more as the day went on. The first blow brought down a large section of an apartment building. Rescuers pulled four bodies from it. While they were still digging, a second strike hit the same site, killing one person and wounding seven. An evening attack injured eight more, and all of them were taken to hospital, Hanzha said.
Ukrainian outlet Babel put the toll of the day’s strikes on civilian targets in wider terms: residential streets, a gas station, businesses, kindergartens and a medical clinic. Five children were among the injured. Twenty-three people needed hospital treatment, and two were in serious condition. By 7:30 PM, ten more people had been hurt, among them children aged 11 and 14. Drones and artillery also struck the Nikopolsky and Sinelnykivsky districts of Dnipropetrovsk region through the day, adding six injuries.
A Reuters reporter at the ruined block watched a Russian drone get shot down overhead as crews worked in the rubble. Black smoke hung over the city in the morning, and local media warned residents about the air.
Voices from the street
Aliona Katrushova, 37, lives in the building across from the wreckage. She stood in her dressing gown and watched survivors being hauled out. “May their children sleep in their warm beds in Russia, and may everything be all right for them,” she said. “Let them watch as Russia ‘liberates’ us of our apartments and houses.”
It was also her husband Oleh’s birthday. He lived through the strike, though their flat was damaged. “It’s like being given a second life,” he said.
The wider barrage
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 619 drones and 47 missiles overnight. Air defences shot down 580 of the drones and 30 of the missiles. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had hit military-industrial and energy targets, and made no comment on the Dnipro apartment block.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko accused Moscow of “deliberately prolonging its terror against our people, continuing to target critical infrastructure and residential buildings.” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said each strike should push Ukraine’s partners toward “rapid strengthening of our air defences.”
Debris from drones also fell in Romania, a NATO member that borders Ukraine. It damaged an electricity pole and a household annex. Nobody was hurt, Romanian authorities said.
Sources
- Russian forces pound Ukraine, killing ten
- Russians attacked Dnipro with missiles and drones for 20 hours, 8 people died, 49 were injured
