14 Killed, Including Four Children, as Russian Missile Hits Ukrainian Apartment Block

At least 14 people, including four children, have been killed after a Russian missile struck a five-storey residential building in the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky, Ukrainian authorities said.

The attack, which occurred early Wednesday, October 7, destroyed parts of the apartment building and left about 50 people injured, including seven children. Ukrainian emergency workers have continued searching through the rubble for survivors.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said rescuers had pulled 15 people from the damaged building, including one child. The rescue operation remained ongoing as emergency teams used heavy equipment and worked through collapsed sections of the structure.

The strike was part of a wider overnight Russian missile and drone barrage that hit Kyiv and several other Ukrainian regions. Ukrainian officials said the broader attacks killed civilians in Kyiv, Kremenchuk and other locations, with dozens more people injured.

Reuters reported that Russia launched 70 missiles, many of them ballistic, alongside 46 jet-powered drones. Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted more than 80 per cent of the jet-powered drones, although ballistic missiles remained a major challenge for the country’s air-defence systems.

The attack on Pryluky caused extensive damage to the residential building, with several sections collapsing. Photographs from the scene showed rescuers and local residents clearing debris as emergency workers searched for people trapped beneath the rubble.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attacks and called for additional air-defence systems, particularly Patriot missiles, saying ballistic missiles remained one of the country’s biggest challenges.

The strikes also affected other civilian and industrial infrastructure across Ukraine. In Kyiv, two people were reported killed, while attacks in Kremenchuk left two people dead and seven injured. Damage was also reported in Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and other regions.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out a large-scale strike against Ukrainian military-industrial facilities and other targets. Moscow maintains that its attacks are directed at military or military-related infrastructure, while Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly accused Russian forces of striking civilian areas. The competing claims could not be independently verified.

The Pryluky rescue operation is continuing as authorities work to recover victims and assess the full extent of the damage.