Russian missile hits Pryluky apartment building, kills at least 16, including children

At least 16 people were killed, including four children, when a Russian missile hit a five-story apartment building in Pryluky in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region overnight, according to police, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later said 18 were known dead as rescuers continued searching the rubble Wednesday.

Authorities said dozens more people were injured. By midday, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, known as the DSNS, said about 50 people had been hurt, including seven children, and 15 people had been rescued, including one child. National Police later put the toll at 55 wounded, including seven children. Zelenskyy said some people were still unaccounted for and not in contact as rescue and debris-clearing work continued.

The casualty figures changed repeatedly through the day as emergency crews worked at the damaged residential block. Early reports from emergency officials said four people had been killed and 20 injured. The Chernihiv regional prosecutor’s office later said five people were dead and at least 20 were injured. By midday, the DSNS said 14 people, including four children, had been killed. In a 3 p.m. local time update, National Police said 16 people, including four children, were dead. Later Wednesday, Zelenskyy said 18 people were known dead. In a post on Telegram, he said the four children killed were Oleksandr, Kyrylo and Serhii, all 1 year old, and Maksym, 8.

Ukrainian emergency and regional officials said the five-story building was heavily damaged, with reports indicating that one or more entrances or stairwells and several floors were destroyed. Police said the strike also damaged 15 apartment buildings and 16 private houses nearby, though authorities said the full extent of the damage was still being established.

The Chernihiv regional prosecutor’s office said it had opened a pretrial investigation under Article 438 of Ukraine’s criminal code, which covers alleged violations of the laws and customs of war.

Pryluky, in northern Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, was among the areas hit in a wider Russian missile-and-drone attack on Ukraine overnight from Oct. 6 to Oct. 7.